ZIGGURAT

ZIGGURAT: translation

This loan word, derived from the Akkadian ziqqurratu, designates architectural structures that resemble stepped pyramids in outline. They were built solidly, with no internal chambers, from mudbrick, sometimes with an outer mantle of baked brick. Ziggurats had religious significance; they were usually part of a temple com- plex and had a chapel at the uppermost platform that was reached by a series of ramps and steps. No ziggurat is preserved well enough to allow a valid reconstruction. Assyrian ziggurats were usually di- rectly attached to a “low temple,” while Babylonian ziggurats were freestanding. In general, all these structures provided a lofty stage, a kind of ladder for the godsto come closer to Earth and for the priests to draw nearer to the heavens. They also formed landmarks that were visible from afar.