HOA 2 – Lecture 2: Architecture in the Ancient Near East

Mesopotamia – area between Tigris and Euphrates (modern day Iraq). Cradle of
civilization, linked to modern nations of Egypt, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, the
Gulf states, and Turkey (referred to as the Middle East)
o To the south and west, it fades into the Arabian desert
o To the north and west, it fades into the plains of Syria
o The Tigris and Euphrates rivers sit in the land as dominant physical feature
o The rivers were unpredictable, being subject to alternating ood and
drought

Geography and growth of cities

• Vast deserts rimmed by rugged mountain ranges, punctuated by lush oases
Flowing through this topography are rivers and it was the irrigation systems that
drew o the water from these rivers, providing support for early urban centers

Cuneiform – earliest writing, dated back to 3,000 BCE by Sumerians. Earliest inscriptions
represent the work of administrators, perhaps of large temple institutions, recording
allocations of goods. The latest cuneiform is an astronomical text.

Architectural Character of Mesopotamia

• Massiveness
• Monumentality
• Grandeur

Historical background
• 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
• Di erent cultures established city states and empires at di erent periods
• The cultures include Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian

SUMERIAN ARCHITECTURE 4500 BCE – 2000 BCE

Contributions
-invented concept of a city
Sexagesimal system and lunar calendar
System of writing-cuneiform
First schools and biblical narratives
Epic of Gilgamesh-oldest epic
Governmental bureaucracy, monumental architecture, and irrigation systems
Self-ruling country states
Devise mathematical computation system, medical and scienti c discoveries and architectural
ziggurat at ur, modern day Iraq ca 2100 BCE

History of the region is divided into:

-The uBaid period- c 5000-4100 BCE
-the Uruk period - 4100-2900
-The early dynastic period - 2900-2334 BCE
- The Akkadian Period 2334-2218 BCE
- The gutian Period 2218-2047 BCE
- The UR III period or Sumerian renaissance 2047-1750 BCE
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 • The Sumerians of Mesopotamia created sophisticated works of architecture in the
fourth millennium BC, constructed of brick, and used arches, domes, and vaults.
• The monumental Eanna temple precinct at Uruk. the greatest of the Sumerian
cities, had two groups of temples connected by a mighty portico of huge circular
columns of brick facing a court the walls of which were embellished with engaged columns.
• Interior wall-faces were decorated with a geometrical pattern of small terracotta cones of
di erent colors.
• The huge ziggurat at Ur (C22 BC) had enormous, battered walls, monumental ights of stairs,
and a temple on the summit of the platform. The basic principles of Sumerian
architecture were absorbed by their successors, the Assyrians from Northern Mesopotamia,
around 2000 BC.
1. White Temple Uruk – Major Sumerian city. The White Temple is
an early development of Sumerian temples and Ziggurat great mound of
earth.
a. 12 meters above ground built with mud bricks shape supported by buttresses temple was
a long altar and o ering table. The temple had imposing doorways located at its either end.
b. Sumer themes – o erings, gods, warfare and hunting, rulers
c. Forms
i. Mud brick construction
ii. Natural and conceptual treatment of gures
iii. Registers of space
iv. Hierarchy of scale
Great Ziggurat of Ur – located at the mouth of Euphrates River. Sacred to the Moon god,
Nnanna. It was built on the ruins of previous temples and incorporated the remains. Bricks
reinforced with thin of twisted reeds located as part of a temple.
a. 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, and is believed by Sumerians to unite
heavens and earth. Climbing it gives a holy experience.

b. Forms
i. Ziggurat platform
ii. Monumental mud construction
iii. Axial alignment
iv. Temple for god on top and Cella for priests
v. Waiting room and votive o erings placed inside
vi. Hierarchy of space

3. Oval temple Khafaje – second type of Sumerian temples. 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.
a. 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.
b. The inner court had an o ering table and showed evidence of animal sacri ces. The inner
court also had basins for ablution as well as workshops and storage rooms

AKKADIAN ARCHITECTURE 2350 BCE – 2200 BCE

• The Akkadians buildings were made with handfuls of wet clay. The walls were poorly
constructed. One-way walls were made was to outline the shape of your house with lumps of
clay and let it dry in the hot sun. A faster way was to use wood planks and put a layer of clay
between each board.
• Their houses were shaped like domes, the whole dome was made from clay
• New concept of absolute monarchy (theocratic monarch)
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• Forms:
o Skilled casting, polishing, engraving
o Balance of naturalism, abstract patterns, geometric clarity, use of
contrasting textures, sensitivity to formal pattern

BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE 2000 BCE – 1600 BCE

• Architecture is characterized by mud-brick construction, walls articulated by pilasters and
recesses, sometimes faced with burnt and glazed brick; narrow rooms, mostly covered with at
timber and mud roofs; and the extensive use of bitumen in drain and pavement construction
and as mortar. The city of Babylon contained the famous Tower of Babel and the Ishtar Gate,
decorated with enameled brick friezes of bulls and lions, and the Hanging Gardens of
Semiramis.
• The ruins of the Assyrian Palace of Khorsabad show evidence of monumental sculptural
decoration. The Palace of Darius at Persepolis featured magni cent relief carvings.
• Neo-Babylonian Architecture 612 BCE – 539 BCE
o Neo- Babylonian Period ruler Nebuchadnezzar II was the real genius and builder of Babylon.
o 250 towers that were 450 feet high
o A wide and deep moat that encircled the city.
o The Euphrates River also owed through the middle of the city. Ferry boats and a 1/2 mi.
long bridge with drawbridges closed at night.
o “Hanging Gardens” with the water was raised from the river by hydraulic pumps.
o Eight massive gates that led to the inner city and 100 brass gates
o Streets were paved with stone slabs 3 feet square -The great Tower
(Ziggurat) and 53 temples including the "Great Temple of Marduk." 180 altars to Ishtar
Hanging Gardens of Semiramis - The majority of scholars agree that the idea of cultivating
gardens purely for pleasure, as opposed to the production of food, originated in the
Fertile Crescent, where they were known as a paradise.
a. High stone terraces which imitated mountains, and which were planted with many types
of large trees and owers. Terraces would not only have created a pleasant aesthetic e ect of
hanging vegetation but also made their irrigation easier.
b. The gardens were established, to make a wife of the Babylonian king, a Mede called
Amytis, feel less homesick for her green and hilly homeland. Alas, there is no reference to a
queen of that name in Babylonian records.
2. Walls of Babylonia - King Nebuchadnezzar II. He built three walls around Babylon
at heights of forty feet and so broad at the top that chariots could race around
them. The Ishtar Gate in the wall of Nebuchadnezzar II’s Babylon was claimed by
some to be greater than any of the listed Wonders of the Ancient World.
Ishtar Gate – eighth gate to inner city of Babylon. Dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
She was known as the "Queen of Heaven" and was the patron goddess of the Eanna
temple at the city of Uruk.
4. Ziggurats – huge "stepped” structures with, on their summit, far above the ground, a
temple. The same could be done on ground level but on top of the ziggurat they would be
"nearer the god". Therefore, the ziggurat was not just a religious center but also a center of
civic pride. In the time of Hammurabi, they would sometimes reach the height of 150
feet. Around the base, accommodation for priests.
5. Houses and farms – made of sun-dried bricks.
a. The ground oor consisted of a reception room, kitchen, lavatory, servants' quarters, and,
sometimes, even a private chapel.
b. Household vessels were made of clay, stone, copper, and bronze, and baskets and chests
of reed and wood.
c. Floors and walls were adorned with reed mats, skin rugs, and woolen hangings. Below the
house was often located a mausoleum in which the family dead were buried.

HITTITE ARCHITECTURE 1600 BCE – 1180 BCE

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 • They lived in a barren, mostly rocky landscape and somehow were able to make the most of
an inhospitable territory to rise to power.
• Because they lived in a rocky land dotted with limestone cli s, they had plentiful natural
resources for building. Much of what remains from their structures are of heavy stone
construction. Double wall forti cations, some with tunnels.
• Some walls had large, arched gateways with massive entrance sculptures of lions and
sphinxes.
• Cyclopean masonry – structures built with large stones of many di erent sizes but not
held together with a binder.
• Forms
o Huge boulders in construction
o Large forti cation
o Guardian lions
1. Hattusha – a type of palace built by Hittites. People approached the hall by climbing a
staircase lined with pillars. They also built massive temple structures with multiple storage
spaces, central courtyards, and surrounding rows of columns. Four large temples were built at
Hattusa, only one of which has ever been excavated.

ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE 1350 BCE – 612 BCE

• As a result of these erce and successful military campaigns, the Assyrians acquired massive
resources from all over the Near East which made the Assyrian kings very rich. The palaces
were on an entirely new scale of size and glamor; one contemporary text describes the
inauguration of the palace of Kalhu, built by Assurnasirpal II (who reigned in the early 9th
century).
• Some of this wealth was spent on the construction of several gigantic and luxurious palaces
spread throughout the region. The interior public reception rooms of Assyrian palaces were
lined with large scale carved limestone reliefs which o er beautiful and terrifying images of the
power and wealth of the Assyrian kings and some of the most beautiful and captivating images
in all of ancient Near Eastern art.
• 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 re ected in their art
• They produced violent sculptures and relief carving in stone that was used to
ornament their houses
• 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 anked by
guardian gures 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.
• Lammassu – Protective spirit or deity, a winged bull with a male face. Assyrian sculpture
typically placed prominent pairs of lamassu at entrances in palaces, facing the street and also
internal courtyards
1. City of Khorsabad – designed as royal capital of Assyria. Built on at land with an area of
about a square mile and was enclosed by a double wall with seven city gates.
2. Palace of Sargon – approached at ground level through a walled citadel. All the buildings
within the citadel were arranged around 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.

PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE 539 BCE – 330 BCE

• the Persians (also called the Achaemenids) created an enormous empire reaching from
the Indus Valley to Northern Greece and from Central Asia to Egypt.
• rst empire known to have acknowledged the di erent faiths, languages and political
organizations of its subjects.
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 • Their materials of construction were also from di erent locations
• Material included mudbrick 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 di erent areas, their architecture was
original and distinctive in style.
• Built by Darius I and Xerxes I and destroyed by Alexander the Great.
1. The Apadana – Persepolis included a massive columned hall for receptions by
the king, called the Apadana.
a. The walls of the spaces and stairs leading up to the reception hall were carved with
hundreds of gures, several of which illustrated subject peoples of various ethnicities, bringing
tribute to the Persian king

2. Palace at Persepolis - Persian architecture achieved its greatest monumentality at

Persepolis. It was constructed as a new capital for the Persian Empire. The city was started
510 BC and nished 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 forti cation wall. The site was more than
half covered by buildings.
a. Another famous aspect of the palace at Persepolis was the throne room. This was also
known as hall of 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
b. The palace consisted of three parts:
i. An approach of monumental staircases, gate ways and avenues
ii. Two great state halls towards the center of the platform
iii. The palace of Xerxes, the palace of Darius, and other living quarters
c. The monumental entrance to Persepolis is also one of the unique aspects of the Palace. The
monumental gateway ensures a dramatic entry to the Palace. It was heavily adorned with relief
sculpture ornamenting its stairway

PARTHIAN ARCHITECTURE 247 BCE – 224 AD

• After the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), there was turmoil in Iran until the rise of the
Parthians (c.250 BC). Theirs is essentially a crude art, synthesizing Hellenistic motifs with
Iranian forms.
• Buildings of dressed stone and rubble and brick were decorated with sculpted heads and
mural paintings. The larger-thanlife-size bronze statue from Shami of a ruler is the most
outstanding remaining Parthian monument.
• The remains of the architectural style of this period are not abundant, and although much was
borrowed and incorporated from Greek designs and methods, architects and builders of this
age employed many innovative concepts of their own as well.

BUILDINGS AND OTHER ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE ANCIENT NEAR

EAST
• Temples
o Temples and palaces were the most outstanding buildings types in Ancient
Near East
o Temples started during the Sumerian period and were also common during the Babylonian
period.
o The Sumerian temples were raised on Ziggurats, while the character of the
Babylonian temples is not certain because there is no trace of them.
o The Sumerian temples had chief temples located outside the city and the city temple
located within the fabric of the city.
• Palaces
o Neo-Babylonians also built great palaces. The legendary palace of Nebuchadnezzar
with its hanging garden is widely reported in history.
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 o The Palaces at Khorsabad and Persepolis shows the rise of the palace as the focus of
architectural development over the temple
• Houses
o Development in house organization and city forti cations
o Houses formed the dominant buildings of the city with narrow passages to distribute
people
• Forti cations
o The walls were of massive brick material, with evenly distributed towers serving as
buttresses.
o Examples of city wall or forti cation examined include City of Khorsabad
and Babylon
o The chief’s house at precinct of the Great Ziggurat and the Palace at
Persepolis were also forti ed with
o brick walls.
o Vaulting was known and used during the Mesopotamian period
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