Mesopotamian Gods &

Ziggurats1˚ ESO Social Studies

Fall 2014

Ziggurat

What do you think a ziggurat is?

Describe what you see in the pictures.

ZIGGURAT

ZIGGURAT

Ziggurats

Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians,

and Assyrians for local religions.

Each Ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other

buildings.

Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the

ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top.

Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired

bricks on the outside.

The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have

had astrological significance.

Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks.

The number of tiers ranged from two to seven.

It is assumed they had shrines at the top.

Ziggurats

Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of

the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit.

The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or

ceremonies.

They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had

its own patron god.

Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and

it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs.

Ziggurats are not Egyptian Pyramids.

According to Herodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine, although

none of these shrines have survived.

Ziggurats

One practical function of the Ziggurats was a high place on which the

priests could escape rising water that annually flooded the lowlands.

Another practical function of the ziggurat was for security. Since the shrine

was accessible only by way of three stairways, a small number of guards

could prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top of

the ziggurat, such as cooking of sacrificial food and burning of carcasses of

sacrificial animals.

Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included a courtyard,

storage rooms, bathrooms, and living quarters, around which a city was

built

Ziggurat Review

Who can tell me something about ziggurats?

Ziggurat Review

What is unusual about this building?

Ziggurat Review

What might it have been like to see a Ziggurat without knowing what they

were or who the Mesopotamians were?

Mesopotamian Religion

Why do you think gods and goddesses are important?

How do you think religion influences humans and history?

Have you heard of any Mesopotamian gods and goddesses?

Mesopotamian Religion

Mesopotamian’s had several gods and goddesses.

Each had a different purpose.

Mesopotamian Religion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_0N7E7nScc

Adad or Ishkur

God of weather, hurricanes,

storms, thunder, and rain.

The supreme power.

Enlil or Ashur

God of the wind.

Ninlil

Goddess of the air.

Consort of Enlil.

Anu or An

God of heaven and the sky.

Lord of constellations.

Father of gods.

Enki or Ea

God of the Abzu (the holy water

that all water came from).

God of crafts, water, intelligence,

mischief, and creation.

Divine ruler of the Earth and all of

it’s inhabitants.

Ereshkigal

Goddess of Irkalla (the

Underworld/Hell).

Inanna or Ishtar

Goddess of fertility, love, war, and

lust.

Marduk

Patron deity of Babylon.

Became head of the Babylonian

pantheon.

Nabu

God of wisdom and writing.

Nanshe

Goddess of social justice,

prophecy, fertility, and fishing.

Nergal

God of plague, war, and the sun

and it’s destructive capacity.

Ninhursag or Mami

Also known as Belet-Ili, Ki, Ninmah,

Nintu, and Aruru.

Goddess of the earth.

Mother goddess.

Ninurta

Champion of the gods.

The epitome of youthful vigor.

God of Agriculture.

Shamash or Utu

God of the sun.

Arbiter of justice.

Patron of travelers.

Sin or Nanna

God of the moon.

Tammuz or Dumuzi

God of food and vegetation.

Mesopotamian Religion

What are they wearing?

What are they doing?

How can you (or can you?) tell they are a god or goddess?

Mesopotamian Religion

Take into consideration that there was a god for many different aspects of

life.

Imagine that you are an inhabitant of Mesopotamia. What kind of holiday

do you imagine you may have created around the time of current-day

Halloween? Write about a ritual or holiday and specify a god or gods that

you would be worshipping.