Nanna Ziggurat and Khafre's Pyramid - Essay Example

Similarly, the Nanna Ziggurat constructed during 2100-2050 BC in ancient Middle East or contemporary Iraq was dedicated as a place of worship or temple (Stokstad and Cothren 36). The Nanna Ziggurat and Khafre Pyramid, were constructed based on the conviction of celestial gods, nonetheless they served dissimilar functions. While Nanna Ziggurat was basically a temple, the Khafre pyramid acted as a funerary complex. The aim of this essay is to analyze the similarities and variations of the two monumental structures, and trying to show how both structures served symbolically as a link between the earth and heavens, or some form of eternal life linking room.

This paper shows that even though both structures had a common function of acting as the bridge linking heaven and world, they had different connotation and composition in terms of being the center of convention for the people and their gods. Discussion First and foremost, both cultures were highly intelligent in terms of how they went about constructing the elaborate and enormous monuments. Nanna Ziggurat is situated in Ur, the capital of ancient Sumeria civilization or present day Iraq, on the banks of river Euphrates, while the Khafre pyramid was constructed in Giza, Egypt on the river Nile plateaus (Stokstad and Cothren 82). . The river Nile played a crucial role during Egyptian civilization, and its yearly flooding was considered a miracle, consequently the Egyptians turned to religion to acquire a sense of security and everlasting life.

That is why they constructed the pyramids as the Imperial symbol of supremacy and authority, since they considered their pharaohs as earthly form of their sun god Re who would then preserve their agrarian life from natural disaster (Stokstad and Cothren 52). The architecture and size of both Nanna Ziggurat and Khafre’s Pyramid are very dissimilar from one another, coupled with a huge variation in scale. While the Nanna ziggurats is a large stepped structures with numerous temples and a shrine on top, the Khafre pyramid had a rectangular base with three platforms and stairs that converge on the first platform.

 The Khafre’s Pyramid at Giza was a massive structure with a faultless pyramid shape and a square base. It has four oblique sides which perfectly meet up at a tip at the top.  However, both Nanna Ziggurat and Khafre’s Pyramid were not the outcome of rebuilding, but rather extensive and detailed constructions. The Nanna Ziggurat base covers roughly 28,905 square feet, in addition to being 100 feet tall. On the other hand, the Khafre’s Pyramid had a base that covered 566,280 square feet with a height of roughly 471 feet (Stokstad and Cothren 56).

  Khafre Pyramid The Nanna Ziggurats was erected using repetitive building, whereby the rubble from all construction was used as groundwork for the subsequent ones. Nevertheless, both monuments have slightly leaning walls that helps in shielding their foundations from flooding, but the Sumerians built Nanna Ziggurat using diverse materials, with the greater part being mud bricks. This helped