Backround

The Ziggurat was a Mesopotamian structure that was built for religious purposes such as, to be closer to the gods, or to preform ceremonies for them. there was a a room at the top of the ziggurat and only people who held high status in the culture would be allowed inside it, such as the king and his friends, or the priests. there are three maintheorys about Ziggurats and their purpose.

One, that they were temples for religious puposes only.

Two, that they were a recreation of the mountain from many of he old creation myths about man, and...

Three, that Ziggurats were a cosmic gate that was built by civilizations to create a bridge between the Heavens and Earth.

Structure

Ziggurats were built in a pyramid-like structure with receding levels stacked on top of eachother, they were made of either mud or clay because they were considered the most purest of substances by the poeple who made them.They had a square or rectangular base and used a 3 tier staircase or a spiral staircase or ramp to reach the top chamber. The edges of Ziggurats were rounded so that they would seem flat by people looking at it from a distance, often they were decorated on the sides with plants and other vegatation.

Famous Ziggurats

Tower of Babel which is talked about in the Bible, was a large ziggurat that was found in the ancient city of Babylon "located where the Iraq currently is" not much is known about the original but it was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II and stood 295 feet high.

Nebuchadnezzar's Zuggurat was uncovered in Iraq by Austrian archeaologists on Dec 3, 1998. It is thought to have been built 2,500 years ago and was built of millions of mud bricks and was 231 feet high. The Ziggurat had 7 levels on it and used three staircases to reach the top. Each level was decorated in a different fashion and there was a sanctuary at the top, most likely for the King or their God.