Places of Sacrifice (‘Opferstätten’)

E. Douglas van Buren

doi:10.2307/4199556

Places of Sacrifice (‘Opferstätten’)

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2014

E. Douglas van Buren

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It was not only in temples and upon tables of offerings that sacrifices were performed in early times in Mesopotamia, for certain detached areas were hallowed, and in them sacrifices were offered, constantly repeated on precisely the same spot. The ritual directions for the preparation for these ceremonies must have been both explicit and stringent, for the evidence reveals a scrupulous adherence to every detail, perpetually repeated every time the place was used. These particular places of sacrifice are known as “Opferstätten”, the designation given them by the excavators at Uruk-Warka, who were the first to interpret the evidence correctly; it is, indeed, to Dr. Lenzen's perspicuity and detailed observations that we owe most of the information we possess concerning them.

Type: Research Article
Information: IRAQ , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1952 , pp. 76 - 92

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/4199556 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1952

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^{page 76 note 1} This brief account of the subject has been prepared in compliance with a request from Professor Mallowan who thought that a summary of what is known about the places of sacrifice would be useful to scholars who have not time themselves to search fot the scattered information. My utmost thanks are due to Dr. Heinrich Lenzen, who most generously put at my disposal the photographs for Plates XXVI-XXIX, and to the Director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago for permission to reproduce the two figutes on Plate XXX.

^{page 76 note 2} Lloyd, Seton and Safar, Fuad, Eridu: Sumer III (1947). 85–111Google Scholar; IV, 2 (1948), 115-125.

^{page 76 note 3} op. cit., III, 91, 103; for fish-sacrifices see Iraq X (1948), 102–121Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 1} Heuzey, in Cros, , Nouvelles Fouilles de Telo, 34, 81Google Scholar.

^{page 77 note 2} Heinrich, , U.V.B. V (1934), 9Google Scholar; VI (1935), 12, Pl. 4.

^{page 77 note 3} Lenzen, , U.V.B. XI (1940), 17Google Scholar; A.f.O. XIV (1941), 72–3Google Scholar.

^{page 78 note 1} Lenzen, , U.V.B. VIII (1937), 11–12Google Scholar.

^{page 78 note 2} Koldewey, , Z.A, II (1887), 403ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 78 note 3} Heinrich, und Werner, , U.V.B. VI (1935), 9–11Google Scholar, Fig. 1, Pl. 5, a.

^{page 79 note 1} U.V.B. II (1931), 18, 24–5Google Scholar, Figs. 8, 11, Pls. 4, 5, Section G-H (Jordan); VIII (1957), 11-12, Pl. 15 (Lenzen).

^{page 80 note 1} Lenzen, , U.V.B. VIII, 12–15, Pls. 15, 35a, 36x, a, bGoogle Scholar.

^{page 80 note 2} Lenzen, , U.V.B. IX (1958), 14–15, Pl. 10, bGoogle Scholar.

^{page 81 note 1} Lenzen, , U.V.B. VIII, 14–15, Pl. 14Google Scholar.

^{page 81 note 2} Falkenstein, , Archaiscke Texte aus Uruk, 48, Sign-List Nos. 605-7Google Scholar.

^{page 81 note 3} Lenzen, , U.V.B. VIII, 15–16, Pls. 15, 16, Section V-V', 37Google Scholar, a; IX, 11, Pls. 9, 20, a.

^{page 82 note 1} Lenzen, , U.V.B, VIII, 16Google Scholar; IX, 11-12.

^{page 82 note 2} U.V.B. II, 18, Pl. 4 (Jordan); VIII, 17, Pls. II, 57, b (Lenzen); IX, 12, Pl. 7.

^{page 82 note 3} Lenzen, , U.V.B. XI (1940), 6, 7, Pls. 6, 17Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 1} Lenzen, , U.V.B. VIII, 17–18Google Scholar, Pls. 9, 10; IX, 13, Pls. 3, a, 6, 21, b; XI, 7, Pl. 12.

^{page 83 note 2} Lenzen, , U.V.B. VIII, 18, Pl. 8Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 3} Lenzen, , Zur Datierung der Anu-Zikurrat in Warka: M.D.O.G. No. 83, 11, 1951, 1–23, especially 8, 16Google Scholar.

^{page 83 note 4} Heinrich, , U.V.B. IX, 20, 21, Pls. 15Google Scholar, a, 16, Section P-Q; Lenzen, op. cit., 16.

^{page 83 note 5} U.V.B. 19 (Leitten), 51, Pl. 52, b (Heinrich).

