Ziggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western
Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories
or levels. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat
of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Iraq; the now destroyed
Etemenanki in Babylon; Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran; and Sialk near Kashan, Iran.
Description Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians,
Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple
complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms
that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC. The earliest ziggurats
began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period. The latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from
the 6th century BC. Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform,
the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core
of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings were often glazed
in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names
engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed
that they had shrines at the top, but there is no archaeological evidence for this and
the only textual evidence is from Herodotus. Access 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. The
Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed
to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. 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. The priests were very powerful members of
Sumerian society.
One of the best-preserved ziggurats is Chogha Zanbil in western Iran. The Sialk ziggurat,
in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BC. 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.
An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. The ziggurat
itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer
to the heavens, and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians
believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. In fact, the ziggurat at
Babylon was known as Etemenankia or "House of the Platform between Heaven and Earth".
An example of an extensive and massive ziggurat is the Marduk ziggurat, or Etemenanki, of
ancient Babylon. Unfortunately, not much of even the base is left of this massive structure,
yet archeological findings and historical accounts put this tower at seven multicolored
tiers, topped with a temple of exquisite proportions. The temple is thought to have been painted
and maintained an indigo color, matching the tops of the tiers. It is known that there
were three staircases leading to the temple, two of which were thought to have only ascended
half the ziggurat's height. Etemenanki, the name for the structure, is
Sumerian and means "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth". The date of its original
construction is unknown, with suggested dates ranging from the fourteenth to the ninth century
BC, with textual evidence suggesting it existed in the second millennium.
Interpretation and significance According to Herodotus, at the top of each
ziggurat was a shrine, although none of these shrines have survived. One practical function
of the ziggurats was a high place on which the priests could escape rising water that
annually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded for hundreds of miles, for example
the 1967 flood. Another practical function of the ziggurat was for security. Since the
shrine was accessible only by way of three stairways, a small number of guards could
prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top of the ziggurat, such
as cooking of sacrificial food and burning of carcasses of sacrificial animals. Each
ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included a courtyard, storage rooms, bathrooms,
and living quarters, around which a city was built.
See also
Dur-Kurigalzu Chogha Zanbil
Step pyramid Pyramid
The Ziggurat References
Notes
Bibliography T. Busink, "L´origine et évolution de la
ziggurat babylonienne". Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente
Lux 21, 91-141. R. Chadwick, "Calendars, Ziggurats, and the
Stars". The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Bulletin 24, 7-24.
R.G. Killick, "Ziggurat". The Dictionary of Art, vol. 33, 675-676.
H.J. Lenzen, Die Entwicklung der Zikurrat von ihren Anfängen bis zur Zeit der III.
Dynastie von Ur. M. Roaf, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and
the Ancient Near East, 104-107. E.C. Stone, "Ziggurat". The Oxford Encyclopedia
of Archaeology in the Near East, vol. 5, 390-391. J.A. Black & A. Green, "Ziggurat". Dictionary
of the Ancient Near East, 327-328. Harriet Crawford, Sumer and the Sumerians,
Cambridge University Press,, ISBN 0-521-38850-3. A. Leo Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia, University
of Chicago Press,, ISBN 0-226-63187-7. Beck, Roger B.; Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger,
Phillip C. Naylor, Dahia Ibo Shabaka,. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston,
IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN 0-395-87274-X. Leick, Gwendolyn. Mesopotamia: The
Invention of the City. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-026574-0. External links
Media related to Ziggurats at Wikimedia Commons Website of Choqa Zanbil ziggurat, Iran.
Article on status of Sialk ziggurat, Iran.