Anu ziggurat

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The Anu ziggurat is a ziggurat in the city of Uruk. The single massive terrace makes up the area traditionally called the Anu district. It was originally proposed to have been dedicated to the Sumerian sky god Anu. Sometime in the Uruk III period (3100–2900 BC) the massive White Temple was built atop the ziggurat. Under the northwest edge of the ziggurat an Uruk VI period structure, the Stone Temple, has been discovered. It is often assumed that the so-called "White Temple," which dates back to the Uruk IV period (3500–3100 BC) was Anu's original cult center, and it is even sometimes referred to as the "Anu ziggurat" in modern literature. However, there is no evidence that Anu was actually worshipped in this structure. With a height of 13 metres, it overtook the Tower of Jericho as the world's tallest structure from its creation around 4000 BC until around 2667 BC when it was overtaken by the Pyramid of Djoser. The temple was built of limestone and bitumen on a podium of rammed earth and...

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