Editing Ziggurat (section)

==Description==
[[File:Ancient ziggurat at Ali Air Base Iraq 2005.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Partially reconstructed facade and access staircase of the [[Ziggurat of Ur]], originally built by [[Ur-Nammu]], circa 2100 BC]]
[[File:Chogha Zanbil, Ziggurat (model).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Chogha Zanbil]] Ziggurat (model). Circa 1300 BC]]
Ziggurats were built by ancient [[Sumer]]ians, [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]]ians, [[Elamites]], [[Ebla]]ites and [[Babylonia]]ns for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex with other buildings. Before the ziggurats there were raised platforms that date from the [[Ubaid period]] during the sixth [[millennium]] BCE.{{sfn|Crawford|1993|p=73}} The ziggurats began as platforms (usually oval, rectangular or square). The ziggurat was a [[mastaba]]-like structure with a flat top. The sun-baked [[brick]]s made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. Each step was slightly smaller than the step below it. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had [[astrological]] significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of floors ranged from two to seven.

According to archaeologist [[Harriet Crawford]],

{{blockquote|It is usually assumed that the ziggurats supported a shrine, though the only evidence for this comes from [[Herodotus]], and physical evidence is non-existent&nbsp;... The likelihood of such a shrine ever being found is remote. Erosion has usually reduced the surviving ziggurats to a fraction of their original height, but textual evidence may yet provide more facts about the purpose of these shrines. In the present state of our knowledge it seems reasonable to adopt as a working hypothesis the suggestion that the ziggurats developed out of the earlier temples on platforms and that small shrines stood on the highest stages&nbsp;...{{sfn|Crawford|1993|p=85}}}}

Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the [[Religions of the ancient Near East|god]]s, and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of [[Sumer]]ian and [[Assyro-Babylonian]] society.

[[File:Choqa Zanbil Darafsh 1 (36).JPG|left|thumb|[[Elam]]ite Ziggurat of Dur Untash in Persian [[Choqa Zanbil]] in [[Khuzestan]], [[Iran]], circa 1300 BC]]
One of the best-preserved ziggurats is [[Chogha Zanbil]] in western [[Iran]].<ref>{{cite web |quote=It is the largest ziggurat outside of Mesopotamia and the best preserved of this type of stepped pyramidal monument. |title=Tchogha Zanbil |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/113 |access-date=July 15, 2017 |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref> The [[Sialk]] ziggurat, in [[Kashan]], [[Iran]], is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Matthews |editor1-first=R |editor2-last=Nashli |editor2-first=H. F. |year=2013 |title=The Neolithisation of Iran: the formation of new societies |publisher=British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology and Oxbow Books |location=Oxford |page=272}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Fazeli, H. |author2=Beshkani A. |author3=Markosian A. |author4=Ilkani H. |author5=Young R. L. |year=2010 |title=The Neolithic to Chalcolithic Transition in the Qazvin Plain, Iran: Chronology and Subsistence Strategies |journal=Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran and Turan |issue=41 |pages=1–17}}</ref> Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases upon which a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction which spanned several terraced stories and were topped with a temple.

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|date=March 2011}} and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as [[Etemenanki]], which means "House of the foundation of heaven and earth" in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]].

The date of its original construction is unknown, with suggested dates ranging from the fourteenth to the ninth century BC, with textual evidence suggesting it existed in the second millennium.<ref>{{cite journal |last=George |first=Andrew R. |year=2007 |url=http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/3858/2/TowerOfBabel.AfO.pdf |title=The Tower of Babel: Archaeology, history, and cuneiform texts |journal=Archiv für Orientforschung |issue=51 |volume=2005/2006 |pages=75–95}}</ref> Unfortunately, not much of even the base is left of this massive structure, yet archeological findings and historical accounts put this tower at seven multicolored tiers, topped with a temple of exquisite proportions. The temple is thought to have been painted and maintained an [[indigo]] color, matching the tops of the tiers. It is known that there were three staircases leading to the temple, two of which (side flanked) were thought to have only ascended half the ziggurat's height.