Context Title: Dublalmah | LL     
Context Name (Publication): E-Dub-Lal-Mah     
Context Name (Excavation): LL     
Context Name (Excavation): DM; DLM     
Context Name (Excavation): LM     
Context Description: First investigated by Taylor in 1853, the dublalmah was originally a gateway onto the eastern corner of the ziggurat terrace. It expanded into a larger building in the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian period. It had multiple functions, religious and administrative, through the centuries. An inscribed door socket of Amar-Sin found here refers to the building as the great storehouse of tablets and the place of judgment. It was thus essentially a law court, possibly with tablets recording judgments stored within. In Mesopotamia, an eastern gateway--in sight of the rising sun--was typically seen as a place of justice, and gateways were often places where witnesses or judges might hear claims. After the Ur III period the door onto the ziggurat terrace was sealed up and the dublalmah appears to have become a shrine, but it retained its name and probably its law court function. Kurigalzu made significant restorations to the building in the Kassite period and Woolley marveled at the well-constructed fully preserved arched doorway of this Late Bronze Age time. By the Neo-Babylonian period, the structure had essentially merged with the functions of the neighboring giparu.     
Season Number: 03: 1924-1925      
Season Number: 06: 1927-1928      

Objects: Dublalmah | LL Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Object U Number Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) Museum Number (BM Registration Number) Museum Number (UPM B-number) Description (Catalog Card)
1165 (none) (none) B15885 Black stone gate socket, with long but incomplete inscr. running round the side. Beginning and end lost, partly by the breaking off of one side of the stone, partly by flaking away the surface. 42 ll remain, recording the building of an archive-house (dub-la-mah), annexed to the court of justice, by Bur-Sin I, king of Ur. The text ends with blessings and curses upon those who should respect or destroy the king's monument. Photo 147 RI.71
2528 (none) (none) (none) Clay jar stopper. Drab ware, broken off at end. Sketch. [drawing 1:2]
2604 (none) 1927,1003.182 (none) Model brick. Drab clay.
2639 (none) (none) (none) Figurine fragment. Pinkish drab ware: flounced skirt feet only. [drawing 1:1]
2643 (none) 1927,1003.72 (none) Stone seal. Flat seal, pierced for suspension: design obliterated. Roughly circular.
2644 (none) (none) (none) Bronze pin. [drawing 1:1]
2645 (none) (none) (none) Gold nail head. [drawing 1:1]
2649 (none) (none) (none) Seal cylinder. Fragment. Soapstone. Scene: Two standing worshippers with one hand up. Behind them in the field the emblem of Nergal: a weapon formed of two curved blades on either side of central club - lion's heads at the end of each blade. [drawing]
2652 (none) (none) (none) Clay tablet. Pillow shape. Fragment. Persian period. [drawing]
2655 (none) (none) (none) Clay pot stand. Greenish drab ware. Type CXXXIII.
2659 (none) (none) (none) Clay nail of ARAD-Sin. Fragment of head. Two columns inscription, of which are preserved Column I: 15-25; Column II: 10-25. prays for himself, for his Father KUDUR-MABUK - The 6 last lines are a prayer to the Moon god Nannar. Ink drawing.
2661 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. grey limestone. Rampant lion attacked by two figures of Gilgamesh. About BC 2600-2300. [drawing]
2662 (none) (none) (none) Clay label with hole to attach it. Text: Nabu-usallim into the hands of Nabu-bel-usur month of Shabat Year 10th of Marduk-apal-iddinna (Merodach-baladan) king of Babylon. About BC 714. H.C.
2670 (none) (none) (none) Carved relief. Limestone, with figures of Ea and attendant gods. 3rd Dynasty period.
2673 (none) (none) (none) Door-socket of dGimil-dSin, beloved of Enlil, the king whom Enlil has chosen as the delight of his heart, the mighty king, king of Ur, king of the 4 regions of the world, his god, Lugal-ma-gur-gur-ri, the commandment of the fortress, patesi of Ur, his servant has built his beloved temple. (Another example in Berlin VA.3302)
2674 (none) 1927,1003.60 (none) Door-socket of Sin-balatsu-iqbi (time of Ashurbanapal) shakkanak (vice regent) of Ur son of Ningal-iddinna. Restoration of Elemen-ni-gur. In particular of the gate-way to Esag-dili (the Ziggurat). The gate was built in the middle of the terrace of the temenos, on the procession way (! e hal-la-ta du-a). The door was of boxwood, fixed with bronze pegs in massive walls, had a gold USH, a silverlock, silver plated bronze binding (?). See notes. H.C.
2675 (none) (none) (none) Door-socket of Ur-Engur with the usual inscription: UrdEngur, king of Ur who has built the temple of Nannar?
2677 (none) (none) (none) Ivory pyxis. Fragmentary: Egyptian, presumably of earlier date than level where found. Carved in relief with figures of dancing-girls. Fitted with hatched lid on a pin (?). Copper wire (rivets?) let in to sides and twisted outside.
2678 (none) (none) (none) Curved knife blade (?) Copper or bronze.
2684 (none) (none) (none) Seal cylinder. Weather worn. Soapstone. [drawing]
2694 (none) (none) (none) Statue fragment. Diorite, from lower part of figure, showing fringe of robe. Sketch [drawing 1:2]
2717 (none) (none) (none) Clay stopper [stopper crossed out and replaced with ear-stand?] Fine quality baked clay. Fragmentary. [drawing 1:1]
2718 (none) (none) (none) Figurine mould. Fragmentary: of reddish ware, showing moulding for legs 4 feet.
2732 (none) 1927,1003.58 (none) Statue of Da-da-i-lum. Fragment of bust. Inscription of 2 lines on right shoulder: Da-da-i-lum Si-lim ilZu-fa = Dadailum Protection of Sin. Name is semitic and also the prayer Silu(m) protection, and the writing to Zu-en (= Sin) H.C.
2735 (none) (none) (none) Statue fragment. Blue diorite; lower part of figure only, showing skin and back of skirt fringe; feet also broken off. [drawing 1:1]
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Media: Dublalmah | LL Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations IX; The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods Ur Excavations IX; The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods 1962 Woolley, L. and Mallowan, Max (none)
Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings 1965 Woolley, Leonard (none)
  • 2 Media

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