In Sippar, on the journey of faith(A.Zaak) After three days of walking out of Babel and heading north along the Euphrates River, the rumpled caravan we joined reached Sippar on the east bank, some 60 km north. We stopped over two caravansaries, consisting of a courtyard surrounded by several small rooms built from mud bricks with stables.
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Like Eridu-UR sister cities separated by a watercourse, Sippar was part of a city pair separated by a river. It was on the Euphrates' east side, while its sister city, Sippar-Amnanum, was west. Under the influence of the twin cities, the inhabitants called the Euphrates the River of Sippar.
We found that the two Sippares were the cult site of the Sun deity that they called Shamash, signified by the Temple Ebabbara, "the house of splendour."
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The sculpture of Shamash was outstandingly robed, and different garments were set aside for the various festive occasions celebrated in the year. The priests, too, had their official robes, garments, coverings, and draperies made by the temple workers. The Temple was under King Hammurabi's protection, even though Babylonians were the followers of their deity Marduk.
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There was also a reservation for Anunit; the Babylonian Moon female deity worshipped in Sippar and whose sanctuary formed a part of the sacred area. The place dates back to King Sargon the Great, the founder and ruler of the Akkadian Empire in the 24th century BC.
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I met En-men-dur, a knowledgeable person in Sippar. He said Sumu-la-El, the former King of Babylon (1817 – 1781 BC), built the city wall. Some years later, King Hammurabi strengthened the city wall's foundations with massive mud bricks, so he did for the Ebabbara temple and the city's Ziggurat.
He told me that he was born and lived in Bhagdatta, a small village not far away from Sippar. "A northeast one-day walking from Sippar," he said. His birthplace was also called Bagdadu, he added. Of course, he didn't know his small settlement became the name for the world-renowned Muslim Empire's capital following its foundation in 762 AD.
A similar coincidence happened when I was once in Uruk, the southernmost ancient city of Mesopotamia. I met a man who asked me an unexpected question. He said," I love this town. Do you think Uruk will survive as a city-state or a Kingdom?" Neither of us knew Uruk would give birth to Iraq after many centuries. However, I remember people were referring to Sippar as Zimbir in its Sumerian pronunciation.
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We went to the Ebabbara temple as visiting travellers. We met Res Sarri, in charge of the gardeners and clearing the obstruction of temple channels. He also supervised the cycles in which temple flocks might be pastured and rotated as required.
He said he is a royal official and that the King exercises direct control over the Ebabbara from his capital.
There was another official for the collection of dues payable to the Temple. The third person we met was in charge of supply requirements and baked bricks to the Temple by the Sirku (temple slaves).
We recognized the master priest wearing a white robe of a long loose outer garment. He was a fatty man with rosy cheeks and a strong chin, where the individual's wealth is stored, signifying his honorary stature.
The righteous man asked him why they worshipped Shamash.
The master priest answered: "he is the Lord who dictates righteous decisions." That was amusing because I call our leader: the righteous idol-breaker.
The priest went on, saying, "how can we ignore Shamash shining the sky every morning, giving us long life and granting us power extend forever"!
Our moral leader asked him," what is your role"?
"A staff of justice for the welfare of my people," the priest replied.
"Then what is the role of the King"? The righteous man argued the priest.
"Protect the people with the attack of battles and strong weapons," he replied. "You see, the code of Hammurabi stele is erected in the Temple's front yard. It depicted Shamash handing authority to the King in the image at the top of the carvings", he added.
"Can Shamash overthrow the weapons of the enemies"? The righteous man asked.
"Yes," the priest confirmed.
"How do you communicate with him"?
"Shamash, truly answer me in judgment and dream, so as his twin Inanna (Ishtar), the queen of heaven," The priest said.
"Where is Shamash now"? I asked.
"He rides through the heavens in his Sun chariot and sees all things that happened in the day because he enforces divine justice and aids those in distress. He helped King Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu defeat the monster Humbaba the Terrible, the guardian of the Cedar Forest, who was a terror to men", the priest proudly explained.
"Is this Temple coming to existence by itself"? The righteous man asked
"No, it was built by our Kings; nothing comes to existence by itself," the priest answered.
The idol-breaker pressed the priest further by asking, "Who created the Sun that you worship?
The priest lost his nerves and yelled, "Shamash, who else, who"?
The righteous man said, "I tell you who. The heavens declare the glory of a sole God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands; the universe reveals the majesty of its creator. Truly, the God who created the world, including the Sun, the moon, and the stars, is glorious and worthy of praise, not your Shamash idol."
We left the shocked priest in his fine wool robe tussling thoughts. His round, high, and broad nose won't help him sustain the smell of faith. It was evident that the master priest, as well as his men, enjoyed the Ebabbara temple's prosperity.
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In the marketplace, I asked the man selling garments, "why are most people wearing wool outfits?"
He said, "Sippar is a production middle of wool for Mesopotamia because wool-bearing sheep bred easily. Also, men and women in this city are skilled in spinning fleece to produce high-quality textiles.
Sippar also produced some of the most serviceable Babylonian cylinder seals. I didn't buy one because I still had my Uruk-style Cylinder Seal. However, I purchased a garment like a priest's one.
I tried to find a clay map better than the one I carved that centred on our journey along the Euphrates, but I couldn't. I wondered when the world map was created, not knowing that it was the Babylonian atlas in the 6th century BC.

**(Image from: www.ancient.eu/image/73/babylon-at-the-time-of-hammurabi/)

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