Ziggurat (redirected from zikurat)

ziggurat (zĭg`răt), form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The earliest examples date from the end of the 3d millenium B.C., the latest from the 6th cent. B.C. The ziggurat was a pyramidal structure, built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, with a shrine at the summit. The core of the ziggurat was of sun-baked bricks, and the facings were of fired bricks, often glazed in different colors, which are thought to have had cosmological significance. Access to the summit shrine was provided by a series of ramps on one side or by a continuous spiral ramp from base to summit. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven. Notable examples are the ruins at Ur and Khorsabad in Mesopotamia. Similar structures were built by the Mayan people of Central America.

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ziggurat

Pyramidal, stepped temple tower characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia between 2200 and 500 BC. It was built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick. It had no internal chambers and was usually square or rectangular. Some 25 ziggurats are known, located in Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. The best-preserved ziggurat is at Ur, and the largest is at Elam. The legendary Tower of Babel has been associated with the ziggurat of the great temple of Marduk in Babylon.

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ziggurat, zikkurat, zikurat

a type of rectangular temple tower or tiered mound erected by the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians in Mesopotamia. The tower of Babel is thought to be one of these

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ziggurat

A Mesopotamian temple tower; from the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. on, ziggurats rose in three to seven stages, diminishing in area and often in height square (Sumer) or rectangular (Assyria), built of mud brick and faced with baked brick laid in bitumen.

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Ziggurat 

(Akkadian), a cultic structure in ancient Mesopotamia. It was a sun-dried brick tower formed from stepped parallelepipeds or truncated pyramids (from three to seven); these contained no internal chambers except for the uppermost, which contained a shrine. The ziggurat’s terraces, which were painted in different colors (mainly black, red, and white), were connected by stairways or ramps. The walls were divided by rectangular recesses. A temple was usually located next to the ziggurat. Ziggurats have been preserved in Iraq (in the ancient cities of Borsippa, Babylon, and Dur-Sharrukin; all dating from the first millennium B.C.) and Iran (at the site of Choga Zambil, second millennium B.C.).