Ziggurats Built in Ur
Around 2100 BCE, the rulers of the Mesopotamian city of Ur began building one of the best-preserved monuments of the ancient Near East: a massive stepped temple tower, or ziggurat, dedicated to the moon god Nanna (known in Akkadian as Sin). Ziggurats were not unique to Ur, but its example, in what is now southern Iraq, shows how religion, political power, and large-scale organization were bound together in early Mesopotamian cities.
Temple building in southern Mesopotamia was already ancient by this time. For centuries, Sumerian cities had raised their temples on platforms, and each city considered itself the home of a patron deity who owned the land and required constant service. After a period of rule by the Akkadian Empire and a turbulent interval that followed, Ur rose to dominate the region under the kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Ur-Nammu, the dynasty's founder, is generally credited with beginning the ziggurat at Ur, and his son Shulgi continued the work. Their building programs also reached other cities, including Uruk, Eridu, and Nippur.
The Ur ziggurat was built mostly of mud brick, with an outer facing of baked brick set in bitumen, a natural tar found in the region. It rose in tiers on a rectangular base, roughly 60 by 45 meters, and was approached by monumental staircases. How high it originally stood is uncertain, since the upper levels have not survived; estimates usually suggest several stages, possibly topped by a small shrine. Scholars debate how the structure was used. Because the tower stood within a walled sacred precinct that included other temples and storehouses, it was probably the focus of priestly rituals rather than a place for public worship. The temple complex also functioned as an economic center, collecting and distributing grain, wool, and other goods.
For rulers, building such a monument was both an act of piety and a display of authority. It demanded organized labor, vast quantities of brick, and a administrative system able to supply them, which the Ur III state, known for its detailed record keeping on clay tablets, could provide. Later kings repaired the structure, and the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus, whose family had ties to the moon cult, restored it in the sixth century BCE.
Ur's ziggurat endured, partly restored, into modern times. Excavations led by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and 1930s revealed its lower stages, and the Iraqi government later reconstructed the front staircase and first level. Ziggurats are often linked to the biblical Tower of Babel, though the connection is a matter of interpretation. Today the Ur ziggurat remains an enduring symbol of Mesopotamian civilization.