Construction of the Ziggurat

The Ziggurat at Ur, a massive stepped pyramid about 210 by 150 feet in size, is the most well-
preserved monument from the remote age of the Sumerians. It consists of a series of successively
smaller platforms which rose to a height of about 64 feet, and was constructed with a solid core of
mud-brick covered by a thick skin of burnt-brick to protect it from the elements. Its corners are
oriented to the compass points, and like the Parthenon, its walls slope slightly inwards, giving an
impression of solidity.

To build a ziggurat, builders stacked squares of diminishing size, like a step pyramid, but unlike a
step pyramid there were stairs to climb to the next higher level. With a base of about 50 feet to a side,
ziggurats may have been as high as 150 feet. At the top was a small room assumed to be a religious
place. Ziggurats may have been conceived of as homes for the ancient gods.

The ziggurat was part of a temple complex that served as an administrative center for the city, and it
was also thought to be the place on earth where the moon god Nanna, the patron deity of Ur, had
chosen to dwell. Nanna was depicted as a wise and unfathomable old man with a flowing beard and
four horns, and a single small shrine to the god was placed upon the ziggurat’s summit. This was
occupied each night by only one person, chosen by the priests from among everyone in the city. A
kitchen, likely used to prepare food for the god, was located at the base of one of the ziggurat’s side
stairways.

Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf
near Baghdad, Iraq; the now destroyed Etemenanki in Babylon; Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran;
and Sialk near Kashan, Iran.

The ziggurat was built by stacking a total of sixty four stone and mud platforms that progressively shrunk
until the ziggurat was the shape of a tower like pyramid, though with a flat top for a temple. It was built so
that each corner faced a cardinal point and showed solidity by building the walls facing slightly inward so
that it would appear eternal. The monument was then covered in a thick layer of burnt brick in order to
protect it from the elements.

The top of the ziggurat was devoted solely for Nanna’s use-there was a bedchamber for a
woman of the village and the priests would bring things for the god’s use. The walls of the
ziggurat were covered in names of kings and glazed in different colors.

The inside of the ziggurat has no chambers, just a thick core of mud and brick to form a
‘spine’ for the monument. The bricks were made of dried reed and mud and each weight
about four and half kilograms. The ziggurats were meant to be meeting places between
heaven and earth and thus, the stairs that came about as a result of construction were able
to be traversed by humans.

Ziggurats were probably very common in ancient Sumaria, but the ziggurat at Ur is the last
one standing and so gives us the most information about Sumaria.
The Great Ziggurat

The ziggurat is the most distinctive architectural invention of the Ancient Near East. Like an
ancient Egyptian pyramid, an ancient Near Eastern 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 tiered to accommodate the work which took place at the structure as well as the
administrative oversight and religious rituals essential to Ancient Near Eastern cities.
Ziggurats are found scattered around what is today Iraq and Iran, and stand as an imposing
testament to the power and skill of the ancient culture that produced them.
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.

Woolley Photo of the Ziggurat of Ur with workers Ziggurat of Ur, c. 2100 B.C.E., Wo olley
excavation workers (Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq)
What Woolley found was a massive rectangular pyramidal structure, oriented to true North,
210 by 150 feet, constructed with three levels of terraces, standing originally between 70 and
100 feet high. Three monumental staircases led up to a gate at the first terrace level. Next, a
single staircase rose to a second terrace which supported a platform on which a temple and
the final and highest terrace stood. The core of the ziggurat is made of mud brick covered
with baked bricks laid with bitumen, a naturally occurring tar. 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 the Third Dynasty 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, like the spire of
a medieval cathedral, would have been visible for miles around, a focal point for travelers
and the pious alike. 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 allotments. In antiquity, to visit the
ziggurat at Ur was to seek both spiritual and physical nourishment.

Ziggurat at Ali Air Base Iraq, 2005 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. For instance,
because the unbaked mud brick core of the temple would, according to the season, be
alternatively more or less damp, the architects included holes through the baked exterior
layer of the temple allowing water to evaporate from its core. Additionally, drains were built
into the ziggurat’s terraces to carry away the winter rains.

Hussein’s assumption
US soldiers decend the Ziggurat of Ur, Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq
The Ziggurat at Ur has been restored twice. The first restoration was in antiquity. The last
Neo-Babylonian king, Nabodinus, apparently replaced the two upper terraces of the structure
in the 6th century B.C.E. Some 2400 years later in the 1980s, Saddam Hussein restored the
façade of the massive lower foundation of the ziggurat, including the three monumental
staircases leading up to the gate at the first terrace. Since this most recent restoration,
however, the Ziggurat at Ur has experienced some damage. During the recent war led by
American and coalition forces, Saddam Hussein parked his MiG fighter jets next to the
Ziggurat, believing that the bombers would spare them for fear of destroying the ancient site.
Hussein’s assumptions proved only partially true as the ziggurat sustained some damage
from American and coalition bombardment.