A Babylonian Architect?
Professor Seton Lloyd's publications and teaching have always been marked by his profound understanding of Mesopotamian architecture. It therefore seems appropriate, in this volume to his honour, to present some hitherto unpublished tablets which may add a little to our knowledge of some aspects of the ancient practice of surveying.The small tablet BM.38217 (Fig. 1), probably originating from Babylon itself, shows in elevation a six, originally seven, stepped ziggurat with the principal dimensi…
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Professor Seton Lloyd's publications and teaching have always been marked by his profound understanding of Mesopotamian architecture. It therefore seems appropriate, in this volume to his honour, to present some hitherto unpublished tablets which may add a little to our knowledge of some aspects of the ancient practice of surveying.The small tablet BM.38217 (Fig. 1), probably originating from Babylon itself, shows in elevation a six, originally seven, stepped ziggurat with the principal dimensions given, UŠ being used for the length, and SAG (the “short side” of the rectangle as drawn) for the height. The second level is described as “Front (-view) of the dwelling of Anshar” (pa-ni šu-bat an-šár). While this note may well apply to the whole of this unique plan, it is to be observed that the first two storeys have accentuated (and external) markings which must represent the frontal and lateral access. The inner markings are perhaps to show where the ramps or stairway crossed the front of the main building (as in the ziggurat at Ur). The gaps in the base of the third and probably fourth (and higher?) stages may show that a direct frontal stairway to the seventh stage was envisaged. This seems a better explanation than that a five staged ziggurat is shown imposed upon the ground-plan of an adjacent and larger building. The lower stages are certainly not the plan of any two-storied “temple of Anshar” or of a gate-building.
Read More ↓Edition Statements
- Publication Date:1972
Publication Statements
- Publisher(s):Cambridge University Press
- Language:eng
- Publication Date:1972
Edition Identifiers
- ISSN:0066-1546
- doi:10.2307/3642558
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