Ziggurat of Ur,. 2100
B.C.E. mud brick
and baked brick.
The Great Ziggurat
The ziggurat is the
most distinctive
architectural
invention of the
Fertile Crescent.
Like an ancient
Egyptian pyramid, an
ancient ziggurat has
four sides and rises
up to the realm of the
gods. However,
unlike Egyptian
pyramids, the
exterior of Ziggurats
were not smooth but stepped to help the work which took place at the structure. Ziggurats are found scattered
around what is today Iraq and Iran, and stand as an imposing example to the power and skill of the ancient
culture.
One of the largest and best-preserved ziggurats of Mesopotamia is the great Ziggurat at Ur. Small excavations
occurred at the site around the turn of the twentieth century, and in the 1920s Sir Leonard Woolley, in a joint
project with the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia and the British Museum in London,
revealed the monument in its entirety.
Ziggurat of Ur, c. 2100 B.C.E.
What Woolley found was a massive rectangular pyramid structure, standing originally between 70 and
100 feet high.. The core of the ziggurat is made of mud brick covered with baked bricks. Each of the
baked bricks measured about 11.5 x 11.5 x 2.75 inches and weighed as much as 33 pounds. The lower
portion of the ziggurat, which supported the first terrace, would have used some 720,000 baked bricks.
The resources needed to build the Ziggurat at Ur are staggering.
Moon Goddess Nanna
The Ziggurat at Ur and the temple on its top were built around 2100 B.C.E. by the king Ur-Nammu of
Ur for the moon goddess Nanna, the divine patron of the city state. The structure would have been the
highest point in the city by far and would have been visible for miles around. As the Ziggurat supported
the temple of the patron god of the city of Ur, it is likely that it was the place where the citizens of Ur
would bring agricultural surplus and where they would go to receive their regular food portions. In
ancient times, to visit the ziggurat at Ur was to seek both spiritual and physical nourishment.
Ziggurat of Ur, partly restored, c. 2100 B.C.E. mudbrick and baked brick
Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq
Clearly the most important part of the ziggurat at Ur was the Nanna temple at its top, but this,
unfortunately, has not survived. Some blue glazed bricks have been found which archaeologists suspect
might have been part of the temple decoration. The lower parts of the ziggurat, which do survive,
include amazing details of engineering and design.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Compare and contrast ziggurats and the pyramids of ancient Egypt.
What was the most important part of the ziggurat?
What was the purpose of the ziggurat?
Describe the architecture of the ziggurat.