ecinct as a whole that constituted the temple in the larger sense, and
received some appropriate name. Thus E-Kur at Nippur, E-Sagila at
Babylon, E-Zida at Borsippa are used to denote the entire sacred
precinct in these cities, and not merely the chief structure. The
zikkurat always had a special name of its own.

A factor that contributed largely to the growth of the sacred precinct
in the large centers was the circumstance that the political importance
of such centers as Nippur, Lagash, Ur, Babylon, and Nineveh led the
rulers to group around the worship of the chief deity, the cult of the
minor ones who constituted the family or the court of the chief god. The
kings measured their importance by the number of the gods upon whose
assistance they could rely. The priests came to the assistance of the
kings in connecting the gods of the royal pantheon in such a way, as to
satisfy the pride of both their royal and divine masters.[1373] The
ambition of the kings, more especially of the Assyrian empire, led also
to the addition of foreign deities to the pantheon. For these also
shrines were built within or near the sacred precinct.

Gudea sets the example for his successors by parading a large pantheon
at the close of his inscriptions,[1374] and a list of temples in Lagash,
recently published by Scheil,[1375] shows that most, if not all, of the
gods invoked by the ruler had a sanctuary erected in his or her honor.
There were, as we have seen, several quarters in Lagash, and therefore
several sacred precincts, so that we cannot be certain that all of these
sanctuaries stood in one and the same quarter. But, since the list in
question furnishes the name of no less than thirteen sacred edifices, we
are certain that as many as four or five smaller chapels surrounded the
precinct in which stood the great temple E-Ninnu, sacred to Gudea's
chief god Ningirsu-Ninib.

The list is headed by the sanctuary to Nin-girsu. There follow temples
to Bau, to Nin-gishzida, Nin-mar, Nina, Dumuzi-zu-aba, Nin-si-a,
Ga-tum-dug known to us from the inscriptions of Gudea, besides others,
like Shabra (?), Nin-sun, Nin-tu, that appear here for the first time.
In Nippur, we find traces of the worship of Belit (or Nin-lil), of
Ninib, and of Nusku, though with the exception of the first named, the
worship of these gods has not been traced back further than the days of
the Cassite dynasty. Subsequent excavations may, of course, change the
present aspect;