Ziggurats 
Like their Egyptian Neighbors, the Mesopotamians created great
pyramids. Unlike the pyramus of Egypt, however, Mesopotamian
Ziggurats rose upward in a series of steps. Historians guess that the
Ziggurats of the Mesopotamians, although they shared the pyramids'
religious purpose, were temples for the living rather than tombs for
the dead. It is believed that different ceremonies would take place
on each step, and that a final sacrifice or ritual would be held in a
temple at the peak.