ADAB (modern BIsMAYA), an ancient town in Mesopotamia, in 32° N., 45° 3o' E., 25m. S. of Nippur. It was supplied by a canal which passed through the city and irrigated the country, eventually falling into the Shatt al Hai. In the centre of the city the canal divided to form an island on which stood the temple of the mother Goddess Aruru, to whose cult the city was devoted. There are a succession of periods on the mound which rises soft. above the plain: 2 to 3ft. below the platform of Ur Engur are the buildings of the kings of Akkad ; 'oft. below are the plano-convex bricks of Unnina; I oft. lower are buildings made of limestone blocks, which were used before the days of brickmaking. At a depth of 48ft. the excavators found thin unpainted wheel-made pots. The Ziggurat or temple tower is pre-Sargonic and one of the oldest in Sumer. One of the most remarkable finds was the head of a Semite in white marble.
The city appears to have enjoyed a restricted independence at the time of the kings and patesis of Lagash. The kings of Akkad and Ur certainly devoted a good deal of attention to the city, probably owing to its religious cults.
See E. J. Banks, Bismaya or the Lost City of Adab (1912) ; S. Langdon, in Cambridge Ancient History, vol. i. 1923.