History Summarized: the Great Ziggurat of Ur

In the river valley where urban society first arose several thousand years ago, my attention naturally focuses in on the moment they started building ginormous stuff. In this video we will learn two things: 1) The great Ziggurat of Ur is one of human civilization's earliest urban masterpieces, and 2) I'm impeccably basic.
I am reveling in my architecture era.
Special thanks to our discord community member and Levantine Archaeology extraordinaire Jacob Khan for his assistance on the script, helping me find a few key details I missed and setting me straight where my draft had some mis-characterizations and errors. Any remaining error in the video are mine. Again, thank you Jacob!
SOURCES
“Great Ziggurat of Ur” from “Ancient Art - 30 Masterpieces of the Ancient World” by Diana K. McDonald, “Ur III Households, Accounts, and Ziggurats” from “Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization” by Amanda H. Podany
“Ur” by Marc Van De Mieroop from “Cities that Shaped the Ancient World” edited by John Julius Norwich - “Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization” by Paul Kriwaczek
The White Temple and Ziggurat of Ur by SmartHistory smarthistory.org/white-temple...
Partial Tracklist: "Scheming Weasel", Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.
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Пікірлер: 687

  • @anuninterestingcottonball4533
    @anuninterestingcottonball453310 ай бұрын

    what I've learned from this channel is that humans, no matter where we are, like stacking dirt to make things tall

  • @Lightice1

    @Lightice1

    10 ай бұрын

    Well, except in East Asia where the architectural preference seems to have been "wide" more than "tall". I suppose they did some tall things too, but generally speaking in China, Japan and Korea a thing's importance seems to have been relative to its surface area more than its height.

  • @anuninterestingcottonball4533

    @anuninterestingcottonball4533

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Lightice1 I'm not qualified to speak on this with absolutely certainty, but from what I do know, you seem to be correct

  • @talkusbloodeye4624

    @talkusbloodeye4624

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Lightice1 building wide also provided stability which was important as earthquakes were and I believe still are common to the region.

  • @Nazuiko

    @Nazuiko

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Lightice1 Idk, Japan does really like their multi-level palaces. But it seems appropriate for a civilization that developed in steep mountains and grew their crops on terraces to build outward rather than upward; If you want altitude, nature provides aplenty. Symbolically, stretching out far as the eye can see is also very impressive when youre so high up to start.

  • @jasonreed7522

    @jasonreed7522

    10 ай бұрын

    And in every age, even today we move massive amounts of dirt for various projects. And if you are going to count making bricks out of clay as dirt, then you can probably count concrete as dirt as well. (Congrete is aggregate [dirt/gravel/sand] + cement + water)

  • @AsiniusNaso
    @AsiniusNaso10 ай бұрын

    To put in perspective how old these places are, woolly mammoths still existed on isolated islands around the time Ur was being built

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    It gets even worse too. When the great Ziggurat of Ur was being built, the city itself was nearly 2000 years old. And agriculture predated that by about 5000 years. It's crazy.

  • @SymphonyZach

    @SymphonyZach

    10 ай бұрын

    Didn’t wooly mammoths exist when Columbus was alive in small isolated parts of Siberia?

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    @@SymphonyZachNo. The last evidence for living mammoths are from the 3rd millennium BC, well before Columbus

  • @CollinMcLean

    @CollinMcLean

    10 ай бұрын

    @@SymphonyZach No but the last Dodo was still alive

  • @SymphonyZach

    @SymphonyZach

    10 ай бұрын

    @@merrittanimation7721 I swear I remember in my archaeology class talking about a 6th century AD Chinese record of a woolly mammoth

  • @kilotun8316
    @kilotun831610 ай бұрын

    I remember back in high school we had to make a tangible object for one of our history classes and a friend of mine chose to make a ziggurat. Of course, he made it hollow and so one of us immediately seized it and put it on his head. Thus was born the "ziggurhat".

  • @paulwagner688

    @paulwagner688

    10 ай бұрын

    Devo did it first.

  • @blarg2429

    @blarg2429

    10 ай бұрын

    @@paulwagner688 You can't prove that this person's friend isn't a member of Devo.

  • @airplanes_aren.t_real

    @airplanes_aren.t_real

    10 ай бұрын

    The ancients would be proud

  • @Codex_of_Wisdom
    @Codex_of_Wisdom10 ай бұрын

    Fun fact about the "only priests allowed" aspect. The dolls shown at 1:02 were found in groups in the temple areas, and are believed to be effigies of (probably rich) citizens, for the purpose of having a representation of that person in the presence of the divine. Personally, I like to think the way it usually went was: Citizen: "Could you put this figure in the temple so I can be in divine presence?" Priest: "Sure, for 100 Mina." Citizen pays. Priest takes the figure and just unceremoniously throws it in a corner in the temple with the others.

  • @Pablo360able

    @Pablo360able

    10 ай бұрын

    Martin Luther: "I know I won't be born for millennia, but I still feel like someone just stepped on my grave."

  • @marcobuncit7539

    @marcobuncit7539

    10 ай бұрын

    Priest 2: Zohn! The room is overcrowded! Priest 1: Uuugh, just put it in other place. Priest 2: Can't we just, I dunno "cremate" them? Priest 1: Are you nuts? It'll be like we try to kill these guys & you don't wanna get blackmailed if others found us!!!! High Priest: Wrong, I find you two. Priest 1 & 2: AAARRRGHHHH High Priest: Now, where are we supposed to throw these? I don't wanna offend the citizens but these stuffs blocking up the windows that I can't see anymore.

