Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology

The world’s first civilizations all began in river valleys

 Good farming conditions
 Provided fish and
freshwater
 Easy to travel
 Easy to trade (way
goods and ideas
moved from place
to place)

To the north and west,

Mesopotamia it fades into the plains
of Syria
Civilization
The Tigris and
Euphrates rivers sit in
the land as dominant
physical feature

To the south and west,

it fades into the
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Arabian desert
  Probably settled before 5000 B.C.

 Lasted for approximately 3000 years

 The Mesopotamian plain – mainly alluvial

Clay – abundantly and cheaply available
building materials.
Brick manufacture – sun dried or Kiln burnt

 The district was named as

Mesopotomia (Messos = middle, potamos =
river)
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology
 SEQUENCE OF CIVILIZATION….

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Priests SUMERIAN CULTURE, PEAKING IN 3300 BC 4500-2000 BC

AKKADIAN PERIOD 2350 - 2200 BC

Kings and
Nobility BABYLONIAN CULTURE
(Combination of Sumerian and Akkadia)
2000- 1600 BC

Scribes
ASSYRIAN CULTURE 1350 - 612 BC

Craftsmen and PERSIAN CULTURE 539 - 330 BC

Peasants

Slaves
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology
Limited
No natural
Unpredictable
natural resources,
barriers
flooding protection…City
especially
forLacked
during building
periods
building ofwallmaterials
little
materialsbuilt
rainwalls
/ dry around
summercities
months
‐ stone,
Dug irrigation ditches… brought water to fields
wood, metal

Used Mud bricks

Trade
Traded with people around them for the
products they lacked
Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology
 Polytheistic religion. Deities were in human forms and represent some natural
phenomenon.
 Gods were worshipped at huge temples called ZIGGURATS.
CELLA • Believed to be homes for gods and goddesses.
• Priests were permitted inside the ziggurat
• It was their duty to care for the gods and attend
to their needs.
From about 3000 B.C. many cities grew up in Sumer such as:
 Ur
 Uruk
 Eridu
 Mari
The Sumerians became powerful GOVERNMET
under ruler Ur- Nammu who
reigned from 2113-2046 B.C.PRIEST,SOLDIERS
He constructed the famous Ziggurat
MERCHANTSat Ur.
City of Ur was at its highest
CRAFTMAKERS, LABORERS
glory and capital of Sumer.

SLAVES

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology

 Mud was the main building material.
 Mud was formed into sun brick and built into massive walls
 Spaces were narrow because of the walling material.
 Façade of buildings were whitewashed and painted to hide the lack of
attraction of the material.
 Temples was their major building type.

Temples were the principal architectural
monuments of Sumerian cities..
Streets were fronted by
courtyard
Entire city was surrounded
by a canal
The houses are densely packed with
narrow streets between them.
Mixture of
•residences houses- 1 storey
•commercial and industrial buildings
The city was enclosed in
wall
The Great Ziggurat was located as part of a temple complex.

Complex comprised of:-

• Ziggurat and its court
• Secondary court attached to it and 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
staircase reaching first stage.
 The fourth staircase gave access to the
second and third stages of the ziggurat
and to the temple.
  Sargon, King of Akkad,
conquered the city-states
(2300 B.C.) and built an
empire.

 After his death, other invaders

swept into the wide valley
tumbling his empire into ruin.

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology

Babylonian civilization mainly developed in The fifth king of the first Dynasty was
the central southern region of the Hammurabi(1792-1750B.C.)
Mesopotamia. (Present day Iraq)
 The king build new walls to protect the city and new canals and dikes to improve
crops
Economy was based on agriculture and wool / cloth
Individuals could own land around cities
Grain used as the medium of exchange.

Hammurabi’s Legacy: Law code

To enforce his rule, Hammurabi collected all the laws of
Babylon in a code that would apply everywhere in the
land. Babylonians invented the idea of a circle
Code of 282 laws inscribed on a stone pillar placed in the
public hall for all to see containing 360 degrees and the hour
Hammurabi Code was an origin to the concept of “eye for containing sixty minutes.
an eye…”
Consequences for crimes depended on rank in society (ie.
only fines for nobility) Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology
  Located on the upper Tigris
 The cities of Assyria were Nineveh,
Dun, Khorsabad, Nimrud and Assur.
 During the Assyrian periods, temples
lost their importance to palaces
 Assyrian kings built walled cities, in
which palaces took precedent over
religious buildings

 The city of Khorsabad demonstrate

Assyrian architecture.

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology

Khorsabad was designed as the royal capital of Assyria
Built by Sargon II in 720 BCE
It illustrates the main characteristics of Assyrian
architecture and planning
At the centre of the city 25acre palace occupied a
plateau 55’ above the level of town

TEMPLE
STATE COURT
ENTRANCE COURT
RAMP
The city was built on a flat land and enclosed by a
double wall with seven city gates. The palace was
located on the north west side of the city
Govt. buildings in the palace area were bordered
by a sturby. Rising near the central axis was a 7
stage ziggurat. 143’ sq base
 In 539 B.C. Babylon fell to the Persian armies of Cyrus the Great.
 He had hundreds of miles of road built or repaired.
 He set up a common set of weights and measures and encouraged
the use of coins.

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology