The zigract here portrayed can be the oldest temple on the planet.
In the heart of the Mesopotamian desert, in southern presentation, Eridu’s remains – one of the oldest cities in human history.
Older than the pyramids of Egypt, initially ignored and underestimated, the ancient Metropolis Sumer Mridu Through meticulous archaeological excavations, it was revealed to understand the origins of civilization.
Eridu’s rediscovery started in 1854, when John George TaylorBritish envoy and agent of the Eastern Indian Company, was in charge of exploring Tell Abu Shahrain, a set of hills formed by ruins of former settlements, recalls a.
Despite identifying walls, platforms, drainage systems, and even a lion statue, Taylor considered his expedition uncompromising. Only much later would he realize that those hills housed the traces of Eridu, a legendary city.
According to the list of Kings of Sumer, Eridu was the first city where the gods granted royalty to men before a great flood. The city was the house of the main temple of the god Enki, a deity of wisdom and freshwater, and was, for centuries, an important religious center of Sumer.
Despite the initial disinterest, the archaeological site continued to attract attention. In 1918 and 1919, campaigns led by Campbell Thompson e Harry R.H. Hall tried to identify monumental structures.
But only in 1946 they ripped out of first large-scale excavations, led by Fuad Safar and Seton Lloyd, with the support of the antique department of a newly independent Iraq.
Safar and Lloyd focused on the largest of the mountains and soon identified an unfinished zigurate of the time of the third UR (21st century AC) dynasty.
But that’s what they found underneath that revealed themselves revolutionary: successive layers of human occupationtemples on temples, which extended to the period of Ubaid (c. 5300–3800 BC) prior to the onset of writing.
Eridu’s Spiritual Core Temple has been rebuilt numerous times over two millennia.
The succession of temples, a symbol of the transition from domestic worship to institutionalized religion and the emergence of social hierarchies and monumental architecture, are clear signs of the birth of urban civilization.
The latest excavations published on site date from 1981, but despite the political instability of the region, there are plans to resume work and unveil more secrets of this pioneering city.
