Ziggurats
Peyton R.
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Figure 1- A Typical Ziggurat
What is a ziggurat?
A ziggurat is a structure that is used for religious purposes that is built in a pyramid shape. Ziggurat is a word which is a modern day pronunciation of Zig-hur-tu. A ziggurat is a pyramid shaped temple with tower-like steps containing several floors above which was where the main temple was located. Mesopotamia started to construct ziggurats around 4200 to 2500 years ago.
How are ziggurats built?
How are ziggurats built?
The development of ziggurats by the Mesopotamia people began around 3000 BCE. This giant building was built using dried up bricks that were baked in the sun. The amount of bricks that they ended up using for it was around 720,000 dried up bricks. Millions of bricks were used for the core of the ziggurats. The core of these ziggurats was clad with glazed bricks. The material that they used to hold the bricks together reed matting and sandy soil which was similar to mortar mostly commonly known as cement.
Figure 2- A Ziggurat From Above
Figure 3- A Ziggurat Being Used
What is the purpose of ziggurats?
What is the purpose of ziggurats?
Ziggurats were mainly religious temples completely focused on the gods in the ancient societies. These ziggurats were thought to serve as the earthly residence of the deities, acting as a gateway between the heavens and the human world. Ziggurats also were politically and socially important. These temples were not only used for praying and worshiping the gods, they were used as symbols of power and wealth.
Why were ziggurats so important?
Why were ziggurats so important?
Ziggurats were a main part of Mesopotamia because of how strongly they felt about religion. The ziggurats were the home of the gods, but also had other focal points for political, social, and economic life. These giant religious temples were symbols of Mesopotamia deeply held religious belief. Ziggurats were not only religious buildings, they also served a purpose in politics. New kings often participate in ambitious building projects to legitimize their rule.
Figure 5- The Side of a Ziggurat
Figure 6- A Ziggurat Temple
Still interested in ziggurats? Check out these information-rich sites!
Interesting pictures - This site could be very interesting because it contains lots of cool pictures that you can look at. It also answers a lot of questions that you might have had.
What were ziggurats? - This site lists a ton of information including how the ziggurats were built, what they look like, and even about the cities that had them.
What did they find? - This site includes lots of things that archaeologists found while digging around the ziggurat sites.
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