What is the purpose of the ziggurat?

Answer 1

The purpose of a ziggurat was to keep a house for the gods, feed the hungry, celebrate, have school lessons and have courts.

The ancient Sumerians built the ziggurats as temples that were dedicated to the Mesopotamian gods and goddesses.

They were temples built by the Sumerians didicated to the gods in Mesopotamia

Answer 2

They were used to and worship gods in the ancient Mesopotamian days. They were also for the kings.

Wrong, kings were not aloud to go in the ziggurat, only priests. People paid priests to "talk" to the gods when they needed to make a decision, before the kings started, priests had political power as well as religious power.

That is wrong too! They were community centers!

Those are all right. Different levels were used for different purposes, including above.

Answer 3

The religious purposes for ziggurats is that Mesopotamians believed that the powerful gods lived in the nearer heavens so they decided to built ziggurats to be closer to the gods in contact and to worship them.

Answer 4

First of all, as far as I know, according to the prevailing beliefs, God is in the sky. For this reason, when you need God's help, you look up to the sky.

Second, if we look to their land (the land of Mesopotamia) we see only a plateau or flat land. The theory goes that to reach God, it is better to come closer to Him/Her. Because of this theory, highlands and mountains are holy for humans. If we examine history, we can find a lot of examples where such places, like mountains, are venerated.

So. in the land at that time, there were no highlands or mountains, so they tried to make a mountain-like structure to better reach to God or to place their God/Goddess on the top. The Mesopotamians made ziggurats as home of gods and the Egyptians made the Pyramids as last home of the Pharaoh (who was functionally a god).

I haven't seen anyone mention the ziggurat which still stands in the very historic and cultured territory of Persia (modern Iran). There is a ziggurat named Chogha Zanbil. It is in Khuzestan Province near the southern Iraqi border and is on the outskirts of Mesopotamia.

See the Wikipedia link for more information or pictures of Chogha Zanbil.

Answer 5

They didn't have modern materials like iron in a grand scale, steal or concrete. Ziggurats were made with mortar bricks as an ingenuity of ancient times. Most ziggurats were temples. Temples were originally built on platforms. During the third millennium B.C., these were made higher and bigger. Eventually it was decided to build even higher temples on platforms which were stepped.

Answer 6

The ancient Sumerians built the ziggurats as temples that were dedicated to the Mesopotamian gods and goddesses.

Answer 7

They were temples built by the Sumerians didicated to the gods in Mesopotamia

Answer 8

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