Bad-tibira
Bad-tibira was an ancient Sumerian city dating back to the
Early Dynastic period, which appears among antediluvian cities in the Sumerian King List. In the earliest days of Akkadian language studies its name was mistakenly read as Dûr-gurgurri. Its location is believed to be at modern Tell al-Madineh, between Ash Shatrah and Tell as-Senkereh and 25 km southwest of ancient Girsu in southern Iraq. This proposal is based on unprovenanced illegally excavated inscriptions which were said to have come from a mound called Medain 29 km northwest of Girsu, following a report of a vendor of one of the inscriptions, but excavations there had proved fruitless.
There is known to be a temple of the deity Kittum at Bad-tibira. Isar, a god of Mari is also said to have been worshiped there. It has been suggested that Ninsheshegarra, an aspect of the goddess Geshtinanna who is sister of Dumuzid, was worshiped in the temple Esheshegarra at Bad-tibira.
Bad-tibira in Sumerian literature
According to the Sumerian King List, Bad-tibira was the second city to "exercise kingship" in Sumer before the flood, following Eridu. These kings were said to be En-men-lu-ana, En-men-gal-ana and Dumuzid the Shepherd.The early Sumerian text Descent of Inanna into the Underworld mentions the city's temple, E-mush-kalamma. In this tale, Inanna dissuades demons from the netherworld from taking Lulal, patron of Bad-tibira, who was living in squalor. They eventually take Dumuzid, who lived in palatial opulence at Uruk. This Dumuzid is called "the Shepherd", who on the King List resides at Bad-Tibira in contrast to the post-diluvian Dumuzid, the Fisherman, who reigns in Uruk.
One of the Temple Hymns of Enheduanna, the daughter of Sargon of Akkad, is dedicated to Bad-tibira and the E-mush temple of Dumuzid, consort of Inanna, there.
History
A illegally excavated cone said to have been found at Tell al-Madineh marked the construction by Ur-Nammu, a ruler of the Ur III empire, of the Iturungal canal.The "brotherhood text" in a cuneiform inscription on a illegally excavated cone said have been found at "Médaïn". A "Médaïn" northeast of Girsu was investigated and nothing was found there. Speculation on its findspot then shifted to Tell al-Madineh. The cone, of which there are many exemplars, records the friendship pact of Entemena, governor of Lagash, and Lugal-kinishedudu, governor of Uruk. to Inanna and Dumuzid, under his local epithet Lugal-E-mush.
A foundation tablet of En-metena said to be from the Tell al-Madineh, with multiple exemplars, also mentioned the building of E-Mush "... At that time, En-metena built for Lugalemush, the E-mush of Pa-tibira, his beloved temple, restoring it....". Pa-tibira appear to be an alternate spelling of Bad-tibira.
An inscription of Enmetena states "… He cancelled obligations for the citizens of Uruk, Larsa and Patibira; he restored to Inana’s control at Uruk, he restored to Utu’s control at Larsa, he restored to Lugalemush’s control at the Emush".
On a text of Ur-gigir found at Ur it reads:
In the Isin-Larsa Period possession of the city passed between Larsa and Isin. Larsa ruler Sin-Iddinam claimed, on a cone thought to be from the site, to have built the great wall of Bad-tibira "by means of his triumph he built in a grand fashion the great wall of Bad-tibira". Isin ruler Lipit-Ishtar, "the shepherd of Nippur", claimed to have built the "House of Righteousness" there. The city was under the control of Larsa during the long reign of Rim-Sîn I. During the reign of Rîm-Anum, a ruler of Uruk during the Old Babylonian period, a šagina-official of Bad₃-tibira is recorded as being received by military scribes at Uruk.
Tell al-Madineh
The site was visited in 1927 by Raymond P. Dougherty for a day. He reported that the site covered about a square mile with the western mound being the largest with low extensions bearing off a mile to the north. Straight and circular walls were noted. Numbers of baked bricks were seen along with door sockets, flint saw blades, and a bronze needle.Some badly effaced half-bricks on the surface of the mound bore the inscription of Amar-Sin, of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Pieces of vitrified brick scattered over the surface of the large mound bore witness to the city's destruction by fire. No building remains were noted
In 1965 Vaughn E. Crawford of the Metropolitan Museum of Art visited the site, noting that surface pottery indicated occupation until about 1500 BC. No building remains were noted.
During a 2017 visit to the site a broken copper figurine of a bearded hero was found, tentatively dated to the Early Dynastic period.
Imagery of the site indicates that it has been heavily looted.