WEST ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE

2500 – 600 B.C

• The West Asiatic civilization mainly spread in the fertile lands of the two
long rivers Tigris and Euphrates which can together some 160 km from
their mouths depositing rich alluvial soil along lower plains. This district
was named as Mesopotamia its north part is known as Akkad and that of
south as Sumer. The rich alluvial lands of Mesopotamia stretched from the
Persian Gulf and known as ‘Fertile Crescent ‘ which formed the cradle of
civilisation.
 THE ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE OF WEST – ASIATIC DEVELOPED FROM 3000
B.C. TO 330 B.C. IN THE FOLLOWING PERIOD -

• Early Sumerian (3000 – 2000 B.C.)

• Old Babylonian ( 2016 – 1595 B.C.) – Neo Babylonian (626
-539 B.C.)
• Assyrian (1859 – 626 B.C)
• Persian (750 – 330 B.C)
SUMERIAN PERIOD
 INTRODUCTION

• THE SUMERIANS WERE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN MESOPOTAMIA (ANCIENT

IRAQ)
• THE LAND BETWEEN THE RIVERS TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES.
• GENTLY UNDULATING LAND AND LOW LYING HILLS.
• ABSENCE OF STONE, METALS AND TIMBER.
• MUD BRICKS IN DRY MASONRY REBUILDING OVER DEBRIS.
• AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOURAL TENDENCIES, THREAT OF ATTACKS,
EMERGENCE OF STRONG LEADERSHIP SKILLS.
• DISCOVERY OF SEALS AND OTHER OBJECTS INDICATES FAR REACHING
TRADING NETWORK
• IRRIGATION VIA DAMS TERRACING OF UNDULATING LAND FOR
CULTIVATION.
• THEIR ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE URBAN PLANNING, THE
COURTYARD HOUSE, AND ZIGGURAT STEP PYRAMIDS.
• THE SUMERIANS WERE AWARE OF 'THE CRAFT OF BUILDING'
• THEY THOUGHT CRAFT AS A DIVINE GIFT TO MEN BY THE GODS.
• ZIGGURATS WERE HUGE PYRAMIDAL TEMPLE TOWERS HAVING THE
FORM OF A TERRACED STEP PYRAMID OF SUCCESSIVELY RECEDING
STORIES OR LEVELS.
• THERE ARE 32 ZIGGURATS KNOWN. TWENTY-EIGHT OF THEM ARE IN
IRAQ, AND FOUR OF THEM ARE IN IRAN.
• NOTABLE ZIGGURATS INCLUDE THE GREAT ZIGGURAT OF UR NEAR
NASIRIYAH, IRAQ, THE ZIGGURAT OF AQAR QUF NEAR BAGHDAD, IRAQ,
CHOGHA ZANBIL IN KHŪZESTĀN, IRAN.
• SUMERIAN ARCHITECTURE BECAME AS FOUNDATION FOR THE
BABYLONIAN, PERSIAN, ISLAMIC, HURRIAN, UGARITIC, ASSYRIAN, AND
TO A CERTAIN EXTENT WESTERN ARCHITECTURES.
 SCULPTURAL IMAGES ARE MORE FORMALLY
THIS SMALL OBJECT 5
ABSTRACT THAN THE EWE, THEIR UPPER AND
½” X 6 ¼”, MADE OUT LOWER TORSOS WEDGE SHAPED, LIKE THE
OF SOFT STONE, IS THE CHARACTERS OF SUMERIAN CUNEIFORM WRITING,
HEAD OF A EWE OR
FEMALE SHEEP CARVED
AND THEIR MOST STRIKING FEATURES ARE
BY A SUMERIAN EXTREMELY PROMINENT EYES AND RITUALLY
SCULPTOR, PERHAPS IN FOLDED, ALMOST WRINDING HANDS, SEEMILGLY
URUK, MORE THAN 5000
YEARS AGO WHEN SUCH
EXPRESSIVE OF A CERTAIN ANXIETY.
ANIMALS WERE
ESSENTIAL TO HUMAN
SURVIVAL. THE SUMERIANS STRUGGLED WITH A HOST OF
INSECURITIES IN A LAND WHERE NATURE,
WE NEED TO IMAGINE
THE ENTIRE FIGURE, ITS PARTICULARLY THE WEATHER, VACILATED WILDLY
BODY INTACT, AND SO BETWEEN BENEVOLENCE AND MALEVOLENCE. SUMERIAN STATUETTE,
STANDING 2 TO 3 ‘ HIGH TELL ASMAR 2900 – 2600
AND HAVING ABOUT BCE
THE SAME LENGTH.