  • @albertamalachi3560

    @albertamalachi3560

    10 ай бұрын

    ...and that's how we have garden gnomes!

  • @AnimeSunglasses

    @AnimeSunglasses

    10 ай бұрын

    Nahhh, naaahhh, VERY CEREMONIOUSLY throws it in a corner with the others! Sonorous chanting, then YEET!

  • @novaraptorus6250
    @novaraptorus625010 ай бұрын

    The fact we even know about things this long ago is truly terrifying in a way, but more terrifying is how much came before this

  • @chimera9818

    @chimera9818

    10 ай бұрын

    The oldest signs of civilization we found was 10k BC In Turkey and even that look like culture that had longer history

  • @patchwork5532

    @patchwork5532

    10 ай бұрын

    Saw something a few months ago about how Egypt was so old that Ramses II era Egypt had Egyptian Archeologists. Which is ya know Mind boggling.

  • @chimera9818

    @chimera9818

    10 ай бұрын

    @@patchwork5532we know that even by the time of Namur, that lived cleopatra lived closer to us than him, was very old

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    @@patchwork5532 In Mesopotamia, the last Neo-Babylonian king excavated the ruins of a temple the Akkadian king Naram-Sin built in the city of Sippar (Nabonidus was about 1500 years off from when Naram-Sin actually lived and thought Sargon of Akkad was Naram-Sin's father instead of grandfather but still)

  • @theashtray607

    @theashtray607

    10 ай бұрын

    Hold on, is this the Ck3 After the End developer?

  • @MeTheOneth
    @MeTheOneth10 ай бұрын

    Legit psyched for more ancient Mesopotamia content.

  • @TheProtagonizer

    @TheProtagonizer

    10 ай бұрын

    Same!!! I think theres enough Rome/Greece content on the internet, I love learning about cultures that go even further back

  • @Mgooy

    @Mgooy

    10 ай бұрын

    Sadly the ancient mesopotamians have been dead for some time so I doubt we'll be getting more content from them 😢

  • @VTimmoni

    @VTimmoni

    10 ай бұрын

    I agree completely

  • @anna_in_aotearoa3166

    @anna_in_aotearoa3166

    10 ай бұрын

    Yeah, it's kinda weird to me just how fixated we seem to be on Ancient Greece, Rome & Egypt, whilst often almost ignoring the incredible urban developments that happened in the rest of Africa & the Middle East, not to mention the Far East, South East Asia or South America? Although the "big 3" are definitely fascinating in their own right, I feel like that intensity of focus tends to really suppress efforts towards educating people about all the other amazing things that were happening around the world? And it's weird how that then flows on into pop culture too. How many TV series or movies have we seen about Mesopotamian or Assyrian rulers?? How much does the average person know about the incredible Indus Valley civilisation?

  • @Archris17

    @Archris17

    10 ай бұрын

    If we can get a more in-depth look at the Achaemenid/Sasanid Persian empires and Zoroastrianism, I will be happy as a hippo in a mud wallow.

  • @abdoaboueid8151
    @abdoaboueid815110 ай бұрын

    "No Randos on the big bricky trapezoid" made me laugh so hard! No other channel blends education and entertainment as well as you guys. You rock!

  • @_oceanstar
    @_oceanstar10 ай бұрын

    There's something deeply beautiful about the persistence of human complexity. You'd think that our distant past would be home only to the primitive forms of what we have today, but instead we just find people, who are just as intelligent and artistic and with just as developed cultures as today- and the study of history and anthropology allows us to piece together how they lived, and what world they created for themselves. There's nothing that gives me more faith in our species than to see reconstructions of the Ziggurat of Ur or the Gardens of Babylon or ancient Palmyra and to see beauty in the grand monuments, sure, but also in the mundane features- the streetcorners and greenery, the things residents of those places would actually interact with on a daily basis. We're really no different from them, and our descendents will be little different than us- just with new cultures and art to interact with and appreciate. That gives me hope.

  • @Octa9on

    @Octa9on

    10 ай бұрын

    yes indeed. humans have been culturally complex like this for at least 50,000 years if not more. look up "behavioral modernity" if you're curious

  • @bluesbest1

    @bluesbest1

    10 ай бұрын

    It seems like the only real difference between ancient and modern people is what percent of us speak the same language and how interconnected we are. After all, everything we have is built on everything that everyone did for, what, 7,000 years? They even left negative reviews on a man selling low-quality copper, passed notes in class, and surrounded themselves with beauty, like this manmade mountain or the myriad of paintings, sculptures, and statues.

  • @jasonreed7522

    @jasonreed7522

    10 ай бұрын

    ​@@bluesbest1technology is probably one of the few things that genuinely changes between eras. And then technology impacts how interconnected we can be. Rome and China technically traded with eachother but it was done by middlemen with so much markup, and now a cargoship can sail from Hong Kong to London in a matter of weeks, or an Airplane can do it in under a day. Interconnectedness then impacts the need to learn other languages and the ability to stadardize a language. When the fastest travel time between places is riding a horse, and the only communication is face to face or physical letters you don't need to learn many languages. When you can call someone anywhere in the world and have real time conversations it becomes much more important, especially for trade/buisness. So many things people complain about in "kids these days" have been around since the dawn of time. Stuff like dirty jokes and graffiti, i mean the romans drew dicks on Hadrian's Wall. Vikings carved stuff like "Halfnar was here" in the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. The oldest known joke in English is a dick joke. Its honestly amazing how much can change physically about the world, and yet the behavior of people is fundamentally unchanged.

