ziggurat
3
9.9
- noun
- /ˈzɪɡəræt/
:
zigurat
- When I was growing up in southern Iraq in the 1960s, my family used to take me on picnics to the Great Ziggurat temple and the royal burial grounds of Ur, about 140 miles northwest of the Persian Gulf.
- ziggurat at Ur
OK, And it's this mass, you know, ziggurat is Nope.
- OK, And it's this mass, you know, ziggurat is Nope.
Examples
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Its new king, Ur-Nammu, sought to create monuments to make the city equal to that status and began construction of the ziggurat temple in honor of the city's patron deity, Nannar, god of the moon.
Academic text (2011) -
The brickwork of the ziggurat attests to the kings' desire to create a lasting monument to their empire.
Academic text (2011) -
The ruins of the city cover roughly 30 acres around the ziggurat.
Academic text (2011) -
In style, it resembled the ziggurats of ancient Assyria.
Fiction book (1992) -
As a general rule, most of the bricks in the massive first tier of the ziggurat are the originals of Ur-Nammu, while rubble on the second tier dates to Nabonidus.
Academic text (2011) -
Just shy of the Euphrates River, we could see the landmark that signaled the end of the trip: the ziggurat, a monument that has stood mute witness to 4,000 years of human conflict.
Academic text (2011) -
And a few hundred yards from the ziggurat, there is the great necropolis of Ur, where dozens of tombs and pits lie open, their inhabitants removed by British archaeologists decades ago.
Academic text (2011) -
The ancient ziggurat stood tall against the desert sky, showcasing the architectural prowess of the Babylonians.
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Visitors flocked to the ziggurat to admire its intricate design and historical significance in Mesopotamian culture.
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Archaeologists uncovered valuable artifacts near the ziggurat, revealing insights into the lives of the people who built it.
Synonyms
A large stepped rectangular temple with levels that get smaller toward the top
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
Ziggurat comes from the ancient Mesopotamian word ziqqurratu, which meant 'height' or a 'raised place' and was used for the stepped temples of the Babylonians and Assyrians. So a ziggurat is a 'raised', stepped temple that stands high above the flat land.