Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

146 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
of unbaked brick. It represents the stage tower or ziggurrat
of the ancient Babylonian city Uruk or Erech
(Gen. 10: 10), forming part of the famous temple E-anna y
sacred to the goddess Ninni or Nana. The mass of the
structure, which, unlike the similar towers of Muqayyar and
Nufrar, at present l has no external facing of kiln-baked
brickwork, is at least as old as King Ur-Gur (about 2700
b. c), whose name is stamped upon the baked bricks of the
water courses 2 built in the centre of its sides. Singashid, a
monarch living somewhat later, left traces of his restoration
'
at the summit of the Buweriye. The lowest stage was
apparently not reached by Loftus, who after a fruitless
attempt to discover a barrel cylinder in the west corner of
the building, and unable to carry on any extensive
excavation,
left
this mound to future explorers.
Another interesting structure at Warka is a ruin called
Wuswas, said to be derived from a negro of this name who
hunted here for treasures. It is situated less than a thousand
feet to the southwest of the Buweriye, and, like the
latter, though much smaller in size, contained in a walled
quadrangle, including an area of more than seven and a half
acres. Its corners again are approximately toward the four
1
From a number of indications and details in Loftus' description it follows
almost with certainty that the stage tower of Erech originally also had
the usual facing of brickwork. It evidently, however, furnished welcome
building material to the later inhabitants of Erech. More extensive and
deeper excavations would doubtless reveal traces enough in the lower stage.
2
Mistaken by Loftus for buttresses "erected for the purpose of supporting
the main edifice "(p. 167).
Comp. Hilprecht, "The Babylonian Expedition
of the University of Pennsylvania," series A, vol. i., part 2, p. 18. I doubt
whether Loftus examined all the four sides of the building (" on the centre of
each side"). As the tower must have had an entrance, possibly on the
southwest side, it is impossible to believe that this side should have had a
drain on its centre. My own view is that, like the ziggurrat at Nuffar, the
tower at Warka had such "buttresses" only on two sides (the number
"three," given in my publication, p. 18, was due to Haynes' erroneous
report).