The results of the authors' research were influenced by the decision to
copy all unpublished and several published documents relating to animal
offerings, as the collations, confronted with other studies, led to new
important reading. The study focuses on three main issues: - Terminology
denoting types of animal offerings: bulls, sheep and birds - Quality and
quantity (number) of animals for the different deities. Analysis of this
data shed important light on the cult, the period when offerings were
established, enlarged or reformed, including the changes in the
organization of the cult or in book-keeping. - Cultic calendar.
Observation of the quality and quantity of animal offerings enables us
to identify ordinary days, feast days and festival days in the cultic
calendar. The outcome of the study was also importantly influenced by
the identification of several unpublished documents, which shed new
light on the increase in offerings in the time of Nebuchadnezzar and
later, especially in the Persian period. Although the study contributes
to the reconstruction of the cultic calendar of Sippar, the authors as
aware that similar studies should also apply to the documents focusing
on other types of offerings, which, however, goes beyond the present
research. The study of these documents will allow identification of the
character of the days in the cultic calendar of Sippar.
