Mesopotamian architecture is the building tradition of the ancient civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys, spanning the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian periods over nearly four millennia. Its most distinctive structures are ziggurats, stepped temple towers built up in tiers from a rectangular base to a flat platform, typically constructed with a core of mud brick faced with baked brick, since stone was scarce in the region. Unlike the pyramids of Egypt, ziggurats were not tombs but functional religious structures, standing at the center of a city with a temple at the summit where priests performed rituals dedicated to a local deity. The word ziggurat derives from an Akkadian term meaning to rise high, reflecting their purpose of bringing worshippers symbolically closer to the heavens.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Influenced
Achaemenid palace architecture at Persepolis and Pasargadae drew on Elamite and Mesopotamian building traditions.
Notable Examples
The great Mesopotamian capital, its ziggurats and mudbrick palaces exemplifying Mesopotamian architecture.
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