ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE

PRE-HISTORIC
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN
PREHISTORIC
ARCHITECTURE

EARLY HUMAN DWELLINGS
1. CAVES AND OVER HANGING ROCKS
FOR JUNGLE DWELLERS,
MADE OF STONE AND NATURAL ROCK
OUTCROP
2. TENT
MADE OF ANIMAL BONES AND SKIN




3. SCEILINGS
MADE OF BARKS OF TREES

4. HUT
MADE OF PLANTS AND BRANCHES OF TREES





5. BEEHIVE HUT
MADE OF CLAY OR BRICK ARRANGED TO FORM A VAULT.
MEGALITHIC ARCHRE
MOAI
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
1. MONOLITH/ MENHIRS
PRE HISTORIC STRUCTURE OF A SINGLE GREAT UPRIGHT STONE
2. DOLMEN
CONSISTS OF SEVERAL LARGE STONES SET ON END WITH A
ON END WITH A LARGE COVERING SLAB.

3. CROMLECH
HUGE STONES ARRANGED IN A CIRCLE AND PARTIALLY COVERED
WITH HORIZONTAL SLABS OF STONE.


STONEHENGE SALISBURY, ENGLAND
4. TUMULI/TUMULUS
A MOUND OF EARTH OR STONE PROTECTING A TOMB CHAMBER OR
SIMPLE GRAVE.

PASSAGE GRAVE

ARCHITECTURE IN ANCIENT NEAR EAST
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA
Mesopotamia
Coexists with same time period as the Egyptians
Centered around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
Modern day Iraq
Signs of civilization begin to appear around 4500
B.C.
Peak of civilization is around 3300 B.C.
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA - SUMER
Sumer
Great kingdom located in Mesopotamia
Building materials were scarce
Timber was completely absent and stone was very
scarce
Mud was used to create bricks
Highly soluble in water
Most structures have been destroyed due to rain
and time

ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA - SUMER
Sumer
Architectural characteristics include:
Heavy walls made of mud bricks
Great massings of earth
Tombs were very rare
Temples of interest:
Temple VIII at Eridu
White Temple at Uruk
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA - SUMER
Sumer
Temple VIII at Eridu
Ancient site near Ur
Thick walls of mud
bricks
Set atop a primitive
mud-brick platform
Featured stairs leading
up to an entrance on
the long side of the
temple
Photo: Sullivan
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA - SUMER
Sumer
White Temple at
Uruk
3500 3000 B.C.
Placed upon a huge
mass of earth called a
ziggurat
Photo: Sullivan
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA - BABYLON
Babylon
Neo-Babylonian Revival
Culture was revived in 612 B.C.
Many new temples and palaces were built
Thick walls surrounded the city with a distance of
some 11 miles
Key locations:
Ishtar Gate
Tower of Babel
Palace of Nebuchadnezzar

ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA BABYLON
Babylon
Ishtar Gate
Most impressive
remnant of the great
city
Dominated the wide
processional avenue
and led to the inner city
Partly reconstructed in
the State Museum,
Berlin , Germany

Photo: Sullivan
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA BABYLON
Tower of Babel
Most famous of all the
ziggurats of ancient
Mesopotamia
Has been restored many
times throughout the
centuries
No one really knows how it
actually looked
Photo: Sullivan
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA - BABYLON
Babylon
Palace of Nebuchadnezzar
The most grandiose palace in Babylon
Featured the Hanging Gardens
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Approximately 900 by 600 ft. in size
Has been praised by many historians for its many
splendid features
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
MESOPOTAMIA BABYLON : PRESENT DAY
IRAQ
Photo: Sullivan
ZIGGURAT

ZIGGURAT OF URNAMU
CORNER SERVED BY A LONG FLIGHT OF LAZY STEPS FROM WHICH
A CIRCUITOS RAMP LED OFF FROM AN INTERMEDIATE LANDING.
HUGE PYRAMIDAL TEMPLE TOWERS
HAVING THE FORM OF A TERRACED STEP
PYRAMID OF SUCCESSIVELY RECEDING
STORIES OR LEVELS.
BUILT BY
THE SUMERIANS, BABYLONIAN;ELAMITES,
AND ASSYRIANS AS MONUMENTS TO LOCAL
RELIGIONS.

