Esagila


The Ésagila, a Sumerian name signifying "É (temple) whose top is lofty", (literally: "house of the raised head") was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki.
In this temple was the cult image inhabited by Marduk, surrounded by cult images of the cities that had fallen under the hegemony of the Babylonian Empire from the 18th century BC; there was also a little lake which was named Abzu by the Babylonian priests. This Abzu was a representation of Marduk's father, Enki, who was god of the waters and lived in the Abzu that was the source of all the fresh waters.