Ziggurat

WORD OF THE DAY

ziggurat / noun / ZIG-uh-rat

Definition
1a: an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top
1b: a structure or object of similar form

Examples
"[Adam Borba] … has steadily maneuvered his way up Hollywood's creative ziggurat for some time. He co-produced 'Pete's Dragon' (2016) before adding executive producer to his list of credits with 'A Wrinkle in Time' (2018) and the highly anticipated 'Peter Pan & Wendy,' coming in 2022."
— Greg Archer, The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, California), 14 Nov. 2021

Most dramatic was the ziggurat, which is some 85 feet tall and once stood at least twice as high.
— Leon Mccarron, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Jan. 2022

Did You Know?
French professor of archaeology François Lenormant spent a great deal of time poring over ancient Assyrian texts.
 In those cuneiform inscriptions, he recognized a new language, now known as Akkadian, which proved valuable to the understanding of ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
Through his studies, he became familiar with the Akkadian word for the towering Mesopotamian temples: ziqqurratu.
In 1877 he came out with Chaldean Magic, a scholarly exposition on the mythology of the Chaldeans, an ancient people who lived in what is now Iraq.
In his work, which was immediately translated into English, he introduced the word ziggurat to the modern world in his description of the ziggurat of the Iraqi palace of Khorsabad.