This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. : an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top also : a structure or object of similar form.
Ziggurats can be found scattered across lands once occupied by Mesopotamian civilizations, and also in parts of Mesoamerica.ĭefinition of ziggurat. The latter was built in Babylon during the 2nd millennium BC and was considered the tallest tower of the ancient world.Ī ziggurat is a structure which takes the form of a terraced pyramid, with a flat platform at its apex. The most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur, built the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki, one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture. What is the significance of ziggurats?Īn examination of the various dynasties that came to rule Mesopotamia shows that ziggurats were important for a number of reasons: they served as a way for the people to connect to their most important gods, they provided a focal point for the secular community, and they also acted as a visible and tangible sign of a king’s power. In some ziggurats the ground level was used as a market center and storage center for taxes and paid goods. Ziggurats served as administrative (government), religious and economic centers. Ziggurats were dedicated to the main god that protected the city. These huge temples were called ziggurats. Why were the ziggurat temples central to Sumerian city life? Accessible only by way of the stairways, it traditionally symbolizes a link between the gods and the human kind, although it also served practically as shelter from floods.
The ziggurat was always built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick.īuilt in ancient Mesopotamia, a ziggurat is a type of massive stone structure resembling pyramids and featuring terraced levels. Ziggurat, pyramidal stepped temple tower that is an architectural and religious structure characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia (now mainly in Iraq) from approximately 2200 until 500 bce.
0 kommentar(er)
