the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Calneh
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
or 1. Identified with Nippur
G. Rawlinson thought it to be the modern
2. Nippur's Importance
The inscriptions reveal to us Nippur as a city with a glorious past. Sargon of Agadé, Sur-Engur, Dungi and all the more prominent kings of Babylonia in its larger sense interested themselves in the rebuilding and restoration of its renowned temples, so as to gain the favor of their great divinities.
3. Its Deities and Their Legends
The city's earlier divine patrons were Enlil and Ninlil, the older Bel and Beltis, whose shrines were at the great temple-tower called Ê-kura, "the house of the land," and a poetical legend in Sumerian (dialectical) recording their visit to the city, and enumerating its sacred places, still exists (YBA , March, 1911, 85ff). Later, the chief deities of the city seem to have been Ninip, the son of Enlil, and his spouse Nin-Nipri, "the lady of Nippur." These two divine beings likewise evoked the muse of the city-scribes, who dealt with the glories of the god in a composition extending over several tablets, in which his favor to his spouse Nin-Nipri is extolled; and to whom a career very similar to that of Merodach, the head of the Babylonian pantheon, is attributed (YBA , December, 1906, 270ff).
4. Its Ruins Today
The great temple-tower of Niffer, which was dedicated to the god Enlil, was a very striking object among the buildings and temples of the city, and the lower stages are still in an extremely perfect condition. Most interesting, also, are the remains of streets and houses which enable the general conditions of life in ancient Babylonia to be estimated, and suggest that they are similar to those subsisting even at the present day. Our knowledge of the city is almost entirely due to the American excavations at Niffer, inaugurated by J. P. Peters, which have been most fruitful and have shed quite a new light on the city's history. See Peters' Nippur (2 volumes, 1887); the many volumes written or edited by Professor H. V. Hilprecht under the general title The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania; and Professor A. T. Clay's Light on the Old Testament from Babel (Philadelphia, 1907).
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Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Calneh'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/c/calneh.html. 1915.
