The first recognized step pyramid, however, dates to the beginning of the Third Dynasty attributed to the pharaoh Djoser. Egyptologist Walter B Emery found other mastabas of this late 1st Dynasty period that may have been of similar design in which several inscriptions depicting step pyramids during this era are also found, mostly credited to Anedjib's successor Qa'a. In the First Dynasty at Saqqara, a large step pyramid like structure was found within the interior of Mastaba 3808 dating to the reign of the pharaoh Anedjib. The earliest Egyptian pyramids were step pyramids. Main article: Egyptian pyramids Pyramid of Djoser in 2010 It was also called Hill of Heaven or Mountain of the gods. Access to the shrine was provided by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven, with a shrine or temple at the summit. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure. The earliest ziggurats probably date from the latter part of the Early Dynastic Period of Sumer. The probable predecessors of the ziggurat were temples supported on raised platforms or terraces that date from the Ubaid period during the 4th millennium BC, and the latest date from the 6th century BC. Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites and Assyrians as monuments to local religions. Notable Ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq, the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Iraq, Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran, the most recent to be discovered – Sialk near Kashan, Iran and others. Twenty-eight of them are in Iraq, and four of them are in Iran. There are 32 ziggurats known at, and near, Mesopotamia. Ziggurats were huge religious monuments built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. Main article: Ziggurat The 4100-year-old Great Ziggurat of Ur in southern Iraq
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |