Dur-Kurigalzu was a city in southern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of the center of Baghdad. It was founded by a Kassite king of Babylon, Kurigalzu I and was abandoned after the fall of the Kassite dynasty. The city was of such importance that it appeared on toponym lists in the funerary temple of the Egyptian pharaoh, Amenophis III at Kom el-Hettan". The prefix Dur is an Akkadian term meaning "fortress of", while the Kassite royal name Kurigalzu is believed to have meant "shepherd of the Kassites". The tradition of naming new towns Dur dates back to the Old Babylonian period with an example being Dūr-Ammī-ditāna. The city contained a ziggurat and temples dedicated to Mesopotamian gods, as well as a royal palace which covered 420,000 square meters.
The ziggurat of Dur-Kurigalzu, December 2021
The Ziggurat of Dur-Kurigalzu (1915).
Door socket from Tell-el-'Abyad at Aqar-Quf mentioning the name of king Kurigalzu and his palace (E-GAL-KI-SAR-RA), Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq
Male head from Dur-Kurigalzu, Iraq, reign of Marduk-apla-iddina I. Iraq Museum.
The Kassites were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC.
Cylinder seal of Kassite king Kurigalzu II (c. 1332–1308 BC). Louvre Museum AOD 105
Kassite Kudurru stele of Kassite king Marduk-apla-iddina I. Louvre Museum.
Kassite cylinder seal, c. 16th–12th century BC.
Kassite king Meli-Shipak II on a kudurru land grant presenting his daughter Ḫunnubat-Nanaya to the goddess Nanaya (pictured enthroned). The eight-pointed star seen above was Inanna-Ishtar's most common symbol. Here it is shown alongside the solar disk of her brother Shamash (Sumerian Utu) and the crescent moon of her father Sin (Sumerian Nanna) on a boundary stone of Meli-Shipak II, dating to the twelfth century BC.
