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The word ziggurat comes from ziqqurratum (height, pinnacle), in ancient Assyrian. From zaqārum , to be high up. The Ziggurat of Ur is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat built by King Ur-Nammu , who dedicated it in honor of Nanna/Sîn in approximately the 21st century BC during the Third Dynasty of Ur .
The height is speculative, as only the foundations of the Sumerian ziggurat have survived. The ziggurat was a piece in a temple complex that served as an administrative center for the city, and which was a shrine of the moon god Nanna, the patron deity of Ur. [6]
The architecture of Mesopotamia is ancient ... There are 32 ziggurats known at, or near, Mesopotamia—28 in ... The height of the first stage was about 11 m while ...
'Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth') was a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk in the ancient city of Babylon. It now exists only in ruins, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq. Many scholars have identified Etemenanki as a likely inspiration for the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. [1] [2]
The city contained a ziggurat and temples dedicated to Mesopotamian gods, as well as a royal palace which covered 420,000 square meters. [4] The ziggurat at Aqar Quf, standing to a height of about 52 metres (171 ft), has been a very visible ancient monument for centuries.
The ziggurat was given a facing of baked bricks, a number of which have cuneiform characters giving the names of deities in the Elamite and Akkadian languages. Though the ziggurat now stands only 24.75 metres (81.2 ft) high, less than half its estimated original height, its state of preservation is unsurpassed.
Overall, the ziggurat site is 25 meters in height, has a rectangular base of 39 meters by 58 meters, consisting three stages of dry brick, and faced with kiln-fired bricks laid in bitumen. [52] The northern corner of the ziggurat points to 12 degrees east of the magnetic north. [53]
The Ziggurat of Ur, excavated by Leonard Woolley, is 64 by 46 meters at base and originally some 12 meters in height with three stories. It was built under Ur-Nammu (circa 2100 B.C.) and rebuilt under Nabonidus (555–539 B.C.), when it was increased in height to probably seven stories.