Case Closed? 2,700-Year-Old Mystery of Temple Symbols in Ancient City Could Have Been Solved by Historian

A historian may have been able to crack the long-standing mystery of temple symbols in an ancient city.

Ancient City

The glazed-brick symbols were used for coating temple facades within Dūr-Šarrukīn, which became Assyria's capital for a brief period. Assyria was also a major civilization in ancient Mesopotamia.

Ancient Mesopotamia used to be centered in Iraq today and its surrounding regions. It played a massive role in the history of the world, hosting various crucial civilizations, such as the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians.

The ancient city of Dūr-Šarrukīn was situated in present-day Khorsabad, a northern Iraq village. It was constructed during King Sargon II's reign. He ruled the empire of Assyria beginning in 721 B.C. and ending in 704 B.C. After his death, his successor and son relocated to the capital.

Later on, Dūr-Šarrukīn was abandoned roughly a century later amidst the fall of the Assyrian empire.

2,700-Year-Old Mystery of Temple Symbols

The mysterious temple symbols at the ancient city have various images, namely, a lion, a bird (thought to be a hawk, crow, raven, or eagle), a bull, a fig tree, and a plow. Such a sequence was spotted across several locations. There were also instances when it appeared in a shortened form of a lion, tree, and plow.

For a long time, it was thought that these temple symbols carried symbolic significance. However, they have been baffling experts for roughly a century, and their interpretation still has not reached a consensus.

Martin Worthington, an Assyriologist from Trinity College Dublin specializing in ancient Mesopotamia's civilizations and languages, has proposed a novel interpretation for the symbols. This was noted in the "Solving the Starry Symbols of Sargon II" paper.

The historian claims that the images are symbols for certain constellations in the sky while representing words of Assyria, with sounds that spell out the name of Sargo in ancient language if they are read in order. This could work for both the short and long versions of the sequence of symbols.

According to Worthington, a mix of the two traits suggests that the symbols' intention was to immortalize the king's name in the heavens while linking him to the deities Enlil and Anu of ancient Mesopotamia. The constellations were also linked to these deities.

Worthington explains that the five symbols' effect was to raise Sargon's name to the heavens. Moreover, the practice of name-writing on buildings is not unique to prehistoric Assyria.

This explanation is now the latest one in various interpretations of symbols. Nevertheless, Worthington claims that his study strongly supports his claims and hypothesis.

He explains that though he cannot prove his theory, the fact that it can work for both the three-symbol and five-symbol sequence and that the symbols could be comprehended as culturally appropriate constellations is quite suggestive.

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