Founded by king Kurigalzu around 1390 BC, the Kassite city of Dur-Kurigalzu lies just west of Baghdad. It was initially built as an outer line of defence against the Elamites and the Assyrians, but became the administrative capital of southern Mesopotamia until the fall of the Kassite dynasty in 1154 BC.
The city's most famous surviving monument is an unusually well-preserved ziggurat which dominates the surrounding flat countryside and rises some 187 ft (57 m) above the plain. Early travellers mistakenly believed that this was the ruin of the biblical Tower of Babel.
A typical south Mesopotamian ziggurat, it has three staircases leading up to the temple on the top. It was constructed in layers, each seven courses of brick topped by a layer of reed matting and plaited rope: these are still visible.
A lower platform in front of the ziggurat was surrounded by numerous courtyards, forming part of the sacred precinct.
A vast palace was built half a mile (a kilometre) north-west of the ziggurat: this contained the royal storehouse and treasury. Its walls were painted with human figures in procession. This is the earliest example of the processional motif which came to be used throughout Assyrian palaces, and it is dated to the reigns of the Kassite kings Meli-Shipak and Marduk-apla-iddina I (1186-1159 BC).
