The New Student's Reference Work/Nippur

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Nippur′, a city of Babylonia, situated between the Tigris and the Euphrates, in the neighborhood of 100 miles southeast from Bagdad and about 50 miles from the site of ancient Babylon.  The mound which covers the ruins of the ancient city was first made the object of study by Sir Austen Layard in 1851.  The expedition sent out by the University of Pennsylvania began work upon this mound in February, 1889.  The excavations so carried on revealed the site of a city of great importance, one of the chief commercial and military centers of the ancient east.  The University of Pennsylvania possesses a large and important collection of relics brought from this site.