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: photos by Marco Prins; text Jona Lendering © |
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Chogha Zanbil
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Unless
otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona
Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes,
but you have to acknowledge Livius. |
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The temple tower of Chogha Zanbil, one of the most impressive monuments
in Iran, seen from the southeast. In front, the outer wall that surrounded
the complex. (A satellite photo can be found here.) |
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In this wall were several gates. This is the ruin of the southwestern
gate, which was being repaired (January 2005). In the background, the temple
tower itself. |
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A model of the monument, in the Rijksmuseum
van Oudheden in Leiden (Holland). |
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Another picture of the temple tower, seen from the west. It must be
stressed that this building is in Khuzestan, ancient Elam. From a geological,
climatological, and ethnological point of view, we're no longer in Iran,
but on the plains of the rivers
Euphrates,
Tigris,
Karkheh,
and Dez. In other words, we're in Mesopotamia. |
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Culturally, the ancient Elamites were very close to the Babylonians,
and this temple tower (or ziggurat)
is probably not an Iranian architectural form. Instead, it was developed
in southern Mesopotamia. The most famous ziggurat was in the city of Babylon
itself, and was called Etemenanki.
It was dedicated to the god Marduk and its builders, king Nabopolassar
and king Nebuchadnezzar,
claimed that it reached into heaven. This boast is repeated in the famous
Biblical story of the "tower of Babel", which is simply the story of a
ziggurat. This is the terrace in front of the temple tower of Chogha Zanbil
in ancient Elam. |
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This is the inner wall, which surrounds the paved terrace. Ziggurats
were always built by kings. In ancient Mesopotamia, there was a conflict
between the two great organizations, the temple and the palace. By building
ziggurats, the king showed that he could perform more impressive religious
deeds than the priesthood. |
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This ziggurat was built by king Untaš-Napiriša
(1275-1240). It measures 105x105 meters and was probably 52 meters high.
This is one of the entrances to the complex, in the southeastern part.
It was built from tiles, but the outer walls were made of bricks. |
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An inscription inside the gate, mentioning king Untaš-Napiriša:
I, Untaš-Napiriša,
son of Šutur-Nahhunte, king of Anšan and Susa
[...] rebuilt the temple of Kiriša, lady of
Lyan, my goddess.
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A part of one of the gates. There were small rooms in the lower level
of the ziggurat. In one of these was a sanctuary of Inšušinak,
the protector of Susa,
the capital of Elam. Later, the entire building was dedicated to this god. |
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A similar element, not in situ, but in the Archaeological Museum
of Tehran.
On several places, archaeologists found doorknob-like elements. The
following four pictures are (from left to right) from the museum in Susa,
the Tehran Archaeological Museum, the Louvre in Paris, and the British
Museum in London. |
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The building had five levels and is the best preserved of all ancient
ziggurats. There were small channels for water. The temple of Inšušinak
was on the top of the tower. It was believed that from this point, he could
ascend to heaven or come down to earth. This idea is also present in the
name of the Babylonian temple tower Etemenanki: place of the foundation
of heaven on earth. |
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What the structure must have looked like when its decoration and ornaments
were still there, is unknown, but perhaps this little model of a tower
may help us. It is in the Louvre in Paris. There may have been battlements,
sometimes triangle-shaped, on the levels of the ziggurat. |
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The northeastern side of the ziggurat. |
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Once, the the glazed bricks of the ziggurat were painted in fresh colors.
On several places, you can still see traces of paint. |
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to part
two
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