In other words, at every seven courses of stone, a layer of reed matting was laid and weep-holes and drainage shafts were placed, thus preserving the ziggurat from water damage. Eventually the building fell into disrepair. Later, King Nabonidus restored the Ur ziggurat, along with other temples. Stiebing believes this was because he revered his mother's gods (285). Nabonidus claims in the clay cuneiform tablets found in the tower to

It consists a series of successively smaller platforms which lifted to a height of about 64 feet, and was constructed with a solid core of mud-brick covered by a thick skin of burnt-brick to guard it from the forces of nature (Burney). The Ziggurat's corners are oriented to the compass points, with walls sloping slightly inwards (Molleson and Hodgson) . The Ziggurat of Ur was a component of a temple

An integrated system was used in buildings where columns, pilasters, and entablatures came together as support. Arches were also used in building churches and other such structures. Semi-circular or segmental vaults were used which were mostly without ribs. In this era domes were not only used in churches but they were also used in building secular structures. Doors and windows usually had square lintels in the buildings of the

Houses permitted the people to move from a nomadic existence to a settled and more organized way of life. The majority of the houses were square with other rooms built on. The palaces of the early Sumerian culture were the political, economic and religious focal points of the city; large-scale, lavishly decorated, and consisted of rooms used to house craftsmen and such. Archaeological finds have also revealed them to

Staircase ramps which are comprised of steep and narrow steps that lead up one face of the pyramid were more in use at that time with evidence found at the Sinki, Meidum, Giza, Abu Ghurob, and Lisht pyramids respectively (Heizer). A third ramp variation was the spiral ramp, found in use during the nineteenth dynasty and was, as its name suggests, comprised of a ramp covering all faces of the

One exception to this is Pausanias, a Greek writer. He recorded the quarrying done in Greece but he lived in the second century a.D. For other details, the information related to their architecture is limited to the writings of Vitruvius, an architect in Rome, also a military engineer and a writer who lived during the rule of Augustus (Masrgary, 1957; Derry and Williams, 1961). The Greek construction inherits its glory