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: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, 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. (Thus) did I please their great divinity.Anu ziggurat and White Temple at Uruk. I brought the gods Anu and Adad, the great gods, my lords, inside (and) set them on their exalted thrones. I installed inside a conduit (suitable for the conduct) of the rites of their great divinity. I raised its towers and its ziggurats to the sky and made fast its parapets with baked brick. I decorated its walls as splendidly as the brilliance of rising stars. Its interior I decorated like the interior of heaven. I planned (and) laboriously rebuilt (and) completed the pure temple, the holy shrine, their joyful abode, their happy dwelling which stands out like the stars of heaven and which represents the choicest skills of the building trade. I constructed two large ziggurats which were appropriate for their great divinity. I rebuilt it from top to bottom and made it bigger than before.

I laid thereon the limestone foundation of the temple of the gods Anu and Adad, the great gods, my lords. I piled up this entire area with bricks like an oven, making it 50 layers of brick deep. I delineated this area, dug down to the bottom of its foundation pit, (and) laid its foundation upon bedrock. In my accession year the gods Anu and Adad, the great gods, my lords, who love my priesthood, commanded me to rebuild their shrine. “At that time the temple of the gods Anu and Adad, the great gods, my lords, which Šamšī-Adad (III), vice-regent of Aššur, son of Išme-Dagan (II) (who was) also vice-regent of the god Aššur, had previously built, (after) 641 years had passed it had become dilapidated and Aššur-dān (I), king of Assyria, son of Ninurta-apil-Ekur (who was) also king of Assyria, tore down this temple but did not rebuild (it) and for 60 years its foundation had not been relaid. The most descriptive textual record of work on the Anu-Adad temple at Assur comes from an Akkadian inscription of the Middle Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I (1114–1076 BC). The northernmost temple and ziggurat are generally believed to have belonged to the god Anu and the southernmost ones are thought to have been dedicated to the god Adad.Īccording to Recension B of the Götteradressbuch of Ashur, the divine inhabitants of the twin temples were: Anu, Antu, Adad, Šala, Nisaba, Ḫamru, Šeriš, Ḫarmiš, Ningirsu, the Divine Fates, the Kulittus, the Kubus, and three royal images.

Anu ziggurat and white temple