For the Islamic term, see
Adab (behavior) Adab, modern day Bismaya, was a
city in present day
Iraq between
Telloh and
NippurA group of
ruin mounds are what remains of the ancient city. The mounds are about 1.5 km(1 mile) long and two miles wide, consisting of a number of low ridges, nowhere exceeding 12 m(40 ft.) in height, lying in the Jezireh, somewhat nearer to the
Tigris than the
Euphrates, about a days journey to the south-east of Nippur, a little below 32 N. and about 45 40 E. Excavations conducted here for six months, from Christmas of
1903 to June
1904, for the
University of Chicago, by Dr.
Edgar James Banks, proved that these mounds covered the site of the ancient city of Adab (Ud-Nun), hitherto known only from a brief mention of its name in the introduction to the
Hammurabi Code (c. 2250 B.C.). The city was divided into two parts by a
canal, on an
island in, which stood the
temple, E-mach, with a
ziggurat, or stage tower. It was evidently once a city of considerable importance, but deserted at a very early period, since the
ruins found close to the surface of the mounds belong to Dungi and Ur Gur, kings of
Ur in the earlier part of the third millennium B.C. Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found the remains of
Naram-Sin and Sar-gon, C. 3000 B.C. Below these there were still 10.5m(35 ft.) of stratified remains, constituting seven-eighths of the total depth of the ruins. Besides the remains of buildings, walls, graves, Dr. Banks discovered a large number of inscribed
clay tablets of a very early period,
bronze and stone tablets, bronze implements and the like. But the two most notable discoveries were a complete
statue in white
marble, apparently the most ancient yet found in
Babylonia, now in the
museum in
Constantinople, bearing the inscription E-mach, King Da-udu, King of, Ud-Nun ; and a temple refuse heap, consisting of great quantities of fragments of
vases in marble,
alabaster,
onyx,
porphyry and
granite, some of which were inscribed, and others engraved and inlaid with
ivory and precious stones. Banks sold
cuneiform tablets from the site to private collections.
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courtesy. 2 culture. 3 knowing proper behavior