Mesopotamian Architecture

Mesopotamian Architecture
• The story of Architecture begins with the story of
civilization.
• Latin: Civis= citizen or dweller of a city = a sense of
permanence is a prerequisite of civilization

• It is generally accepted that Mesopotamia is the cradle of

civilization; cradle and tomb of nations and empires
• Mesos= middle
• Patamos= river
• Mesos + Patamos = between the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates)
• Middle Eastern civilization
• Prehistory to the 6th century b.c.
 Mesopotamian Architecture
• Mesopotamia,
located in a region
that included parts
of what is now
eastern Syria,
south-eastern
Turkey, and most
of Iraq, lay between
two rivers, the
Tigris and the
Euphrates
 Mesopotamian Architecture
• most fertile land on earth; the ‘fertile crescent’
• network of irrigation channels
• Alluvial district of thick mud clay – mud brick
• Walls were faced with burnt bricks and glazed
bricks of different colors
• Stone was rare but imported – basalt, sandstone
• Metals – fine sculpture
 Mesopotamian Architecture
• Massive towered fortifications
• Earliest – temple (commercial and religious)
• Later - palace
• Temples – Babylonian architecture
• Palaces – Assyrian/ Persian
• Buildings raised on huge platforms due to torrential rain
and frequent flood
• Bitumen, pitch, mortar of calcareous earth (slime) - used as
cementing material
• Buildings of all types arranged round large and small
courts
• Rooms were narrow, long, rectangular form and thick
walled carrying brick barrel vaults or domes
 Mesopotamian Architecture
• Chief temples had sacred ziggurats (artificial mountains made of tiered
rectangular stages (1 to 7)
• Burnt bricks used for facings
• White washed walls
• Ziggurat – colour painted
• Arcuated architectural style (true arch with radiating voussoirs)
• Columns not used (lack of stone) except in Neo-Babylonian Period and
Assyrian
• Winged bulls guarding the main portals
 Mesopotamian Architecture
• Upto plinths – low relief carving
• Walls above – bands of continuous friezes
• Assyrians – facing of polychrome glazed bricks
• Persians – columnar style (columns and roof)
– Flat timber roofs
– No vaults
– Use of columns
– Double mud brick walls (stability)
– Stones plenty
– Stones used for palace platform, ornate columns, etc
Mesopotamian Architecture
• PROLITERATE PERIOD (3500-2900B.C)

• EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD (2900-2370B.C)

• AKKADIAN PERIOD (2370-2230B.C)

• NEO-SUMERIAN PERIOD (2230-2000B.C)

• OLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD (2000-1600B.C)

• KASSITE AND ELAMITE DYNASTY (1600-1000B.C)

• NEO-ASSYRIAN PERIOD (1000-612B.C)

• NEO-BABYLONIAN PERIOD (609-539B.C)

• PERSIAN (539-________B.C)
 Mesopotamian Architecture
• Building Types
• As with most early people religious buildings were of
great importance –Ziggurats, temples, etc
• Gloomy view of a future life gave no encouragement
to the building of elaborate tombs.
• Greater relative importance of the life on earth –
Palaces
• Constant exposure to invasion -Military
architecture
 Historical periods
Early civilization
flourished here:

1. Sumerian - Ur
of the Chaldees
BC 4000 –1275
 Historical periods
2. Babylonian

• 1st and 2nd cities

• 1st –Hammurabi
(1762 –1750)
• 2nd -
Nebuchadnezzar
(605 –562)
 Historical periods
• 3. Assyrian (1275 –
538)
• Cities include –
Nimrud, Khorsabad
and Nineveh
• Kings:
• Ashur-nasir-pal
(885-860)
• Sargon (722-705)
• SennaCherib (705-
681)
• Esharhaadon
• Asur-beni-pal
 Historical periods
• 4. Persian
Period (BC 538-
333)
• Susa, Perspolis,
• Cyrus, Darius,
Xerxes
• Alexander the
great – W. Asia
became a Greek
province
Early Mesopotamian (Sumerian)
Ziggurats
 Early Mesopotamian (Sumerian)
Ziggurats

• Temple tower
• Terraced pyramid with successive receding stories
• Sumerians, BabFacing – fired bricks
• ylonians, Assyrians
• Top of the ziggurat is flat
• Core – sun baked bricks
• Facing – glazed in different colours
 Early Mesopotamian (Sumerian)
Ziggurats

• 1-7 tiers • No internal chambers

• Shrine or temple at the Not for public worship
summit or ceremonies
• Access to the shrine • Only for priests
– Series of ramps on • Dwelling place for
one side of the gods
ziggurat • 32 ziggurats
– Spiral ramp • Centre of villages
• Ziggurat of Urnammu,
Ur
 Early Mesopotamian (Sumerian)
Ziggurats

