The document provides information about Mesopotamian architecture and urban planning. It discusses the ziggurats that were built by ancient Mesopotamian civilizations for religious purposes. Ziggurats had shrines at the top that priests could access via stairways, serving practical defensive and ritual functions. It also describes early Mesopotamian cities like Uruk that pioneered urban planning, with walls, streets, and temples arranged around a central courtyard according to a formal layout. The Sumerians took pride in city-building as a hallmark of their civilization.

1. MESOPOTAMIANARCHITECTURE
PRESENTEDBY:ASHW
ANIKALYANI

2. Euphrates river

3. Tigrisriver

4. Tigris–Euphrates riversystem

5. Tigris–Euphrates riversystem
The Tigris and Euphrates, with
their tributaries, form amajor river
systeminWesternAsia.

6. Euphrates river -Etymology
AncientGreekEuphrátēs(Εὐφράτης)
OldPersian Ufrātu
Elamite ú-ip-ra-tu-iš
SumerianBuranuna
AkkadianPurattu
Arabical-Furrāt
Proto-Sumerian*burudu "copper"
anexplanationthatEuphrateswastheriverbywhichthecopperorewas transported
inrafts

7. Mesopotamia was the center of
copper metallurgy during the
period

8. Tigris river -
Etymology
Ancient Greek Tigris
(Τίγρις)
Old Persian
Tigrā Elamite
Tigra
Sumerian
Idigna
Akkadian
Idiqlat
Hebrew

9. id (i)gina "running
water"

10. Mesopotamia

11. TheregionaltoponymMesopotamiacomesfromtheancientGreek rootwords
μέσος(meso)"middle"andποταμός(potamos)"river"and literallymeans"(Land)
betweenrivers“.

12. The FertileCrescent
Earliestofallcivilizations(althougheveryoneknowsit’sIndusValleynow)as people
formedpermanentsettlements
MesopotamiaisaGreekwordthatmeans“betweentherivers”,specifically, thearea
betweentheTigrisRiverandEuphratesRiver(presentdayIraq)
Lastedforapproximately3000years
Its peopleswerethe first to irrigate fields, devisedasystemof writing, developed
mathematics,inventedthewheelandlearnedtoworkwith metal.

13. Cradle of Civilization

14. Widelyconsideredtobeoneofthecradlesofcivilizationbythe Westernworld,
BronzeAgeMesopotamiaincludedSumerandthe Akkadian,Babylonian,and
Assyrianempires,allnativetotheterritory ofmodern-dayIraq.IntheIronAge,it
wascontrolledbytheNeo- AssyrianandNeo-Babylonian Empires.

15. Mesopotamia

16. Mesopotamia’s popularkingdoms
chronologically
Middle BronzeAge
EarlyBabylonia
LateBronzeAge
OldAssyrianPeriod
IronAge
Neo-Assyrian
Neo-Babylonian
ClassicalAntiquity
Persian-Babylonia(AchaemenidDynasty)
RomanMesopotamia
Late Antiquity
MuslimConquest(Rashidun)

17. “Governatorate”

18. TheMesopotamiansbelievedtheirkingsandqueensweredescended fromthe
CityofGods,but,unliketheancientEgyptians,theynever believedtheirkings
wererealgods.
Mostkingsnamedthemselves“kingoftheuniverse”or“great king”.
Anothercommonnamewas“shepherd”,askingshadtolookaftertheir people.

19. ClimacticConditions
• Little rainfall
• Hot and dry climate
• windstorms leaving muddy river valleys in winter
• catastrophic flooding of the rivers
in spring
• Arid soil containing little minerals
• No stone or timber resources

20. Natural Levee

21. Natural Levee
• createahighandsafeflood plain
• makeirrigationandcanalconstruction easy
• provideprotection
• thesurroundingswampswerefulloffish&waterfowl
• reedsprovidedfoodforsheep/ goats
• reedsalsowereusedasbuilding resources

23. Religion
Polytheisticreligionconsistingofover3600godsand demigods
Prominent Mesopotamian gods
• Enlil(supremegod&godof air)
• Ishtar(goddessoffertility&life)
• An(godof heaven)
• Enki(godofwater&underworld)
• Shamash(godofsunandgiveroflaw)

24. Religion
• PositionofKingwasenhancedandsupportedbyreligion
• Kingshipbelievedtobecreatedbygodsandtheking’spowerwasdivinely ordained
• Beliefthatgodslivedonthedistantmountaintops
• Eachgodhadcontrolofcertainthingsandeachcitywasruledbya different
god
• Kingsandpriestsactedasinterpretersastheytoldthepeoplewhatthegod wantedthem
todo(ie.byexaminingtheliverorlungsofaslainsheep)

