Anu ziggurat and White Temple atUruk. The original pyramidal structure, the "Anu Ziggurat", dates to theSumerians around 4000 BC, and the White Temple was built on top of it circa 3500 BC.[1]
Aziggurat (/ˈzɪɡʊˌræt/;Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪,Akkadian:ziqqurratum,[2]D-stem ofzaqārum 'to protrude, to build high',[3] cognate with otherSemitic languages likeHebrewzaqar (זָקַר) 'protrude'[4][5]) is a type of massive structure built in ancientMesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels. Notable ziggurats include theGreat Ziggurat of Ur nearNasiriyah, theZiggurat of Aqar Quf nearBaghdad, the no longer extantEtemenanki inBabylon,Chogha Zanbil inKhūzestān andSialk. 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. Sumerian society offered these individuals such gifts as music, harvested produce, and the creation of devotional statues to entice them to live in the temple.
The word ziggurat comes fromziqqurratum (height, pinnacle), in ancient Assyrian. Fromzaqārum, to be high up. TheZiggurat of Ur is aNeo-Sumerian ziggurat built by KingUr-Nammu, who dedicated it in honor ofNanna/Sîn in approximately the 21st century BC during theThird Dynasty of Ur.[6]
Partially reconstructed facade and access staircase of theZiggurat of Ur, originally built byUr-Nammu, circa 2100 BCChogha Zanbil Ziggurat (model). Circa 1300 BC
Ziggurats were built by ancientSumerians,Akkadians,Elamites,Eblaites andBabylonians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex with other buildings. Before the ziggurats there were raised platforms that date from theUbaid period during the sixthmillennium BCE.[7] The ziggurats began as platforms (usually oval, rectangular or square). The ziggurat was amastaba-like structure with a flat top. The sun-bakedbricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. Each step was slightly smaller than the step below it. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have hadastrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of floors ranged from two to seven.
It is usually assumed that the ziggurats supported a shrine, though the only evidence for this comes fromHerodotus, and physical evidence is non-existent ... The likelihood of such a shrine ever being found is remote. 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. 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 ...[8]
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 thegods, 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 ofSumerian andAssyro-Babylonian society.
One of the best-preserved ziggurats isChogha Zanbil in westernIran.[9] TheSialk ziggurat, inKashan,Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BCE.[10][11] 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 ofUruk, in ancientSumer. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens,[citation needed] 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 asEtemenanki, which means "House of the foundation of heaven and earth" inSumerian.
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.[12] 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 anindigo 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.
According toHerodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine, although none of these shrines has survived.[7] Functionally, ziggurats offered a high place on which priests could escape rising water that annually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded for hundreds of kilometres.[13] They also offered security; since the shrine was accessible only by way of three stairways,[14] a small number of guards could prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top of the ziggurat, such as initiation rituals like theEleusinian mysteries, cooking of sacrificial food and burning 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 spread,[15] as well as a place for the people to worship. It was considered to be a sacred structure.
The biblical account of theTower of Babel has been associated by modernscholars to the massive construction undertakings of the ziggurats ofMesopotamia,[16] and in particular to the ziggurat ofEtemenanki inBabylon in light of the Tower of Babel Stele[17] describing its restoration byNebuchadnezzar II.
According to some historians the design ofEgyptian pyramids, especially the stepped designs of the oldest pyramids (Pyramid of Zoser atSaqqara, 2600 BCE), may have been an evolution from the ziggurats built in Mesopotamia.[18] Others say thePyramid of Zoser and the earliest Egyptian pyramids may have been derived locally from the bench-shapedmastaba tomb.[19][20]
^"Tchogha Zanbil". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. RetrievedJuly 15, 2017.It is the largest ziggurat outside of Mesopotamia and the best preserved of this type of stepped pyramidal monument.
^Matthews, R; Nashli, H. F., eds. (2013).The Neolithisation of Iran: the formation of new societies. Oxford: British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology and Oxbow Books. p. 272.
^Fazeli, H.; Beshkani A.; Markosian A.; Ilkani H.; Young R. L. (2010). "The Neolithic to Chalcolithic Transition in the Qazvin Plain, Iran: Chronology and Subsistence Strategies".Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran and Turan (41):1–17.
^"The earliest pyramid was the step pyramid of Djoser (2668-2649 BCE) at Saqqara, and was an evolution of the traditionalmastaba tomb, a bench-shaped superstructure" inBooth, Charlotte (29 April 2020).How to Survive in Ancient Egypt. Pen and Sword History. p. 13.ISBN978-1-5267-5352-6.
Black, J.A.; Green, A. "Ziggurat". In Bienkowski, P.; Millard, A. (eds.).Dictionary of the Ancient Near East. London: British Museum. pp. 327–328.
Beck, Roger B.; Black, Linda; Krieger, Larry S.; Naylor, Phillip C.; Dahia Ibo Shabaka (1999).World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.ISBN0-395-87274-X.
Busink, T. (1970). "L´origine et évolution de la ziggurat babylonienne".Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap Ex Oriente Lux.21:91–141.
Chadwick, R. (November 1992). "Calendars, Ziggurats, and the Stars".The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Bulletin.24. Toronto:7–24.
Killick, R.G. "Ziggurat". In Turner, J. (ed.).The Dictionary of Art. Vol. 33. New York & London: Macmillan. pp. 675–676.
Leick, Gwendolyn (2002).Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City. Penguin Books.ISBN0-14-026574-0.
Lenzen, H.J. (1942).Die Entwicklung der Zikurrat von ihren Anfängen bis zur Zeit der III. Dynastie von Ur. Leipzig.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Roaf, M. (1990).Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York. pp. 104–107.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Stone, E.C. (1997). "Ziggurat". In Meyers, E.M. (ed.).The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Vol. 5. New York & Oxford: Oxford. pp. 390–391.
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