West Asiatic Architecture

THE ARCHITECTURE OF MESOPOTAMIA

The important centers of early civilization arose in the great fertile river valleys and deltas of the Euphrates and Tigris in Mesopotamia and the river Nile in Egypt

GEOGRAPHIC AND CLIMATE CONDITIONS of Mesopotamia

the climate was more hostile, and the valley was more open and unprotected

Meaning of Mesopotamia

Mesos = middle + potamus = river

The predominant building of sumerians

Temples

The principal building materials

Mud bricks and fired bricks

In painting and sculpture what are the earliest representations of Mesopotamia

Religious

HUMAN CONDITION on ARCHITECTURE OF SUMERIANS

an agricultural people who learned how to control floods and built strong-walled towns, such as URUK

RELIGION OF SUMERIANS

-They worshipped nature gods:
- Anu , the god of the sky;
-Enlil, the creator and ruler of the earth;
-Ea, the lord of the waters, a moon and a sun god, a goddess of love and fertility.

Religion

determined the form of society

Theocratic Socialism

Mesopotamian city-state was under the protection of the god of the city.

The socio-political system that grew out of this has been termed

Ziggurat

The typical building of the Sumerians

THE “WHITE TEMPLE: ON ITS ZIGGURAT, AT URUK, (3500-3000 B.C)

-dedicated to the sky god Anu
-Mound was oriented where corners pointed towards the four directions of the compass.
-typical building of the Sumerians
-Standing 12m above the level of the surrounding plain
-Sumerian name for such temples means “waiting room”

POINT

The principal element of form for the Ziggurats

The principal element of form for the Ziggurats is the point and not the straight line

-Centralized arrangement , square in plan
-More emphasis on vertical axis

ZIGGURAT AT UR, IRAQ, (c. 2100 B.C.)

The plan of Sumerian city reflected the centrality of the god in its life

ZIGGURAT

-artificial mountains temple raising from 3-7 stories high, diminishing in an area often in height, built of mud-brick and faced with baked brick

Characteristic of The Ziggurat at Ur, built between 2200-2100 B.C

-made of sun-brick, faced with baked brick laid in bitumen on a massive base 15m high,
-stood two successively smaller stages
-Three ramp-like stairways of 100 steps each converged toward a tower-flanked gateway
- processional road
-The “bent-axis” approach is in contrast to the straight-axis approach of Egyptian temples.

THE ARCHITECTURAL MEANING OF THE ZIGGURAT

The centralized arrangement coupled with the vertical axis conveys :
-a sense of stability and order
- identification of the individual with the city-state.
- The climax of the temple on top of the Ziggurat represents the god-centered structure of the society and conveys the dependence on God

HISTORICAL CONDITION OF THE ASSYRIANS

-people of Northern Mesopotamia were frustrated in their drive for power by the
kingdoms of the south: Sumer, Akkad and Babylonia.
-Their power was felt in Mesopotamia for the next centuries c. 1000-600 B.C.

SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE ASSYRIANS

Assyrians were a military people, whose atrocities in warfare were bitterly decried throughout the ancient world.

CULTURAL CONDITION OF THE ASSYRIANS

-They held the Babylonians and Sumerians of the south under domination. They respected the religion and the culture of Sumer-Babylon and were dependent on its advanced civilization.

THE CITADEL OF SARGON II AT KHORSABAD, c.720 B.C.

-The palace covered some 25 acres and had over 200 courtyards and rooms.

- Stood on the mound 15m above the city of one square mile.

-Behind the squarish main courtyard (28 sq.m. ) were residential quarters of the king, including a long, high, and brilliantly painted throne room which the king received foreign emissaries
- Visitors entered from the state court through the central entrance between huge
guardians demons (4m height)
- In addition to the complex of courtyards, throne room, state chambers, harem, service quarters and guard rooms there was the temple and the Ziggurat

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ZIGGURAT IN THE CITADEL OF SARGON II

Seven stages, four have been preserved
-Each stage was 5.50m high, painted in a different color
-Continuous ramp spiraling around structure
-Palace façade consisted of a massive crenelated wall broken by the huge rectangular towers flanking an arched doorway
-Around arch and on towers were friezes of glazed tiles
-Doorway was guarded by colossal winged bulls with human heads

Design and layout of the CITADEL OF SARGON II

-walled city of Khorsabad
- walled –in precinct contains administrative buildings, barracks and warehouses
-On a platform within this precinct rose the palace prope

ARCHITECTURAL FORM OF SARGON’S PALACE

-Multi-centered arrangement – layout consists of several nuclei or points made up of voids
or solids.
-The voids are represented by open courts, the solid, e.g. the Ziggurat with its temple
-Three major centers: the two larger courts and the Ziggurat.

