NIPPUR. — A city of ancient Babylonia.
The various mounds (= tell) of N., situated between Kut el-Amārah and Diwānijeh (in the desert between the Euphrates and the Tigris) and separated by the dry bed of the canal Šaṭṭ en-Nil, rise 14–17 m above the level of the plain. After an initial exploration by A. H. Layard and W. K. Loftus, in 1889 an American expedition composed of J. P. Peters, P. H. Field (architect), R. Fr. Harper and H. V. Hilbrecht (Assyriologist), and J. H. Haynes began excavations. Subsequently, only J. P. Peters or J. H. Haynes (without architects or Assyriologists) continued digging until 1900, when H. V. Hilbrecht, accompanied by two architects, attempted to coordinate the various findings.
Two belts of walls have been uncovered: Imgur-Marduk, which encircles the sanctuary of Enlil—that is, the tower, temple, and courtyard—and a more extensive one, Nimit-Marduk, which also includes the ruler’s palace.
In the north-eastern corner stands the temple of the god Enlil, the most celebrated sanctuary of ancient Mesopotamia, and immediately to the west the tower (ziqqurat), before which extends a large courtyard that, through a broad gate, connects with another courtyard (to the south-east). The ziqqurat
eternal, designed to offer the saint a refuge after death; in the *Itivuttaka*, a collection of the so-called apothegms of the Buddha, the veil of mystery seems to lift: “There is, O disciples, a Non-born, Non-become, Non-made, Non-compounded. Were it not, there would be no escape for the Born, Become, Made, Compounded” (43). And in the *Suttanipāta*, in answer to a question by Kappa, who asks him to point out an island where one might be saved from being overwhelmed by the floods, the Buddha replies: “An incomparable island I name for you, Kappa, where solitude reigns and every desire ceases; I call it n., the destruction of old age and death” (V, 11).
With regard to the “Great Vehicle,” the parinirvāṇa, conceived as the supreme and inexpressible Reality, it continued to be regarded as part of the career of the Bodhisattva, but was relegated to the joys of the paradise of Amitābha and placed at the end of three incalculable periods, almost equivalent to eternity.