^{page 83 note 6} Lloyd, Seton and Safar, Fuad, Eridu: Sumer IV, 2 (1948), 115–125, Pl. VIGoogle Scholar.

^{page 84 note 1} Woolley, , Ur Bxcav. VGoogle Scholar. The Ziggurat and its Surrourndings, 12-13, Pls. 4, b, 5, a, 66.

^{page 84 note 2} Woolley, op. cit., 21-1, Pls. 13, 66.

^{page 85 note 1} Woolley, , Ur Excav. IGoogle Scholar, Al-'Ubaid, 75, Pl. II (where it is labelled “Kitchen”); Delougaz, , The Temple Oval at Khafajah (O.I.P. LIII), 130, note 8Google Scholar, compares this structure to similar examples found elsewhere and explains it as a kiln.

^{page 85 note 2} Delougaz, , A Short Investition of the Temple at Al-'Ubaid: Iraq V (1938), 5Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 1} Delougaz, Pinhas and Lloyd, Seton, Presargonid Temples of the Diyala Region. O.L.P. LVIII (1942), 9–78Google Scholar.

^{page 86 note 2} Delougaz, op. cit., 23, Fig. 18, Pl. 4, A and B.

^{page 86 note 3} op. cit., 26, Fig. 21, A and B. A comparison with U.V.B. VIII, Pl. 37, b demonstrates the perfect similarity of the Khafajah examples with the example belonging to the time of Archaic Stratum I, 5 at Warka.

^{page 86 note 4} op. cit., 34, Pl. 5, A.

^{apge 86 note 5} op. cit., 43, Pl. 6.

^{page 87 note 1} op. cit., 45, Pl. 8.

^{page 87 note 2} op. cit., 45-6, Fig. 43.

^{page 87 note 3} op. cit., 56-7, Pl. 10.

^{page 87 note 4} op. cit., 63, 69, Pl. 11.

^{page 87 note 5} op. cit., 109, Pl. 17, F.

^{page 87 note 6} op. cit., 111, Pl. 17, H.

^{page 87 note 7} op. cit., 111, Pl. 17, I.

^{page 87 note 8} op. cit., 112, Fig. 104.

^{page 88 note 1} op. cit., 89, pl. 16.

^{page 88 note 2} Delougaz, , The Temple Oval at Khafajah. O.I.P. LIII (1940)Google Scholar.

^{page 88 note 3} op. cit., 24, 56, Fig. 17. Pl. III.

^{page 88 note 4} op. cit., 29.

^{page 88 note 5} op. cit., 60.

^{page 88 note 6} op. cit., 24, 29, 56, 130-33.

^{page 88 note 7} op. cit., 131.

^{page 88 note 8} Fisher, , Excavations at Nippur, 40–1Google Scholar, Plan 3 (Fig. 2), and Pl. 3 (2); Hilprecht, , Explorations in Bible Lands, 489–92Google Scholar, Fig. in text.

^{page 89 note 1} Delougaz, op. cit., 35-7, Figs, 31, 32, Pls. III, IV.

^{page 89 note 2} Preusser, O.I.C. No. 13, 83, Fig. 37.

^{page 89 note 3} Delougaz, op. cit., 37.

^{page 89 note 4} Frankfort, O.I.C. No. 20, Fig, 13.

^{page 89 note 5} Delougaz, op. cit., 78, 92, Fig. 67, Pl. VII.

^{page 90 note 1} Delougaz, and Lloyd, Seton, Presargonid Temples of the Diyala Region, 163Google Scholar, Fig. 120, Pl. 20, A (Seton Lloyd).

^{page 90 note 2} Seton Lloyd, op. cit., 193, Fig. 155, Pl. 23, A.

^{page 90 note 3} op. cit., 200, Pl. 23, B.

^{page 90 note 4} Tobler, A. J., Excavations at Tepe Gawra IIGoogle Scholar: Levels IX-XX, 9, 12, 39, 43, Pls. XXXI, a, XLI, b, XLII, a.

^{page 90 note 5} Tobler, op. cit., 56, Pls. XIV, XXXVIII, a, XXXIX, b.

^{page 90 note 6} Tobler, op. cit., 16-17, Pl. V.

^{page 91 note 1} Lenzen, , U.V.B. IX, 14, Pls. 2, 25, aGoogle Scholar.

^{page 91 note 2} Woolley, , Ur Excav. V. The Ziggurot, 38, Pl. 68Google Scholar.

^{page 91 note 3} Lenzen, , U. V.B. X (1939), 14, Pl. 19, aGoogle Scholar.

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