33. Sumerians
• social,economicandintellectual basis
• Irrigatedfieldsandproduced3main
crops(barley,datesandsesameseeds)
• builtcanals,dikes,damsanddrainagesystems
• developcuneiformwriting
• inventedthewheel
• Abundanceoffoodledtosteadyincreaseofpopulation(farm,towns,cities)
• firstcityoftheworld
• Developedatradesystemwithbartering:mainlybarleybutalsowooland clothfor
stone,metals,timber,copper,pearlsandivory
• Individualscouldonlyrentlandfrompriests(whocontrolledlandonbehalfof
gods);mostofprofitsoftradewenttotemple
• However,theSumerianswerenotsuccessfulinunitinglower Mesopotamia

34. Akkadians
• Leader:SargontheGreat
• SargonunifiedlowerMesopotamia(afterconqueringSumeriansin2331 BCE)
• EstablishedcapitalatAkkad
• SpreadMesopotamianculture
• However,short-liveddynastyasAkkadianswereconqueredbytheinvading barbariansby
2200BCE

35. Babylonians KINGHAMMURABI’SBABL
YON
• (6thAmoriteking)whoconqueredAkkadandAssyria (north
andsouth)
• Hebuildnewwallstoprotectthecityandnewcanals anddikes
toimprovecrops
• Economybasedonagricultureandwool/ cloth
• individualscouldownlandaround cities
• Artisansandmerchantscouldkeepmostprofitsand even
formedguilds/ associations
• Grainusedasthemediumofexchange>emergenceof
measurementofcurrency:shekel=180grainsofbarley; mina=60
shekels
• Minawaseventuallyrepresentedbymetalswhichwas oneof
firstusesofmoney(butit wasstillbasedon grain)
• Hammurabi’sLegacy:lawcode
•BabyloniansreunitedMesopotamiain1830 BCE
• centrallocationdominatedtradeand
securedcontrol
•YETAGAIN,Mesopotamiawasnotunified for
long…

36. Code ofHammurabi
• T
oenforcehisrule,HammurabicollectedallthelawsofBabyloninacodethat wouldapply
everywhereintheland
• Mostextensivelawcodefromtheancientworld(c.1800BCE)
• Codeof282lawsinscribedonastonepillarplacedinthepublichallforallto see
• HammurabiStonedepictsHammurabiasreceivinghisauthorityfromgod Shamash
• Setofdivinelyinspiredlaws;aswellassocietal laws
• Punishmentsweredesignedtofit thecrimesaspeoplemustberesponsiblefor ownactions
• HammurabiCodewasanorigintotheconceptof“eyeforaneye…”ie.If a sonstruckhis
father,theson’shandwouldbecut off
• Consequencesforcrimesdependedonrankinsociety(ie.onlyfinesfor nobility)

37. • 10th century BCE,Assyriaemergedasdominant forcein the north
• Cityof Assur-becameimportant trading andpolitical centre
• After Hammurabi’sdeath, Babylonfell apart andkingsof Assurcontrolled
more of surroundingarea andcametodominate
• Made conqueredlandspaytaxes(food, animals, metals or timber)
• Rulebyfear askingswere first to have a permanent army madeupof
professionalsoldiers(estimated 200 000men)
• Made superiorweaponsof bronzeand iron
• iron changedlifestyles in Mesopotamia in weaponsandin daily life ie.
replacedwoodenwheelsandapplied to horsedrawn chariots
•Assyrianreunited Mesopotamia and
establishedthe first true empire
•However,statesbeganto revolt andONCE
AGAIN,AssyrianEmpirecollapsedbylate 7th
centuryBCE
•By 539BCE,Mesopotamia partof thevast
Persian Empire(led byCyrustheGreat)
•Persian Empiredominated for800yearsuntil
Alexander theGreat
Assyrians

38. Sumerian Akkadian Babylonia

39. Assyrian Soldier
Thesecrettoitssuccesswas a
professionallytrained standing
army
,ironweapons, advanced
engineeringskills, effectivetactics,
and,most importantly,acomplete
ruthlessnesswhichcameto
characterizetheAssyriansto their
neighborsandsubjects andstill
attachesitselftothe reputationof
Assyriainthe modernday
.

