Ziggurat of Ur: A 4,000-Year-Old Giant of Mud Brick

Location: The Ziggurat of Ur stands in southern Iraq, around 16 kilometres southwest of Nasiriyah. It forms part of the ruins of the ancient city of Ur, which was one of Mesopotamia’s most important centres for thousands of years. Today, the site lies on a dry plain, but in antiquity the surrounding landscape looked very different. At that time, Ur stood along branches of the Euphrates in a landscape shaped by canals and wetlands, with access to important waterways.

Significance: The Ziggurat of Ur is one of the best-known surviving temple towers of Mesopotamia. Ziggurats were monumental stepped structures that formed the centrepieces of major sanctuaries. In Ur, the ziggurat belonged to the temple precinct of the moon god Nanna, who was worshipped as the city’s patron deity. Since 2016, the ruins of Ur have formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “The Ahwar of Southern Iraq”. This mixed cultural and natural heritage site includes Ur, the ancient cities of Uruk and Eridu, and four major wetlands in southern Iraq.

Historical context: Around 2100 BC, King Ur-Nammu founded the Third Dynasty of Ur and made the city the centre of a new empire. Under him and his successors, Ur controlled large parts of Mesopotamia. The state relied on productive agriculture, a dense network of canals and a highly organised administration. Thousands of surviving cuneiform tablets record grain, wool, livestock, labour and trade goods, among many other things. As a result, economic life and many aspects of everyday life at the time can be reconstructed in unusual detail today.

Earlier temple layers: The sacred precinct of Ur had already been a religious centre long before the great ziggurat was built. Excavations beneath and beside the structure revealed remains of older terraces and walls, as well as several successive phases of construction. Ur-Nammu therefore did not build the Ziggurat of Ur on an entirely new cult site. Instead, its construction continued a religious and architectural tradition that had existed at the same location for centuries.

Construction history: Around 2100 BC, Ur-Nammu began building the great ziggurat. His son and successor Shulgi completed the enormous construction project. Vast quantities of mud bricks had to be produced and assembled into a massive core. Fired bricks protected the exterior. The result was a monumental temple tower within the sacred precinct that dominated the skyline of Ur from far away.

Construction technique: The Ziggurat of Ur was built around a massive core of sun-dried mud bricks. The lowest level was clad on the outside with a layer of fired bricks around 2.4 metres thick, bonded with bitumen as mortar. Many of these bricks bore the name of Ur-Nammu, preserving the identity of the royal patron. Reed mats inserted at regular intervals helped stabilise the masonry. Small openings in the outer walls probably helped drain moisture and rainwater from the structure.

No interior chambers: Unlike an Egyptian pyramid, the Ziggurat of Ur was not a tomb and contained no burial chambers within its massive brick core. The actual cult area stood high on the structure and could be reached by monumental stairways. A sanctuary dedicated to the moon god Nanna was probably located on the highest level. The main purpose of the ziggurat was therefore to raise the sacred area high above the rest of the city.

Architecture: The lowest level of the Ziggurat of Ur measures around 62.5 by 43 metres and reaches a height of approximately 11 metres. Above it stood at least one further, considerably smaller level with a footprint of roughly 36 by 26 metres. The exact original appearance of the upper sections can no longer be fully reconstructed because they were altered several times in later periods. The outer walls sloped slightly inwards and were broken up by regularly spaced projections. Another striking feature is the structure’s orientation: rather than its sides, its four corners point approximately towards the four cardinal directions.

Three-part staircase: The monumental entrance was located on the northeastern side of the Ziggurat of Ur. A broad central staircase led straight towards the structure. Two side staircases rose diagonally and met the central staircase at a higher level. This strictly symmetrical arrangement emphasised the ascent and directed the eye towards the summit. The stairway probably also played an important role in religious processions and ceremonies.

Symbolism: The exact religious meaning of the stepped form of the Ziggurat of Ur has not been clearly recorded. What is certain is that it raised the sanctuary far above the everyday world of the city, giving it a special status. Ziggurats are also often interpreted as artificial mountains, although this interpretation cannot be conclusively proven. In any case, the architecture made it visibly clear that the deity’s sacred area was physically set apart from the rest of urban life.

Moon god Nanna: Nanna was the moon god and patron deity of the city of Ur, which was one of the most important centres of his worship. His best-known symbol was the crescent moon. The moon also shaped Mesopotamian timekeeping and determined the rhythm of the months. Nanna was also associated with the bull, whose curved horns resembled a crescent moon. His cult remained highly important in Ur for many centuries.

