Module 3 ane

ARC 110History of Architecture I

Module 3

Architecture of the Ancient Near East

Module Outline• Lecture 6

– Historical Background• Location and period • Social characteristics and beliefs

– Architecture of the Civilization• Sumerian Architecture

• Lecture 7• Assyrian architecture• Babylonian Architecture• Persian architecture

• Lecture 8– Architectural Characteristics

• Buildings and other architectural elements• Building materials, construction and technologies• Architectural Organizing principles

Learning Outcomes

• We should expect to learn the following about

the civilization – Evolution of early human society and

civilization, including kingship and empires– Architectural responses to geography and

the need for religious symbols– Architecture of Power and Authority – Temple and Palace architecture – Architecture and construction in mud

Module 3 Lecture 6Architecture of the Ancient Near East

Outline of Lecture

• Lecture 6– Historical Background

• Location and period • Social characteristics and beliefs

– Architecture of the Civilization• Sumerian Architecture

Historical Background

Historical BackgroundLocation

• Located in and around the valley of Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq

• Area is also known as Mesopotamia or land between two rivers

• The land had poorly defined edges

• The land stretches from Mediterranean to eastern borders of present Iran

Historical Background Location

• To the south and west, it

fades into the Arabian desert

• To the north and west, it fades into the plains of Syria

• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers sit in the land as dominant physical feature

• The Rivers were unpredictable, being subject to alternating flood and drought

Historical Background Period

• The area witnessed the earliest rise of human civilization

around 4500 BC

• Transformation from prehistory, to villages and cities occurred there

• Civilization there lasted for 5000 years

• Cultural development was not homogenous during the period

• Different cultures established city states and empires at different periods

• The cultures include Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian

Historical Background Period

• It has not been possible to trace a neat order of the history of the cultures

• An acceptable order is presented • Sequence of Civilization

– 4500 to 2000 BC Sumerian culture, peaking in 3300 BC

– 2350 – 2200 BC Akkadian Period– 2000- 1600 BC Babylonian Culture– 1600 – 1717 BC Kessites and Hittites – 1350 – 612 BC Assyrian Culture– 612 – 539 BC Neo Babylonian culture– 539 – 330 BC Persian culture

Historical Background Social Characteristics & Beliefs

• Mesopotamia is the cradle of civilization

• What do we mean by civilization?– Civilization is usually associated with the cultural

practices of cities and urban living, the presence of writing and written law

• In Mesopotamia, earliest cities were established and urban culture took hold

• Between 4000 and 3000 BC, large number of people began living in a small area creating first cities

• Many people began to have jobs that is unrelated to agriculture


• Once established, cities grew and increased power and importance

• As cities grew in power and importance, rivalries developed between them for military and economic control

• The ANE was land without natural defenses

• Warfare was common throughout its history

• The Tigris and Euphrates also suffered from alternate drought and floods

• Combination of warfare and frequent drought and flood made a continuous homogenous civilization impossible

• The result is that several cultures flourished and died out during the ANE period


• Cities in the ANE initially developed with authority residing in an assembly of male citizens

• Short term leaders were selected during wars

• When war leaders were retained during peace time, kingship evolved

• It was initially elective and later hereditary

• As some cities became more powerful, they defeated weaker ones to create empires and kingdoms

• This led to collective rule of city states by a sovereign king


• With kingship also came monumental palaces as place of residence and administration for the king

• Almost all ANE culture worshiped many gods and goddesses

• ANE people did not believe in immortality or eternal life

• They believed only gods were immortal

• Rather, they believed in divine rewards for moral conduct


• The reward was enjoyed in this life

• The rewards include increased worldly goods, numerous offspring and long life

• The most popular and earliest religious cults related to fertility

• Fertility goddesses influenced the growth of crops

• Aspects of life such as war, weather, disease, were explained by the actions of gods

• The Sumerian had a religion based on the elements- sky, earth, water, sun, moon, etc


