Ziggurat: A Mesopotamian Manmade Mountain to Reach the Gods

With their massive terraces decreasing in size as the building rises, ziggurats can easily be called manmade mountains. They are identifiable structures most often associated with ancient Mesopotamian religion. In ancient times, each of the major city states in Mesopotamia had their own ziggurat, however many have been destroyed over the ages. Two famous examples of surviving ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq, and Chogha Zanbil in Iran.

The Tower of Babel

The word ‘ziggurat’ is derived from the Akkadian ‘ziqqurratu’, which has been variously translated to mean ‘mountain peak’, ‘rising building’, and ‘to build on a raised area’. This name is appropriate, considering that some ziggurats were towering structures. It is interesting to consider that the biblical Tower of Babel, which was meant to allow humans to climb to the heavens, is believed to have actually been a ziggurat. The inspiration for the building in biblical tales is said to have been a Babylonian ziggurat known as Etemenanki (meaning ‘House of the foundation of heaven on earth’). This structure is recorded to have soared to a height of 92 m (302 m). Unfortunately, Etemenanki was demolished in antiquity.