Ziggurat of Aqar Quf — ziggurat
Dur-Kurigalzu · Aqar Quf, Iraq · Kassite (Middle Babylonian) period, 14th century BCE (Kurigalzu I, c. 1390–1360)
A Kassite capital west of Baghdad. Enlil's mud-brick tower is one of the tallest surviving cores. Its facing is gone, so the monument looks like a lone clay cliff.
Dossier
- Type: Kassite
- Ancient city: Dur-Kurigalzu
- Modern location: Aqar Quf, Iraq
- Deity: Enlil
- Dating: Kassite (Middle Babylonian) period, 14th century BCE (Kurigalzu I, c. 1390–1360)
- Builders: Kurigalzu I (Kassite dynasty of Babylon)
- Material: mud brick (unfired) with layers of reed matting every ~7 courses of masonry; the stairways and some parts are of baked brick laid in bitumen
- Plan: an almost square (rectangular) base of ~69×67 m within a complex of courtyards; three stairways led up to the first tier, and diminishing terrace tiers rose above it
- Base: 69 × 67 m
- Height (surviving): about 52 m
- Survived: yes, the ruins can be visited
What matters
The ziggurat of Enlil stood in the Kassite capital of Dur-Kurigalzu (modern Aqar Quf, about 30 km west of Baghdad). The base is almost square — about 69×67 m. The upper tiers and the facing were lost in antiquity, so the original height and the number of steps are unknown; the surviving part rises about 52 m (various surveys give up to ~57 m).