Colours: During the Neo-Babylonian period, the Ziggurat of Ur was more colourful than the ruins suggest today. Blue-glazed bricks from the restoration carried out under King Nabonidus in the 6th century BC were found in the rubble around the structure. They probably belonged to the sanctuary in the upper part of the ziggurat and gave it a gleaming blue surface. How colourful the original ziggurat was in the time of Ur-Nammu, however, is unknown.

Ancient restoration: In the 6th century BC, Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, had the Ziggurat of Ur extensively restored. He largely retained the surviving lower structure from the time of Ur-Nammu. Among other changes, he adapted the stairways to the ground level, which had risen over time. The heavily damaged upper sections, however, were completely redesigned and expanded with additional terraces. A sanctuary dedicated to the moon god Nanna was once again built at the summit.

Decline of Ur: After the end of the Third Dynasty, Ur lost its political dominance but remained inhabited and religiously important for many centuries. The city continued to exist under Babylonian, Neo-Babylonian and Persian rule. During the 1st millennium BC, Ur gradually declined in importance and was eventually abandoned. The shifting course of the Euphrates probably contributed to this development. As a result, Ur lost direct access to the river that had long supplied the city with water and connected it to important transport routes.

Rediscovery: In the mid-19th century, the ruins of Tell al-Muqayyar increasingly attracted the attention of European researchers. In 1853 and 1854, John George Taylor carried out the first excavations there. Among his discoveries were inscribed foundation cylinders belonging to King Nabonidus. The deciphered cuneiform texts played a crucial role in conclusively identifying the site as ancient Ur. They also provided important evidence about the restoration of the Ziggurat of Ur in the 6th century BC.

Excavations: From 1922 to 1934, British archaeologist Leonard Woolley directed extensive excavations at Ur. The joint expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum uncovered large parts of the ancient city, including the Ziggurat of Ur, temple complexes, residential districts and the famous Royal Cemetery. At the ziggurat, Woolley’s team studied the stairways, terraces and various construction phases in particular detail. Their work remains an important basis for our understanding of the structure’s original appearance and development.

Restorations: The present appearance of the Ziggurat of Ur is partly the result of modern reconstruction. In the 1960s, the Iraqi antiquities authorities restored sections of the outer brick facing. In the 1980s, under Saddam Hussein, the façade of the lowest level and the three monumental stairways in particular were reconstructed.

War damage: The Ziggurat of Ur was also damaged during the Gulf War in 1991. According to a report published shortly afterwards, a single attack by a fighter jet left around 400 new impact holes in the structure. Four large bomb craters were also created within the sacred precinct near the ziggurat. Despite this wartime damage, the Ziggurat of Ur remained largely intact.

Present condition: Today, the most visible parts are the massive lower structure with its surviving terraces and the monumental staircase. Very little remains of the original upper sections. The former sanctuary at the summit has disappeared completely. The present appearance therefore combines around 4,000-year-old building fabric with later additions and modern reconstructions. The vulnerable mud-brick core is particularly threatened by moisture and erosion, making regular conservation work necessary.

Origin of the name: The Sumerian name of the city was Urim. The origin and precise meaning of this name remain uncertain to this day. The ziggurat itself was called Etemenniguru. The name can be translated approximately as “House Whose Foundation Creates Awe” and underlines the monumental significance of the structure.

City of Ur: For many centuries, Ur was one of Mesopotamia’s most important political, religious and economic centres. Its location on waterways connected to the Euphrates and its links to the Persian Gulf made the city an important trading centre. It is particularly famous for the so-called Royal Cemetery, where Woolley’s team uncovered around 1,850 burials. Woolley described sixteen especially elaborate and richly furnished tombs as royal. They date mainly from around 2600 to 2500 BC and are therefore several centuries older than the Ziggurat of Ur built by Ur-Nammu. Among the best-known finds are elaborately decorated lyres, precious jewellery and numerous valuable grave goods.

Abraham and Ur: In the Bible, Abraham is associated with “Ur of the Chaldeans”. This place is traditionally identified with ancient Ur in what is now southern Iraq, although the identification cannot be conclusively proven historically. As a result, the ruins still hold special symbolic significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In March 2021, Pope Francis visited Ur and took part in an interfaith meeting there. The event focused on Abraham as a shared figure of reference for the three religions.

Dog paw prints: A fired brick from the Ziggurat of Ur, now kept in the British Museum, bears a stamped cuneiform inscription dating from the time of Ur-Nammu. Directly beside it, two dog paw prints have been preserved. The animal apparently walked across the still-soft clay before the brick was fired. Alongside the official royal inscription, this accidental moment from everyday life around 4,000 years ago has also survived.