Dur-Kurigalzu (modern Aqar-Quf, Iraq) was a city in southern Mesopotamia near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers about 30 km west of modern Baghdad. It was founded by a Kassite king of Babylon, Kurigalzu I or II, some time in the 14th century BC, and was abandoned after the fall of the Kassite dynasty. The prefix Dur- is an Akkadian term meaning "fortess of", while Kurigalzu is a Kassite word meaning "herder of the folk (or of the Kassites)".
The city contained a ziggurat and temples dedicated to Sumerian gods, as well as a royal palace. It was excavated by Iraqi archaeologists between 1943 and 1945. The ziggurat was unusually well-preserved, standing to a height of about 170 feet. It was "restored" to its first level by the Saddam Hussein government during the 1970s.
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Last updated on Thursday July 03, 2008 at 16:23:56 PDT (GMT -0700)
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