Whats a ziggurat and where was it found?
A type of step-pyramid temple first built by the Sumerians 5,000 years ago in southern Mesopotamia, made of sun-dried mud bricks. The peoples of Mesopotamia continued building ziggurats for thousands of years. The book Paths of Faith says that Babylonian temples “centered in a ziggurat, which was a pyramid-shaped structure with a shrine at the top.” It adds: “Similar to religious edifices from the pyramids of Egypt to the stupas of India or pagodas of the Buddhist world, the ziggurat . . . was probably a remote ancestor of the steepled church.” German archaeologist Walter Andrae did extensive digging in this area at the beginning of the 20th century. The shrine at the top of the ziggurat, he wrote, was thought to be “the gate . . . through which the God of heaven descends the ziggurat staircase to reach his earthly dwelling place.