• 3 temples
• Secondary court
• Heart of an oval shaped city
• 20 ft above
• Ziggurat (205x141ft) base
• 70’ above - the temple
• 8’ thick skin of burnt brick and bitumen
Assyrian Architecture
Assyrian
• Polychrome
ornamental
glazed brickwork
• Use of high
plinths carved
with low relief
sculpture
• Temples with and
without ziggurats
• Palaces –
numerous
• City of Nimrud
• City of
Khorsabad
• City of Nineveh
 Assyrian – City of Khorsabad
• Khorsabad (BC 722 –705)
• Excavated in AD 864 –
provides the best idea of
Assyrian Palaces
• Built by Sargon II
• Square planned with a
defensive perimeter
• 1 sq. mile
• Palace for the king’s brother,
temple, official buildings,
Palace of Sargon
 Assyrian – City of Khorsabad – Palace of
Sargon
• Complex of large and
small courts
• Corridors and rooms
• 23 acres
• Raised upon a terrace
– 15m high
• a platform of sun dried
brick faced with stone
• 700 rooms (300 x 400
m)
• Approached by broad
ramps
 Assyrian – City of Khorsabad – Palace of
Sargon
• Main entrance to • This bull supports
the palace grand a semicircular arch
court flanked by • Decorated with
great towers and brilliantly coloured
guarded by man glazed bricks
headed winged
bulls (12’6”high)
 Assyrian – City of Khorsabad – Palace of
Sargon
• Palaces had 3
main parts – each
abutting the grand
court
• Left – 6 temples (3
small and 3 big)
• Right – service
quarters and
administrative
houses
• Opposite – private
and the residential
apartments
 Assyrian – City of Khorsabad – Palace of
Sargon
• State chambers had
their own state court
• Around the state
court – dado slabs (7’
high) – reliefs of the
king and his courtiers
• lofty throne room
(outermost of the state
suite) had its own
internal court
• Flat timber ceiling for
the apartments
• Winding ramped
ziggurat associated
with palace temples
(148’ side)
Assyrian – City of Khorsabad – Palace of
Sargon
Babylonian Architecture
 Babylonian – City of Babylon

• Burnt brick
• Rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar (605-563 b.c)
• planned city
• Inner and outer part
• Inner town square in plan
• Euphrates forms the west side
• Streets intersected at right angles
• Houses, temples, chapels and shrines arranged
disorderly
 Babylonian – City of Babylon
• Stone defenses, navigable moats (deep wide ditches surrounding a palace)
• The principal sites lined the river front
• Processional way – to the north – Ishtar Gate
• Nebuchadnezzar’s Great Palace – Hanging Gardens
• Maze of rooms
• Vast throne hall
• Long façade – polychrome glazed bricks
• Ziggurat – the Tower of Babel
Babylonian – City of Babylon

• Six bridges
crossed the
moats to six
gates
 Babylonian – City of Babylon
• Ishtar Gate
• The Ishtar Gate was originally
part of the temple dedicated to
Bel, built in Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar in about 575
bc. The gate, which has been
completely restored, is faced
with glazed brick tiles
 Babylonian – City of Babylon

• The Hanging
Garden of Babylon
Persian Architecture
 Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• 518 b.c.
• By Darius I,
Xerxes I,
Artaxerxes I
• On a platform
faced with local
stone
 Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• 1500x900 ft
• Rising 50’ above the plain
• 22’ wide steps on the NW
side
• Shallow enough for the
horses to ascend
• Gate house of Xerxes had
mud brick walls faced with
polychrome bricks
• Front and rear portals
guarded by stone bulls
• 3rd doorway on the south
led towards the Apadana
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Apadana
• A grand audience hall
• On its own terrace 10’
high
• 250’ square
• With 36 columns
• 20’ thick walls
• Has 3 porticoes with
double colonnades
• Stairways on the north
and east sides
• Minor rooms on the
south side and in the
4 angle towers
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Apadana
• A grand audience hall
• On its own terrace 10’
high
• 250’ square
• With 36 columns
• 20’ thick walls
• Has 3 porticoes with
double colonnades
• Stairways on the north
and east sides
• Minor rooms on the
south side and in the
4 angle towers
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Palace of Darius
• Small
• Lay immediately south
of the Apadana
• Near the west terrace
wall
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Tripylon
• terraced
• Lay centrally among
the buildings
• Acts as a reception
chamber and guard
room for the more
private quarters of the
palace group
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Treasury
• SE angle of the site
• Double walled
administrative and
store house building
• With columned halls
of different sizes
• Only a single doorway
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Palace of Xerxes
and Harem
• Near the SW angle of
the site
• Connects with an L-
shaped building
(harem)
• Harem – Women’s
quarters
• Completed the court
south of the Tripylon
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis

• Hall of 100 columns

• Commenced by Xerxes
• Throne Hall
• 225’ square
• Columns 37’ high
• Flat cedar roof
• Double wall except on the
north side
• Portico faced a forecourt
• Own gate house
• Stout wall separated the
different courts
• Stone framed doors and
windows
• 11’ thick brick wall
Persian Architecture – Palace of Persepolis –
Hall of Hundred Columns