![]() In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as Etemenanki, which means "House of the foundation of heaven and earth" in Sumerian. The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens, and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases upon which a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction which spanned several terraced stories and were topped with a temple.Īn example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. The Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is one of the oldest known ziggurats, dating to the early 3rd millennium BCE. One of the best-preserved ziggurats is Chogha Zanbil in western Iran. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian society.Įlamite Ziggurat of Dur Untash in Persian Choqa Zanbil in Khuzestan, Iran, circa 1300 BC ![]() Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. ![]() They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods, and each city had its own patron god. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. ![]() Īccess to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. In the present state of our knowledge it seems reasonable to adopt as a working hypothesis the suggestion that the ziggurats developed out of the earlier temples on platforms and that small shrines stood on the highest stages . Erosion has usually reduced the surviving ziggurats to a fraction of their original height, but textual evidence may yet provide more facts about the purpose of these shrines. The likelihood of such a shrine ever being found is remote. It is usually assumed that the ziggurats supported a shrine, though the only evidence for this comes from Herodotus, and physical evidence is non-existent . The number of floors ranged from two to seven.Īccording to archaeologist Harriet Crawford, Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Each step was slightly smaller than the step below it. The sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The ziggurat was a mastaba-like structure with a flat top. The ziggurats began as platforms (usually oval, rectangular or square). The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the sixth millennium BC. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included other buildings. Ziggurats were built by ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Elamites, Eblaites and Babylonians for local religions. Description Partially reconstructed facade and access staircase of the Ziggurat of Ur, originally built by Ur-Nammu, circa 2100 BC Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat (model). The Ziggurat of Ur is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat built by King Ur-Nammu, who dedicated it in honor of Nanna/Sîn in approximately the 21st century BC during the Third Dynasty of Ur. The word ziggurat comes from ziqqurratum (height, pinnacle), in ancient Assyrian. Sumerian society offered them many things such as music, harvest, and creating devotional statues to live in the temple. The Sumerians believed that the gods lived in the temple at the top of the ziggurats, so only priests and other highly respected individuals could enter. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, the now-destroyed Etemenanki in Babylon, Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān and Sialk Plus, Sumer in general. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding storeys or levels. Ī ziggurat ( / ˈ z ɪ ɡ ʊ ˌ r æ t/ Cuneiform: □□□, Akkadian: ziqqurratum, D-stem of zaqārum 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew zaqar (זָקַר) 'protrude' ) is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. The original pyramidal structure, the "Anu Ziggurat", dates to the Sumerians around 4000 BC, and the White Temple was built on top of it circa 3500 BC.
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