IT IS NOW IN A MUSEUM MADE OF GYPSUM INLAID

IN TEXAS. WITH SHELL & BLACK
LIMESTONE
 THE WHITE TEMPLE AT URUK IS
AS MOST SUMERIAN BUILT ON A 40’ HIGH BASE OF
BUILDINGS WERE MADE OF RUBBLE FROM EARLIER
SUN DRIED MUD BRICK, MUCH BUILDINGS. IT HAS A PROTECTIVE
OF SUMERIAN ARCHITECTURE COAT OF WHITEWASH OVER THE
IS KNOWN BY ITS SLOPING EARTH WALLS COVERED
FOUNDATIONS & LOWER WITH SUN DRIED BRICK.
SECTIONS OF WALLS.
WHITE TEMPLE AT URUK,
ROOFS WERE FABRICATED
MESOPOTAMIA 3500 – 3000 BCE
FROM LIGHT WEIGHT
WOODEN MEMBERS OR REED
BUNDLES THAT SPANNED
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ACROPOLIS, LIMITED DISTANCES, SO THERE
TEPE GAWRA, SUMER 3800 BCE WERE NO LARGE INTERIOR
SPACES.
URBAN COMMUNITIES DEVELOPED AROUND
RELIGIOUS SHRINE, THE DWELLING PLACES OF THE IN BOTH SUMERIAN & LATER
GODS AND THE REPOSITORIES OF SURPLUS FOOD MESOPOTAMIAN
STORES, LEADING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE, IMPORTANT
MONUMENTAL TEMPLE COMPLEXES AT THE HEARD OF BUILDINGS WERE GIVEN
SUMERIAN CITIES. ADDITIONAL DURABILITY BY
HAVING WEATHER RESISTANT
ERIDU WAS THEIR OLDEST CITY – ITS ORIGINAL CASINGS FORE THE MUD
MODEST SHRINE WAS SUCCESSIVELY ENLARGED TILL BRICKS, AND WERE RAISED ON
ABOUT 3800 BCE. ARTIFICIAL PLATFORMS
IMPARTING THEM GREATER
TEPE GAWRA, ~500 MILES TO ITS NORTH, FEATURED DIGNITY.
AN ACROPOLIS WITH 2 TEMPLES, A SHRINE &
DWELLING HOUSES. ITS MAJOR BUILDINGD FORMRD
A ‘U’ SHAPED OPEN COURT, THEIR FASCADES
ARTICULATED BY BUTTRESSING PILASTERS THAT
STRENGTHENED THE MUD BRICK WALLS.
• UR – IT WAS THE IMPORTANT SUMERIAN CITY STATE LOCATED NEAR
THE MODERN TOWN OF NASIRIYA IN SOUTHERN IRAQ.
• IT STOOD ON AN OPEN PLAIN AND MADE UP OF IMMENSE BRICK WALLS.
• ONE STRAIGHT STREET AND BOTH SIDES 3- 4 STOREY HOUSES. EACH
STREET RAN TO THE RIVER.
 PLAN OF THE
WALLED CITY OF UR, RESIDENTIAL
MESOPOTAMIA QUARTERS
2100 BCE

