It gradually fell into decay. In the Seleucid period it became a fortress, and was used as such until the close of the Parthian period, in the middle of the third century A.D. From this time onwards the city ceased to be of any importance. It degenerated into a mere village, while some of the old sacred area was used, as in so many Sumerian cities as a cemetery. In the tenth cen tury A.D. the site again became of some importance as a Jewish settlement, although it is possible that there may have been Jews settled on the site even earlier, possibly at the time of the exile. In the 12th century it was the site of a Christian bishopric.
The condition of the ruins to-day is thus described by Langdon: "They are not so extensive as Kish but more compact and mas sive. . . . The grandeur of these lofty unbroken lines of moun tainous ridges, whose concealed buildings lie deep beneath the plain level, cannot be described to conjure sufficiently the imag ination of the reader. They do not belie the fame of Nippur in cuneiform inscriptions." The excavators of the site were particularly fortunate in the number of ancient documents discovered. The ancient temple library and its archives were not in the temple itself but in a mound to the south. West of the temple there was a commercial and residential quarter, and here, separated from the temple by a canal, were found the important archives of the Kassite kings and business houses of the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods.
These archives show that the district was a great centre of the cattle industry. Cattle and sheep were driven to Nippur for the different feast days and careful records of every transaction were kept. The details are so full that an issue is recorded of
barley porridge to such humble members of the temple staff as the dogs. There were three main sources of revenue' for the temple. First there were a series of tolls or dues of various forms. Secondly the temple was a great owner of property and received considerable revenues as rent. Thirdly cattle breeding was carried on. Nippur under the Kassites was an administra tive centre, possibly even a capital city. The taxes, which were paid in kind, were either stored here or at the chief city of the district. The record of these taxes is instructive for the side lights thrown on the economic geography of Mesopotamia nearly four thousand years ago. The products which were paid included wheat, sesame, oil, dates, flour and live stock.
The majority of these temple archives of Nippur have been found at Tal Duraihim (Drehem) a city site about six miles south of Nippur, and three miles S.E. of the modern village of Afaj. This city apparently served as the collecting place for the animals used for sacrifices at Nippur. These animals formed part of the taxes payable under the kings of the third dynasty of Ur, and the records are therefore of the greatest value in giving lists of the towns at the time and their assessable value. The ruins of this site to-day consist of a large crescent-shaped mound, some 30o feet from north to south, and 200 feet in width, while the height above the plain is about 4o feet. Langdon is of opinion that whatever the building under this mound may prove to be it is certainly not a temple.