Ekur

Ruins of the mountain house at Nippur

Ekur (Sumerian: 𒂍𒆳 É.KUR), also known as Duranki, is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, it was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer.

Quotes

• Elam, a raging dog, a destroyer, will not defile E-kic-nu-jal, the sanctuary which covers heaven and earth. [...] Its protective spirits shall not be split apart!
  • Ishbi-Erra to Ibbi-Suen, Letter from Ishbi-Erra to Ibbi-Suen about the purchase of grain, Correspondence of the Kings of Ur, Old Babylonian period, ca. 1800-1600 BCE, at The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature; their original date of composition and their historical accuracy are debated.

• Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form, the lord who never changes the destinies which he determines – Enlil – who will make the human seed of the Land come forth from the earth – and not only did he hasten to separate heaven from earth, and hasten to separate earth from heaven, but, in order to make it possible for humans to grow in "where flesh came forth" [the name of a cosmic location], he first raised the axis of the world at Dur-an-ki. He did this with the help of the hoe -- and so daylight broke forth.
  • Song of the Hoe, 3rd millennium BCE. Text online at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature.

• The E-kur, the temple of Enlil, was founded by the hoe. By day it was building it, by night it caused the temple to grow.
  • Song of the Hoe, 3rd millennium BCE. Text online at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature..