Answer the following briefly:

State the salient features of the Ziggurats.

The equipped Sumerian cities had the temples called Ziggurats at its center.

The Sumerian civilization had numerous city-states.

The features of Ziggurats are:

1) Ziggurat, pyramidal stepped temple tower that is an architectural and religious structure

2) Ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies.

3) They were believed to be a residence for the gods

4) Each city had its own patron god.

5) The temple was under the control of the priests.

6) The ziggurat was always built with a central part of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick.

7) it was from approximately 2200 until 500 BCE.

8) The ruler performed the role of the chief priest.

9) The rulers and priests were at the top of the social hierarchy.

10) The scribes, merchants, and artisans were next in the hierarchy.

11) The scribes maintained the account of the taxes and the priests collected the taxes.

12) The temples acted as storerooms of the taxed commodities.

The peasants remained attached to the temples in the earlier phase of Mesopotamian civilization. Later the peasants became free from that association. Not all people were allowed to live in the cities. Ziggurats were characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia (now mainly in Iraq).