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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 construction of the ziggurat was finished in the 21st century BC by King Shulgi , who, in order to win the allegiance of cities, proclaimed himself a god.
An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens, [citation needed] and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and ...
A map of Babylon, with major areas and modern-day villages. The spelling Babylon is the Latin representation of Greek Babylṓn (Βαβυλών), derived from the native Bābilim, meaning "gate of the god(s)". [15] The cuneiform spelling was 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 (KÁ.DIG̃IR.RA KI). This would correspond to the Sumerian phrase Kan dig̃irak. [16]
The top of the ziggurat was flat, unlike many pyramids. The step pyramid style began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period. [21] Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside.
In most cities, the ziggurat was located within the temple complex but the ziggurat in Babylon, called the Etemenanki, had its own complex and set of walls separate from those of the city's main temple, the Esagila. Neo-Babylonian temples combined features of palaces and residential houses.
16th-century imagined depictions of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. From left to right, top to bottom: Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria Timeline, and map of the Seven Wonders. Dates in bold ...
A Neo-Babylonian royal inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II on a stele from Babylon, claimed to have been found in the 1917 excavation by Robert Koldewey, [5] and of uncertain authenticity, reads: "Etemenanki [6] Zikkurat Babibli [Ziggurat of Babylon] I made it, the wonder of the people of the world, I raised its top to heaven, made doors for the gates, and I covered it with bitumen and bricks."
The name Babylon, meaning "Gate of the Gods", [27] was the name given to several Mesopotamian cities. [28] Sennacherib renamed the city gates of Nineveh after gods, [29] which suggests that he wished his city to be considered "a Babylon".