Ziggurats were built by the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians
for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex which
included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised
platforms that date from the Ubaid period[1] during the fourth millennium BCE. The earliest ziggurats began as a platform (usually oval rectangular or square), the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks
made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the
outside. Each step was slightly smaller than the step below it. The
facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of floors ranged from two to seven.
