Lecture vii ancient civilization

Ar. Hena Tiwari/GCAD, Sonipat
ANCIENT CIVILIZATION

WEST ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE
Introduction
 Mesopotamian civilization was mainly spread in the
fertile land of two rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
 The north part was called as Akkad and the south
part was called as Sumer.
 The word Mesopotamian has come from the Egyptian
word Meso which means in the middle of and
potamos which means river.
So therefore Mesopotamian means in the middle of two
rivers.

The area lacked the boundaries.
This plain had alluvial soil mainly thus building
material which was available was clay from which bricks
were manufactured.
 Bricks were either sun dried or kiln burnt depending
upon the type of the work.
Lime mortar and bitumen were also used.
Climate was extreme severe in hot summers and to
protect from it columned halls and porticos were used.
High platform was provided for the buildings to protect
them from floods.

It was a religion dominated society where priests had
immense powers.
Gods were thought to resides in heights and to
approach them temples were built on elevated
platforms usually provided with holy mountains
ziggurats which had a temple on the top.
Each city had at least one ziggurat.
The civilization is supposed to have some thirty
ziggurats.
Public ceremonies took place in open courtyards.

Homes for poor were simple
Flooring consisted of paved brick or mud plaster.
Riches had two storied house with bed rooms,
kitchen, store room, servant’s quarter etc.
Prisoners of wars were kept as slaves.
Parents used to sold their sons to pay of debts.
Auctions of women were held every year.

Historical conditions
Sumerians:
They became powerful under the third dynasty
rullers Ur Nammu who constructed the famous city
of Ur. They ruled from 3000-2000 B.C.

Babylonian:
They were the nomads who developed in the central
region of Mesopotamia.
Babylon literary means gate of the great God (Bab:
Gate , ili: God).
The 5th king of the community Hammurabi was the
most cruel king of the time whose principal was eye for
eye, tooth for tooth.

Assyrian Period
They flourished in the middle east part
They were basically warriors and huntsmen.
They founded the city of Ashur.
Persian Period:
These people were settled in Medas and Persia.

One of the larger Sumerian cities may have had 80,000
residents.
The list of Sumerian rulers includes one woman.
The Sumerian city-states were often at war with one
another.
The Sumerians were famously fond of beer.
Cuneiform writing was used for over 3,000 years.
The Sumerians were well-traveled trade merchants.
Sumerian mathematics and measurements are still used
today.
Sumerian culture was lost to history until the 19th century.

Characteristic features
They constructed imposing towers and artificial
mountains called as Ziggurats.
They used bricks in their constructions.
Evolved arches, vaults and domes.
Main entrance to the court was flanked with
imposing towers.
High plinth was made.
Chief form of ornamentation n building was lotus
bud or rosettes.

City of Ur
The city of Ur
was formed on
river Euphrates.

Mesopotamian king Ur-Nammu erected the famous
ziggurat of Ur-Nammu here.
Temples were formed with store houses and
workshops.
City was surrounded by a canal acting as a moat.
Streets were narrow.
Houses were single storied with central courtyard.
Riches had double storied houses.

ZIGGURAT OF UR-NAMMU (2125 B.C.)

The Ziggurat or holy mountain was erected by the
Mesopotamian King Ur-Nammu, a founder of Third
Dynasty of Ur.
This ziggurat was erected to the moon god Nanna,
the patron deity of the city of Ur.
It is the most preserved of all ziggurats in
Mesopotamia and has been partially reconstructed
reaching a height of 11 m.

It stood within a rectangular plan of 60 m x 45 m and
17m high.
The whole mass was solid, with a core of sun dried
bricks and outer covering of burnt bricks of 2.5m thick
cemented with bitumen.
It was composed of three stages. Access to the
ziggurat was through three converging ramps from
where a central stairway continued to the second stage.

Large Courtyard around its base and surrounded by
shrines, among which one was dedicated to the goddess
Ningal, the wife of Nanna.
The temple had inner courtyard surrounded by a no. of
rooms – cooking, animal sacrifice, workshops, store rooms.
There was also a palace within the courtyard for the King
and his family members.

BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE
The city had a
circumference of at
least 18 km and the river
Euphrates was once running through it.
The city was destroyed by Assyrians once in 13th and
again in 7th Century B.C.
The city was surrounded by a canal acting as a moat.
THE CITY OF BABYLON

It was also protected by huge rampart walls which were
more than 86km in length and provided with hundred
bronze gateways.
Each of its gateways was protected by different gods, the
main palace and gate were dedicated to Ishtar, the
goddess of love and battle.
The Ishtar gate was patterned by horned dragons; yellow
and white bulls in relief on a blue background

The gate consisted of two portals one behind the other, each
flanked by huge towers.
It was built in Kiln-burnt bricks, cemented with pitch.
The outer surface was covered by bricks with colored
figures of dragons.

HANGING GARDENS(600B.C.)
Built by King Nebuchadnezzar, to please his Persian wife
They occupied an area of 275mx183m and situated near
Euphrates river.
The terraced gardens planted with flowers and trees,
With the beautiful fountains were 25m to 100m above the
Ground.
Water was stored in the reservoir and supplied through
pipes

HANGING GARDENS(600B.C.)

ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE
The city stood
on a rectangular plan
of 2.6 sq.km.
There were several
office buildings
including a temple.
THE CITY OF KHORSABAD
Palace of Sargon II was the most splendid structure,
occupying an area of nearly 23 acres.

It had large and small
courts, corridors &
rooms were approached by
broad ramp.
The palace was
divided into three parts.
On its left wing, there were six temples, and on its
right wing were service rooms and administrative
offices, and on the opposite wings, were residential
quarters followed by royal apartments.

The royal apartments had dadoes nearly 2m high. At
the end was the throne room about 49mx11m.
The high plinths of the temple courts were decorated
with polychrome glazed bricks.
At one corner there stood a Ziggurat on square base of
about 45m side rising in seven tiers to a height of 45m
with shrine at the top.

It had a winding ramp of 1.8m wide by which one could
reach on its top. Each of the seven tiers was painted in
different colors.
Main gateway to the grand court was flanked by imposing
towers and guarded by the man-headed winged bulls as a
symbol of adad the god of thunder.

THE PALACE OF
PERSEPOLIS
PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE
Persepolis was used as
a showpiece of imperial
grandeur of empire.
It was also executed by
Xerxes I(486-465B.C.)
and completed in
460B.C. by Arta-XerxesI.

The entire building stood on a rectangular plan
460mx275m over a rising terrace of 15m above the ground.
The approach was provided at north-west by magnificent
steps 6.7mwide and shallow enough for the horses to
ascend.

The gateways were flanked by imposing towers and
guarded by man-headed winged bulls.
The gateway on the south opened to the Apadana or
Audience hall nearly 76sq.m with 36 slender columns, 20m
high 1.5m dia
and place at
6m c/c.

The stairway of Apadana has bas-relief showing the
delegates, nobles, advancing in dignified procession.
The delegates can be easily identified from their national
costumes.
Next his son Xerxes I added his palace together with
women’s quarters – Harem on the south end.

The throne room – the famous “Hall of Hundred
Columns” situated on the east end, was commenced by
Xerxes I and completed by Arta-XerxesI.
The throne room was set up on a high platform with
columns 11m high supporting the flat roof.

Lecture vii ancient civilization

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Lecture vii ancient civilization