  • @Beryllahawk

    @Beryllahawk

    10 ай бұрын

    Blue's teaching me how to appreciate that art in buildings, but I already kind of felt this way in regards to ancient textiles. It's crazy to me HOW complex even Paleolithic groups could make their clothes and baskets and other everyday objects, using basically grass and bark and vines, maybe some bones here and there, maybe some leather for the really fancy stuff... Just amazing. And when you look at some of the objects that survive, the actual artifacts are so PRETTY. Even kind of muddied and faded by time and being buried and everything, they are still obviously made with an eye to beauty: from a simple tool meant to help process flax and bast, to a basket some little girl might've used to pick flowers. All of it. The humble things just as much as the important symbolic things. You've said it much better than I can though!

  • @oscarcapac1786

    @oscarcapac1786

    10 ай бұрын

    One of the most ancient mesopotamian tablet we have (from 1750BC) is a complaint letter to a scummy merchant who selled low grade copper to his client. Let that sink in for a moment

  • @jjkthebest
    @jjkthebest10 ай бұрын

    I think a voice in the sky told them "we must build more ziggurats!" Edit: as pointed out below: You must construct additional ziggurats

  • @punishedwaluigi3518

    @punishedwaluigi3518

    10 ай бұрын

    we must construct additional ziggurats

  • @Toonrick12

    @Toonrick12

    10 ай бұрын

    And War Carts!

  • @lol101lol101lol10199

    @lol101lol101lol10199

    10 ай бұрын

    But though they built more, this was the original one. The "Ur-ziggurat", if you will.

  • @jasonutty52

    @jasonutty52

    10 ай бұрын

    You must construct additional ziggurats.

  • @KaizoeAzurum

    @KaizoeAzurum

    10 ай бұрын

    You must construct additional ziggurats You require more vespian gas. You've not enough minerals. Not enough energy.

  • @OptimusMaximusNero
    @OptimusMaximusNero10 ай бұрын

    Ziggurats are truly AMAZING constructions, especially if we consider that most of them are extremely ancient. Very few cinema productions, like the classic 1927 movie "Metropolis" and its 2001 anime version, capture the divine beauty of these architectural monstrosities.

  • @6515cg

    @6515cg

    10 ай бұрын

    Wait what, Metropolis has an anime version???

  • @OptimusMaximusNero

    @OptimusMaximusNero

    10 ай бұрын

    ​​​​​​​​​​​​@@6515cgYeah, it's an anime re-imagination of the silent film, written by AKIRA's creator Katsuhiro Otomo and starring the iconic Rock Holmes and other characters of the classic mangas of Osamu Tezuka. It's pretty beautiful actually, and the soundtrack and climax are easily of the best in cinema history. Absolutely reccomended

  • @jazphillips6657
    @jazphillips665710 ай бұрын

    shoutout to Enheduanna, one of the high-priestesses of Ur, who may have been the first poet in recorded history:)

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    *known poet, as poetry existed before that. We just know her name unlike earlier writers.

  • @BJGvideos

    @BJGvideos

    10 ай бұрын

    ​@@merrittanimation7721Recorded history is what they said

  • @SamJNE122

    @SamJNE122

    10 ай бұрын

    @@BJGvideos They were saying that older poetry exists (within recorded history), but that their authors are unknown.

  • @BJGvideos

    @BJGvideos

    10 ай бұрын

    @@SamJNE122 Yes. That's what I was saying.

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    @@BJGvideos That's not really clear. Recorded history could mean writing in general.

  • @katmartindale8049
    @katmartindale804910 ай бұрын

    Looking forward to more Mesopotamian content. Everyone knows about the Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations so it's nice to hear about Mesopotamia too.

  • @chimera9818

    @chimera9818

    10 ай бұрын

    And it is probably one of the most influential because stuff they did influence on all other Mediterranean cultures

  • @Quack_Lord

    @Quack_Lord

    10 ай бұрын

    Mesopotamia was the first civilization I learned about when learning about world history. It really shows how other civilizations have evolved over thousands of years from then to now.

  • @dicegerry5127
    @dicegerry512710 ай бұрын

    This channel is single-handedly responsible for the fact I'm taking Classical Civillisations for A-Level and I don't know how to feel about that

  • @_ratsoup1348

    @_ratsoup1348

    10 ай бұрын

    hope it goes well! I just finished the A level myself this year, it's totally worth it. I did the Odyssey, Imperial Image, and Love and Relations as my options. What does your college teach?

  • @dicegerry5127

    @dicegerry5127

    10 ай бұрын

    @@_ratsoup1348 We do the Iliad, the Aeneid, Greek theatre and Love and Relations

  • @_ratsoup1348

    @_ratsoup1348

    10 ай бұрын

    @@dicegerry5127 L+R is the best module I did for sure

  • @drwhowhatwhenwhy1165

    @drwhowhatwhenwhy1165

    9 ай бұрын

    Nice, I did those modules when I went to college, I'm sure you'll enjoy it and do great :D@@dicegerry5127

  • @Alex-mn1fb
    @Alex-mn1fb10 ай бұрын

    Sumerians were the first peoples that we know of who had a patron deity for each of their independent city states, and each had its own temple *ziggurat* where his or hers statue was housed at the top, and it was believed that the deity itself was thus housed in that very same place.

