Sumerian ziggurats

Ziggurats were stepped pyramids built for the worship of gods - at first by the Sumerians, but later by the Babylonians, Akkadians and Assyrians. Constructed in a stack of diminishing tiers on rectangular, oval or square bases, they had distinctive flat tops, and formed the focal point of Mesopotamian cities.

The oldest surviving ziggurat, in the ancient city of Uruk, pre-dates the Egyptian pyramids by several centuries. A shrine at the summit of the stepped platform was approached by outer stairs. The temple is belieed to have been dedicated to the sky god Anu, and its corners point towards the cardinal points of the compass. Nearly a milennium later, during the Neo-Sumerian Empire, the ziggurat at Ur (opposit) was built c.2113-2096 BCE. The best preserved of the ancient ziggurats, it is built with a core of mud bricks and an outer casing of fired brick. Three converging ramps lead up to a platform, from which a central stairway continues to the top, where a temple once stood.