40. Interesting Facts!
• Mesopotamia,specificallyBabylonusedamathematicalsystembased onsixtyas
alltheirnumberswereexpressedaspartsoformultiples ofsixty
• Somepartsofthe‘base-sixty’systemstillremaintoday:360degrees inacircle,60
secondsinaminuteand60minutesin 1hour
• Devisedacalendarbaseoncyclesofthemoon(numberofdaysbetweenthe
appearanceoftwonewmoonswassetasamonth;12 cyclesmadeupayear

41. Who was thebest?
• Closely tied
to
environment
• Irrigation
techniques for
farming
• wheel
• Trade- bartering
• Writing- cuneiform
• Religion tied to
government as
priests and
kings made
decision for
gods
• ziggurats
Sumer Babylon
• Production of
food through
farming
• Private ownership
of land vs
ownership by the
gods
• Developed
mathematics and
calendar system
and system of
units for currency
• Hammurabi’s
law code
Assyria
 Kings
conquered
lands to create
empire of
Assyria
 Cooler climate
could produce
crops with little
irrigation
 Deposits of ore
allowed for
development and
use of iron
 Assyrian army
became most
effective
military force

42. Legacies ofMesopotamia
Revolutionary innovations emerged in
Mesopotamia such as:
• codified laws
• ziggurats
• Cuneiform
• Irrigation
• Metal working, tools
• Trade
• transportation
• wheel
• Writing
• mathematics
• prosperous living based on large scale agriculture

43. “Architecture” of Mesopotamia

44. “Tower of Babylon”

45. Ziggurats
Ziggurats were built by the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians,
Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions.
According to Herodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine,
although none of these shrines have survived.
GreatZigguratofUr,Iraq

46. Ziggurat
One practical function of the ziggurats was a high place
on which the priests could escape rising water that
annually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded
for hundreds of miles.
Another practical function of the ziggurat was for
security.
Nabonidus

47. Ziggurat
Since the shrine was accessible only by
way of three stairways, a small number
of guards could prevent non-priests
from spying on the rituals at the shrine
on top of the ziggurat, such as initiation
rituals such as the Eleusinian
mysteries, cooking of sacrificial food
and burning of carcasses of sacrificial
animals.
Granite “Stele” of Nabonidus

48. Ziggurat
Each ziggurat was part
of a temple complex
that included a
courtyard, storage
rooms, bathrooms, and
living quarters, around
which a city was built.

49. Sumerian masonry was usually mortarlessalthough
bitumen was sometimesused.
Brick styles, which varied greatly over time, are categorized by period;
Patzen 80×40×15 cm: Late Uruk period (3600–3200 BC)
Riemchen 16×16 cm: Late Uruk period (3600–3200 BC)
Plano-convex 10x19x34 cm: Early Dynastic Period (3100–2300 BC)

54. Urban Planning
The very first cities
were founded
in Mesopotamia after the
Neolithic Revolution,
around 7500 BCE.
Mesopotamian cities
included Eridu, Uruk, and
Ur. Early cities also arose
in the Indus Valley and
ancient China.

55. Uruk
The Sumerians were the first society to construct the city
itself as a built form.
They were proud of this achievement as attested in the Epic
of Gilgamesh which opens with a description of Uruk its
walls, streets, markets, temples, and gardens.
Uruk itself is significant as the center of an urban culture
which both colonized and urbanized western Asia.

56. Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh is an ancient story or epic
written in Mesopotamia more than 4000
thousand years ago
• Gilgamesh is the first known work of
great literature and epic poem
• Epic mentions a great flood
• Gilgamesh parallels the Nippur Tablet, a
six- columned tablet telling the story of
the creation of humans and animals, the
cities and their rulers, and the great flood
ANALYSIS
• Gilgamesh and the Nippur tablet both
parallel the story of Noah and the Ark
(great flood) in the Old Testament of the
Jewish and Christian holy books
• Modern science argues an increase in the
sea
levels about 6,000 years ago (end of ice
age)
• the melting ice drained to the oceans
causing the sea level to rise more than
ten feet in one century

58. AssyrianArchitecture
Palaces – came with or without a ziggurat, “hypostyle hall”,
monumental entrances.

60. Palace of Nebuchanezzar II in
Babylon

61. Building Types
• Palaces – “seraguo” (palace proper which includes the
king’s residences, statehalls, men’s apartments and
reception, haram (private chamber), khan (private
chamber).

63. HISTORICAL CONDITION: The ancient architecture of West-
Asiatic developed FROM 3000 BC TO 330 BC. in the following
period.
(a) Early Sumerian (3000—2000 BC)
(b) Old Babylonian (2016-1595 BC) ---NEO Babylonian (626-539 BC)
(c) Assyrian (1859—626 BC)
(d) Persian (750—330 BC)

64. SUMERIAN ARCHITECTURE
 The transition from prehistory was made around 4500 BC
with the rise of the Sumerian civilization.
 The major cities of the Sumerian civilization were Kish,
Urukand, Ur.