ARCHITECTURAL MEANING OF SARGON’S PALACE

-he king stood midway between the gods and his subjects
-impressed visitor, shows his own smallness and insignificance in comparison with the
awesome power of the king

Babylonian Hanging Gardens

Series of four brick terraces rising above the Euphrates, whose
waters were piped up to irrigate a splendid profusion of flowering trees, shrubs, and herbs.

Nebuchadnezzar II

-added a splendid palace with a Ziggurat- the biblical tower of Babel –and built eight monumental arched gates in the fortified city walls.

Ishtar Gate

-One gate, connected with the inner city by a processional road, lined with 60 stately figures of lions done in brightly –colored bricks, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar faced with glazed brick
- two figures in profile, the dragon of Marduk alternating with the bull of Adad
-characteristic of Mesopotamian formality
- Babylonian glazes are opaque and hard

HISTORICAL CONDITION OF THE PERSIANS

-they had taken Babylon in 539 B.C. under Cyrus,
-480 B.C. It extended from Indus to the Danube
-It was overthrown by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.

SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE PERSIANS

-Starting as an obscure tribe of nomads, they not only mastered imperial administration but also evolved a monumental art of remarkable originality

RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE PERSIANS

-Retained their own religious beliefs derived from the prophecies of Zoroaster, a faith that was based on the dualism of good and evil.
-The cult centered on fire altars in the open air.
-developed no monumental religious architecture

THE ROYAL PALACE AT PERSOPOLIS, 520-460 B.C

-Built by Darius I and Xerxes I finished by Artaxerxes I
-The palace and the audience hall of Darius, called “Apadana”, with 3 porticos located in the west
-Xerxes built his palace towards the south-west and connected it with an L-shaped building, called “Harem” with his throne hall of 100 columns
-The tri pylon lay centrally among the buildings and acted as a reception chamber and guard room for the more private quarters of the palace group
-The audience hall of Darius (76m sq.) had a wooden ceiling supported by 36 columns 12.20m tall, a few of which are standing

Assyrian influence on the royal palace at Persopolis

-Vast number of columns , halls and courts assembled on a raised platform

Egyptian influence on the royal palace at Persopolis

-Massing of columns in almost all the halls and rooms
-Ornamental detail of the bases and capitals of the columns

Ionian Greek Architecture influence on the royal palace at Persopolis

-Fluted shaft

Shaft

– portion of a column , colonette or pilaster between base and capital

Entirely Persia is the

-“cradle” for the ceiling beams composed of the front part of two bulls or similar creatures
-The double stairway leading up to the Audience Hall of Darius is decorated with long rows of solemnly marching figures in relief
-repetitive ceremonial character

Columnar and Trabeated system

an architectural character from which a system of building construction using the weight over an opening

Flat timber roofs

an architectural character where rather than vaults serve as for covering, roofs were generally flat outside except where domes protruded

System of construction

an architectural character where they were generally arcuated

Architectural character of Temples

they were typically Babylonian architecture (use of bricks)

The architectural character of Buildings of all types

were arranged around large and small courts, the rooms are narrow and thick walled, carrying brick barrel vaults and domes

Architectural character of ceilings

wooden bracket and beams supported a covering of clay on a bedding of reeds on logs or planks

Purpose of Usage of Double mudbrick walls

Stability

Architectural Character of walls

were of burnt bricks and were whitewashed often painted in color

Use of Stones

were used as temple platforms also for richly ornate columns and relief sculpture

Lamassu

-guarded the royal gates from the intrusion of evil, with the fierceness of a lion, the far-sightedness of an eagle, the strength of a bull and a wisdom and intelligence of a human.

Megaron

-entrance at the end rather in the long sides suited to the climate of the Anatolian plateau, a principal form of an Anatolian house

Antae

-refers to those vertical, rectangular architectural supports which extend from the end of a wall, usually at the entrance or doorway of a building.

PERSOPOLIS

-stands at an altitude of 1800m (6000ft), may account for frequency of light, columned halls and porticoes in Persian royal buildings

PORTICO

-colonnaded space forming an entrance or vestibule, with a roof supported on at least one side by a column

CITADEL

-a fortress or castle in or near a city, intended to keep the subject subjugated or in case of a siege to supply final refuge

Apadana

palace and audience hall of Darius with 3 porticos located in the west