243 
there may be in the statement of the antediluvian existence of Sippara of 
the Sun we cannot tell ; but it is clear that its selection by Berosus as the 
seat of five of the ten antediluvian kings,* * * § and the depository of the 
earliest chapters of the world’s history, make it out as a city of great 
traditional antiquity in a land of ancient cities. Indeed, the discoveries of 
Mr. Rassam show that the city fulfilled in every way the requirements of 
Berosus. It was a city which, according to its own inscribed records, existed 
3,750 years before the Christian era.f And it was the seat of government 
of one of the earliest of the Chaldean kings, Sargon of Agade, the Baby- 
lonian Romulus.J Its astronomical data, furnished by the inscriptions, point 
to an even more ancient date. At the remote period prior to B.C. 3750, at 
a time when Menes, B.C. 3892, § was laying the foundation-stones of the 
Temple of Phtah, round which, in after time, grew up the mighty city of 
Men-nefer or Memphis, the Chaldean builder-king Zabu |j was laying the 
foundation-stones of the shrine of the Sun-god, which formed the germ of 
the city of Sippara, the Chaldean Heliopolis. 
The ancient Akkadian name of the city was ZIMBIR, which was the pro- 
nunciation of the compound group, -^y w hi°h is composed of the 
characters, UD = Sun + Kip = desert or plain, -TTT- NUN = great 
or wide. So that Zimbir of the Akkadians was “ the city of the Sun in the 
great plain.” The plain, — the EDIN of the Akkadians, and the TSERU 
of the Semites, — is clearly the of Wilstein, and the Dura of the Book 
of Daniel. It was this plain in the land of Shinar that was the site of the 
terrestrial paradise, and of the founding of the Tower of Babel. The 
inscriptions discovered on the spot show that the dual cities of Sippara were 
places of the highest importance in Babylonian history, and we may expect 
to find in the record chambers of these cities not the books of Noah, but 
records extending very far back to the threshold of history. It seems evident 
the two cities were really two quarters of the same city, as are London and 
Westminster. The one, and probably the most ancient, was called “Sippara 
of the Sun-god ” ; the other, Sippara of Anunituv ; and in each was a great 
temple to the presiding deity. The temple of the Sun-god was discovered 
by Mr. Rassam in 1880, and was called E-PARRA, “ the 
Sun-house,” or “ the house of light.” It was in this temple that Mr. Rassam 
found the important tablet giving the account of the restoration of the temple 
by Nabu-apla-iddin (“ Nebo has given a son ”), the contemporary of Assur- 
nazirpal, king of Assyria (B.C. 885). It is very interesting to see how 
* Almelon, Ammenon, Amegalarus, Daonus, Edorankhus. 
t This date is founded on statement in a cylinder of Nabonidus which 
places Sargon 3,200 years prior to B.C. 550. 
X See Smith, Chaldean Genesis (Sayce’s Edition), p. 319 et seq. 
§ The date, according to Lepsius. 
|| In the copy of the cylinder of Sagga-ragtiyas, given by Nabonidus 
(WA.I., i., pi. 69, line 29 et seq.). 