• This reflected the agrarian nature of their society

• As ANE people came together to live in cities, they needed a means of communication and record keeping

• Around 3500, the Sumerians invented a system of writing based on pictograph

• This was later developed into a simpler writing called the cuneiform

• Development of written language enabled them to produce historical records


• Written records also led to the development of written law as in the code of King Hummurabi

• Cities in ancient Mesopotamia were enclosed by wall fortifications

• The fabric of the cities are a blend of residential, commercial and industrial buildings

• Houses were one story high and mostly of mud brick

• Rooms were arranged around courtyards


• Houses looked inward• Rooms were narrow with thick walls and flat,

vault or dome roofs• Timber and stone were scarce, clay was

abundant and mud brick was most common building material

• Buildings were usually raised on platforms to protect them from the floods

• Clay was also used for pottery• Mesopotamians invented astrology, wheeled

vehicle & made advances in science & math

Architecture of the Civilization

Architecture of the Civilization

• Sequence of Treatment

– Sumerian Architecture

– Assyrian Architecture

– Babylonian Architecture

– Persian Architecture

Sumerian Architecture Introduction

• The transition from prehistory was made around 4500 BC with the rise of the Sumerian civilization

• Sumerians established an irrigation system that made the capable of food production to support urban living

• They were also skilled in metal craft

• The Sumerians invented the cuneiform system of writing


• The Sumerians invented the cuneiform system of writing

• The major cities of the Sumerian civilization were Kish, Uruk and Ur

• The Sumerian were the first civilization to make a conscious attempt of designing public buildings

• Mud was their building material

• Mud was formed into brick, sun dried and built into massive walls


• Mud was their main building material

• Mud was formed into brick, sun dried and built into massive walls

• Walls were thick to compensate the weakness of mud

• They were reinforce with buttresses

• Spaces were narrow because of the walling material


• Spaces were narrow because of the walling material

• Façade of buildings were whitewashed and painted to disguise the lack of attraction of the material

• Buttresses and recesses also relieve the monotony of the plastered wall surfaces

• Temples was their major building type

• We will examine Sumerian house organization and their temple forms


• The clearest example of the cities of the ancient Near East is found in the Sumerian city of Ur

• Cities were enclosed in walls with Ziggurat temples and palace as centers of the city

• Fabric of the city is made up of residences mixed with commercial and industrial buildings


• The houses are densely packed with narrow streets between them.

• Streets were fronted by courtyard houses of one story high

• The houses streets were usually punctuated by narrow openings that serve as entrance to houses

Sumerian Architecture Architectural Monument- Temples

• Temples were the principal architectural monuments of Sumerian cities

• Temples consist of chief and city temples

• We will examine two examples of chief temples- the white temple at Uruk and the Great Ziggurat at Ur

• And we will examine on city temple, the Oval temple at Khafaje

Sumerian Architecture White Temple Uruk

• Uruk was a major Sumerian city by 3300 BC

• Uruk is also known as warka in arabic

• The name Iraq is derived from Uruk

• The city covered an area of 2 square kilometer

• Had a population of 40,000 people

• White temple was located at Uruk


• The white temple was built around 3000 BC

• The white temple is an example of earliest development of Sumerian temples and Ziggurat


• The temple is place on a great mound of earth called Ziggurat, rising more than 12 meters above ground

• The ziggurat and temple are built with mud bricks

• The temple is rectangular in shape

• Temple walls were thick and supported by buttresses

• In the inner part of the temple was a long sanctuary, that contains an alter and offering table


• Rooms oblong and in shape and vaulted surrounded the long side of the sanctuary

• The temple had imposing doorways located at its either end

• Worshippers to the temple however enter through a side room


• Series of staircases and stepped levels lead worships to the entrance of the temple

• The temple was plastered white externally, making it visible for miles in the landscape

