Firstly, a ziggurat is not a pyramid. There are 3 main differences, in construction: a ziggurat has stages while a pyramid is just that, a 4 sided pyramid; in use: a ziggurat is for relgious purposes while a pyramid is mainly designed as a burial place for a person of high stature, eg a king; and where they are built: pyramids were built in Egypt while ziggurats were built in Mesopotamia, South America and Asia.

The Tower of Babel (or Etemananki) was a religous building, a shrine devoted to Marduk the Babylonian god that represented the city of Babylon. It's size represented the power and might of Marduk, the god that all citizens of the city held at the centre of their belief structure. At it's top there was a temple that Nebuchadnezzar built where religous rituals could take place.

Every new year during the annual celebrations and ceremonies a re-enactment of the marriage of Marduk and his consort Zarpanit took place in the temple. Preists would take a virgin up to the temple to "sleep with Marduk" as an offering.

It had other uses also, because of it's height it was used by astronomers as a platform to make their observations and measurements. It was also used as a lookout for the surrounding city and country side.

The Ziggurat

The ziggurat consisted of 7 stages and a temple (sometimes refered to as the 8th stage).

Colour and Dimensions of the Stages

Stage	Colour*	Height (ft)	Width (ft)	Length (ft)
1	White	108	300	300
2	White	60	256	256
3	Red	20	197	197
4	Bronze	20	167	167
5	Silver	20	138	138
6	Gold	20	108	108
7	Blue	50	69	79

* Conjectural, based on other known Ziggurats in Mesopotamia.

Stairs

The tower of babel was described as having stairways winding around it all the way to the top which gives the impression of a spiral staircase, this however is not structurally the case. The main stairs went directly to the 2nd stage and started from about 50 meters ( 168 feet) infront (to the south) of the first stage. Each stage had a stair case that then reached to the next stage, these are on alternating sides so that when you have reached the top you have travelled right around the tower, thus a "spiral" staircase is descriptively true.

The Temple

King Nebuchadnezzar boasted of his magnificent shrine to the city god Marduk which was contained in a small temple he built on the summit of the ziggurat. In most probability the temple was in fact the seventh stage but may have been an eigth.

Exterior

The temple was probably decorated in a similar fasion to how Nebuchadnezzar re-decorated the Ishtar Gate, covered in blue enamalled bricks.

Interior

Nebuchanezzar is reported to have plated the gypsum walls and cedar roof of the building with gold, embellished with alabaster, lapin lazuli and precious stones. The altar was solid gold as was the throne, couch, footstool and statue of the god. The room contained about 18.5 tons of gold.

The Enclosure

The ziggurat was surrounded by a huge wall that protected the main religous and sacred area from the city. In the walls, which were not unlike that of the cities defensive walls, were quarters for preists and pilgrims.

Construction

Constructing ziggurats on the Mesopotamian plain is not easy. The area lacks the stone deposits the Egyptians could use for their monuments and the wood available is mostly palm, not the best for construction.

Materials

The tower of Babel, like other ziggurats and structures in Mesopotamia was built of mud and straw. Bricks were made by mixing chopped straw with clay and pouring the results into molds. After the bricks were allowed to bake in the sun they were joined in construction by using bitumen, a slimey material imported from the Iranian plateau. Bitumen was used widely as a binding and coating material throughout the Mesopotamian plain.

Drainage

Because of the use of mud-baked bricks, Etemananki needed constant maintenance. It had an elaborate internal drainage system that channeled rain water away so that the bricks were not eroded and destroyed. If the pipes were not cleaned regularly and allowed to jam the tower would slowly crumble.