American soldiers atop the Ziggurat of Ur in 2006 (a 4,100-year-old temple located in southern Iraq).

The ziggurat is a type of temple, created by the Sumerians and common to the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Akkadians, pertinent to the ancient Mesopotamian valley and built in the form of stepped pyramids. The structure consisted of several levels built one on top of the other, with each level having a smaller area than the platform below it—the platforms could be rectangular, oval, or square, and their number varied from two to seven.

The word ziggurat comes from ziqqurratum (height, pinnacle), in ancient Assyrian. From zaqārum, to be on high. The Ziggurat of Ur is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat built by King Ur-Nammu in honor of Nanna/Sin approximately in the 21st century BC, during the Third Dynasty of Ur. It was located in the city of Ur, near the modern-day town of Nasiriyah, in the Dicaar province of Iraq. The structure, dating from the Middle Bronze Age (21st century BC), collapsed during the Neo-Babylonian period (6th century BC), and the ziggurat was restored under the orders of King Nabonidus. Its ruins were excavated in the 1920s and 1930s by Sir Leonard Woolley. These ruins were later partially reconstructed, with the facade and monumental staircase being partially rebuilt by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the 1980s.

An example of a solid and comprehensive ziggurat is that of Marduk, or Tower of Babel, located in ancient Babylon. Unfortunately, not even the base of that powerful structure remains, but according to archaeological findings and historical sources, the tower was superimposed on seven multicolored layers, on top of which was a temple of singular proportions. Regarding this temple, it is believed to have been painted and preserved in indigo, matching the top of the layers. It is known that there were three staircases leading to the temple, and it is said that two of them only ascended to half the height of the ziggurat.

The Sumerian name for the structure was Etemenanki, a word meaning "The Foundation of Heaven and Earth." Probably built under the orders of Hammurabi, it has been found that the center of the ziggurat of Marduk contained remains of other ziggurats and older structures. The final stage consisted of a 15-meter reinforced brickwork built by King Nebuchadnezzar I.