THE HOUSES OF THE ORDINARY POPULATION WERE SET IN DENSLY PACKED

NEIGHBOURHOODS. PLANS WERE ROUGHLY ORTHOGONAL, AND HOUSES WERE
CONSTRUCTED AROUND OPEN COURTYARDS THAT PROVIDED LIGHT AND VENTILATION. THE
HOUSES PRESENTED A BLANK WALL TO THE STREET, THEREBY MAINTAINING PRIVACY.
 Shorter flights led to the 2nd and
3rd terraces, to which only his
priests were allowed to ascend.
Original ht ~ 70’
Base = 200’ x 150’
3 LONG STAIRWARS CONVERGED AT THE TOWER
GATE AT THE LEVEL OF THE FIRST PLATFORM
ZIGGURAT AT UR (RECONSTRUCTED) 2100 BCE
IT IS ONE OF THE BEST PRESERVED ZIGGURATS.
THE POPULATION FLOW COULD OBSERVE THE PRIESTLY
PROCESSIONS UP THE SUCCESSIVE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS TO THE
TEMPLE ON THE UPPER MOST PLATFORM
MAIN FEATURE: LEVELS, PILASTERS & PARAPETS.
IT’S CORE IS SUN DRIED BRICK, OVERLAID WITH AN OUTER
LAYER OF KILN FIRED BRICK AND BITUMEN , AS PROTECTION
AGAINST WEATHER. (SOMETIMES BITUMEN, REED MATTING
OR ROPE WAS USED FOR BONDING THE MUD BRICKS.
FROM A RECTANGULAR BASE THE ZIGGURAT ROSE WITH
BATTERED OR INWARD SLOPING WALLS IN A SERIES OF
STEPPED PLATFORMS, CULMINATING A HIGH TEMPLE AT THE
TOP.
A FLIGHT OF STEPS SET IN THE CENTER OF ONE SIDE
AFFORDED ACCESS TO THE TEMPLE.
• ASSYRIAN
ARCHITECTURE
 IN 1830 BCE, THE VIGOROUS INDO-EUROPEAN HITUTES
OVERRAN BABYLON AND TOOK OVER NORTHERN
MESOPOTAMIA. FARTHER SOUTH, THE SEMITIC SPEAKING
ASSYRIANS TOOK CONTROL AND ESTABLISHED CAPITALS.
STRONGLY FORTIFIED CITADELS BUILT FOR EACH CAPITAL
REFLECT THE ASSYRIANS’ RELENTLESS WARRING AS WELL AS
THE RUTHLESS CHARACTER OF THEIR KINGS.

THRONE ROOM
ZIGGURAT
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PALACE TEMPLE STATE COURT
KHORSABAD BUILDINGS

FORTIFIED WALLS ENCLOSE THE PALACE. THE

ROYAL AUDIENCE HALL WAS REACHED
ENTRANCE COURT
THROUGH A SEQUENCE OF COURTYARDS AND
SMALLER CHAMBERS.

THE CEREMONIAL ROUTE LEADING FROM THE

SOUTHEAST ENTRY TO THE THRONE ROOM IS
CIRCUITOUS INVOLVING 3 CHANGES IN
DIRECTION.

THE STEPPED ZIGGUARAT IS A SMALLER PLAN OF THE PALACE, KHORSABAD,

VERSION OF THOSE FOUND IN MESOPOTAMIA
ASSYRIA (IRAQ) 720 BCE
 Proto-Ionic Column

Proto-Ionic Capital from Assyrian Sculpture

Proto-Corinthian Capital from Assyrian

Sculpture.
PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE
PRESIPOLIS
AMONG THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT REMAINS AT
PERSEPOLIS ARE:
•THE GATE OF ALL NATIONS
•APADANA PALACE
•THE THRONE HALL
•PALACE OF DARIUS
•PALACE OF XERXES

PLAN OF THE PALACE AT PRESEPOLIS,

PERSIA (IRAN) 518 BCE

THIS GREAT COMPLEX WAS CREATED

BY AT LEAST 3 PERSIAN MONARCHS AS
ONE OF THE CAPITALS OF THE PERSIAN
EMPIRE. ITS RUINS REVEAL
ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCES FROM
OTHER CULTURES IN MESOPOTAMIA,
NOBLY THE HITTITES AND ASSYRIANS,
AS WELL AS THE EGYPTIANS.
Column from Persepolis, Column from Persepolis,
East and West Porticoes North Portico
 BABYLONIAN
ARCHITECTURE
 At the beginning of 19th century B.C. Amorites a nomadic tribe from Syrian desert
founded their first Dynasty in Babylon – ‘gateway of the God’ (old Babila), ‘bab’
meaning ‘gate’ and ‘ili’ of the god.

The city had a circumference of at least 18 km . It was surrounded by a canal acting as

a moat . It was also protected by huge rampart walls which were more than 86 km in
length and provided with hundred bronze gateways.
Each eight gateways was protected by different gods, the main palace and
gate were dedicated to Ishtar, the goddess of Love and Battle.
There were ‘Hanging
Gardens’ (600 B.C.) built
by King Nebuchadnezzar.
His wife was home sick
for the hills and
woodlands of her native
country. They occupied
an area of 275 m x 183m
and situated near the
Euphrates river, in the
great palace of
Nebuchadnezzar.
The terrace gardens
plated with flowers
and trees with the
beautiful fountains
were 25m to 100m
above the ground .
Water stored in the
reservoir on the top
and supplied through
pipes .

The Greeks described them as one of the seven wonders of the

ancient world.
• WRITE SHORT NOTE ON :-

• Ziggurats ( with sketches)

• Hanging garden of Babylonian ( with sketches)
• Planning of palace of khorsahbad ( with sketches)