Sumerian Architecture Great Ziggurat Ur

• Ur was a Sumerian city located near the mouth of the Euphrates river

• The city was a thriving place by 2600 BC

• It was considered sacred to Nnanna, the moon god

• The white temple was built around 2113 to 2048 BC by the ruler Urnammu

• It was built on the ruins of previous temples and incorporated their remains


• It was constructed of mud bricks reinforced with thin layers of matting and cables of twisted reeds

• The Great Ziggurat was located as part of a temple complex

• The complex comprised of the ziggurat and its court and a secondary court attached to it called the court of Nannar

• The king was the chief priest of the temple and lived close to it


• The temple sits on a three multi-tiered Ziggurat mountain

• Access to the temple is through triple stairways that converge at the summit of the first platform

• From this stage, one passed through a portal with dome roof to fourth staircase


• The fourth staircase gave access to the second and third stages of the ziggurat and to the temple

• The temple is usually access only by the priest, where gods are believed to come down and give instructions


• The ziggurat is believed by the Sumerians to unit the heavens and the earth

• The people believed that climbing the staircase of the ziggurat gives a holy experience

• The chief temple was also used as a last line of defense during times of war

• Most of what is known about what exist on top of the ziggurat is projection

Sumerian Architecture Oval Temple- Khafaje

• Oval temple is an example of second type of Sumerian temples

• It was constructed around 2600 BC

• The temple is named oval because of its massive oval walls surrounding the temple

• Located in the city, emphasis in its organization is on enclosing space within courtyards

Sumerian Architecture Oval Temple Khafaje

• Space is enclosed to create island of peace from a busy city

• The temple is raised on a simple platform enclosed within the oval walls

• It had subsidiary chambers at the ground level

• The outer wall was extended to protect a priestly residence with its own chapel

Sumerian Architecture Oval Temple Khafaje

• The inner court had an offering table and showed evidence of animal sacrifices

• The inner court also had basins for ablution as well as workshops and storage rooms

End of Module 3 Lecture 6

Outline of Lecture 7

• Assyrian architecture– Introduction – City of Khorsabad– Palace of Sargon at Khorsabad

• Babylonian Architecture– Introduction – City of Babylon– Architecture in the city of Babylon

• Persian architecture– Introduction – Palace at Parsepolis

Assyrian Architecture

Assyrian Architecture Introduction

• Assyria is the name for a part of ancient Mesopotamia located on the upper Tigris

• The principal cities of Assyria were Nineveh, Dun, Khorsabad, Nimrud and Assur

• The Assyrians were great warriors and hunters, and this was reflected in their art

• They produced violent sculptures and relief carving in stone that was used to ornament their houses

Assyrian ArchitectureIntroduction

• During the Assyrian periods, temples lost their importance to palaces

• Assyrian kings built walled cities, in which palaces took precedent over religious buildings

• Palaces were raised on brick platforms, and their principal entrance ways were flanked by guardian figures of human headed bulls or lions of stone

• Their halls and corridors were lined with pictures and inscriptions carved in relief on stone slabs up to 9 feet high

Assyrian ArchitectureIntroduction

• The interiors were richly decorated and luxurious.

• The walls of cities were usually strengthened by many towers serving as defensive positions

• The city of Khorsabad demonstrate the might and authority of the Assyrian kings

• It is also at this place that the remains of Assyrian architecture can be found

Assyrian ArchitectureCity of Khorsabad

• Khorsabad was designed as the royal capital of Assyria

• The city was built on a flat land with an area of about a square mile and was enclosed by a double wall with seven city gates

• Only a part of the city including palaces, temples and administrative headquarters was built

• The palace was located on the north west side of the city

Assyrian ArchitecturePalace of Sargon

• The palace is approached at ground level through a walled citadel

• Within the citadel is found the main palace, two minor palaces and a temple dedicated to Nabu

• The main palace was set on a platform located on the northern side of the citadel

• All the buildings within the citadel were arranged around courtyards

Assyrian ArchitecturePalace of Sargon

• The palace was arranged around two major courtyards about which were grouped smaller courtyards

