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A ziggurat is an artificial mountain built by the ancient Mesopotamians to elevate the clergy toward the realm of the gods. A form of monumental architecture, the ziggurat had a rectangular base from which a series of steps rose to a flat platform where the temple honoring the god of the city stood.
Each ziggurat was built for a specific deity and was considered the earthly home of that god. These structures were not 'houses of worship' as one understands that term today – there were no daily or weekly services offered to the public – but were the center of the temple complex of a city where religious festivals were held (or were begun), grain and other goods for public consumption stored, scribes worked at their craft, and, most importantly, where the high priest and attendant clergy made offerings to the god at the temple atop the ziggurat. The most famous of these was the Etemenaki at Babylon, thought to be the inspiration for the story of the Tower of Babel from the biblical Book of Genesis.
The following gallery presents images of only a few of the many ziggurats that were raised across Mesopotamia from c. 3000 BCE, at the latest, to c. 500 BCE when Zoroastrianism changed the religious paradigm in the region.
Questions & Answers
What was the purpose of the ziggurat in ancient Mesopotamia?
- The ziggurat was the site of worship for the god of the city. The temple at the top of the ziggurat was understood as the god's earthly home.
When were ziggurats built and used?
- Ziggurats were built and used in ancient Mesopotamia from at least c. 3000 BCE until c. 500 BCE when Zoroastrianism changed the model of worship in the region.
What does the ziggurat symbolize?
- The ziggurat symbolizes a mountain. It is an artificial mountain built to elevate the priests toward the realm of the gods.
What is the most famous ziggurat?
- The most famous ziggurat is the Etemenaki at Babylon (no longer extant), which is thought to have inspired the story of the Tower of Babel in the biblical Book of Genesis. The Great Ziggurat of Ur is also well-known, however, as is Chogha Zanbil, the ruins of both still extant.
License & Copyright
Original image by Maia Kobabe. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 10 November 2021. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
