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- BABYLONIAN ZIGGURAT: circa 2079 BC
-
- Tall watch towers (or crude observatories) called
- ziggurats were constructed so that the priest-
- astrologers could study the stars and planets. Another
- purpose of the ziggurat may have been to bring the
- priest-astrologers closer to a particular god. One
- such ziggurat was built by King U-Nammu who founded
- the Third Summerian Dynasty (2079-1960 BC). The
- ziggurats in Babylon, Ur, and Uruk were nearly 300
- feet high (30 stories high!). Many archeologists
- believe that the biblical tale of the construction of
- the Tower of Babel may in fact describe the
- construction of a ziggurat.
-