WEST ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE great platform or mound of Koyunjik

would require 10,000 men for twelve

louella years to build.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA - persian astronomer-poet, Omar
khayyám, indicates national love of
- the earliest literate civilizations beauty and the influence exerted by
developed in independent urban environment and climate in his
communities called city-states. writings.
- Egypt and Mesopotamia are
considered the cradles of Western 4. Historical
history and architecture. - Eannadu (4500 BC) - earliest
- Mesopotamia encompasses an area Babylonian king mentioned.
about 500 miles long by no more - Sargon (722-705 BC) - most
than 300 miles widely celebrated assyrian king who
erected the great palace at
Khorsabad
INFLUENCES
5.Geographical - the principal ancient cities
1. Climate - constructions were raised of Western Asia were situated in the valley
due to unhealthy echalations from of the twin-rivers Tigris and Euphrates.
the vast swamps in Chaldæa, and one of the earliest seats of civilization.
the swarms of aggressive and the march of civilization spread northwards
venomous insects infesting the from Babylon (the Gate of God) to Nineveh
entire region, as wells as the floods Geographical - The whole district of
during the rainy season. Chaldæa or Lower Mesopotamia is alluvial,
- Persia is a country of being formed of the thick mud or clay
sunshine, gardens, and deposited by the two great rivers.
deserts, with climate ranging
from the extremes of heat Neo-Babylonian - by Cyrus in BC 539,
and cold. Darius BC 521-485, and Xerxes BC 485 -
2. Religion - worshippers of the 465 - erected some of the most interesting
heavenly bodies, such as the sun palaces at Susa and Persepolis
and moon, and the powers of nature,
such as the wind and thunder. the country remained under the rule of the
Persian until the time of Alexander the great
● Ormuzd - go of light and of good; BC 333, when it became a possession of
worshipped with fire as his symbol the greeks.
● Ahriman - god of darkness and evil
● Man-headed bulls - placed at the MATERIALS
entrances of temples. and palaces ● bricks
● bitumen or pitch
3. Social and Political ● Mortar, made of calcareous earth
- Assyrians were a sturdy, warlike, but ● alabaster or limestone slabs
cruel people. the erection of the
 ● Ea - god of water, supplemented by
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER Nannar
● Nannar - god of the moon
- the country has an abundance of ● Utu - god of the sun
clay that was then compressed and ● Inanna - goddess of fertility
dried in the sun, which is the
material used for construction. - Summerians believed that the sky
- the materials used evolved from and earth were two disks that had
dried bricks, kiln-burnt bricks, then been blown apart, and that all
stone slabs in the later Assyrian existence was governed by the
period. gods, who represented the
- the arch was applied to important unpredictable elements affecting
openings and also to vaults. human life.
- Assyria undoubtedly gave many of - They believe that human beings
their architectural forms to Persia, were recreated from the alluvial silt
who later borrowed much from Egypt deposits in the river Valley to serve
and Asiatic Greece, the gods and to relieve them of toil.
- the bracket and scroll capitals of the
columns at Persepolis and Susa RELIGIOUS SHRINES
retain much of the form of their
wooden prototypes. draw figure
- Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis
are described as “every part of the - Dwelling places of the gods and the
building, without exception, is repositories for surplus food stores
covered with enamelled bricks.”
● Eridu
- oldest city
SUMERIANS, AKKADIANS, AND NEO- - had a small shrine with a brick outer
SUMERIANS in front of a wall niche constructed to
contain a cult statue.
SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION - Tele Gawda - major buildings
- Around 4000 BCE, Al Ubaid, formed a U shaped open court
nomadic people, Indo-Europeans around the north temple. The temple
from the steppes of Asia, migrated had a central hall with side
into southern Mesopotamia from the chambers and its brick façade was
region east of the Capital Sea. articulated by buttresses and
- Their settlements was the city-state, pilasters.
a political and religious center - Most Sumerian buildings were
devoted to serving gods based on executed in sun-baked brick
natural elements. (obtained by shaping mud, inward
and living at the dry for several
DEITIES weeks in the sun)
● Divine triadnod Anu- god of the sky
● Enlil - god of Earth ● Uruk
 - White temple (3500 - 300 BCE) two of these gates were flat by
sculptures of Sphinxes or lions.
draw figure - within the town, five tempos
dedicated to the weather, gods were
NEO-SUMERIAN PERIOD ( 2150-2000 constructed around central
BCE) courtyard, surrounded by storage
- First Sumerian. ity-states returned rooms and well literal chambers
after Akkadian Empire and the -
influence of Guti. - BABYLONIAN (Chaldæan) PERIOD
- witnessed the development of urban (4000-1200 BC)
temple forms. - was a temple-buidling epoch
- Temple of Birs-Nimroud - dedicated
● Ziggurat to the seven heavenly spheres
- constructed of sun-dried brick - draw figure
bonded with bitumen, reed matting,
or rope, and was finished with a ● Ziggurat
weather-resistant exterior layer of - constructed of sun-dried brick
kiln-fired brick. bonded with bitumen, reed matting,
- stepped platforms designed to or rope, and was finished with a
elevate the temples to the gods weather-resistant exterior layer of
ensuring the prosperity of the kiln-fired brick.
community. - stepped platforms designed to
- symbolically, the cigarettes may elevate the temples to the gods
have represented the mountains ensuring the prosperity of the
whence the Sumerians came. community.
- - every city had its own “ziggurat”
draw figure (holy mountain) - served as a shrine
and observatory from which
3 DISTINCT PERIODS OF WEST ASIATIC astrological studies could be made

