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

246 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
directly to the outer walls, but are disconnected by a passageway
or corridor over two feet and a half wide, running parallel
with the latter and also separating the two rooms from each
other. These inner chambers likewise have no opening.
With good reason, therefore, Heuzey regards this curious
building as a regular store or provision house similarly
constructed to those known in ancient Egypt. This view
is strengthened by the fact that the inscriptions of Ur-
Nina, Enannatum, Urukagina, and especially those of
Entemena repeatedly refer 1 to such a magazine or depot
of the god Nin-Su(n)gir. The ancient kings and patesis of
Lagash used to fill it with grain, dates, sesame oil, and other
produce of the country required for the maintenance of the
temple servants, or needed as supplies for their armies,
which fought frequent battles in the name of their tutelary
deitv. The double walls, which form a characteristic feature
also of a number of chambers in the outer wall of the huge
Parthian fortress at Nippur, were useful in more than one
regard. They excluded the extreme heat of the summer
and the humidity of the winter, while, at the same time,
they insured the safety of the stored provisions against damage
from crevices, thieves, and troublesome insects. A coat
of bitumen covering the walls
and floors of the rooms and
corridor answered the same purpose.
At a distance of thirteen feet from the principal building
De Sarzec discovered eight bases made of baked brick, two
on each side, which originally supported as many square
pillars, clearly indicated by the remains of charred cedarwood
found near thpm. It is therefore apparent that a large
gallery, a kind of portico or peristyle, as we frequently see it
attached to the modern houses of Kurdish and Armenian
peasants in Asia Minor, surrounded the ancient Babylonian
edifice on all four sides, furnishing additional room for the
temporary storage of goods, agricultural implements, and
1
Comp. Thureau-Dangin in Revue d' Assyriologie, vol. iii, pp. 1 19, seqq.