What's A Ziggurat?
Practically all of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia featured a ziggurat, a temple tower consisting of a lofty pyamidal structure built in successive stages with outside stair cases and a shrine at the top.
Who Built the Ziggurat?
Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC.
Ur-Nammu did not live to see the completion of his Ziggurat, It was completed by his son Shulgi in about 2100 B.C. The Ziggurat was dedicated to the Akkadian Moon God "Sin", and was called 'Etemennigur', which means 'House whose foundation creates terror'.
In the center of each town, was the Ziggurat. The Ziggurat was a temple. The ancient Sumerians, believed their gods lived in the sky. In order for the gods to hear better, you needed to get closer to them. Ziggurats were huge, with built in steps. Ziggurats had a wide base that narrowed to a flat top. When the Babylonians took over in the south, and the Assyrians in the north, ziggurats continued to be built and used in the same manner as they were in ancient Sumer.
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