stephanie
BABYLONIANS, HITTITES, AND ASSYRIANS
ASSYRIANS - The weakness of Hittites rulers gave
the Assyrians, a fierce people from
Babylon developed as a major city with a northern Mesopotamia, an
great temple to Marduk, who was opportunity to gain a foothold in the
considered the king of the gods. first plane to the south.
( 900 BCE)
Hattusas (1400-1200 BCE) - assyrian military established an
- upper wall sections are made from empire red capital that strongly
sun-dried rip. The Tyson’s reflects the Assyrians’s relentless
disappeared carbon vaults were wearing as well as the ruthless
used for gates in the town wall and character of their kings.
 ● ASSYRIAN PERIOD (1290-538) - distinct architectural by rebuilding
- was a palace-building epoch and enlargement of Babylon ruled by
- terminated with the destruction of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BCE)
Babylon by Cyrus BC 539
- principal remains are the palaces at HANGING GARDENS
Nineveh (Koyunjik), Nimroud, and - one of the Seven Wonders of the
Khorsabad. World
- the Palace of Sargon, Khorsabad - - consisted of planted terraces not
(BC 722 - 705) unlike modern conservatories,
- draw figure irrigated by water brought in buckets
of endless chains from a
Capitals subterranean well.
- Calah (present-day Nimrud)
- Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad)
- Nineveh (Kuyunjik) draw figure

Khorsabad (720 BCEj the ziggurat at babylon is remembered in

- royal city built by Sargon II the Old Testament as the Tower of Babel.
- illustrates the main characteristics of
Assyrian architecture and planning - Babylon’s greatness was eclipse in
- rising near the central axis was a 539 BCE when it became part of the
seven-stage ziggurat representing person empire of Cyrus II.
the cosmic order of the seven
planets. trisha
- the palace was organized around PERSIAN EMPIRE
large courtyards surrounded by ● PERSIAN PERIOD (538-333)
rectangular rooms, while the - persians have no architecture of
approach sequence was circuitous. their own which led them to adapting
- Sargon II had the art and the architectures of their conquered
architecture of his palace civilizations
communicate the overwhelming - Persopolis - one of the important
power residing in his person. capitals of Persia; the most
important building erected by Darius
draw figure are his pallace and the Hall of
Hundred Columns
NEO-BABYLONIANS AND PERSIANS. - Xerxes built Propylæa, the
Hypostyle Hall - probably used as a
- assyrians fell in 612 BCE to the throne room.
combined assaults of babylonians, - Susa - has important remains in the
Scythians, Persians, and medes. palaces of Xerxes and Artaxerxes
- The Tomb of Dariud, Naksh-i-
NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (612-539 Rustam
BCE)
 - Jewish. Architecture - the Hebrews massive stone or marble blocks
borrowed their architectural forms forming the door and window
from Egyptians, Assyrian, Greek and openings, immense colummns, and
Roman sources broad stairways
● Openings - the lighting of the
temples is conjectural - effective by
Persepolis Ruins means of a “clerestory”
- city founded in 518 BCE by Darius - assyrians counted chiefly on
as a ceremonial capital to doorways which were larg to provide
supplement Susa, the administrative sufficient supply of light and air
capital, and Pasargadae as center of ● Roofs - affected by means of timber
court life. beams reaching from one column to
- primarily used for ceremonies at the the next, and resting on the backs of
New year and the beginning of the “double-bull” capitals
spring ● columns - were primarily of wood,
- material: stone but at persepolis built them of the
natural stone
the conquests of Alexander, the great and ● Mouldings - the use of mouldings
dead person dominance in 331 BC. Perdian does not appear to have advanced
craftsmen accompanied Alexander the to great extent
Great to India as they helped build the ● ornaments - the assyrian sculptures
capital at Pataliputra (now Patna) for in alabaster exhibit considerable
Chandragupta. technical skill and refinement, while
the repoussé pattern work on bronze
Persian Architecture is one of the major bowls, shields, and gate fittings is
influences ror the early stone architecture of also notable.
india. ● the greek took from Assyria the idea
of the sculptured friezes, the colored
decorations, and the honeysuckle
COMPARATIVE and guilloche ornaments
● Plan - a special character was given
to the temples of the early, and the
palaces of the later period, by raising
them on terraces or platforms
- egyptian temples were designed
mainly for internal effect
- assyrian palaces were designed so
as to be effective internally and
externally
● walls - assyrians in the early period
used stone only as a facing to their
brick walls
- in persia, the walss which were thin
have disappeared, leaving the