It’s my last day here in this beautiful, scorching-hot city, but I can’t say I’m entirely heartbroken. Everything is so hot, and you walk everywhere! Anyway, I did some online researching, and I found out that the tradition of making ziggurats was started at the end of the third millennium and the latest was built at the 6th century B.C.E. It’s a shame that they stopped. Ziggurats are so pretty and comforting in a strange kind of way. I also learned that the Tower of Babel was a ziggurat and that they were tall because they were supposed to connect heaven and earth. I admire them for trying. That brings my trip to a close. Bye!
I went looking at ziggurats today! I’m so tired after all of that walking. It’s times like these when you realize how much you love cars. Anyway, most ziggurats have about two to seven tiers on average, and I even managed to climb to the second tier of a four tiered ziggurat. Like most other things in this time and setting, they were made of dried mud bricks due to a shortage of rock. Here’s a picture of the ziggurat in Ur.
I learned much more yesterday! Apparently the process of making ziggurats was started by the Sumerians and continued by the Assyrians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. Only one could be in each city because each city worshipped only one “patron god.” Ancient Mesopotamia had about 32 ziggurats in the area, one to each city. I also briefly spoke to one of the priestesses and she said that the top level of the ziggurat is a shrine where only the priests and priestess can go. She was also apparently chosen as a representative for the gods by the gods, allowed to speak directly with their physical form. She seemed very proud. Anyway, I want to go look at other ziggurats around Mesopotamia! Bye!
Today my class arrived in ancient Mesopotamia for our ancient history unit. I chose to research ziggurats, and I stayed behind as everyone else ran off, giddy with joy as they sought out their subject. Of course, I didn’t have to look for my topic. A giant temple rose out of the ground in the middle of the city, reaching the heavens with its square tiers. I already knew ziggurats were big. I’d spent hours researching them in the dim glow of my computer. This ziggurat was way bigger than I thought. It wasn’t too tall compared to the skyscrapers of the twenty-first century, but the sheer magnitude was overwhelming. The base must have been 300 feet wide! I dimly remembered something about this ziggurat. It was called Etemenankia, and it was the biggest ziggurat recorded. The translation literally meant “house of the platform between heaven and earth.” I don’t know much about it, so I’ll go ask some locals. Bye!
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