  • @chimera9818

    @chimera9818

    10 ай бұрын

    From my understanding it seemed like it was trend in all Fertile Crescent with god might being started has one of them

  • @Alex-mn1fb

    @Alex-mn1fb

    10 ай бұрын

    @@chimera9818 Sure, thats why I said Sumerians were the first to do it *(that we can reliably know of)

  • @colbyeckert

    @colbyeckert

    10 ай бұрын

    We should bring that back. Philly should build a massive temple for Gritty

  • @5peciesunkn0wn

    @5peciesunkn0wn

    10 ай бұрын

    @@colbyeckert *gestures to sports stadiums*

  • @farhanatashiga3721

    @farhanatashiga3721

    10 ай бұрын

    ​@@5peciesunkn0wnnot trapezoidal enough

  • @lyinar
    @lyinar10 ай бұрын

    If you're getting into talking about Uruk, you have to talk about the most memed-about person of the time period. The quite literal *Ur-example* of the personality archetype that eventually spawned the Discworld's Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler: Ea-nasir.

  • @BJGvideos

    @BJGvideos

    10 ай бұрын

    Oh absolutely. I'm surprised there hasn't been a historical comedy about him yet

  • @AMoniqueOcampo
    @AMoniqueOcampo10 ай бұрын

    I always figured that the story of the Tower of Babel was based on the construction of a ziggurat. Turns out that I was basically right! Edit: However, the writers of that particular story were commenting on a ziggurat being constructed in Babylon, not the ancient Sumerian one talked about here.

  • @mosesmm5473

    @mosesmm5473

    10 ай бұрын

    Would explain why Christians never built something similar, too much religious baggage

  • @chimera9818

    @chimera9818

    10 ай бұрын

    I think Tower of Babel was ziggurat

  • @wes4736

    @wes4736

    10 ай бұрын

    I had once read that Babylon and Eridu are often equated in writings of antiquity, Babylon being seen as a sort of heir to Eridus legacy. I had also read somewhere else that the Ziggurat in Eridu was first abandoned before being revisited, but I'd need to reread to be sure.

  • @joshme3659

    @joshme3659

    10 ай бұрын

    Idk why it would be given Ur is in the bible already, like they arent the same city

  • @Broomer52

    @Broomer52

    10 ай бұрын

    @@thefbi3056yeah for a while Christianity and Judaism weren’t really big on the idea of building a place for God so much as finding a suitable location. A particularly nice view on a cliff, a mountain or an oasis. Things like that. It wasn’t until the cultural idea of “you could actually build a nice looking place for your God” came around that they started doing it. Even then in biblical texts they were very picky about the whole concept and had stories of God tearing down temples and churches if it was an offensive place of worship (typically if the people running it were corrupt assholes)

  • @megabyte01
    @megabyte0110 ай бұрын

    Huh... I remember seeing some modern office buildings under construction and I had the oddest feeling I'd seen them somewhere. Now I know why: the new buildings are 21st century glass and steel ziggurats! The new buildings feature the sloped structure, the external staircase, and the vegetation from the mesopotamian ziggurats

  • @Toonrick12

    @Toonrick12

    10 ай бұрын

    Human imagination is both endless and easily forgetful.

  • @jasonreed7522

    @jasonreed7522

    10 ай бұрын

    ​@@Toonrick12on the other hand physics imposes certail limitations that make some solutions relatively ideal. Pyramids are common across ancient cultures, but this is partly because its a great way to stack rocks without them falling down for a long time. Although i suspect in the case of these offices its an intentional design choice to "reference" the ziggurats of old. (Like the Bass Pro Shop that's a pyramid) Humans are also very nostalgic, almost as much as we are creative.

  • @czane1526
    @czane152610 ай бұрын

    i think that the most incredible thing about the past isn’t how little we know about these old kingdoms at the start of civilization, but how much we actually *do* know, because it’s crazy we know anything about stuff happening 5,000 years ago

  • @Archgeek0

    @Archgeek0

    10 ай бұрын

    We know for sure about a guy that was very displeased about getting sold some poor-quality copper. We even somehow know the seller somehow lost favour with the royal family later and had to leave the city.

  • @UnbreakableTaco

    @UnbreakableTaco

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Archgeek0 Imagine going back and telling somebody (with proof to show, to make it easier to believe) that one of the most lasting pieces of information about their civilization long after most of it has been lost to time is a chorus of people complaining about that one jerk they know from around the corner? Yeah, everybody millennia later knows he's a piece of shit not to be trusted with the sale of metals. It'd be like somebody in orbit of Rigel Kentaurus three thousand years from now knowing about how at least a thousand people left scathing "yelp reviews" about a crusty diner, absent of any context as to what it means.

  • @johnathonhoward6217
    @johnathonhoward621710 ай бұрын

    “No randos on the brick pyramid” is such an iconic quote

  • @kirstenpaff8946
    @kirstenpaff894610 ай бұрын

    Now I am just imagining ancient Mesopotamian LEGO advertising the new and exciting three layer ziggurat set.

  • @lord_kyjax4450
    @lord_kyjax445010 ай бұрын

    "Is this true? Well, it is Herodotus." Me: so the odds are 40% possible, 40% an exaggeration (accidental or otherwise) and 20% made the fuck up.

  • @S.T.E.A.M.Dragon
    @S.T.E.A.M.Dragon10 ай бұрын

    This has made me connect some dots. I am only just now connecting the Biblical High Places that are described in the Books of Kings with Ziggurats and now understand more why God was mad at Solomon for building them. Most of what I’d researched just stated things like elevated mounds of earth or shrines on tall hills, but if he built Ziggurats for his Wives’ Gods that is a whole other can of worms in my opinion. The picture in my head was a small shrine on a hill in the cities not a large structure.

