2023-12-26 07:27:57
The inscription found in one of the temples, which says the “giver of brothers.”
Photo: Girsu Project
Archaeologists from the British Museum in London found two temples in Iraq, built on top of each other. The most recent dates back to the 4th century BC and was related to Alexander the Great.
During excavations in Girsu, now the city of Tello, in southeastern Iraq, archaeologists found the temples and identified that the most recent one has an inscription in Aramaic and Greek that pays homage to “the giver of two brothers.” This research is part of the Museum’s Girsu Project.
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As for the oldest tempo, Sebastian Rey, archaeologist and curator of ancient Mesopotamia at the British Museum, noted for LiveScience that it is dedicated to “the Greek god Hercules and his Sumerian equivalent, the hero god Ningirsu.”
For researchers, it is no coincidence that a temple was built on top of another built 1,500 years ago, and the site must have had some significance for Mesopotamia. “This shows that the inhabitants of Babylon in the century [IV] to. C. they had vast knowledge of their history. “The legacy of the Sumerians was still very vibrant,” Rey added.
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Archaeologists also found an ancient Greek coin buried under an altar with a description of the two brothers. “The inscription is very interesting because it mentions an enigmatic Babylonian name written in Greek and Aramaic. The name ‘Adadnadinakhe’, meaning ‘Adad, the giver of brothers’, was clearly chosen as the ceremonial title due to its archaizing tone and symbolic connotations. “All the evidence points to the fact that the name was extraordinarily rare,” the researcher added.
On the coin there was also an inscription of a lightning bolt and an eagle, often related to Zeus, the Greek god. According to Rey, the coin “shows Hercules in a youthful, clean-shaven portrait that is highly reminiscent of conventional representations of Alexander, on the one hand, and Zeus, on the other.”
Furthermore, as Rey explained, “Zeus recognized Alexander as his son through the agency of the oracle of Amun. He literally became the ‘giver of brothers’ because he affirmed a brotherly bond between Alexander and Heracles.”
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Archaeologists found other artifacts that were often given as offerings after battles, such as clay soldiers. “The recovered figurines, which originated from a variety of places in the Hellenistic world, in many cases must have been brought to the temple by visitors. Among them are the Macedonian horsemen, who have strong associations with Alexander. However, they could also be associated with a cult of war heroism,” Rey explained.
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