• The palace consisted of large and smaller rooms with the throne room being the largest

• The building was decorated with relief sculpture and glazed brick

Babylonian Architecture

Babylonian ArchitectureIntroduction

• After the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC and the end of the Assyrian civilization, focus of Mesopotamian civilization shifted to old Babylon

• A new dynasty of kings, including Nebuchadnezzar, revived old Babylonian culture to create a Neo-Babylonian civilization

• Old Sumerian cities were rebuilt

Babylonian ArchitectureIntroduction

• The capital old Babylon was enlarged and heavily fortified

• It was also adorned with magnificent new buildings

• The traditional style of Mesopotamian building reached its peak during the period

• Traditional building was enhanced by a new form of façade ornament consisting of figures designed in colored glazed brick work

Babylonian ArchitectureCity of Babylon

• The city of Babylon is shaped in the form of a quadrangle sitting across and pierced by the Euphrates[64]

• The city was surrounded by a fortification of double walls

• These had defensive towers that project well above the walls

Babylonian ArchitectureCity of Babylon

• The walls also had a large moat in front, which was also used for navigation

• The length of the wall and moat is about five and a quarter miles

• The city had a palace, Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, located on its northern side on the outer wall

Babylonian ArchitectureIshtar Gate

• From the palace originated a procession street that cuts through the city raised above the ground to the tower of Babel

• The procession street enters the city through the famous Ishtar gate

• The Ishtar gate is built across the double walls of the city fortification

• The gate had a pair of projecting towers on each wall

Babylonian ArchitectureIshtar Gate

• All the facades of gates and adjoining streets were faced with blue glazed bricks and ornamented with figures of heraldic animals- lions, bulls, and dragons

• These were modeled in relief and glazed in other colors

• None of the buildings of old Babylon has survived to the present age

Babylonian ArchitectureArchitecture in the city of Babylon

• Nebuchadnezzar’s palace covered a land area of 900 feet by 600 feet

• It had administrative offices, barracks, the king’s harem, private apartment all arranged around five courtyards

• The palace is also praised for its legendary hanging garden

• This is recorded as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but exact knowledge of the nature of this garden is not known

Babylonian ArchitectureArchitecture in the city of Babylon

• Temples and towers were also prominent architectural elements of Babylon

• The legendary tower of Babel located at the end of procession street is mentioned in the Christian bible

• There is also no information about the design and construction of the tower

• Most of what is available on the tower is hypothetical

Persian Architecture

Persian ArchitectureIntroduction

• The Persian empire started in about 560 BC when Cyrus the great from the province of Fars swept over the region with his powerful cavalry

• By the end of the century, Cyrus and his successors, Darius 1 and Xerxes had conquered the entire civilized world from Indus to Danube River with the exception of Greece

• It was the wish of the Persians to construct great buildings

• They were to achieve greatness with their architectural solutions

• The architectural solutions were a synthesis of ideas gathered from almost all parts of their empire and from the Greeks an Egyptians

Persian ArchitectureIntroduction

• Their materials of construction was also from different locations

• Material included mud-brick from Babylon, wooden roof beams from Lebanon, precious material from India and Egypt, Stone columns quarried and carved by Ionic Greeks

• Despite sourcing materials and ideas from different areas, their architecture was original and distinctive in style

Persian ArchitecturePalace at Perspolis

• Persian architecture achieved its greatest monumentality at Parsepolis

• It was constructed as a new capital for the Persian Empire

• The city was started 510 BC and finished in 460 BC

• It is set along the face of a mountain leveled to create a large platform 1800 feet by 900 feet

• It was surrounded by a fortification wall

• The site was more than half covered by buildings

Persian Architecture Palace at Perspolis

• The palace consisted of three parts:

• An approach of monumental staircases, gate ways and avenues

• Two great state halls towards the center of the platform

• The palace of Xerxes, the harem, and other living quarters at the south end of the site


