Tell Ishchali

Tell Ishchali (also Iščāli or Šaǧālī) is an archaeological site in Diyala Province (Iraq) a few hundred meters from the Diyala River and 3 miles south by southeast from the ancient city of Khafajah. It is thought to be ancient Nerebtum or Kiti and was part of the city-state of Eshnunna. It is known to have been occupied during the Isin-Larsa period and Old Babylonian period with excavations ending before earlier levels were reached.

Ancient name
At first, the site of Ishchali was thought to be Khafajah. Upon discovery there of a date formula that read "year that king Ishme-Bali built the great wall of Nerebtum", that designation became popular. Currently, scholarly opinion is split between Nerebtum and Kiti as the result of many tablets from the temple of Inanna of Kiti being analyzed. The name of Sadlas has also been proposed.

A number of bricks of Ipiq-Adad II were found in the Kitium temple inscribed with:

"'To Inanna Kititum did Ipiq-Adad, the mighty king, the king who enlarged Eshnunna, shepherd of the dark headed (people), beloved of Tispak, son of Ibal-pi-el, grant Neribtum'"

Location
The site lies about 3 mi south and 7 mi east of the modern city of Baghdad and 15 mi southeast of Eshnunna on the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris. The main tell at Ishchali measures roughly 600 x. There are also small mounds to the north and south of it. The entire site covers around 23 ha.

Early Bronze
Surface finds indicate that Ishchali may have been occupied as far back as the Akkadian period.

Middle Bronze
The Middle Bronze can be subdivided into the earlier Isin-Larsa Period and later Old Babylonian Period.

Excavated epigraphic evidence dates to the Old Babylonian period. While some tablets mention early local rulers, for most of the known history of Ishchali kings from Eshnunna held sway there, including Ipiq-Adad and Ibal-pi-El. During the time of Sabium, king of Babylon, Ibal-pi-El I of Ešnunna, Sîn-iddinam of Larsa and Sîn-kašid of Uruk the king of Nerebtum was Iku(n)-pi-Si.

Inanna Temple. The most notable feature of Ishchali is the main temple. It was that of Inanna-Kititum, or Inanna of Kiti (occasionally called Ištar-Kititum). It is one of the largest temples ever found in the ancient Near East at 100 meters by 65 meters. Rebuilt several times, always following the original plan, the monumental building consisted of one large upper temple and two smaller areas which are thought to be shrines (the westernmost shrine was used for domestic type activities in the later periods). The many tablets found there give an excellent picture of temple life. A number of cylinder seals dating from the Early Dynastic to the Larsa period were also found there, assumed to be relic donations to the temple. Cylinder seals, from the Isin-Larsa and Old Babylon periods, were also found at the Shamash temple and in private homes.

The location of Kiti, the cult site of Inanna of Kititum, is as yet unknown, though it has been suggested that it was an earlier name for Tell Ishchali. She was worshiped in the Diyala region including at the capitol city of Eshnunna where this oracular inscription was found: "'O king Ibalpiel, thus says Kititum:/The secrets of the gods are placed before me./Because you constantly pronounce my name with your mouth, I keep disclosing the secrets of the gods for you./On the advice of the gods and by the command of Anu, the country is given you to rule./You will ransom the upper and lower country,/you will amass the riches of the upper and lower country./Your commerce will not diminish, there will be a perm[anent] food of peace [for] any country that your hand keeps hold of./I, Kititum, will strengthen the foundations of your throne,/I have established the protective spirit for you.May your [e]ar be attentive to me!'"

Shamash/Sin Temple. Aside from the temple of Inanna-Kititum a temple of Shamash (or possibly Sin) was also found. The excavators referred to the building as the Shamash Temple in all documents but also noted that evidence was mixed and that it could instead be a temple of Sin.

Excavations
In the 1920s, items from illegal excavations at Ishchali began appearing on the open market, including many clay tablets. Brick robbing by locals was also occurring. To pre-empt this activity, the Iraq expedition of the Oriental Institute of Chicago conducted two seasons of excavations there between 1934 and 1936. The expedition was led by Henri Frankfort and the work at Ishchali was handled by Thorkild Jacobsen and Harold Hill, all of the Oriental Institute. A number of cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian period were found and later published. For a few tablets the provenance is in dispute between Ishcali and Khafajah. Excavations only reached the Isin-Larsa level before excavations ended.

Of the 280 tablets excavated, 138 went to the Oriental Institute with the remaining 142 assigned to the Iraq Museum. Among them was a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The tablets illegally excavated from Ishchali are in many locations including the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva, Iraq Museum, Oriental Institute, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. The archive of the chief administrator of the Kititum temple is represented by 155 purchased Free Library tablets and 55 excavated Oriental Institute tablets.