Most of great monument in ancient
period is remarkable. Some works are not sure that how the ancient people made
the works and what for. They always brought us curiosity. Especially, pyramids
at Giza and ziggurats of the ancient near east are the most famous monuments. Even
though we do not exactly know about these, some similarity and difference exist.
Pyramids and ziggurats both provide archeologists with a great deal of
information about the ancient cultures that constructed them. When comparing
The Pyramids of Giza with The Ziggurats of the ancient near east, the
differences between them are more apparent than the similarities that they
share. The two structures actually only appear to be similar. Both have the
general form of a pyramid. Some other similarities shared by these two types of
structures can be interpreted from the context of the religions of those who
had them erected and what role they served for the society. Also, for building
these structures, maybe over 20,000 people had to work just like slaves. Among
the differences are their intended usage, how they were decorated, their
designs, and the materials used in their construction.
In order to clearly know about how
different these two structures are, I am going to explain about their designs
and the materials used to build them. Contrasts in the decorations of the two
types of structures are then discussed.
As we know that one of the greatest and
largest structures is The Pyramids of Giza. It was built with exacting precision
from brick or stone. It was made about 2575-2150 B.C. The base is about over
52,600 square meters in area and it is over 2 tons. Unlike the Ziggurats that
made of mud-brick, the Pyramids were made of limestone that durable and heavy
thing. Also, the Pyramids were not only used for worship place but also used
for funerary purpose place to king and queen buried. A lot of treasure used to bury
with tomb but it had been robbed of its treasures.
The Ziggurat is also greatest and
largest structure in the world. The Ziggurat’s basic structure is made of
rectangle and it have different step of levels. Because of flood thing, people
made different terraced levels are stacked on this structure. And the Ziggurat was made for served as a
temple for worship on the top it and maybe people thought that there was a sacred
place for more reaching to worship. Temples were originally built on platforms.
During the third millennium B.C., these were made higher and bigger. Eventually
it was decided to build even higher temples on platforms that were stepped.
No one knows for certain why the
Pyramids and the Ziggurats were built or how they were used. They are part of
temple complexes, so they were probably connected with religion and tomb. Or
passably it could have used something different purpose. However, these
structures show us to their culture and society through them. I think that
these structures are attracted and mysterious.
Hi Hemmy! I'm glad that you tried to talk about the differences in medium. The pyramids are made of stone (no brick). I think you understand this concept, since you mentioned limestone, but I just want to be sure.
ReplyDeleteThe white limestone casing on the outside of the pyramids would have been very striking. In fact, the pyramids also were donned with a gold cap. This white exterior of the structures has an interesting similarity with some ziggurats, since we know that some were whitewashed.
-Prof. Bowen