The Great Ziggurat of Ur!

Personal Opinion

As I read about the great ziggurat in the class reading I looked forward into researching about it in more depth. Its architecture grabbed my attention and specially its construction and division. While researching, I was wondering how only “sundried brick” held such a massive building. It is interesting to know what the ancient civilizations believed in and how artistic they were even though they were not educated like us now! 

However I do have some suggestions and thoughts for possible changes for the great ziggurat. Firstly, I would reconstruct the Ziggurat after the bombing at Iraq due to its high importance in the history of ancient civilizations. Second, the base area of the building is enormous. Therefore the area inside the ziggurat is wasted as it is covered with stones. If I were to change anything in the ziggurat, I would empty the core of the great ziggurat after supporting it well in case of delicate bricks to make more use of it. I personally think the inside would preserve more uses as the outdoor construction could be used in only certain times of the year. Whereas the inside could be used for different activities, rather it is religious (church), governmental (celebrations of national days or governmental buildings) or even for entertainment (Professional choir theatre, Drama acting theatre).

As for the outside I would not change anything for a few reasons. First, I would like to preserve the ancient architecture for the coming generations to see. I would even leave the temple and use it as a ruin for exploration. Second, the outside has a reasonable surface sizes that could also be used for different occasions. Nevertheless, it will always be a question that will lead to an argument on whether it is best to reconstruct the Ziggurat to make more use of it or to leave it as it was initially.

How does the great Ziggurat reflect its society?

The Great Ziggurat was made for religious reasons that the Sumerian culture at the time believed in. it was made so that the temple is raised up to the gods, (in this case the Great Ziggurat was dedicated to the Moon God Nanna) because the gods might come down to make sure that the community is preserving its wellbeing and its riches.

Symbolically it has other meanings too. According to Spiro Kostof, the ziggurat might have represented the mountains where the Sumerians came from. Also, raising the Ziggurat three levels off the ground could have been a reason to protect the temple from natural crisis like floods. 

 

A brief background of the Great Ziggurat:

The Ziggurat of Ur, also named the Great Ziggurat of Ur is a three level building located in Ur’s city close to Nasiriya which is now days called Iraq. The great ziggurat was Neo-Sumerian ziggurat that was built in “The Middle Bronze Age” in the 21st century BC. As stated in the British Museum book, it was built by Ur-Nammu (2112-2095 BC), the Sumerian king and Shulgi (2047 BC–1999 BC) his son during the “Third Dynasty of Ur”. The ziggurat has been modified by Nabonidus in the Neo-Babylonian times in the 6^th century to make it 5 levels. The ziggurat was reconstructed by Leonard Woolley in 1939 and later by Saddam Hussein with a little reconstruction for the “staircase” in the 1980s.

Material:

According to class reading by Spiro Kostof in his History of Architecture book, the Great Ziggurat is about 70 feet in height and its base is about 200 by 150 feet. The ziggurat was constructed with “sundried brick” added to bitumen and reed matting. They added to the ziggurat a “kiln fired brick” as a layer to resist the bad weather. The ziggurat has a rectangular base that rises up inwardly towards the top to meet a temple at the top.

Function:

Naturally, the ziggurat is decorated and designed in preference to the sacred symbolism of the structure. The great ziggurat has three levels with the third level having access to the temple. Only priests were allowed to ascend to the second and third level of the ziggurat to visit the temple.

What do you think and why?

1. What do you think about the ancient architecture of the Great Ziggurat and how?
2. How far in your personal opinion you think the Great Ziggurat reflects its society?
3. Is it better to reconstruct the Great Ziggurat or not?
4. From one to three, rate the changes that I would make to the building?
5. What changes would you disagree on?
6. What changes do you agree on?
7. What changes would you make?