WHITE

TEMPLE

White Temple and Ziggurat, Uruk

(Warka), 3500 -3000 B.C

Early Mesopotamian
Architecture

The outstanding preserved

example of early Sumerian
temple architecture is the
5,000 year old White
Temple at Uruk, the home
of Gilgamesh.
illustrate the origin of the
ziggurat, or temple-tower,
in the prehistoric
Mesopotamian temple on
its platform.

The present day appearance of the

White temple

Geographical

In the fourth
millennium BCE, the
worlds first urban
revolution took place
in Southern
Mesopotamia.
There, in the fertile
valley that lay
between the Tigris
and the Euphrates
rivers, the earliest
cities arose. Uruk was
the first of these.

Geological

The Sumerians
used mud bricks
and wood
There was no used
of stone for the
building

Mud bricks and tar make up the

Ziggurat
By petcoffr Russell Petcoff

Climate

Central and
Southern
Mesopotamia has a
dry climate.
The valley was more
open and
unprotected.
Fertile river valleys

Religious

They worshipped
nature gods,
namely;
Anu- the god of sky
Enlil-the creator and
ruler of the Earth
Ea the land of the
water, a moon and a
sun god, a goddess
of love and fertility.

Historical

The major cultural

innovations,
including the
pictographs from
which cuneiform
writing developed.
Monumental
architecture was
decorated with
mosaics of painted
clay cones also
began to appear at
this time

Social and Political

Religion-determined the form of the society

The Mesopotamian city-state was under the
protection of the god of the city.
Each city state had its own local god who led
as its king.
It also had a human rulerthe steward of the
king.
The commands must be strictly followed.
Therefore, the socio political system that grew
out is Theocratic Socialism

Architectural Characteristics

The White temple of ca. 3000BC is a fine

example of an early Sumerian High Temple
dedicated to the sky god named Anu.
The concept of the ziggurat may well have
combined two seperate functions,
The Religious and the Secular
The social and economic is the pre-eminence
of the temple.

Architectural Characteristics

The mud brick walls

were covered on the
outside with white
plaster; hence the
modern name of the
building.
In addition, the exterior
walls are buttressed.
Such buttresses
created a pattern of
indentions that became
a characteristic of the
Mesopotamian of
incorporating a threedimensional decoration
into brick architecture.

Plan, White Temple, Uruk

Architectural Characteristics

The White temple

platform had sloping
sides , three of which
had flat buttresses.
The importance of
visible ceremony is
suggested by the
ramp discovered at
the north-east side of
the platform some
distance from the
temples entrances.