Long before the Egyptians built massive pyramids, the people of ancient Mesopotamia were already building grand structures. In fact, these were the world’s first skyscrapers.
Known as ziggurats, these weren't decorative monuments or the final resting places of kings and emperors. They were the earthly homes of the gods, carefully built to close the distance between the human world and the divine one above. For nearly 2,500 years, the ziggurat stood at the center of civic and religious life across the region.
This gallery traces the full story of the ziggurat and one of the earliest civilizations that built these iconic monuments. Click to learn more.