ARCHITECTURE OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

The fertile plains between the twin rivers, Tigris and Euprates were of Mesopotamian art. They did not believe in eternal life but rather
given the name Mesopotamia from the Greek word meaning believed that only gods were immortal.
mesos (middle) and potamos (river). The Sumerians developed the cuneiform script in clay tablets,
It is part of what is known as the Fertile Crescent because of the one of the earliest known forms of written expression.
irrigated farmlands.
Mesopotamia has no natural barriers. Ziggurats are terraced pyramids with temples at the summit,
Known as the “cradle of civilization,” it was here where writing and believed to connect heaven and earth.
government began. The central hall, known as the cella, served as a meeting place for
It is now home to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria. the priests and gods making this belief that temples were often
referred to as waiting rooms.
Ancient Near East cultures: The grand height serves two purposes:
• Sumerian • to stand out among the other structures and appear
• Akkadian more important
• Babylonian • to get the temple closer to the sky
• Assyrian
• Persian Types of Ziggurats:

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: 1. One-stage

Babylonia & Persia

Assyria
Construction Arcuated Columnar
method
Building types Temples & Palaces Palaces on lofty
on artificial platforms platforms
Building Chief temples had Large columnar
characteristics sacred ziggurats halls
(temple tower or 2. Multi-stage
sacred mountain)
Architectural Massive, Light and airy
characteristics monumental and magnificence
grand
Walls Whitewashed & Double mud
painted in color brick walls
Burnt bricks as
accents
Roofs Usually flat Flat timber
roofs
Columns None Columns had
EXAMPLES:
double bull or
double unicorn
White Temple, Uruk
capitals
• earliest development of the ziggurat
Openings No windows Small windows
with horizontal • one-step ziggurat
lintels • dedicated to God Anu
Colossal winged Glazed brick • The name Iraq was derived from Uruk.
Ornaments bulls relief • The White Temple contains a shrine of the god. The
Polychrome glazed shrine is fairly small in comparison to the surrounding
bricks (Assyria) structures. The modest size (61 by 16 feet) could hold
Chiseled alabaster only a select few, most likely these people were
the priests and/or leaders of the city. The central hall,
Bricks were made from clay mixed with chopped straw to known as the cella, was set aside for the divinity and
improve cohesion and bonding. housed a stepped altar. The ancient Sumerians
believed that the gods/goddesses would descend from
Types of bricks : the heavens into the cella and meet with the priests. It is
1. Sun-dried – for ordinary finish because of this belief that the temples were referred to
2. Kiln-Dried – for facing important buildings as waiting rooms.
3. Colored glazed – for decorative purposes
Temple Oval, Khafaje
A. SUMERIAN • an example of a city temple
• walls enclosed the temple from the city
The votive figures stood in attentive prayer before the god with the • Special sanctity was attached to the temple by digging
wide, staring eyes. The stylized hair and beard are characteristic down to virgin soil before its construction. The dug area

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 was filled with clean sand to ensure the purity of the 4. Tower of Babel
foundation. • the builders intended the tower to reach heaven.
• “God at times intervenes with a divisive hand in
B. ASSYRIAN human affairs” by interrupting the construction and
causing a confusion of languages.
EXAMPLES:
Palace of Sargon, Khorsabad D. PERSIAN
• built by King Sargon II
• all buildings arranged around a courtyard • In the 6th century B.C., Cyrus the Great (Father of the
• decorated with relief sculptures and glazed bricks Iranian Nation) established the Persian Empire as the
• gate is guarded by a Lamassu, an Assyrian protective most powerful state in the world.
deity, often depicted as having a human’s head, a body • Darius I (son of Cyrus the Great) ruled the Persian
of an ox or a lion, and bird's wings. Empire from 522-486 B.C. He developed infrastructure
projects, the largest being the building of the new capital
C. BABYLONIAN of Persepolis.
• Xerxes I (son of Darius I) 486 B.C., was known for his
• King Hammurabi, the first king of Babylon, recorded a massive invasion of Greece and his defeat marked the
system of laws called the Code of Hammurabi. decline of the empire.
• He ordered 282 laws engraved in stone and placed in a
public location for everyone to see EXAMPLES:
• King Nebuchadnezzar II (650 B.C.) was the greatest The Palace of Persepolis (City of the Persians)
king of ancient Babylon. • was begun by Darius I
• It was during his reign that Babylon became the largest • was built as a showcase for the empire, designed to awe
city in the world. visitors with its scale and beauty. It is Persian in ideology
and design but international in its superb architecture
EXAMPLES: and artistic execution.
The City of Babylon (Gate of God)
• was the richest ancient city
• was largely the creation of Nebuchadnezzar II
• UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1979
• owes its fame to the many references in the Bible
• was the most famous and the largest city in ancient
Structures in the Palace of Persepolis:
Mesopotamia from 1770-1670 BC.
Gate of All Nations by Xerxes I. Xerxes' name was written in three
Significant Structures in the City of Babylon:
languages and carved on the entrances, informing everyone that
he ordered it to be built.
1. Nebuchadnezzar’s Great Palace
The Apadana (Grand Audience Hall) by Darius I
• was praised for its legendary Hanging Gardens (600
Tachara Palace of Darius & Xerxes, Persepolis. The Tachara is
BC) recorded as one of the seven wonders of the
the smallest of the palace buildings in Persepolis. It was
ancient world
constructed of the finest quality stone. The surface was almost
• plants grew on the roof and terraces and watered by completely black and polished to a glossy brilliance. This surface
a complex irrigation system treatment combined with the high-quality stone is the reason for it
• Nebuchadnezzar had constructed the gardens to being the most intact of all ruins at Persepolis today. Although its
please his homesick wife, Amytis of Media, who mud block walls have completely disintegrated, the enormous
longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her stone blocks of the door and window frames have survived.
homeland Hadish Palace of Xerxes
Tombs of Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III
2. The Ishtar Gate by Nebuchadnezzar II Tripylon (Reception Chamber & Guard Room)
• was dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar The Treasury by Darius served as the armory and storehouse.
• Through the gatehouse is the Processional Way, The Throne Hall or Hall of the Hundred Columns was begun by
over half a mile long, leading to the Temple of 8th Xerxes I and completed by Artaxerxes I. It was constructed for the
gate of Babylon king to receive the nobles and dignitaries. Columns at the throne
• 8th gate of Babylon hall have the double unicorn and the double bull capitals.
• blue glazed tiles with alternating rows of bas-relief of Arch of Ctesiphon (Taq Kasra), Iraq
dragons and lions. • built during the Achamanaid Empire (remnant of the Persian
Empire)
3. Temple of Marduk (God of Babylon) was the center of • was part of the Imperial Palace of Sasanian kings
the state cult. has the largest single-span vault of unreinforced brickwork in
• An impression of power radiated by this massive the world
architecture. Heavily bastioned, built in clay, with its
huge square towers and its crenellated terraces, the Copyright © 2023 by Ar. Ma. Vicenta Sanchez (HOA1 Sub-cluster
main body constituted the actual temple of Marduk, Head)
with an outbuilding attached to the temple. Marduk’s
chief temples at Babylon were the Esagila and This handout was produced by the History of Architecture 1 (HOA1) Sub-
cluster in preparation for S.Y. 2023-24. These pages and any portion
the Etemenanki, a ziggurat with a shrine of Marduk
thereof may not be reproduced or used without the written consent of the
on the top University of Santo Tomas College of Architecture except for brief quotes
or for review

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