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Dec05

Ziggurats and the Greatest of them - Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur

Published by in ACTIVITIES, Asia, CONTINENTS, COUNTRIES, Iraq, Monuments, Relaxing, TOPICS, Travel Stories, Walking

Ziggurats and the Greatest of them - Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur
A ziggurat “to build on a raised area” is a temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley and Iran, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories. Ziggurats were a form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians of ancient Mesopotamia.The earliest examples of the ziggurat date from the end of the third millennium BCE and the latest date from the 6th century BCE.


Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure. 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. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven, with a shrine or temple at the summit. Access to the shrine was provided by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit.

Notable examples of this structure include the Great Ziggurat of Ur and Khorsabad in Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods. Through the ziggurat the gods could be close to mankind and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted inside the ziggurat and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. As a result the priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society.

Ziggurats and the Greatest of them - Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur
There are 32 known ziggurats near Mesopotamia. Four of them are in Iran, and the rest are mostly in Iraq. The most recent to be discovered was Sialk, in central Iran. The Sialk, in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known zigurrat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BCE. One of the best preserved ziggurats is Choqa Zanbil in western Iran, which has survived despite the devastating eight year Iran-Iraq war of the 1980′s in which many archeological sites were destroyed.

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.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 (side flanked) were thought to have only ascended half the ziggurat’s height.

Etemenanki, the name for the structure, is Sumerian and means “The Foundation of Heaven and Earth.” Most likely being built by Hammurabi, the ziggurat’s core was found to have contained the remains of earlier ziggurats and structures. The final stage consisted of a 15 meter hardened brick encasement constructed by King Nebuchadnezzar.

Ziggurats and the Greatest of them - Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur
It has been suggested that the ziggurat was a symbolic representation of the primeval mound upon which the universe was thought to have been created. The ziggurat may have been built as a bridge between heaven and earth. The temples of the Sumerians were believed to be a cosmic axis, a vertical bond between heaven and earth, and the earth and the underworld, and a horizontal bond between the lands. Built on seven levels the ziggurat represented seven heavens and planes of existence, the seven planets and the seven metals associated with them and their corresponding colors.

Joseph Campbell in his Masks of God books says that there is archaelogical evidence supporting a direct link between Mesopotamian ziggurats and the pyramids of Egypt. Campbell also states that from Egypt, the Mesopotamian culture was passed on almost simultaneously on two separate fronts to Crete and India. From India it reached China and from there it crossed the ocean to the pre-columbian societies of Central and South America, which could explain the similarities between ziggurats and Mayan pyramids.

Campbell further explores the geometry of the ziggurat and its philosophical and spiritual repercussions. According to Campbell, ziggurats first appeared during a sudden scientific and philosophical golden age where such other discoveries were made such as the invention of the wheel, the discovery of the calendar and astronomy, as well as the invention of the written word. For Campbell these are all related.

The Earth needs 365 days to make a single revolution around the Sun, which is also an approximation of the number of degrees in a circle. Ziggurats, like all pyramidal structures, have a square base which could be encompassed within a circular area. The square base theoretically represents the additional five days. The five days can be seen in the four points of the square as well as the fifth point in the middle, which is the point of the square’s equilibrium as well as the point of equilibrium of whatever circle that encompasses it.

The fifth point represents the bridge to heaven represented by the circle, a universally considered symbol for infinity and perfection, and the terrestrial world in turn represented by the square. The highest point of a pyramid is a projection of the square’s center point. This can be interpreted as the earth’s highest point being heaven’s lowest.

There are examples of the philosophies surrounding the ziggurat in all major ancient civilizations of the world, which Campbell has affirmed is no accident. Examples can be observed in the seven leveled Chakra system of India as well as the dualistic Yin-Yang of China.


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  • p-nut

    do you have any pictures of the inside of one of the ziggurats in the fertile crescent I’m doing a project for school and i can’t find one

  • p-nut

    do you have any pictures of the inside of one of the ziggurats in the fertile crescent I’m doing a project for school and i can’t find one

  • http://www.wayfaring.info/ nerdeff

    Hi p-nut, unfortunately i don’t but you can perform a search at flickr.com or google images and find some i believe

  • http://www.wayfaring.info nerdeff

    Hi p-nut, unfortunately i don’t but you can perform a search at flickr.com or google images and find some i believe

  • Jackson

    site was very informative for my report on the sumerians. thatnk you.

  • Jackson

    site was very informative for my report on the sumerians. thatnk you.

  • allie

    hi thanx ur website was SO useful for my prodject on summerain zigg.!

  • allie

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    hey thank you i’m doing a report on Mesopotamia and i love the pic of the Ziggurat thanks!

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  • mikea

    hey thank 4 the info i lov the culture and this is one of my favs it is so intersting how our people created a intersting way of life and gods and godess im learning about it in class! lov kea! hope 2 see more !

  • http://mesopotamiaculture mikea

    hey thank 4 the info i lov the culture and this is one of my favs it is so intersting how our people created a intersting way of life and gods and godess im learning about it in class! lov kea! hope 2 see more !

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    Ammmphh…so it’s interesting d bah?In our class we already study all over the information about it.Why its shaped-mountain,etc…Its full of unremarkable mystery!real,not kidding.I study at DNHS-Main,SEE YA!

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    dont worry i have to do a fie page report on it

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    Iran and Iraq have the best history of the world. It is too bad much of it is destroyed or lost.
    Ancient history it the best history! Iraq and Iran should have more pride in what they are sitting on.

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  • Rich52fredbloggs

    The Sumarians were the first civilisation in the world before the Chinese or the Greeks, The Greeks copied all Sumarian ideas and created Democracy based on Sumarian politics Many Greek ideas came originally from the kingdom of Sumer. Now we’re bombing their Ziggurats and we’ve started a civil war there in the country we now call Iraq

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  • Global Citizen

    Actually people have been programmed to think that the Sumerians were the first civiliztion in the world, but in fact civilization dates back farther than most would think and archeological discovery has found remains that date backs millions of years ago, the theory that the last 6,000 years of half way recored history tells the story of civilization is indeed the smartest programming I have ever seen; but computers were first built in the past few decades right!!!!!!!!!! Someone civilization taught the Sumerians I am sure of that.



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