The Temple of Ishtar-Shawushka

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The temple at Nuzi was rebuilt six times after its initial construction at the beginning of the second millennium BCE. Temple G, the earliest, possessed only one sanctuary, which was apparently dedicated to Ishtar-Shawushka. A second sanctuary and courtyard were added in the next phase (Temple F). This sanctuary may have been devoted to Teshshup, the head of the Hurrian pantheon. Temple A, the latest in the sequence, was ransacked and destroyed with the rest of Stratum II in the late 14th century BCE.

This display is based on features found in the final sanctuary of Ishtar-Shawushka (Temple A). The statue of the goddess, of which only a few possible fragments survive, would have stood on a pedestal at one end of the sanctuary room. She is depicted here in her aspect as goddess of war. Glazed ceramic pegs were embedded into the sanctuary's mud-plastered walls as decoration. Thousands of beads were found in the sanctuary, and some of these may have adorned the walls as well, Figurines, vessels, and other objects would have been placed at the feet of the goddess and on benches along the walls.

	This large storage jar is from Temple F. On the shoulder, there is relief decoration showing a predatory animal, and incised along the same band of the shoulder are a row of cattle, which this animal appears to be attacking. A man, also in relief, pursues the predator with an upraised axe.
	The wall pegs, at the top, are but two of the many glazed pegs embedded in the sanctuary's walls for decoration. These all come from the latest temple, Temple A. The beads are in a variety of shapes and colors, and are made of different media, including stone, shell, glass, and faience. The strings on the left, seen here, are primarily brown and beige tones; those on the right in the larger photo are in shades of blue.
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	Even though these zoomorphic vessels from the sanctuary of Temple A look a little like pigs, they are almost certainly lions, the symbolic animal of Ishtar. The potter threw the original vessel as a jar, then added the features and details. The entire piece was covered with a thin slip of clay to cement it all together prior to firing.
	This grotesque lion, also from Temple A, appears rather crude, but is actually made with a great amount of detail. The lions appear at Nuzi in a wide variety of forms; there are others in the exhibit that are very naturalistic, decorated with glazed and painted details, in both standing and crouching positions. This lion was crouching; the original piece had legs which were located where the white form is seen. There were at least two others like him, based on the fragments that were found in the Temple.

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