All language subtitles for Unearthed.2016.S09E05.Lost.City.of.the.Sumerian.Gods.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Deep
In the iraqi desert,

Investigators unearth
An ancient city
Like no other:

Nippur.

Five thousand years ago,
This is the center of worship

For half a million people
Across mesopotamia.

It's the ancient equivalent
Of mecca, jerusalem
Or rome.

[narrator] A city-state ruled
Not by a mortal,
But by a deity.

[abbas al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] Today,
Investigators have rare access

To use pioneering technology
To unlock its secrets.

Why do gods and warring kings
Covet this city?

[george heath-whyte]
Nippur was unique.

It was never destroyed
By any invading people.

[narrator] To solve
This mystery,

We digitally reconstruct
A lost world hidden
By the desert.

We rebuild
A spectacular ziggurat,

Uncover a temple
Devoted to a goddess of love,

And evidence
Of a mysterious fortress...

To unearth the surprising
Secrets of this,

The most sacred city
In mesopotamia.

[narrator] Nippur, iraq,

100 miles
South east of baghdad.

Ruins tower above
The hot desert landscape.

Nippur is one of the richest
Archaeological sites on earth.

It lies in the center
Of a war-torn country.

Decades of conflict have
Prevented experts from
Fully exploring its story.

Until now.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] Today,
It is crumbling,
And buried in sand.

But thousands of years ago,
Nippur is a jewel
In the desert,

With a mystery at its heart.

In its prime, the city
Spreads across 370 acres,

And is home
To an estimated 40,000 people.

A large moat
And 45-foot-thick walls,

With seven mighty gates,
Run two miles around the city.

A waterway, half a mile long,
Divides the ancient city
In two.

On elevated ground
To the east,

A walled temple complex
Surrounds a stepped
Structure 80 feet tall,

Called a ziggurat.

But one crucial feature is
Missing, a royal palace.

If no king lives here,
Who builds this city and why?

For over 40 years,

Invasion, war and terror
Has devastated this country.

Only now can
Investigators return
To this off-limits site,

To unlock the secrets
Of nippur.

Our cameras have been given
Exclusive access to follow
Their work

Exploring this
Half-buried ancient city.

Abbas al-husseini leads

Excavations across
This region of iraq.

He heads to the heart
Of the ruins,

This towering mound.

Today, a building erected
By the first american
Archeologist

To map this site, sits on top
Of the ancient ziggurat.

Beneath it, abbas believes
There are clues

To the identity
Of the first civilization
To build here.

Clues that date back
To the dawn of
The written word.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] Abbas finds
Pieces of ancient pottery here

That date to the early
3rd millennium b.C...

Making nippur
One of the oldest cities
In the world.

But a city without a palace
Means that no one rules
From nippur.

No king sits on a throne here.
So, who builds this city?

Abbas believes that a clue
Can be found in the
Ancient mud bricks

That are scattered around
The site.

Stamped on the side
Of some of the bricks
Are strange symbols.

Abbas recognizes
The inscriptions.

It's cuneiform, an ancient
System of block writing

First developed in this area
Around 5,000 years ago.

It is the oldest written
Language ever discovered.

He reads the ancient script.

[al-husseini
Speaking ancient language]

[speaking english]

[narrator] King ur-nammu
Is the ruler of this part
Of mesopotamia

In around 2100 b.C.

He is one
Of the greatest kings
Of the ancient sumerians.

Over 4000 years ago,

Many rival kings fight
For control of mesopotamia.

Around 2100 b.C.,

Ur-nammu finally unites ur,
Babylon, akkad and sumeria,

And founds the third dynasty
Of the sumerian empire.

He creates the oldest known
Legal system,

The code of ur-nammu,

57 laws that cover
Sorcery to murder.

And he undertakes
Vast projects,

Building new roads, canals

And ziggurats
Across his empire.

One of his greatest
Achievements is the
Mighty ziggurat of ur,

A 100-foot-high, stacked
Superstructure to rival
The pyramids of egypt,

An astonishing monument
That dominates
His capital city, ur.

King ur-nammu also transforms
Nippur with the construction

Of its own huge ziggurat
And monumental city walls.

Why does he lavish
Such resources on a city
That is not his ruling base?

Clues could lie in a tiny
Statue hidden in the base
Of the ziggurat.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] Enlil is a mighty
And powerful god.

