Dilbat

Dilbat (modern Tell ed-Duleim or Tell al-Deylam) was an ancient Near Eastern city located 25 kilometers south of Babylon on the eastern bank of the Western Euphrates in modern-day Babil Governorate, Iraq. It lies 15 kilometers southeast of the ancient city of Borsippa. The site of Tell Muhattat (also Tell Mukhattat), 5 kilometers away, was earlier thought to be Dilbat. The ziggurat E-ibe-Anu, dedicated to Urash, a minor local deity distinct from the earth goddess Urash, was located in the center of the city and was mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

== History == Dilbat was founded during the Early Dynastic III period (middle 3rd Millennium BC). It is known to have been occupied, at least, during the Akkadian, Old Babylonian (after an occupation gap or several centuries), Late Kassite, Sasanian and Early Islamic periods. It is also known to have been involved in the various struggles of the middle 1st century BC involving the Neo-Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, and Achaemenid interests. It was an early agricultural center cultivating einkorn wheat and producing reed products. It lay on the Arahtum canal.