65.  The Sumerian were the first civilization to make a
conscious attempt of designing public buildings.
 Mud was their building material.
 Mud was formed into brick, sun dried and built into massive
walls.
 Walls were thick to compensate the weakness of mud.
 They were reinforce with buttresses.

66.  Spaces were narrow because of the walling material
 Facade of buildings were white washed and painted to
disguise the lack of attraction of the material.
 Buttresses and recesses also relieve the monotony of the
plastered wall surfaces.
 Temples was their major building type.

67.  Cities were enclosed in walls with Ziggurat temples and
palace as centers of the city.
 Fabric of the city is made up of residences mixed with
commercial and industrial buildings.
 The houses were densely packed with narrow streets
between them.
 Streets were fronted by courtyard houses of one story high.

68.  The houses streets were usually punctuated by narrow
openings that serve as entrance to houses.
 Temples were the principal architectural monuments of
Sumerian cities.
 Temples consist of chief and city temples.

69. WHITE TEMPLE (URUK)
 Uruk was a major Sumerian city by 3300 BC.
 Uruk is also known as warka in Arabic.
 The white temple was built around 3000 BC.
 IT is an example of earliest development of
Sumerian temples and Ziggurat.
 The temple is place on a great mound of
earth called Ziggurat, rising more than 12
meters above ground.
 The ziggurat and temple are built with mud
bricks.
 The temple is rectangular in shape.

70.  Temple walls were thick and
supported by buttresses.
 In the inner part of the temple was a
long sanctuary, that contains an alter
and offering table.
 Rooms oblong and in shape and
vaulted surrounded the long side of
the sanctuary.
 The temple had imposing doorways
located at its either end.
 Worshippers enter to the temple
through a side room.

71.  Series of staircases and stepped levels lead worships
to the entrance of the temple.
 The temple was plastered white externally, making it
visible for miles in the landscape.

72. GREAT ZIGGURAT (UR)
 Ur was a Sumerian city located near
the mouth of the Euphrates river.
 It was constructed of mud bricks
reinforced with thin layers of
matting and cables of twisted
reeds.
 The Great Ziggurat was located as
part of a temple complex.

73.  The king was the chief priest of the temple and lived close to
it.
 The temple sits on a three multi-tiered Ziggurat mountain.
 Access to the temple is through triple stairways that converge
at the summit of the first platform.
 From this stage, one passed through a portal with dome roof
to fourth staircase.

74.  The fourth staircase gave access to the second and
third stages of the ziggurat and to the temple.
 The temple is usually accessed only by the priest,
where gods are believed to come down and give
instructions.
 The people believed that climbing the staircase of
the ziggurat gives a holy experience.
 The chief temple was also used as a last line of
defense during times of war.

75.  Most of what is known about what exist on top of the
ziggurat is projection

76. BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE
 After the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC
and the end of the Assyrian
civilization, focus of Mesopotamian
civilization shifted to old Babylon.
 A new dynasty of kings, including
Nebuchadnezzar, revived old
Babylonian culture to create a Neo-
Babylonian civilization.
 Old Sumerian cities were rebuilt.
 The capital old Babylon was
enlarged and heavily fortified.

77.  The capital old Babylon was enlarged and heavily
fortified and magnificent new buildings were built.
 The traditional style of Mesopotamian building reached its
peak during the period.
 Traditional building was enhanced by a new form of
facade ornament consisting of figures designed in
colored glazed brick work.
City of Babylon:
 The city of Babylon is shaped in the form of a quadrangle
sitting across and pierced by the Euphrates.

78.  The city was surrounded by a
fortification of double walls.
 These had defensive towers that
project well above the walls.
 The walls also had a large moat in
front, which was also used for
navigation .
 The length of the wall and moat is
about five and a quarter miles.
 The city had a palace located
on its northern side on the
outer wall.

79. ISHTAR GATE
 From the palace originated a
procession street that cuts through
the city raised above the ground to
the tower of Babel.
 The procession street enters the
city through the famous Ishtar
gate.
 The Ishtar gate is built across the
double walls of the city fortification.
 The gate had a pair of projecting
towers on each wall.

80.  All the facades of gates and adjoining
streets were faced with blue glazed
bricks and ornamented with figures of
heraldic animals-lions, bulls, and
dragons.
 These were modelled in relief and
glazed in other colors.
 None of the buildings of old Babylon
has survived to the present age.