The king orders
The construction
Of the great ziggurat

As a supreme act of devotion
And worship.

Ur-nammu builds
His temple complex
From thousands of mud bricks.

Forty-foot-high walls
Surround temples and shrines.

A mountain house for the gods.

Here, the king builds
A temple, a huge ziggurat.

At the top, he adds a shrine
Close to the heavens.

This is where the king comes
To worship the most important
God in the sumerian pantheon,

Enlil, the god of creation.

Ancient kings often portray
Themselves as close
To powerful gods.

But nippur is 100 miles
From the king's palace at ur.

Why does king ur-nammu
Build a temple to the
All-powerful god enlil,

In the distant city of nippur?

The answer could lie buried
In the desert landscape.

Jeff allen works to protect
The glories

Of ancient mesopotamia's
Long-forgotten past.

He thinks nippur's location
Is key to explaining why

King ur-nammu designates
The city as the home
Of enlil.

[allen] Babylon is here
In the north.

Rival cities such as akkad
And ur are further south.

Nippur is right in the middle
Of mesopotamia.

Nippur is in the middle
Of warring city-states

Such as babylon, ur and akkad.

[narrator] The states
Of ancient mesopotamia,

Sumer, ur, akkad, babylon,.

Are engaged in a series
Of almost never-ending wars.

[allen] Nippur becomes
The home of enlil,

Because it is the place

Where enemies take disputes
To be resolved.

[narrator]
It's neutral territory,

An ancient equivalent
To the united nations building
In new york city.

[allen] Nippur is also

The ethnic and linguistic
Frontier between
The different states.

[narrator]
Four thousand years ago,

The city of nippur plays
A unique role in mesopotamia.

It is the perfect place
To establish the cult of enlil

And build
A spectacular ziggurat.

Nippur is the only city
Where enlil is worshipped,

Confirming the city's place
As the religious capital
Of ancient mesopotamia.

Pilgrims of enlil's cult
Flock here in their thousands.

Nippur is sacred
To every mesopotamian.

And throughout history,

There is no record of nippur
Ever being destroyed
By conquerors.

Unlike great mesopotamian
Sites like babylon,
Lagash and ur...

This desolated ruin is one
Of the only ancient cities
Never to be destroyed.

After ur-nammu's death
And the demise
Of his dynasty,

Mesopotamian rulers continued
To worship at nippur.

[allen] Ancient texts say
That sumerian kings
Don't inherit the thrones.

They must seek
The approval of the deities.

[narrator] In return
For enlil's divine blessing,

Kings of states
Like sumer, ur and akkad,

Lavish gifts of land,

Jewelry, gold
And slaves on nippur.

The city's status and power
Is derived from enlil,
The creation god,

The kingmaker.

Are there other gods hiding
Beneath the sands of nippur?

What secrets do they hold

About life in one of the
World's oldest civilizations?

[narrator] The ancient city
Of nippur in modern-day iraq.

Home to a glorious ziggurat,

Dedicated to enlil,
The mesopotamian
God of creation.

But that's only a fraction
Of this huge city.

What other secrets lie hidden
Beneath the desert sands?

To investigate,
Abbas al-husseini
Takes to the air.

This part of iraq
Is a sensitive military zone.

But abbas has been given
Exclusive permission

To fly a drone-mounted,
High-definition camera

Over the ruins and
Their surrounding landscape.

A lost city comes into view.

Traces of monumental walls
Peak out from beneath

Centuries of accumulated
Sand and debris.

The outlines of many more
Structures become clear.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] Investigators
Uncover more than 100 temples
In nippur,

Each dedicated to the dozens
Of different gods worshipped

In ancient mesopotamia.

One temple rivals enlil's
For its prominence.

In the west of the city,

Archeologists unearth
The walls of a temple

That dates
To around 3000 b.C.,

1,000 years
Before the great ziggurat.

Buried in the corner
Of a sanctuary,

They find statues.

Many of them are women.

In another room,
A calcite bowl
To hold offerings,

Bears the name
Of this temple's deity:

The goddess ishtar.

Who is ishtar?

And can she shed light
On life in ancient nippur?

Ali hussein is an expert

On the people
Of ancient mesopotamia.

He searches for answers here,

Amongst the country's
Most prestigious
Archaeological discoveries,

The iraq museum in baghdad.

