The Anu ziggurat and the White Temple — ziggurat
Uruk · Warka, Iraq · c. 3500–3000 BCE (the White Temple on top of a terrace built from c. 4000 BCE)
One of the earliest "sacred mountains". The White Temple stood on a tall mud-brick terrace whitened with gypsum. It is the prototype of the later ziggurats: the sky god is physically brought closer to the sky.
Dossier
- Type: Proto-ziggurat
- Ancient city: Uruk
- Modern location: Warka, Iraq
- Deity: An / Anu
- Dating: c. 3500–3000 BCE (the White Temple on top of a terrace built from c. 4000 BCE)
- Builders: unnamed priest-rulers of Uruk (Uruk IV–III periods); the dedication to the god An is conjectural
- Material: The White Temple — mud brick with white gypsum plaster; the core of the terrace — mud brick and rammed earth; in the early phases — limestone and bitumen
- Plan: a single tall rectangular proto-ziggurat terrace (c. 13 m) with a rectangular temple on top (c. 22×17 m); the corners are aligned with the cardinal points
- Height (originally): about 21 m
- Height (surviving): about 13 m
- Tiers: 1
- Survived: yes, the ruins can be visited
What matters
The figures are approximate and differ from source to source. The terrace on which the White Temple stood was built up over about 14 construction phases beginning around 4000 BCE; the surviving height of the mound is about 13 m, and in antiquity the temple platform rose to a level of about 21 m. Of the temple itself only the lower parts of the walls survive; its base covered about 380 m² (roughly 22×17 m).