• Structurally, the buildings relied on a hypostyle scheme throughout

• They used it to achieve spaces of varying scale

• Some of the spaces were very big and generally square in plan

• The spaces were enclosed by mud brick walls

• The most impressive aspect of the palace was the royal audience hall


• The Royal audience hall was a square 250 feet in length

• It contained 36 slender columns widely space & 67 feet high

• The columns had a lower diameter of only 5 feet

• The centers of the columns were spaced 20 feet or 4 diameters apart

• The column was the greatest invention of the Persians

• The columns were fluted and stand on inverted bell shaped bases

• Their capital combine Greek motifs with Egyptian palm leaf topped by an impost of paired beast


• Another famous aspect of the palace at parsepolis was the throne room

• This was also known as hall of a 100 columns

• The columns in the room were 37 feet high, with a diameter of only 3 feet

• They were spaced 20 feet apart or seven diameters from axis to axis

• The slim nature of the column created room and spacious feeling in the room when compared to the audience hall

Assyrian Architecture Palace at Perspolis

• The monumental entrance to Parsepolis is also one of the unique aspects of the Palace

• The monumental gateway ensure a dramatic entry to the Palace

• It was heavily adorned with relief sculpture ornamenting its stairway


• The relief structure addresses different themes relating to the role of Parsepolis as the capital of the Persian Empire


• In some places, the sculpture shows delegates from the different parts of the Persian bringing gifts and rare animals to the king during celebrations

• In some places, royal guards and nobles of the imperial court are shown

• Elsewhere, the king is seen in conflict with animals or seated beneath a ceremonial umbrella


• The ruins of Parsepolis have survived to the present day

• Existing ruins however give a faulty expression of the city’s original appearance

• Some columns supporting the halls of the great halls have survived

• The mud brick fabric of the palace and its enclosing walls have perished completely


• Only the sculptures which adorn doorways or windows and openings and the relief ornamenting its entrance way remain

End of Module 3 Lecture 7

Outline of Lecture

• Lecture 8– Architectural Characteristics

• Buildings and other architectural elements• Building materials, construction and

technologies• Architectural Organizing principles

Architectural Characteristics

Buildings & Other Arch Elements

Buildings & Other Arch. Elements

Building Types• 3 building types examined in ANE; Cities and houses, temples and palaces

• Temples and palaces were the most outstanding buildings types in ANE

• Significant development in house organization and city fortification was also witnessed

• In Sumerian civilization, development in house organization led to the evolution of the inward looking courtyard house

• Houses formed the dominant buildings of the city with narrow passages to distribute people


Building Types• Across all the civilizations, cities were usually

walled

• The walls were of massive brick material, with evenly distributed towers serving as buttresses.

• Examples of city wall or fortification examined include City of Khorsabad and Babylon

• The chief’s house at precinct of the Great Ziggurat and the Palace at Parsepolis were also fortified with brick walls.


Temples and Palaces• Importance of temples and palaces varied

during the different periods of the ANE

• Temples started during the Sumerian period and were also common during the Babylonian period.

• The Sumerian temples were raised on Ziggurats, while the character of the Babylonian temples is not certain because there is no trace of them

• The Sumerian temples had chief temples located outside the city and the city temple located within the fabric of the city


Temples and Palaces• Neo-Babylonians also built great palaces. The

legendary palace of Nebuchadnezzar with its hanging garden is widely reported in history

• Temple building declined during the Assyrian period, when palaces took over as the prominent building type

• The Palaces at Khorsabad and Parsepolis shows the rise of the palace as the focus of architectural development over the temple

Materials, Const. & Tech.

Materials, Construction & Tech. Materials

• Stone and timber suitable for building was rare in the plains of the Tigris and Euphrates.

