For some time now, roofs have become leisure spaces, whether in large luxurious buildings or houses on the outskirts. This condition, however, is not limited to our times. Different cultures at different times used flat roofs in their architecture, in different ways.
The first evidence of the use of roofs goes back to the Mesopotamian peoples and their Ziggurats. Occupying the territory where Iran and Iraq are located today, the Sumerians, considered the first civilization on record, built prominent religious temples of mud bricks that could also have other uses in 4,000 BC. In the case of the famous Tower of Babel, besides its religious function, the Ziggurat of Etemenanki also had a scientific role. The scribes observed the stars from the roofs of the Ziggurat and knew some planets and stars such as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and the Moon. Another famous Ziggurat, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, about which little is known, was possibly built by Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC in homage to his wife and had a lush garden on its roof.
