Ziggurat, a temple-tower, the principal form of religious edifice in ancient Mesopotamia. Ziggurats were built from the 4th millennium bc to 600 bc. Constructed of mud brick and often faced with glazed brick, they rose in stepped stages to a small temple or sanctuary at the peak. The most famous of the ziggurats was the temple-tower of Etemenanki (popularly associated with the Tower of Babel) at the temple of Marduk in Babylon, rebuilt by King Nabopolassar (reigned 625-605 bc) and his son Nebuchadnezzar II. The largest ruins are those of the Elamite ziggurat at Choga Zambil (Dur Untash, Iran; 13th century bc), which is 102 m (335 ft) square at its base. The best preserved ruins are those of the ziggurat of Nanna at Ur built by Ur-Nammu (reigned 2113-2095 bc), the first king of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur, and his son Shulgi (reigned 2095-2047 bc) and entirely remodeled by Nabonidus (reigned 556-539 bc), the last Babylonian king before the Persian conquest of Mesopotamia.

See Babel, Tower of; Mesopotamian Art and Architecture; Ur.