1. ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA ARCHITECTURE
Dr. Wang Qi
Department of Architecture and Built Environment

2. Between the rivers – the cradle of western history and architecture
Irrigated by two rivers
The earliest literary civilization
State-cities

3. Sumerian State-Cities (4000 – 2350 BC)
Eridu – the oldest known city 3800 BC
The enlarged shrine standing on a HIGH PLATFORM

4. Sumerian State-Cities
ZIGGURAT
A massive step tower forming part of temple

5. Sumerian State-Cities
Tepe Gawra, 4000 BC
Two Temples, Shrine, Dwellings and Chambers
SMALL SPACES, FLAT ROOF, NO COLUMNS

6. Sumerian State-Cities
SUN-BAKED BRICKS AS MAIN MATERIAL

7. Changing rulers
Akkadians, arrived at about 2350 BC, unified kingdom ruled by one warrior-king.
Akkadian empire was short-life and was overthrown by Guti at 2150 BC. The Guti didn’t have power and skill to rule the land.
Soon after less than one century, the reminiscent allegiances to Sumerian city-states returned – called Neo-Sumerian Period.
The most famous city was Ur.

8. Neo-Sumerian Period (2150 – 2000 BC)
Maze like residential district with courtyards everywhere
Ur – a walled coastal city worshiping Nannar, the god of moon, located near the mouth of Euphrates

9. Neo-Sumerian Period (2150 – 2000 BC)
A large Ziggurat in the middle of the city with stairs leading from three directions, buttressed wall and temple on the top
Ur – a walled coastal city worshiping Nannar, the god of moon, located near the mouth of Euphrates

10. Hammurabi’s Babylon (1770 – 1595 BC)

11. Hittites – the north ruler (1370 – 1205 BC)
Hattusa – the capital of Hittite Empire
A strong fortified city built in mountain, by stone, clay and timber
Followed topological feature
Strong sense of defence
To the south lay an outer city of about 1 km², with elaborate gateways decorated with reliefs showing warriors, lions, and sphinxes. Four temples were located here, each set around a porticoed courtyard, together with secular buildings and residential structures.

12. Hittites – the north ruler (1370 – 1205 BC)
To the south lay an outer city of about 1 km², with elaborate gateways decorated with reliefs showing warriors, lions, and sphinxes. Four temples were located here, each set around a porticoed courtyard, together with secular buildings and residential structures.
Hattusa – the capital of Hittite Empire
A strong fortified city built in mountain, by stone, clay and timber
Surroudned by hills and agriculture lands, and woods
Plenty of building materials

13. Hittites – the north ruler (1370 – 1205 BC)
is the earliest battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and formations are known. It was probably the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving perhaps 5,000–6,000 chariots
Battle of Qadesh (1274 BC)
Hitties army VS. Egypian Army of Ramesses II

14. Assyrian – the south ruler(2500 – 608 BC)
Assyrians were great warrior. They controlled the south Mesopotamia after Babylon and great three great captials – Calah (Nimrud), Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin) and Nineveh (Kuyunjik)
Lamassu – a middle east version of Centaur was their majestic icon.

15. Assyrian – the south ruler(2500 – 608 BC)
Archaeology discovery made in middle of 19th century, distributed in many countries.
Khorsabad by Sargon II, 720 BC
Nineveh by King Sennacherib, 800 – 632 BC

16. Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 – 539 BC)
Nebuchadnezzar II’s (604 – 562 BC) magic city
Tower of Babel (a Ziggurat) and the hanging Garden forms the immortal impression of Babylon

17. Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 – 539 BC)
The remains of Babylon has revealed us a grant city built by sun-baked bricks, with massive structure and small chambers.

18. Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 – 539 BC)
The archaeological site of Babylon has reveal a fortified city riding over the Euphrates, with Ziggurat and temple in the middle, and palace offside on the north boundary.

19. Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 – 539 BC)
Ishtar Gate the most significant architectural icon in Babylon
A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin by material excavated by Robert Koldewey in the 1930s.
14M high and 30Mwide.
The excavation ran from 1902 to 1914, and, 45 feet of the foundation of the gate was uncovered.
and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living.
And the dead will outnumber the living.
Parts of the gate and lions from the Processional Way are in various other museums around the world. Only four museums acquired dragons, while lions went to several museums. The Istanbul Archaeology Museum has lions, dragons, and bulls. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Denmark, has one lion, one dragon and one bull. The Detroit Institute of Arts houses a dragon. The Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden, has one dragon and one lion; the Louvre, the State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Oriental Institute in Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, each have lions. One of the processional lions was recently loaned by Berlin's Vorderasiatisches Museum to the British Museum

20. Neo-Babylonian Empire (612 – 539 BC)
Nebuchadnezzar Portrait by William Blake (1757 – 1827)
How Nebuchadnezzar looks like? – A fierce beast-man or A majestic King?
Don’t let Bias affect your judgement in the History of Architecture

21. Persian Empire (550 – 330 BC) Darius’ Persepolis, 518 BC
Highly decorated columns and beams
High relief, rich decoration on architrave and complex capital
Stone as main material
Influence on Indian Architecture by military campaign of Alexander the Great
19th Century Reconstruction illustration by Flandin and Coste

22. Persian Empire (550 – 330 BC) Darius’ Persepolis, 518 BC
High density of columns and small span
Xerxes’ the Hall of a Hundred Columns is the largest space in the palace and can contain people in the 76.2M square room.

23. Persian Empire (550 – 330 BC)
Gate of All Nations guarded by pair of Lamassus
Load-bearing wall and beam
Panorama View of Persepolis on which the remains of columns are obvious in distance