  • @eddthehead123
    @eddthehead12310 ай бұрын

    These ancient people were incredibly fit, considering how many stairs they have to go up...

  • @whatever9248

    @whatever9248

    10 ай бұрын

    knee pain was invented afterwards

  • @Nazuiko

    @Nazuiko

    10 ай бұрын

    they werent as sedentary or salt-rich as modern society; diets were more protein based and daily activity was a lot more labor intensive :)

  • @BalkyBartokomous2525

    @BalkyBartokomous2525

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Nazuiko Actually modern diets are extremely protein rich, since we eat lots of meat, eggs and milk products. For most ancient people, meat was very expensive and was eaten rarely, and diets were very carb heavy (bread or rice or similar). They did eat less salt, and a LOT less sugar than we did though.

  • @eddthehead123

    @eddthehead123

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Nazuiko Commenter not taking a joke seriously challenge: Impossible

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    @@eddthehead123 I don't think it was a joke

  • @OptimusMaximusNero
    @OptimusMaximusNero10 ай бұрын

    Aliens after arriving on Earth in the present: "Excuse me, could you tell us where to find the Sumerians? We have brought them the plans they asked for the construction of their new ziggurats. We suffered a little delay while coming here, but sure they won't mind... "

  • @mygills3050

    @mygills3050

    10 ай бұрын

    BEGIN THE GOOSE CHASE!

  • @chimera9818

    @chimera9818

    10 ай бұрын

    Humans: yeah about that…

  • @socialanxiety9153

    @socialanxiety9153

    10 ай бұрын

    Aliens when they learn that the sumerians are long dead: 🧍🏻‍♂️

  • @jasonreed7522

    @jasonreed7522

    10 ай бұрын

    They collapsed ages ago but we are still interested in buying those plans, we will build it in their honor. In the mean time can can we buy plans to your FTL technology?

  • @h3robug33

    @h3robug33

    10 ай бұрын

    ⁠@@jasonreed7522 “FTL? It took us almost 4000 years to go back and forth between this world and ours once. You really think we have faster than light travel?”

  • @mythosandlogos
    @mythosandlogos10 ай бұрын

    It’s really cool how you use architecture to teach about culture; the way we design really says a lot about what we hold sacred! It’s interesting to think of the central role uniting the city that the Ziggurat played, like a Cathedral would play in Medieval Europe, that a Courthouse would play in most older American towns, that is typically now served by a downtown Business District. It tells a lot about what we value most in any given time or culture. It reminds me of the Curse of Billy Penn in Philadelphia sports. When the One Liberty Place skyscraper was built in 1987, it was the first building taller than City Hall, which had a statue of the state’s founder William Penn on top. Teams from Philadelphia kept losing since then, until a statue of William Penn was placed on the (then-tallest building) Comcast tower. 8 months later, the Phillies won the World Series. That’s a roundabout way of showing how, even today, what we elevate above the rest matters!

  • @moonknightproductions9444
    @moonknightproductions944410 ай бұрын

    I’ve been loving these architectural history videos you’ve done recently. Between this, the castle video, and the church video before that, all these buildings are so cool and the history attached to them so vast and deep

  • @MrVermeulen02
    @MrVermeulen0210 ай бұрын

    As the owner of an English Literature MA I am very much impressed by the use of "Whomstsoever" in this video. (The history nut in me still loves this too!)

  • @Cha0sNicr0
    @Cha0sNicr010 ай бұрын

    Not entirely related, but I just got to reading Jonathan Strouds Bartimaeus. It's nice to put a picture to the beautiful places described there and learn about the real-world history.

  • @thesquishedelf1301

    @thesquishedelf1301

    10 ай бұрын

    Those are some very fun books, enjoy :)

  • @shrimpisdelicious
    @shrimpisdelicious10 ай бұрын

    I am digging these "Blue explains why and how this building is awesome" videos.

  • @denverarnold6210
    @denverarnold621010 ай бұрын

    The best follow up to this is Red to do the Epic of Gilgamesh.

  • @Aury
    @Aury10 ай бұрын

    Originally came for Reds discussion of writing concepts (as an aspiring author), and now am finding myself often more excited for the history, both because I learn about our world and take a lot of my world building inspiration from real world history. Thank you both for everything you do here, it is incredible!

  • @Aury

    @Aury

    10 ай бұрын

    To be clear, this channel is often my first watch when I have a bunch of notifications because I get so much out of all of the work done by the crew, just hadn't initially anticipated how much I would enjoy the history.

  • @rybko_
    @rybko_10 ай бұрын

    That last line dealt 100 points of psychic damage to me. I was NOT prepared.

