THE SKY FROM THE HIGH TERRACE: STUDY ON THE ORIENTATION OF THE ZIQQURAT IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Abstract

The ziqqurat is the symbol of the Mesopotamian sacred architecture in the western thought. This monument, standardized at the end of the III millennium BC by the kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, has changed during the history of Mesopotamia its shape and architecture, but remained till the end of the Neo-Babylonian Period in the I millennium BC the highest structure of the city. The ziqqurat is the only monument visible over the settlements wall with a strong visual impact around the urban and the countryside landscape. Despite its simple structural function, a high mud brick platform to sustain an upper temple, the ziqqurat appears in the Mesopotamian art and literature as a structure of primary importance, a connection between the earth, domain of the god Enlil, with the sky, domain of the god Anu. The ideological function to connect the earth and the sky was related also with the rituals performed in the high temples built above these monuments, usually linked with important seasonal royal rituals. The paper will analyze this particular aspect of ziqqurat, looking also to their orientations and to the changing in the relationship between these monuments and the urban landscape through the centuries.