81. Architecture in the city of Babylon:
 Nebuchadnezzar’s palace covered a
land area of 900 feet by 600 feet.
 It had administrative offices, barracks,
the
king’s harem, private apartment all
arranged around five courtyards.
 The palace is also praised for its
legendary hanging garden.

82.  This is recorded as one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world, but
exact knowledge of the nature of this
garden is not known.
 Temples and towers were also
prominent architectural elements of
Babylon.
 The legendary tower of Babel located
at the end of procession street is
mentioned in the Christian bible.

83. ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE
 The principal cities of Assyria were
Nineveh, Dun, Khorsabad, Nimrudand
Assur.
 The Assyrians were great warriors and
hunters, and this was reflected in their
art.
 They produced violent sculptures and
relief carving in stone that was used to
ornament their houses.
 During the Assyrian periods, temples
lost their importance to palaces.

84.  Palaces were raised on brick platforms, and their principal
entrance ways were flanked by guardian figures of human
headed bulls or lions of stone.
 Their halls and corridors were lined with pictures and
inscriptions carved in relief on stone slabs up to 9 feet high.
 The interiors were richly decorated and luxurious.
 The walls of cities were usually strengthened by many
towers serving as defensive positions.

85. PALACE OF SARGON:
 The palace is approached at ground
level through a walled citadel.
 Within the citadel is found the main
palace, two minor palaces and a
temple dedicated to Nabu.
 The main palace was set on a platform
located on the northern side of the
citadel.
 All the buildings within the citadel
were arranged around courtyards.

86.  The palace was arranged around
two major courtyards about
which were grouped smaller
courtyards.
 The palace consisted of large
and smaller rooms with the
throne room being the largest.
 The building was decorated with
relief sculpture and glazed brick.

87. PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE
 Their architectural solutions were a synthesis of ideas
gathered from almost all parts of their empire and from
the Greeks and Egyptians.
 Their materials of construction was also from different
locations.
 Material included mud-brick from Babylon, wooden roof
beams from Lebanon, precious material from India and
Egypt, Stone columns quarried and carved by Ionic
Greeks.
 Despite sourcing materials and ideas from different areas,
their architecture was original and distinctive in style.

88. PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS:
 Persian architecture achieved its
greatest monumentality at Persepolis
AND WAS constructed as a new
capital for the Persian Empire.
 It is set along the face of a mountain
levelled to create a large platform 1800
feet by 900 feet.
 It was surrounded by a fortification wall.
 The site was more than half
covered by buildings
 The palace consisted of three parts:
1) An approach of monumental staircases,
gate ways and avenues.

89. 2)Two great state halls towards the center of
the platform.
3)The palace of Xerxes, the harem, and other
living quarters at the south end of the site.
 Structurally, the buildings relied on a
hypostyle scheme throughout.
 Some of the spaces were very big and
generally square in plan.
 The spaces were enclosed by mud brick
walls.
 The most impressive aspect of the palace
was the royal audience hall.

90.  The Royal audience hall was a square 250 feet in length.
 It contained 36 slender columns widely space & 67 feet high.
 The columns had a lower diameter of only 5 feet.
 The centers of the columns were spaced 20 feet or 4
diameters apart.
 The column was the greatest invention of the Persians.
 The columns were fluted and stand on inverted bell shaped
bases.

91.  Their capital combine Greek motifs with
Egyptian palm leaf topped by an impost of
paired beast.
 Another famous aspect of the palace at
Parsepolis was the throne room.
 This was also known as hall of a 100 columns.
 The columns in the room were 37 feet high,
with a diameter of only 3 feet.
 They were spaced 20 feet apart or seven
diameters from axis to axis.
 The slim nature of the column created room
and spacious feeling in the room when
compared to the audience hall.

92.  The monumental entrance to Parsepolis is
also one of the unique aspects of the
Palace.
 The monumental gateway ensure a
dramatic entry to the Palace.
 It was heavily adorned with relief sculpture
ornamenting its stairway.
 The relief structure addresses different
themes relating to the role of Parsepolis as
the capital of the Persian Empire.
 In some places, the sculpture shows
delegates from the different parts of the
Persian bringing gifts and rare animals to
the king during celebrations.

93.  In some palaces, royal guards and nobles of
the imperial court are shown.
 Elsewhere, the king is seen in conflict
with animals or seated beneath a
ceremonial umbrella.
 Some columns supporting the halls of the
great halls have survived.
 The mud brick fabric of the palace and
its enclosing walls have perished
completely.
 Only the sculptures which adorn doorways
or windows and openings and the relief
ornamenting its entrance way remain.