04 AMACE HOA1 | 04 ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Mesopotamia

Fertile plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from Greek words mesos (middle) and potamos (river); part of the Fertile Crescent known as the cradle of civilization

Modern-day locations of Mesopotamia

Iraq Kuwait Turkey and Syria

Ancient Near East Cultures

Sumerian Akkadian Babylonian Assyrian and Persian

Mesopotamian Construction System

Arcuated system using mud bricks for temples and palaces built on artificial platforms

Persian Construction System

Columnar system featuring palaces on lofty platforms and large columnar halls

Babylonian and Assyrian Building Characteristics

Chief temples had sacred ziggurats (temple towers or sacred mountains)

Persian Building Characteristics

Light and airy magnificence with large columnar halls

Mesopotamian Wall Finish

Whitewashed and painted in color with burnt bricks as accents

Persian Wall Finish

Double mud brick walls with glazed brick reliefs

Mesopotamian Roof Type

Usually flat roofs

Persian Roof Type

Flat timber roofs

Persian Columns

Columns featured double bull or double unicorn capitals

Assyrian and Babylonian Wall Openings

No windows

Persian Wall Openings

Small windows with horizontal lintels

Assyrian Ornaments

Colossal winged bulls and polychrome glazed bricks

Persian Ornaments

Chiseled alabaster and glazed brick reliefs

Mesopotamian Brick Types

Sun-dried (for ordinary finish) Kiln-dried (for facing important buildings) and Colored glazed (for decorative purposes)

Sumerian Belief System

Did not believe in eternal life; believed only gods were immortal and standing votive figures represented attentive prayer

Cuneiform

Earliest known form of written expression developed by the Sumerians using clay tablets

Ziggurat

Terraced pyramid with a temple at the summit believed to connect heaven and earth and reach closer to the sky

Cella

The central hall of a ziggurat temple serving as a meeting place for priests and gods (referred to as a waiting room)

Types of Ziggurats

One-stage and Multi-stage

White Temple Uruk

Earliest development of a one-step ziggurat dedicated to God Anu; source of the name Iraq

Temple Oval Khafaje

An example of a city temple enclosed by walls with a foundation purified by digging down to virgin soil and filling with clean sand

Palace of Sargon Khorsabad

Built by King Sargon II arranged around a courtyard decorated with relief sculptures and glazed bricks

Lamassu

Assyrian protective deity depicted with a human head an ox or lion body and bird wings guarding gates like at Sargon's Palace

King Hammurabi

First king of Babylon who recorded the Code of Hammurabi consisting of 282 laws engraved in stone and placed in public

King Nebuchadnezzar II (650 B.C.)

Greatest king of ancient Babylon during whose reign Babylon became the largest city in the world

City of Babylon (Gate of God)

Largest city in ancient Mesopotamia from 1770-1670 BC largely created by Nebuchadnezzar II and famous in the Bible

Hanging Gardens of Babylon (600 B.C.)

One of the seven wonders of the ancient world built on roofs and terraces by Nebuchadnezzar II for his homesick wife Amytis of Media

Amytis of Media

Homesick wife of Nebuchadnezzar II for whom the Hanging Gardens were constructed

Ishtar Gate

8th gate of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar II dedicated to Ishtar made of blue glazed tiles with bas-reliefs of dragons and lions leading to the Processional Way

Processional Way

A path over half a mile long through the Ishtar Gate leading to the Temple of 8th gate of Babylon

Temple of Marduk

Center of the Babylonian state cult featuring heavy clay bastions square towers and crenellated terraces; chief temples were Esagila and Etemenanki

Tower of Babel

Biblical ziggurat intended to reach heaven interrupted when God caused a confusion of languages

Cyrus the Great

Father of the Iranian Nation who established the Persian Empire in the 6th century B.C. as the most powerful state in the world

Darius I

Son of Cyrus the Great who ruled Persia from 522-486 B.C. and built the new capital of Persepolis

Xerxes I

Son of Darius I (ruled 486 B.C.) known for invading Greece; built the Gate of All Nations and began the Hall of the Hundred Columns

The Palace of Persepolis

City of the Persians begun by Darius I as an international architectural showcase; designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979

Gate of All Nations

Entrance structure at Persepolis built by Xerxes I with his name carved in three languages

The Apadana

Grand Audience Hall at Persepolis built by Darius I

Tachara Palace

Smallest palace building at Persepolis built by Darius and Xerxes using black polished stone frames that survived disintegration

Hadish Palace

Palace of Xerxes at Persepolis

Tombs of Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III

Royal Persian tombs located at Persepolis

Tripylon

Reception chamber and guard room at Persepolis

The Treasury

Armory and storehouse at Persepolis built by Darius

The Throne Hall / Hall of the Hundred Columns

Begun by Xerxes I and finished by Artaxerxes I for receiving nobles; columns feature double unicorn and double bull capitals

Artaxerxes I

Persian king who completed the Hall of the Hundred Columns

Arch of Ctesiphon (Taq Kasra) Iraq

Built during the Achaemenid/Sasanian era featuring the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in the world