  • @FarmerRiddick
    @FarmerRiddick10 ай бұрын

    Back in 2006, my unit was redeployed to Al Tallil Airbase before ending our deployment. The ruins of Ur were part of out immediate security zone. One evening after our assigned duties, we were stuck behind a slow convoy of a Romanian unit and I saw the marked turn off for the ziggurat. I told my soldier that was with me, that we are going to make a stop and see something of ancient history. We went to the ruins of Ur. It was remarkable and humbling! This was the remains of an ancient and powerful city. Many locals were rather proud to say that Abraham came from Ur. There was still visible ancient graffiti on what remained of the walls of the various dwellings and we were able to stand atop the ziggurat. There was a paved parking lot and If I recall, three modern two story houses across from the parking lot. Possibly for the visiting teams of archeologists before the war. We were the only living souls around, which gave an air of mystery akin to visiting a very old graveyard. It was certainly a place to respect. I did learn something supposedly interesting about the ziggurat. One of our duties during those last few months was to guard third country nationals. Basically, just make sure they didn't get in trouble on the base. This one group I was with, the boss was a recently returned Iraqi that was living in England for many years as an exile. He returned and started a small construction company and was a awarded a project on the base. He had and engineering degree - I think from a university in Manchester? Anyways, he told me that the foundation fill of the ziggurat was made primarily of cotton seed hulls. He explained to me, that the monsoons would drop so much water and the fibrous seed hulls would be able to absorb the water and release it slowly over time. Apparently, it helped reduce erosion. At the time, I barely knew how to build a frame out of 2x4's, so I don't know if this is accurate but, it sounded good. That little spontaneous diversion really was something I'll always value as an important experience to me. For all the horrors I experienced in Iraq, there is a part of me that would love to go and see and explore more in that region and many other places around the globe one day. I do have a love of history.

  • @elihinze3161
    @elihinze316110 ай бұрын

    Love this Mesopotamia-focused content! The ziggurat is one of the most majestic structures I've ever seen. I'm so entranced by them.

  • @Beryllahawk
    @Beryllahawk10 ай бұрын

    I absolutely adore that the "Trope Talk" music started playing as Blue was sarcastically declaring the "Easy Answer," hahahaaa Brilliant video!

  • @ericcota4732
    @ericcota473210 ай бұрын

    I concur with everyone else, this is a great video and I’m REALLY looking forward to more Mesopotamia content this month

  • @Brasswatchman
    @Brasswatchman10 ай бұрын

    Neat. Never had the chronology of things in Mesopotamia summed up for me like this. Appreciate it!

  • @TheShadowChesireCat
    @TheShadowChesireCat10 ай бұрын

    Thanks Blue! I've been getting into how interesting this history period is, so timely vid

  • @nomanmcshmoo8640
    @nomanmcshmoo864010 ай бұрын

    You and Red are just knocking it out of the park on Mesopotamia!!!! Thank you!!!!!

  • @alexi4829
    @alexi482910 ай бұрын

    in a weird turn of events, I have happenstantial mentioned OSP on a near daily basis for the past week to a friend, and earlier today that friend mentioned how they'd love to talk with someone more knowledgeable on the matter of religion and how it relates to civilisations and the people and things, and this video is a good fit for that!

  • @sapientisessevolo4364
    @sapientisessevolo436410 ай бұрын

    2:14 don't worry Blue, we won't blame you, Ur trying afterall, unlike that fishy Gutian king...

  • @Skelethin
    @Skelethin10 ай бұрын

    This was so fun to watch, I have literally walked on that ziggurat. Extra fun.

  • @anna_in_aotearoa3166

    @anna_in_aotearoa3166

    10 ай бұрын

    Wow! 😮 What an opportunity!

  • @britishrex5515

    @britishrex5515

    10 ай бұрын

    I hope you're a sumerian priest, otherwise o.o

  • @MilehighXP
    @MilehighXP10 ай бұрын

    As a young soldier that had recently gone through his first reality check from war the ziggurat of ur hold a special place in my heart because it even through that lonesome dessert the place still felt alive and well

  • @freedomforsychicgoats7664
    @freedomforsychicgoats766410 ай бұрын

    That script looks soooo cool!

  • @anguscable2819
    @anguscable281910 ай бұрын

    I would love to see a video on the pre-pottery-neolithic. Great video BTW

  • @86fifty
    @86fifty10 ай бұрын

    Heck yesssss, really old stuuuuuff! It always boggles my mind, to see the recreations and how long ago they really were, and how recognizable all of it is! That we're not so different from our ancestors as we like to think. To me, that's comforting.

  • @kab6754
    @kab675410 ай бұрын

    Great vid! Can't wait for more Mesopotamia dives!!

  • @sandrockman
    @sandrockman10 ай бұрын

    I was actually stationed near the Ziggurat of Ur for a year! Prominently part of the horizon for a good chunk of my life.

  • @jacobanderson5514
    @jacobanderson551410 ай бұрын

    That intro was the setup for a playlist and I won't believe otherwise

  • @Universal0Life
    @Universal0Life10 ай бұрын

    The more I see videos for this channel, the more I just appreciate blue doing history summarized.

  • @MrLokser
    @MrLokser10 ай бұрын

    I've been to that Zigurat!! I was stationed at C.O.B. Adder back in 2008-2009.... thanks for doing this video great content!

  • @laughlinmacdonald652
    @laughlinmacdonald65210 ай бұрын

    Even if I have no clue what he’s talking about, I love listening to Blue. Thank you OSP for making my day

  • @clcverblooms
    @clcverblooms10 ай бұрын

    I've got a history test tomorrow (it's about Mesopotamia) so thanks 😊👍🏽 and, excited for the coming videos!

  • @MudnuK
    @MudnuK10 ай бұрын

    I'd love to see you guys do some New Zealand history! (recent or otherwise)

  • @justsomehuman7522
    @justsomehuman752210 ай бұрын

    Oh Hell Yeah! Excited to learn about Ur! I have no understanding of this space time, but man does it evoke the imagination. The "first" city (according to US public school), the monosyllabic name, the huge animals to contend with! Alright alright alright, imma watch it now. Thanks for doing history stuff!

