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

DURING 19TM CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 49
between El-Qasr and the Birs as the possible remains of
Alexander the Great's temporary abode, from which in the
course of his illness he was removed to the palace on the
other side, only to die.
In order to ascertain, if possible, the exact
boundary line
of the metropolis on the eastern side of the river, he visited
El-Ohemir and a number of mounds in its neighborhood.
Accompanied by Bellino and his usual strong escort, and
provided with all the necessities of life, he set out on a fine
November morning and examined the whole district at his
leisure, so that he could leave us a much more satisfactory
description than
that of Buckingham, who had been at the
same ruins but a few minutes under the most trying circumstances.
To Ker Porter we are likewise indebted for the
first inscribed brick 1 taken from the pyramidal mound of
El-Ohemir, from which we learn that the god Zamama had
his temple here restored by a Babylonian king, probably
Adad-ap[al-]idinnam of the Pashe dynasty, who lived
about 1065 b. c. The principal ruin, covered with a mass
of red brickwork, and exhibiting " four straight faces, but
unequal and mutilated, looking towards the cardinal points,"
apparently represents the original stage-tower or ziggurrat
of this temple. From a marble fragment picked up by
Bellino, it becomes evident that the place must have occupied
a prominent position as early as the time of Hammurabi,
about one thousand years earlier. There can be little
doubt that the city buried here is no other than Kish, with
its famous sanctuary, playing such an important role at the
very beginning of Babylonian history.
Though at the time
unfamiliar with the details mentioned, which are but the
product of subsequent investigations, Porter clearly recognized
the general character of El-Ohemir and its neighboring
ruins, and, contrary to
Buckingham's untenable theory,
regarded it as entirely out of question to suppose that
these
1
Published in his " Travels," vol. ii., pi. 77, a.