It seems that they Pyramids of Giza and the Ziggurats of the near east have quite a few similarities that outnumber differences from what I can tell. It seems that both are based upon a big rectangular like base which get smaller and smaller as they go up with the pyramids ending in a point and the ziggurats ending with just a flat top. The infrastructures they use make them even more similar than people think they are since the pyramids originally were just one block being called a funiary, then the stepped pyramids basically being a big pyramid like stairway to the top but with the stepped pyramids they obtained a bit of design from the ziggurats as they were of a rectangle with the same design also. However the ziggurats didn’t make it too obvious that they’re stepping upward getting smaller as they go. Going inside of these structures it would be like the pyramid is just a covered version of a ziggurat. The ziggurats had their single room up at the top to be a holy room for showing their loyalties to a leader or god which offerings were given and placed within the structure. While pyramids had their room be at the top for which the tomb of a leader would be for worship, however the room was covered by the pyramid itself still and was usually located around the middle of the total height of it. Basically physically looking at it the pyramids was just a ziggurat because of the side and front stairs but without the side walls/side they had. Adding to this the stairs didn’t just stop three quarters of the way up but continued until they got together. For what the two were made of it was quite different and quite puzzling in how they did it in the first place. Ziggurats were made of just mud bricks as they are called but could be small in size. Pyramids on the other hand had much bigger stones which was limestone that weighed on average around 2.5 tons each and then more better limestone for the outer layer of the modern pyramid. As far as why these structures were it was quite similar most of the time as a place to worship and honor. However the pyramids were built to worship or honor a leader while the ziggurats was not only to worship and honor a person but instead was for the gods also such as the Nanna ziggurat was for a leader and their moon god known as Nanna or in another term, Sin. While Egyptians did this to make sure the leader would have a great and lovely time in the afterlife with worship and gifts to what they believed since they thought if the body were in good condition then the spirit would be also. Sumerians would
Good thoughts. The basic trapezoidal "unit" for the stacked pyramids is called the mastaba. The mastaba does look similar to the ziggurats, but I should mention that the ziggurat shape did not serve as the inspiration for the stacked pyramid form. The mastaba was the standard shape for Egyptian tombs before the pyramidal shape developed.
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The point you make about the pyramids taking off the design of the Ziggurats is interesting, I had not thought of it this way. They may have out done the Ziggurats in being a sort of bridge-way to heaven because the pyramids are about double the height of the largest Ziggurat.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that despite the immense amount of calculations that went into designing and placing the pyramids, they really are an evolution of the ziggurats (if unintentional ones) as you pointed out. Their similarities of height and progressive levels, though differing in symbolism and meaning, maybe connect to our innate human reactions to those types of structures. We see the height and different levels and get a sense of power and importance, especially as the structure ascends.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how you were able to point out more similarities than differences. Similarities I didn’t see until you mentioned them. I like the part at the end where you discuss the functions of the structures and what people believed about their dead. Not sure if it was meant this way, but it seems like the end of your statement got cut off.
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