  • @HistoryfortheAges
    @HistoryfortheAges10 ай бұрын

    I start each semester with an overview of Mesopotamia!! I have several videos on this early time period in civilization

  • @theanimeunderworld8338
    @theanimeunderworld833810 ай бұрын

    Nice video Nice way to start osp content in July

  • @mr.boomguy
    @mr.boomguy10 ай бұрын

    Hi Blue. I was wondering, sense you've covered all of anchient Egypt, that you could make a video about their rivaling empire during the bronze age the Hittite Empire. For the longest time I've been wondering who those people where and while I admittidly should research it myself and I might after this comment, It would be a banger to hear your take on their history. Because I don't know where to start

  • @ferretyluv

    @ferretyluv

    10 ай бұрын

    *ancient *who these people were

  • @mr.boomguy

    @mr.boomguy

    10 ай бұрын

    @@ferretyluv I'm writing ln my phone, and it's autocorrection is terrible. Where it on pc it would be a lot easier. Besides, english is my second language

  • @Raphael-gd4ht

    @Raphael-gd4ht

    8 ай бұрын

    @@mr.boomguy *were it on pc and also, would it not make sense to have autocorrection turned off if it was that... idk, terrible? that and being an ESL person, should you not have better english than natives?

  • @mr.boomguy

    @mr.boomguy

    8 ай бұрын

    @@Raphael-gd4ht I'm not sure if I should take your comment as a insult or a guide. But I got my autocorrect turned on my phone now, even tho I write this comment on my pc

  • @tomislavtot6170
    @tomislavtot617010 ай бұрын

    I was dead certain Blue made a pun at 0.58 Instead of 'a mess of a tapistry that is....' I heard 'mesopo-tapistry'.. And damn it, I'm sticking to it.

  • @erichfiedler1481
    @erichfiedler148110 ай бұрын

    I've only heard this term "Ziggeraut" twice in my life, once in the anime film "Metropolis" and once in the animated series "The Legend of Vox Machina"

  • @qdHazen

    @qdHazen

    10 ай бұрын

    It's *pronounced,* "zippertwat."

  • @averagegenzguy2751

    @averagegenzguy2751

    10 ай бұрын

    And Beyblade...

  • @Nazuiko

    @Nazuiko

    10 ай бұрын

    Age of Empires... the Ziggurat of Ur is the Wonder for the, you guessed it, Babylonian civilization

  • @cloudkitt

    @cloudkitt

    10 ай бұрын

    There's also the character of Ziggurat 8 or "Ziggy" from Xenosaga :)

  • @jasonreed7522

    @jasonreed7522

    10 ай бұрын

    Its a standard part of grade school history in the USA (well New York State circa 2010s). Admittedly not a lot of time is spent on ancient Mesopotamia, but they are one of the "defining features" along with cuneiform. Kinda like the Pyramids and Hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt.

  • @VTimmoni
    @VTimmoni10 ай бұрын

    Thank you this was enlightening.

  • @Phootaba
    @Phootaba10 ай бұрын

    I love the slow transition into the osp music in the background 😂

  • @fishbaitx
    @fishbaitx10 ай бұрын

    I love listening to blue talk about architectural history 😊

  • @leetaeryeo5269
    @leetaeryeo526910 ай бұрын

    More Mesopotamia videos? Hell yeah! My favorite era to study!

  • @TGWIMWR
    @TGWIMWR10 ай бұрын

    I stood on top of it in March 2004. I have never been so humbled in my life. What an astonishing people and civilization!

  • @anonymousperson4214
    @anonymousperson421410 ай бұрын

    Thank you for making me almost snort my noodles up my nose, and also for covering one of my favorite time periods (A Long Ass Time Ago)

  • @TVandManga
    @TVandManga10 ай бұрын

    Brilliant video!

  • @jaredrevis4594
    @jaredrevis459410 ай бұрын

    BRRRRRRRRRRR BRONZE AGE BABY THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT WOOOOOO YEAH FUCKING LOVE THE BRONZE AGE I WANNA START STATECRAFT AND COMPLEX SOCIETY AND CREATE INTERWOVEN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND TRADE SHIT AND WRITE MYTHS

  • @fighting.words.ma.library
    @fighting.words.ma.library10 ай бұрын

    No dome? You're diversifying your portfolio 😄 Nice work as always.

  • @merrittanimation7721
    @merrittanimation772110 ай бұрын

    4:21 "Naram-Sin defiled the people of Babylon. Twice he called up the horde of Gutium against it. ... his people as with a goad ... he gave his sovereignty to the horde of Gutium. Gutium was an oppressive people. They did not know divine worship; rites and regulations they did not know how to perform properly. [Utuhegal] the "fisherman" caught fish as offering-presents on the edge of the seacoast. Until that fish was offered to the [Lord Prince] Marduk, it was not offered to any other god. The Gutians took the cooked fish away from him before it was offered. By his exalted command he took away sovereignty from the horde and gave it to Utuhegal" -The Weidner Chronicle Fun fact, the Gutian king Utuhegal defeated supposedly only ruled for 10 days (according to the Sumerian King List).

  • @merrittanimation7721

    @merrittanimation7721

    10 ай бұрын

    Correction: 40 days

  • @geminielemental8800
    @geminielemental880010 ай бұрын

    Being someone with the literal Ziggurat of Ur as a profile picture, merely needed to say thanks for this.

