Ziggurat
Topic: Bronze Age Civilisations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 4 "Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation"; Class 11, Ch 1 "Writing and City Life"
Meaning
A ziggurat was a temple built in steps, like a stepped pyramid, in the cities of Mesopotamia. The Sumerians built them, and every city raised one. The top was the holiest place, and only high priests and priestesses could go in. The ziggurat stood inside a walled compound with a single entrance. The compound also held palaces and royal storehouses and served as the city treasury. So the ziggurat stood at the centre of both religion and wealth.
Example
Babylon became the leading city of the world after Nabopolassar freed it from Assyria in 625 BCE. It had a great ziggurat, along with a triple wall, palaces, temples and a processional way (a wide road for religious parades).
Don't confuse with
- Egyptian pyramid: a tomb for a pharaoh, built over his burial. A ziggurat was a temple, with a shrine for the god at the top.