• Clay was however in abundance

• This was compressed in moulds and dried in the sun to provide bricks for all buildings

• Sun dried brick became the standard building material

• It was used across all the cultures of the ancient Near East

Materials, Construction & Tech. Materials

• Wood was scarce but was imported from Lebanon

• Wood was probably applied mainly for roofing or for producing tools and ornaments

• Stone was used by the Assyrians but only for relieve carving and for columnar support

• It was in ancient Persia that extensive use of stone witnessed

• The Babylonians introduce glazed brick, which was used in the façade of their gates and prominent buildings

Materials, Construction & Tech. Construction

• The abundance of mud brick led to the development of construction methods appropriate to its physical properties.

• Structurally Mud brick is weak when compared to stone

• To compensate, walls were very thick and reinforced with buttresses.

• This construction system is evident in the Sumerian temples.

• Vaulting was known and used during the Mesopotamian period

Materials, Construction & Tech. Construction

• Rooms were usually roofed with domes or vaults.

• Tunnel vaults were used to cover long narrow oblong spaces.

• Columnar construction was not very popular in the ANE

• It was used in few instances in the late Assyrian and Neo-babylonian periods.

• It was however extensively used by the Persians

• Persian architecture, was an architecture that borrowed from other cultures in the region, including Egypt and Greek sources

Materials, Construction & Tech. Technology

• Two technologies appear to have been commonly used in the Ancient Near East; passive cooling and water supply.

• The evolution of courtyard in Mesopotamia was probably a product of its desert environment and the need for climate modification.

• Courtyards were used for cooling to create livable environments in houses

• The thick walls of houses may also have served as a thermal storage

• They help to mitigate against the wide fluctuations of temperature

Materials, Construction & Tech. Technology

• People of the ancient Near East also mastered the earth of water supply

• Channels were used to move water and supply it to agricultural fields and houses.

• Ancient Babylon was said to have an aqueduct that supplied water to the city.

• The hanging garden in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace would also be impossible without a means of transporting water from the ground to the garden

Principles of Arch. Organization

Principles of Arch. Organization Principles

• Three principles appear to predominant in the organization of architectural form and space– Courtyard organization– Lifting of buildings on artificial mountains– Organic organization of city fabric

Forces Shaping Arch. Organ. Forces

• Three forces account for the prevailing architectural organizing principles observed

• Geography, • Symbolism and meaning to the people• Social factors

• Combination of the factors account for the architectural forms that are witnessed in all the cultures of the ANE

Forces Shaping Arch. Organ. Geography

• A strong factor in shaping spatial organization and built form

• Limited the availability of construction material and constrained the development of construction technology

• Desert environment also meant t hash climatic conditions which lead to the evolution of the courtyard form of building

• Prevalence of mud bricks coupled with the use of courtyard fixed the form of buildings as a regional solution.

• Most buildings- whether house or palace, were of one story multi-courtyard form

Forces Shaping Arch. Organ. Symbolism and Meaning

• Organizing principles may also be a factor of symbolisms and meaning

• The role of symbolism is evident in the Ziggurat

• Sumerians think of ziggurat as a ladder to the sky and to god

• They believed that God came down to the Ziggurat to communicating with the chief priest

• Climbing the ziggurat is also associated with a holy experience.

• Symbolic meaning of ziggurat provides motivation for the construction of larger and more impressive mountains

Forces Shaping Arch. Organ. Symbolism and Meaning

• Palaces also symbolize power and authority

• In Assyria, architecture expressed the authority and power of the king

• The palace at Khorsabad also shows the decline in the symbolic importance of the temple compared to the palace of the king, which is the center of authority.

• At Parsepolis, the palace also expresses the authority and power of the emperor of the Persian empire

• This power is evident in the ability to commandeer resources from as far as Egypt and Lebanon to create a unique palace

Forces Shaping Arch. Organ. Social Concerns

• Social concerns contributed to the evolution of

design principles

• There was need for defense due to warfare

• Led to construction of wall fortifications for cities

• Also to ziggurat as a place of refuge from attack

• Concerns for privacy

• Courtyard house may have evolved because of privacy needs

End of Module 3

Module 3 ane

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