It is home
To a spectacular collection
Of over 100,000 artifacts

From the world's
Oldest civilizations.

Ali believes
That tantalizing evidence
Of ishtar's importance

Can be seen
On a unique discovery

Found 60 miles south
Of nippur.

[speaking foreign language]

[narrator] Ali examines
The inscriptions on the vase.

[hussein speaking
Foreign language]

[narrator] The reed bundles
On the highest level
Are symbols of ishtar,

Goddess of fertility
And plenty.

The vase reveals
An order of nature
In mesopotamian belief,

From crops, up to animals,

Up to humans,
With ishtar at the top.

A queen of the heavens,

She is one
Of the most revered deities
In the mesopotamian pantheon.

Her importance and popularity
Are due to the part she plays

In the mesopotamian story

Of the beginning
Of human civilization.

In the ancient myth,

Ishtar feasts
With her father enki,

The god of wisdom.

Enki gets drunk
And reveals to ishtar

A set of secret divine rules
For civilization

That the sumerians
Call "Me's."

When a sober enki
Realizes his mistake...

He sends his giants
To capture ishtar.

Ishtar flees
On her boat of heaven

To deliver the me's
To the people,

Spreading wisdom from the gods
To humanity.

Ishtar is loved and worshipped
Throughout mesopotamia.

And ali believes
A remarkable discovery
In nippur

Shows that ishtar's standing
Amongst the gods

Reflects a surprising feature
Of sumerian society.

[hussein speaking
Foreign language]

[narrator] The sculpture seems
To present the couple
As equals.

Ali thinks that
With equality among male
And female gods

Comes equality among
Sumerian men and women.

[speaking foreign language]

[narrator] Sumerian women
Can also own property,

Become scribes, physicians,
And even act as judges.

We tend to think
Of modern civilization
As the most progressive.

Yet, this 4000-year-old
Culture boasts

Female empowerment
And gender equality

That many modern societies
Have only achieved
In the last century.

Under ishtar
And enlil's protection,

Nippur grows steadily
Around the temples
And great ziggurat.

How does this huge city thrive
In this desert landscape?

And can a discovery
In the sand

Reveal how
The city's greatest asset

Becomes its downfall?

[narrator] Nippur,
In ancient mesopotamia.

At its height,
40,000 people live
And work here,

Maintaining the temples
Of enlil, ishtar,
And hundreds of others.

Today, the temperatures
Can soar to over 100 degrees
Fahrenheit in summer.

How can the city survive here,

And thrive in such
An unforgiving environment?

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] There's no sign
Of water here today.

Was this landscape so arid
Thousands of years ago,

When nippur
Was a thriving city?

Abbas al-husseini
And his team launch

A drone-mounted
High-definition camera
To hunt for clues.

The bird's-eye view reveals
The outline of a ditch
Cutting across the landscape.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] The shatt en-nil
Is an offshoot
Of the euphrates river,

One of two giant waterways
That flank mesopotamia.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] In 2100 b.C.,

The shatt en-nil
Channels water
From the euphrates to nippur.

It's over 50 yards wide
In some parts,

Big enough for boats
To navigate
In both directions.

The sumerians build nippur
On its banks,

And it provides freshwater
All year round to sustain
The ever-growing city.

It irrigates a vast garden
In the west of nippur,

And barley fields
Outside its walls.

But this great waterway
Could also serve
Another purpose.

Clues may be found
45 miles to the north,

In the most famous
Mesopotamian city of all,

Babylon.

A city that covers
An astonishing
3.5 square miles,

And is once home
To over 200,000 people.

In nippur, many of the ruins
Are still buried
Beneath the dirt.

But excavations at babylon
Could reveal a similar layout,

And shed light on the purpose
Of the city center waterway.

Jeff allen investigates.

[allen] About 85% of babylon
Is still to be excavated.

It's hard to see,

But around me
Are bricks dating from around
The 6th century b.C.

[narrator] Jeff believes
That these bricks provide

A tantalizing glimpse
Into the distant past.

The bricks support piers
Upon which a bridge rests
Over the river euphrates.

[narrator] The river euphrates
Divides babylon in two.

A succession
Of ancient bridges
Links the city together.

This engineering feat
Allows babylon to thrive
Around the river,

Just like nippur thrives
Around the shatt en-nil
Waterway.

