Ziggurats of the ancient Near East, like pyramids were used for the purpose of religious meetings between gods and humans. Pyramids were similar in some ways, but were mainly used as funeral locations for wealthy rulers that had them constructed for themselves.
Pyramids had various elements involved within their tombs specifically, such as sculptures located throughout, as well as paintings that could possibly relate to their afterlife future or even some that could tell a story about the patron. Ziggurats were supported by the wealthy, built over other ruins upon ruins to hold ceremonies regarding the connection between the heavens and the people. Like pyramids of Giza, these ziggurats were built with a handful of stairs in order to reach the top of the shrine. Both of these structures were used to symbolize or represent some sort of ruler of person of higher status during their lives.
Ziggurats were usually built over previous sacred sites and continued to be built on as they been known to serve the "Bond between Heaven and Earth". They were also usually built upon larger cliff areas that looked over flat lands, which also helped them gain the name, "House of the Mountains". While pyramids were built with much more time and preparation, they were carefully planned out and some took a decent amount of time to build since they had much more underground structures to build. On that note, ziggurats were built more for aesthetic purpose on the outside of what is presented, rather than what is below or buried at the tomb.
So overall, ziggurats and pyramids were both used as special ceremonial places to be used for worship and connections directly with the gods. But the primary contrasting differences is, are that pyramids were used for burials more than meetings, ziggurats were used to hold meetings for religious purposes generally. Both were large pieces of architecture which held some symbolic meaning during their time frame, both equally as important during each civilization.
Outside of the stepped pyramid of Djoser, the pyramids at Giza only had internal corridors, which possibly held steps, unlike the ziggurats that had external steps for people to climb to the top; the pyramids at Giza were never built for people to climb. In general the main difference between the two was the ziggurats were a place for worship and religion, where the pyramids were resting grounds to guarantee safe passing to the afterlife for the Kings buried inside. I do agree with you that both of these structures, specifically by mass and shape represented large mountain-like structures for the people of the land to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteNice thoughts, Kyle and TDawesome. It's true: a main difference between these structures is that the pyramids had internal chambers, whereas the ziggurats had stairs and ramps so that people could climb and worship on the top.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things about the pyramids and ziggurats is that they both originally had white exteriors. At least, we know that the pyramids looked very striking with a white limestone facing and a gold cap. Some ziggurats were whitewashed, too. I'm sure that both structures looked very striking in their heyday.
I like the "sacred mountain" imagery associated with these structures. I like that the Egyptians also incorporated "sacred mountain" imagery into the pyramids as well. The pyramidal shape is a reference to the ben-ben, a primordial mountain from Egyptian mythology (associated with the creation story).
-Prof. Bowen