  • @terrified057t4
    @terrified057t410 ай бұрын

    Great Vid again!

  • @evanohlsten7814
    @evanohlsten781410 ай бұрын

    You should cover the extensive culture of mound building in Native American civilizations. It's spread all the way from Mesoamerica to Winsconsin. You could even sneak in the terrace farms of the Andes. Its a really interesting topic.

  • @irighterotica
    @irighterotica10 ай бұрын

    This video goes insane-o style!

  • @aarongarcia2839
    @aarongarcia283910 ай бұрын

    And my Friday is complete, OSP has posted

  • @harmonslytherin
    @harmonslytherinАй бұрын

    I'm taking a religious history class and was able to use some of the information taught in this video! Thanks, Blue!

  • @Billious
    @Billious10 ай бұрын

    That last line caught me off guard, I had to think about it for a sec but once I realized it I was shocked to realize I was just hit by the dirtiest joke osp has ever written.

  • @Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache
    @Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache10 ай бұрын

    Some say that when the top of the Great Ziggurat of Ur was gone, every man in the world crossed their legs...

  • @robbybeckmeyer828
    @robbybeckmeyer82810 ай бұрын

    I'm hoping we get a video about the Ubaid period, their pottery was just so gorgeous

  • @ErnestJay88
    @ErnestJay8810 ай бұрын

    "iltam sumra rashupti elatim" (Bronze age meme / Ammi-ditāna's hymn to Ištar) is a pray to god Ištar, Sumerian / Akkadian priest usually read Ammi-ditāna's hymn to Ištar in ziggurat on special occasion. Basically "Lord's Prayer", imagine 2000 years from now, future human use Lord Prayer sound effect for internet memes.

  • @Campfire_Bandit
    @Campfire_Bandit10 ай бұрын

    Blue! I'm just about finished with the audiobook for Anabasis and I was surprised to learn that there wasn't a History Makers: Xenophon!

  • @somejerkbag
    @somejerkbag10 ай бұрын

    These are incredible

  • @leoorpi
    @leoorpi8 ай бұрын

    I can't even begin to describe how clever the word mesopotapestry is

  • @Seagull_House
    @Seagull_House10 ай бұрын

    2:59 "oh no, step-pyramid, im so stuck"

  • @SupremelordBruv

    @SupremelordBruv

    10 ай бұрын

    I hate this very much. Thank you. 😊

  • @Seagull_House

    @Seagull_House

    10 ай бұрын

    @@SupremelordBruv heh- anytime, buckaroo

  • @yoitsmr.v2603
    @yoitsmr.v260310 ай бұрын

    Please finish Journey to the west you do such a good job at telling the story that’s how I found your channel originally

  • @rosemarylinalool3432
    @rosemarylinalool343210 ай бұрын

    Blue’s joke at the end has me deceased oh my god

  • @JARJCC97
    @JARJCC9710 ай бұрын

    I like how at 2:19 they unknowingly built thier temple to look like A 3-story office building that would be built in like the 1950`s-1960`s AD

  • @toprope_
    @toprope_10 ай бұрын

    I think a good way of putting it is the better we can guess what a culture is trying to say through their art/writing, the more advanced it was. If something was universal enough to be studied/established in knowledge outside of archaic academia, it’s probably something other people later used and we have an idea of what it could be. The ziggurat looks a LOT like a Greek column temple, and even was placed on top of mountains like they did. Often used by the later Greeks for the sake stuff, important palaces, temples, and definitely not open access.

  • @garm352
    @garm35210 ай бұрын

    Woooo! I love this shit Blue thanks for sharing!

  • @justjoeblow420
    @justjoeblow42010 ай бұрын

    I lost it at the end joke. Bravo good sir I bet that took more than one take to get through though.

  • @Nazuiko

    @Nazuiko

    10 ай бұрын

    I dont get the mop joke....

  • @TheMinecraftMan757

    @TheMinecraftMan757

    10 ай бұрын

    @@Nazuiko I believe the joke is that someone needs to clean the bodily fluids after their divine roleplay sex thing

  • @danielsantiagourtado3430
    @danielsantiagourtado343010 ай бұрын

    Love you guys!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤

  • @binkbonkbones3402
    @binkbonkbones340210 ай бұрын

    You're always insanely helpful to the show I'm writing blue

  • @pandoraeeris7860
    @pandoraeeris786010 ай бұрын

    Gittin' ziggy wit it.

  • @dorkatarmsetcetera9468
    @dorkatarmsetcetera946810 ай бұрын

    I would also highly recommend Francesco Rochberg's "Before Nature" to talk more in-depth of the cuneiform world's theology, deeper than the myths.

  • @trytry23
    @trytry2310 ай бұрын

    I just knew that scamp Ea Nasir would make an appearance here, what a rascal with that whole copper situation.

  • @kadinmay
    @kadinmay10 ай бұрын

    One of the coolest things I ever learned about in school

  • @eldorados_lost_searcher
    @eldorados_lost_searcher10 ай бұрын

    Climbed to the top of this when I was deployed to the nearby base. Wish I'd taken pictures. I remember seeing bits of pottery inside the structure.

  • @madarchmage1151
    @madarchmage115110 ай бұрын

    I like this. Thank you

  • @gnosys3369
    @gnosys336910 ай бұрын

    YUM YUM YUM I love Civil History Can't Wait for Harrappa and the Mohenjo Daro

  • @washulis
    @washulis10 ай бұрын

    Oh god please more content on Mesopotamia please please please please please please please please