In respect to the most famous Canonical Temple List, the organizational principle used in Mesopotamian temple lists seems to have been followed by the compiler of this not-fully-preserved text.
The list, as restored by George, in fact exhibits an order that is neither theological nor geographical, but more probably hierarchical, with well-known temples of Sumer and Akkad mentioned according to their fame, cosmological importance, and antiquity.
The text is organized in a three sub-column arrangement, with the ceremonial Sumerian names on the left, their popular Akkadian counterparts in the middle, and their locations on the right.
The name given to the list by its modern editor is based on the preference apparent in the preserved text for northern Babylonian sanctuaries, and the corresponding underrepresentation of their southern counterparts.
Found during the excavation conducted by the Oriental Institute of Chicago at Khorsabad (ancient Dur-Šarrukēn) – hence its modern title -, this list presents some common features with the Babylonian Temple List.
First, the text is also organized into a three sub-column arrangement, which mention respectively the ceremonial name, the popular name, and the location for each temple included in the list. Second, the sanctuaries listed are almost all located in northern cities of Babylonia.
Unlike the Babylonian Temple List, however, this text is clearly ordered geographically, since the different temples are grouped according to their locations, and it is thus linkable to other texts such as the Kuyunjik Ziggurat List, the Neo-Babylonian Ziggurat List, and the Explanatory Temple List, From Kish to Apak.
Preserved in the fourth column of a tablet found in Kuyunjik (ancient Nineveh), this text provides a list of ziggurats and city walls grouped organized geographically.
The list is arranged into the usual two sub-columns, with the Sumerian ceremonial name on the left and the location on the right.
The presence of Parsa/Dur-Kurigalzu (modern Aqar Quf), the new royal residence founded by Kurigalzu I around 1400 BC, among the first locations mentioned suggests that this list was composed during the period of the Kassite dynasty.
The Neo-Babylonian Ziggurat List
Another geographical inventory of ziggurats and city walls is provided by this partially preserved list transmitted by a tablet that probably came from Sippar, Babylon, or Borsippa.
As in the Kuyunjik Ziggurat List, the text is divided into two sub-columns where the ceremonial name and location is recorded for each entry.
In opposition to the other list, however, the sequence of the cities mentioned here is different; as well, some disagreement can be recognized in the temple names and in the orthography of the geographical names.
An Explanatory Temple List, From Kish to Apak
In this tablet, which most likely originated in Babylon, the traditional format of the temple list is enriched by the addition of an indented line which provides an Akkadian gloss of the type displayed in texts like the Explanation of Temple Names in Babylon A, B, C and D.
The text records temples, city walls, and a river for four different Mesopotamian cities: Kish, Hursagkalamma, Cutha, and Apak. The principle of organization is therefore again geographical, in so far as the list groups the entries according to their locations. But while Kish, Hursagkalamma, and Cutha were more or less neighboring cities, the presence of Apak, probably located near Dilbat, seems to be for theological reasons: like Cutha, Apak was a cult-center of the god Nergal.
The arrangement exhibits two sub-columns with the ceremonial name as usual on the right and its everyday counterpart on the left; every entry, as mentioned above, presents additionally an indented explanation of the Sumerian name with the literal Akkadian translation or, often, with a hermeneutic interpretation that plays with Sumerian homophones and orthography, enabling the compiler to unveil hidden meanings.
A partial duplication of the first section of this list can be found in the List of Temples in Kish A.
Known through fragments from Aššur and Nineveh, this tablet shows the preserved part of a temple list whose format is so far unique.
The entries, dealing with the temples of the cities of Kish, Eridu, Nippur, and Dilmun, are in fact grouped in different sections divided by horizontal rulings according to their location. Within all of these sections, each temple can be presented by its Sumerian ceremonial name, its Akkadian everyday counterpart, or both.
A Fragmentary Temple List from Kuyunjik
This text is transmitted by a fragmentary tablet from Kuyunjik (ancient Nineveh) which preserves the beginning of ten lines of a text, and can most probably be interpreted as a temple list.
This text derives from two extracts transmitted by a school tablet found in Ashurbanipal's library at Kuyunjik (ancient Nineveh) and presents a list of temples located in Mesopotamian cities such as Babylon, Dur-Šarrukēn, Marad, and Larak.
Further Reading
Giulia Lentini
Giulia Lentini, 'Temple Lists', Babylonian Topographical Texts online (BTTo), BTTo, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2022 [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/btto/templelists/]