An architectural and conceptual analysis of Mesopotamian temples from the Ubaid to the old Babylonian period

Abstract

This study attempts to explore the architecture of Mesopotamian temples from the Ubaid to the Old Babylonian period. It analyses the ways in which the layout of the temples changed and developed through time. It argues how different factors such as ideology, cosmology, religion and environment were reflected in the architecture and function of temple complexes. The thesis also looks closely at the concept of the temple as the house of god, and by comparing the selected temples of different periods to the domestic architecture of the same period, aims to trace the influence and reflection of the domestic structure on the sacred structure and to determine in which period the structural similarity reaches its zenith and declines. Changes in Mesopotamia’s social organization can be linked to these changes in temple layout