Module 2
Module 2
All items included Most items included Some items Some items Most items included
Substance
are in accordance are in accordance included are in included are not in are not in
and relevant to and relevant to accordance and accordance and accordance and
Accuracy
topic and are topic and are relevant to topic irrelevant to topic irrelevant to topic and
intelligently intelligently and are intelligently and are intelligently are intelligently
selected. selected. selected. selected. selected.
MODULE 2
Architecture of the Ancient Near East/West Asiatic Architecture
This module introduces you to the early architecture of Mesopotamia and Persia.
Mesopotamia was known as the “Cradle of Civilization”. The concept of cities started in this
period when settlements are built aimed at permanence with improved building
technologies and materials.
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INFLUENCES
HISTORY
• Started as villages on the flat land between Tigris and Euphrates rivers -
“Mesopotamia”
• Turned into city-states with populations of thousands
• Each city-state surrounded by a wall and dominated by a large temple
• Society of kings, craftsmen, soldiers, farmers, priests
• Fought and traded with each other
• Sometimes would conquer each other and form an empire
Mesopotamian
• City-states of Ur, Babylon, Agade, Ashur and Damascus
• 2334 BC, King Sargon of Agade formed the first major empire
• 1792 BC, next by King Hammurabi
• Instituted laws to keep order
• Invention of writing - pictograms or cuneiform records on clay tablets
Assyrian
• Based in Ashur, biggest empire under King Ashurbanipal – conquered
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt
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Persian
• Begun by Cyrus the Great from 559 to 529 BC
• Covered Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Eastern Mediterranean, Bactria, Indus
Valley and North Africa
• Darius I had provinces ruled by a satrap, who guarded the roads, collected
taxes and controlled the army
• Local peoples were allowed to keep their religions and customs
• Capital moved from Susa to Persepolis
• Network of roads linking the royal court to other parts of the empire – from
Susa in Persia to Sardis in Anatolia
• Traded raw materials, carpets and spices
• Darius and Xerxes tried to conquer Greece
• Ended with the defeat of Darius III to Alexander the Great of Macedonia
RELIGION
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
MATERIALS
• Only materials readily available was clay, soil, reeds, rushes
• Bricks made of mud and chopped straw, sun-dried or kiln-fired
• Timber, copper, tin, lead gold, silver imported
DECORATION
• Colossal winged-bulls guarding chief portals
• Polychrome glazed bricks in blue, white, yellow, green
• Murals of decorative continuous stone
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EXAMPLES
ZIGGURATS
• Religious buildings built next to temples
• On top was a small temple
Development:
• Archaic ziggurat
• Two or Three-staged ziggurat
• Seven-staged ziggurat during the Assyrian period
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Ziggurat at Ur, 2000 BC
PALACES
• Kings celebrated their victories, wealth and power by building large palaces
DWELLINGS
• Known as Megaron
• Entrance at end rather than on the long sides
• Portico - colonnaded space forming an entrance or vestibule, with a roof
supported on one side by columns
• Suited to climate of Anatolian plateau
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Engage: Research on notable architectural edifices of ancient East and West Asia.
Elaborate: Quiz PR-01 : Quiz on architecture of ancient East and West Asia. See Annex
D.1.(graded activity)
You must look for definitions, locations, history, illustrations, and actual
examples if there are, to be carefully summarized and compiled in a plate. All
contents of the plate will be done manually from texts to illustrations. Use
standard paper format, refer to Annex B. Divide drawing space into 4
quadrants, same as first plate. Fit items a, b, c in quadrant 1; d & e in 2, f & g
in 3, and h in 4. Minimum requirement is that all the plate content be in
pencil, though you may use ink and coloring materials too. (see Annex C for
sample plate for reference)
MODULE 3
Architecture of Ancient Egypt
This module will let you recognize how political, social, environmental, economic and
religious developments impacted the architecture of the period which is generally classified
into three namely: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and lastly, New Kingdom.
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