ziggurat

Everyday

1. A very large ancient tower built in steps, getting smaller towards the top, with a temple on the highest level. tree →
2. Ziggurats were built in ancient Mesopotamia (now mostly Iraq) by peoples such as the Sumerians and Babylonians. tree →
3. Any building that rises in flat steps like this. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons about ancient Mesopotamia, the ziggurat shows how cities honoured their gods and how people built with mud bricks. Some people think the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible may be linked to a ziggurat in Babylon. In maths it is like a stack of cuboids, each smaller than the one below.

Examples

• The Great Ziggurat of Ur was built of mud bricks. tree →
• A ziggurat had a temple at the very top. tree →
• We built a ziggurat out of Lego blocks, each layer smaller. tree →
• Ziggurats are not the same as Egyptian pyramids. tree →
• Priests climbed the steps of the ziggurat. tree →
• The hotel was shaped like a ziggurat, with gardens on each step. tree →

Note

Say «ZIG-oo-rat». Not a pyramid: a ziggurat has flat steps and a flat top with a temple, and it was not a tomb; Egyptian pyramids were tombs with smooth or stepped sides to a point. Plural: ziggurats.