Ziggurat definition: a type of rectangular temple tower or tiered mound erected by the Sumerians, Akkadians. Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples. Log In Dictionary. Dictionary Grammar Blog School Scrabble Thesaurus Translator Quiz More Resources More from Collins. Ziggurats were a form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians of ancient Mesopotamia.The earliest examples of the ziggurat date from the.

noun

• (in ancient Mesopotamia) a rectangular stepped tower, sometimes surmounted by a temple. Ziggurats are first attested in the late 3rd millennium BC and probably inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9).

  • ‘Stepped pyramids known as ziggurats survive from the 3rd millennium BC in Mesopotamia.’
  • ‘The Mesopotamians built massive temples or ziggurats which housed the priestly class, the human representatives of the gods.’
  • ‘The Tower of Babel, the great ziggurat beside Babylon's temple of Marduk, dates to this era.’
  • ‘In its heyday, the city was enclosed by a wall some 8km in circumference, enclosing at one corner a citadel that contained a ziggurat, temples, and palaces.’
  • ‘This view, modelled upon ancient ziggurats, is probably very similar to how it actually appeared.’
  • ‘In the pre-dynastic period, it was Mesopotamia and its ziggurats that provided the model for the Egyptians.’
  • ‘Kiln-fired bricks were invented by the Mesopotamians to create the complex towering ziggurats of the Sumerian and Babylonian empires.’
  • ‘Tall yellow candles towered like ziggurats over a city of dishes stacked with onion pies, potato dumplings, mettwurst and weisswurst.’
  • ‘This piece evokes ancient architecture, in particular the ziggurat of the Assyrians.’
  • ‘Dispensing with his ‘prairie style’, he peppered the scheme with domes, spires and ziggurats.’
  • ‘I'm doing an ambient-metal installation in a Greek art gallery and writing about ziggurats.’
  • ‘I've seen the wax ziggurats, the elevated boats and spare architecture.’
  • ‘The nearby floating stairs are cast concrete bolstered by steel ziggurats tied into floor joists.’
  • ‘Cartons of bottled water for rescue workers rose in charitable ziggurats outside police stations and schools.’
  • ‘West Sacramento has a giant ziggurat on the river.’
  • ‘Opposite the ziggurat of technology was a single unmade cot.’
  • ‘Shellfire damaged the brickwork of the ziggurat at Ur, which was constructed in 2100 B.C.’
  • ‘He guided Tennyson and Clara to a stepped display that looked rather like Tennysons' model of a ziggurat from History class.’
  • ‘The ziggurat occupies the center, surrounded by a city wall.’
  • ‘Just beyond the bridge is a little park, too rocky to develop, that rises in the middle to a rounded granite ziggurat.’

Pronunciation

ziggurat

Dictionary entry details. ZIGGURAT (noun)Sense 1Meaning:A rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and BabyloniansClassified under:Nouns denoting man-made objectsSynonyms:ziggurat;;Hypernyms ('ziggurat' is a kind of.):(an edifice devoted to special or exalted purposes)Instance hyponyms:; ((Genesis 11:1-11) a tower built by Noah's descendants (probably in Babylon) who intended it to reach up to heaven; God foiled them by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another). Darkest of days free download.