The river
Is an ancient superhighway

That connects nippur
With babylon

And all the other major cities
In mesopotamia.

It makes it simple
To travel to nippur,

To worship
The god of creation, enlil.

This enables the city
To establish itself

As the center of cult worship
In ancient mesopotamia.

But could this waterway
That helps the city rise
To greatness

Also be the city's downfall?

We know that the euphrates
Shifts course
On several occasions.

And that will have an impact
Upstream, too, in nippur.

[narrator]
If the euphrates shifts,

The shatt en-nil waterway
Could dry up.

Nippur's people could be
Starved of water.

The citizens leave.

It probably explains
Why we don't have

Any archaeological evidence
For the period.

When the course
Of the river changes,
The people move to follow it.

[narrator] Nippur's temples
Are abandoned.

It's no longer a home
For the gods.

The ziggurat,
The temple to enlil,

Is neglected,
And falls into disrepair.

[allen] Perhaps
Nippur's decline

Is caused by the gods
Angry at enlil's dethronement.

[narrator] After two millennia

As the heart
Of mesopotamian civilization,

Nippur is a ghost city.

But discoveries unearthed here
Reveal clues of the surprising
Resurrection of nippur.

How does nippur miraculously
Retake its role at the center
Of cult worship?

[narrator] In the deserts
Of southern iraq,

Archaeologists reveal the rise
And fall of nippur.

By 1750 b.C.,
It is a ghost town.

But this sacred city
Is not abandoned forever.

At the base of the ziggurat,

Excavators discover
More recent stamped bricks.

They reveal the name
Of a great assyrian king,
Ashurbanipal.

This mighty new ruler
Takes nippur as his own,

And gives it
A new lease on life.

[heath-whyte]
Ashurbanipal successfully
Restored nippur

To its former glory.

As a hub of trade
And commerce,

Crowds of people would have
Flocked into nippur

To see the recently rebuilt
Temple complex,
And to visit the god enlil.

[narrator] Ashurbanipal
Fully restores the ziggurat
In 650 b.C.,

Complete with a shrine
To the god enlil at the top.

Why does he restore
What was lost
Hundreds of years before?

George heath-whyte
Is an expert

On the ancient peoples
Of mesopotamia and assyria.

He thinks inscriptions
On bricks from nippur

Offer clues to the motivations
Of king ashurbanipal.

He recreates
The cuneiform text

So he can analyze it
More closely.

[heath-whyte] I'll read out
In the language
It was written in.

[speaking ancient language]

Which means "Enlil,
King of the lands."

What's so interesting
About this brick
Is that the king who wrote it

Is using signs from hundreds
And hundreds of years,

Even 1,500 years
Before his own time.

If you lived in nippur
At the time of ashurbanipal,

You wouldn't be able
To understand

What was being
Written on these bricks.

[narrator] George compares
This text to another inscribed
Brick also found at nippur,

To explore
What this language is.

We have here a photo
Of a much older brick,

Of over 1,000 years
Before ashurbanipal's reign.

And it's actually incredibly
Similar to this brick
Of ashurbanipal's.

And you can see it,
The layout is very similar.

We've got this big box
Ruled out by lines,
Written onto a brick.

[narrator]
Why is ashurbanipal returning
To ancient traditions,

Going back to a writing style
From over 1000 years
Before his reign?

[heath-whyte] It's like
If you were to build
A building today

And put a latin inscription
On the top of it.

Not many people would be able
To understand it, but you
Might be able to recognize

That the builder was trying
To hark back to a much
Older period of time.

[narrator] George thinks
A clue is hidden
In its translation.

Written here so far is,
"Enlil, king of the lands.

His king."
That "His" is just talking
About ashurbanipal.

Ashurbanipal is the king
Of a mighty empire,

But he's describing
This god enlil as his king.

[narrator] The translation
Reveals that ashurbanipal

Wants to win favor
With the supreme deity enlil.

He uses sumerian language
And cuneiform
To deliberately echo the past.

He restores the city
As the cult center for enlil.

[heath-whyte] For a long time,
Before ashurbanipal
Came along,

Nippur had been neglected,

And its temples
Had fallen into ruins.

He's looking
Back to the period

When nippur was
At the height of its glory,

When nippur was
The center of the world,
Almost.

And he's trying to say,
"Nippur, you can be
Like this again."