THE WHITE TEMPLE & ZIGGURAT AT WARKA
THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS
(PERSIAN AND IRANIAN ARCHITECTURE)
CITY OF KHORSABAD/ CITADEL OF SARGON II
(ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE)
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
ANCIENT ISRAEL
Ancient Israel
King Solomons Temple
Built around the 10
th
century B.C.
Located atop Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem
Rectangular structure surrounded by open courtyards
Rebuilt two times due to invaders
The third temple is associated with the Christian New
Testament
Destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
ANCIENT ISRAEL
Photo: Sullivan
ANCIENT NEAR EAST:
ANCIENT ISRAEL
Ancient Israel
Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
is believed to be the last
remnants of Solomons
third temple
Photo: Sullivan
II. MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION
A. ANCIENT SUMER (3200-2000 BC)
Southwestern
territory of the
Valley
Independent cities
conquered by
Sargon the Great
around 2300 BCE
Unpredictable
Weather
Conditions
Evolution of view of
the Sumerian gods
A. ANCIENT SUMER (CONT.)
Significance of Sumerian
Temples
Invention of the Wheel
(around 3200 BCE)
Invention of cuneiform
writing
Very Hard language to
learn
Earliest Sumerian
literature
--worlds oldest poetry
B. OLD BABYLONIA (2000-1600 BCE)
Invasion of semitic
language groups like
the Amorites
Most famous Amorite
ruler = Hammurabi
Hammurabis Code of
Law
-- An Eye for an eye
-- Let the Buyer
Beware
Procedures in Amorite
trials
B. OLD BABYLONIA (CONT)
Some sense of
justice
Some sense of a
welfare state
The Epic of
Gilgamesh
Introduction of
personal religion
Major
mathematical
achievements
Babylonian social
life
C. THE DARK AGE (1600-1300 BCE)
Reasons for the fall of
the Amorites
Horse-drawn chariots
challenge traditional ox-
drawn chariots
Invasion of the Hittites
Kassite Occupation
Prestige of Iron
weapons and
implements
Assimilation of previous
cultural
accomplishments
D. THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE
(1300-612 BCE)
Semitic language
group settling in the
north Tigris area as
early as 3000 BCE
Became skilled in
chariot warfare and
began to conquer
neighbors
Reign of
Sennacherib (705-
681 BCE)
D. THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (CONT)
The Assyrian
capital city:
Nineveh
Palace Library
Assyrians known
for brutality in
warfare
--only
Mesopotamian
civilization to
submit to a queen
Brutality of
Assyrian art
D. THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (CONT)
Assyrian brutality
produced hatred and
rebellions among
subjugated peoples
Sophisticated, far-sighted
and effective military
organization
--invented concept of a
corps of engineers
The defeat of the
Assyrians and the
destruction of Nineveh
E. NEW BABYLONIA (612-539 BCE)
Medes and
Chaldeans defeat
the Assyrians in
612 BCE
Most famous
Babylonian ruler
was
Nebuchadnezzar
The defeat of
Belshazzar by the
Persians in 539
BCE
E. NEW BABYLONIA (CONT)
The ancient city of
Babylon
The Ishtar Gate
The Hanging Gardens
Babylonian astronomical
achievements
Not astrologers
Babylonian court
astronomers and their
diaries
The great ziggarut at the city of Ur
ca. 1200only partially surviving
Ziggarut of king Ur-Nammu,
EXAMPLE OF STANDARD MODEL
The ziggarut at Ur
from a city wall
ziggurat of Choga Zambil, ca. 1250 B.C
The ziggarut at Ur
For an extra 2 points on the first test, tell me the first year in which this photo
could have been taken. First person only.
Think like an historian...
Drawing of the city of Ur
SCULPTURE
crude and primitive
clay, not stone
metal sculpture and jewelry
more sophisticated
Front-piece
Harp
Gold lapis-lazuli
wood
Cylinder Seals
Ornamental Carvings
Goat in a
tree...
The Queens of Urs crown
Lady-in-waiting
to the Queen of Ur


Sacrificed and buried with
the Queen at the time of
her death
CLAY TABLETS
writing medium
religious texts to contracts
with written texts we enter History
documents as insights into peoples
thoughts
as well as records
CLAY TABLETS
CUNEIFORM WRITING
different from modern scripts
written on damp clay with a wedge-
shaped stick
cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing)
CUNEIFORM, CONT
evolved from use of simple symbols
rebus theory
eventually became conventionalized
abstract shapes
used first for business, trade, records
literature came later....
Partial text of Hammurabis law code
ARCHITECTURE IN
PRE- COLUMBIAN AMERICA
PYRAMID OF THE SUN
FORMS PART OF AN IMPORTANT COMPLEX OF
BUILDINGS CENTRED ON A BROAD AVENUE.
LARGEST IN TEOTIHUACAN AND ONE OF THE
LARGEST IN MESOAMERICA.
TEOTIHUACAN CITADEL

CONSISTS OF A LARGE COURT SURROUNDED BY TERRACED PLATFORMS.
LAYOUT IS FOLLOWING A NORTH/SOUTH AXIS ALIGNED 15

TEMPLE OF THE GIANT JAGUAR
IMPRESSIVE EXAMPLE OF A CLASSIC MAYA
TEMPLE PYRAMID
TEMPLE OF THE WARRIORS

ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE STRUCTURES AT CHICHEN ITZA. IT MAY BE THE ONLY
KNOWN LATE CLASSIC MAYA BUILDING SUFFICIENTLY BIG ENOUGH FOR REALLY LARGE
GATHERINGS.
GOVERNORS PALACE
TENOCHTITLAN
ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE AZTECS
PALENQUE
OVERVIEW OF THE CENTRAL PLAZA OF THE MAYAN CITY
OF PALENQUE (CHIAPAS, MEXICO),
AN EXAMPLE OF CLASSIC PERIOD MESOAMERICAN ARCHITECTURE

PALENQUE IS A MEDIUM-SIZED SITE, MUCH
SMALLER THAN SUCH HUGE SITES
AS TIKAL OR COPN, BUT IT CONTAINS
SOME OF THE FINEST ARCHITECTURE,
SCULPTURE, ROOF COMB AND BAS-RELIEF
CARVINGS THAT THE MAYAS PRODUCED.

MACHU PICCHU OLD PEAK : PERU

DRAMATICALLY SITED ON THE SADDLE BETWEEN TWO
MOUNTAINS AND OVERLOOKING THE URUBAMBA RIVER
THE GATE OF THE SUN : TIAHUANACO
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MONUMENTS OF THE GREAT CEREMONIAL SITE
IN THE TITICACA BASIN.
A MEGALITHIC SOLID STONE ARCH OR GATEWAY CONSTRUCTED BY THE
ANCIENT TIWANAKU CULTURE OF BOLIVIA
BUILT AS A FORTRESS TO PROTECT CUZCO, SACRED CITY OF THE INCAS.
A WALLED COMPLEX ON THE NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS OF THE CITY
OF CUSCO, PERU, THE FORMER CAPITAL OF THE INCA EMPIRE.
SACSAHUAMAN