![]() 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. 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.Ĭampbell further explores the geometry of the ziggurat and its philosophical and spiritual repercussions. Campbell also states that from Egypt, the Mesopotamian culture was passed on almost simultaneously on two separate fronts to Crete and India. 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. 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. 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. The ziggurat may have been built as a bridge between heaven and earth. 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 final stage consisted of a 15 meter hardened brick encasement constructed by King Nebuchadnezzar. 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.Įtemenanki, 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 temple is thought to have been painted and maintained an indigo color, matching the tops of the tiers. 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. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens, and provide access from the ground to it via steps.Īn example of an extensive and massive ziggurat is the Marduk ziggurat, or Etemenanki, of ancient Babylon. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. 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.Īn example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. 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. The most recent to be discovered was Sialk, in central Iran. Four of them are in Iran, and the rest are mostly in Iraq. There are 32 known ziggurats near Mesopotamia. As a result the priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society. Only priests were permitted inside the ziggurat and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. Through the ziggurat the gods could be close to mankind and each city had its own patron god. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. Notable examples of this structure include the Great Ziggurat of Ur and Khorsabad in Mesopotamia. 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. ![]() The number of tiers ranged from two to seven, with a shrine or temple at the summit. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. 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.īuilt in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure. The design of the ziggurat was most likely a precursor to that of the pyramids of Egypt, the earliest of which dates to circa 2600 BCE.Ī 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.
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