[narrator] Ashurbanipal
Stamps his message

Onto thousands of bricks,

And rebuilds
The temple complex

As it was
Over a millennium before.

He's sending out
A clear message.

[heath-whyte] Ashurbanipal,
He's trying to show

That he's not just a king
From a foreign land,

Coming in
And trying to rule them

And steal their grain
Or whatever,

That he is their king,
And he's gonna support them,

And rebuild their city.

[narrator] Is ashurbanipal
A benevolent king,

Winning loyalty
Simply by reviving
Nippur's lost wonders?

[narrator]
Ashurbanipal's empire

Stretches from egypt
To the persian gulf,

But some factions
Rise up against him,

Including one
Led by his own brother
In babylon.

Ashurbanipal shows
His ruthlessness

By cutting off
His enemies' heads

And displaying them
In his garden.

[narrator] He's a cruel king,

But also a religious scholar,

And builds the world's
First library of sacred texts
In nineveh.

Ashurbanipal restores
Nippur's temples

To win the support
Of the gods and the people,

A clever ploy
To suppress uprising.

By rebuilding nippur,

Ashurbanipal reignites
The god enlil's role
As kingmaker,

Cleverly strengthening
His position

As the ruler enlil has chosen.

Nippur returns to its status
As the preeminent place

Of cult worship
In mesopotamia,

An untouchable
Neutral territory,

A place respected by all.

[heath-whyte]
Nippur was almost like
An ancient equivalent

Of the vatican city today.

No matter where
Political power was held,

Nippur was where
Religious power was held.

[narrator]
Despite over 1,000 years

Separating the reigns
Of ur-nammu and ashurbanipal,

The city of nippur
Remains crucial

To the fortunes
Of mesopotamian rulers.

Can an astonishing find
Of ancient clay tablets
In nippur

Show how successful
Ashurbanipal is

At reviving the fortunes
Of the city?

And can these texts
Reveal the origins

Of one of the most
Famous stories in the bible?

[narrator] Nippur...

By the 7th century b.C.,

The city is thriving
For the second time,

Under the rule of the mighty
King ashurbanipal.

He restores enlil's temple
To its former glory.

Nippur is once again
The center of worship

For the ancient mesopotamian
God of creation.

Now investigators believe
That an astonishing find

May unlock the secrets
Of life in nippur

After its surprising revival.

[allen] What we found
At nippur

Revolutionized
Our understanding
Of these peoples

And their world.

[narrator] Five hundred yards
From the ziggurat,

In the western half
Of the city,

Archaeologists uncover a house

From the 5th century b.C.

Scattered across the floor,

They find hundreds
Of clay tablets.

They document
The financial transactions

Of a banking family
Called morashu.

What can this
Astonishing treasure trove

Tell us about
Why nippur is thriving?

George heath-whyte
Pieces together
This ancient puzzle,

Revealing a picture
Of the morashu family

As one of the leading
Business families in nippur.

The morashu family
Made a lot of money

In banking.

They would
Lend money to people,

They would buy and sell land,

And when people couldn't pay
Their debts to them,

They would take that land
Off them.

And they became very wealthy

Over the course
Of the 5th century b.C.

[narrator]
These astonishing documents

Show that 2,500 years ago,

The morashu family
Runs a highly sophisticated
Financial powerhouse.

As well as land,
They'd trade grain and fruit,

Funding huge developments

And other
Profit-making ventures.

[heath-whyte] We know
That this family was
Very successful,

Because we have records
Of their business

For over three generations.

[narrator] The tablets
Are undisputable evidence

That nippur is not only
A religious center,

But a thriving business
And trading hub.

George believes
The sheer volume of tablets

Found in the morashu house
And in other excavations,

Make nippur
An astonishing
Window on life

In ancient mesopotamia
2,500 years ago.

[heath-whyte] Archaeologists
Have found in nippur

Around 30,000 texts

That reveal everything
About what life was like
In nippur.

[narrator] Tablets discovered
At nippur

Date back as far as the middle
Of the 3rd millennium, b.C.

One tablet dates back
To the 17th century, b.C.,

And contains part
Of an early version

Of the oldest written story
Ever discovered,

The epic of gilgamesh.

In the gilgamesh epic,

The god enki tells a man
Called utnapishtim,

That other gods
Plan to destroy mankind

With a great flood.

Utnapishtim builds
A large boat called
Preserver of life,

And embarks on it
With silver, gold,

And all living beings.

The violent flood
Lasts for six days,

But cannot sink utnapishtim
And his boat.

On the seventh day,
Utnapishtim finds land,

And the god enlil
Rewards him with immortality.

Jeff allen thinks
There may be a link

Between the flood story
Found at nippur

And its better known
Counterpart

Recorded in genesis,

The first book of the bible,
The story of noah's ark.

[allen] There is similarity
Between the story
Of noah's ark

And the flood myth
In the gilgamesh epic.

Did the jews know
Of gilgamesh,

And it influenced
The writings of genesis?

[narrator] Many jews
Are taken in captivity
To babylon

After the capture
Of jerusalem,

By the babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar, in 587 b.C.

In exile, jewish scholars
Compile and write

The genesis story of creation.

They may draw on gilgamesh
And other sources.

Did both,
Genesis and gilgamesh,

Draw their material

From a common tradition
About the great flood?

[narrator]
The thousands of tablets
Found here

Reveal astonishing
Detail of life

In 5th century b.C., nippur.

They paint a complex portrait
Of a tolerant,

Progressive society,

A thriving city,

Home to business and the arts.

Nippur goes
From strength to strength

In the centuries
After it is restored.

But can clues
Found near the ziggurat

Identify a new war-like people
That take over nippur,

And reveal
A strange new purpose

For this giant monument?

[narrator] For 2,000 years,
The city of nippur flourishes

As the center of cult worship
In ancient mesopotamia.

Pilgrims flock
To its over 100 temples,

And the city grows
Along the riverbanks,

Into a thriving center
Of trade.

Towering over it all
Is the huge ziggurat,

The temple of enlil.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator] But after
The grandeur

Of the sumerian
And assyrian periods,

Some strange modifications
To the ziggurat

Reveal that nippur
Is taken over

By yet another civilization.

They encase
The ziggurat in brick,

And turn it into
A cross-shaped monument

That resembles a watchtower.

Around it,
They build living quarters
For a garrison,

All enclosed
By strong brick walls

With circular buttresses,

And an outer
Fortification wall

Up to 30 feet thick.

What is the ziggurat
Transformed into

An impenetrable fortress?

Excavators in the early 1900s

Dig up so much of the earth
Around the ziggurat,

That much of the evidence
Is lost.

[al-husseini speaking]

[narrator]
Abbas al-husseini thinks

This last remaining
Unexcavated column of earth

Holds vital clues
In its untouched layers.

[narrator]
Investigators discover
The layer of mud bricks

Laid down
When the fort is built,

They carbon date
Organic material
In the mud bricks.

It reveals the fort is built
In the 1st century ad.

The date,
Coupled with the design
Of the fortification,

Identifies it as parthian,

A war-like people
From what is now iran.

But there's a mystery,

The mud bricks are filled
With older shards of pottery.

Why is there
Older sumerian pottery

Set into the newer
Parthian mud bricks?

[narrator] The parthians
Smashed statues

Sacred to
Past civilizations...

And used them
As building materials.

Mixed into fresh mud bricks,

They vastly increased
The bricks' strength.

The parthians, at war
With the roman empire,

Transformed nippur
Into a garrison town,

And the ziggurat into a fort,

Building it from
Pottery-reinforced bricks
For extra strength.

The parthians
Fall to the romans

By the end of
The 2nd century ad.

But excavations show
That nippur isn't destroyed
By the roman conquest.

It's still inhabited
As late as the 9th century ad,

But only
In the city's outskirts.

The religious center
Is largely abandoned.

This region is no longer
Devoted to the god enlil.

Nippur doesn't end
In violence,

It simply fades away.

As investigators
Piece together the clues,

A surprising history
Emerges at nippur,

Of a city coveted
By different empires

Across thousands of years.

It is one of the most
Remarkable cities
Through history,

And it's through this place

That great
Civilizations marched.

[narrator] This city
Rises from the sands.

The spiritual center
Of mesopotamia,

Nippur draws people
Of different cultures,

And different beliefs.

And at its heart,
The great ziggurat,

First built to honor
The sumerian god of creation.

Nippur is reborn
With each new civilization,

Surviving as
Neighboring cities
Are destroyed,

To last for 6,000 years.