ARCHITECTURE HISTORY

Arch. Eng. Shireen Abdelrahman

بين ما بالد عمــارةالنهريين

Babylonian ,البابلية

Assyrianاآلشورية & Persian الفارسية

Semi-circle volts used for doors lintels Decorated entrances was with architrave of painted

mudالطين Pointed arches Used originally in Khorsabad No use of windows , lightings and ventilations depends

on doors and circular holes in the walls and the volts Straight lintels from wood and stones used by Persians High towers Used at the entrances Carved stone sheets Used to cover the entrances

General Characters

Roofs

Roofs are Vaulted inside and straight outside Isolations used for raining and drainage High parapets المتاريسat the roofs for privacy Domes used for roofing small rooms with width not

more than 5m Persians roofs are straights using wooden columns Persians building was not climatic resistance but

Assyrians was brick vaulted that it remains

Columns

No use of columns, towers are the significant feature of their architecture

Persian columns are tall and thin with small diameters due to light loads of the wooden roofs

Columns are with high base مرتفعة قاعدة and معdouble horse or caws capitals

Ornamentations

Ornamentations are not that important , they depends on painted ceramic and glazed tiles.

Persians Influenced by Egyptians ornamentations using Egyptians capitals األعمدة of lotus and Ionic تيجانGreek columns and the red rose in the design

Assyrians and Babylonians depends on strong affects of the elevations using the height towers

Dominants use of pink, blue and green colors and different color of ceramics

Plans Assyrians and Babylonians Temple and palaces

plans based on Ziggurats from brick height 15m for protection and defenses والدفاع للحماية

Reaching the temples and the palaces thought ramps or steps

Halls are with narrow spans around square court due to roofing materials structure

Towers are significant part of the plan used for astrologyالتنجيم

Architectural Characteristics There are Three types of architectural elements : Cities and

houses, temples, and palace

Temples and palaces are the outstanding building مباني type varied during the various period of the معلقةMesopotamian civilization النهرين بين ما . حضارة

The courtyard house was the dominant house form originated from the Sumerian used in all the followed civilizations.

• It consisted of a grouping of rooms around a courtyard inward looking with no opening to the outside, except for the entrance.

• Houses were grouped together sometimes sharing walls to form the dominant buildings of the city.

• Interspaced within the houses are found places for commerce and industrial production.

Summer City

Summer City

Narrow passages and roads distribute people to city different parts.

cities were usually walled with thick massive brick walls punctuated with evenly distributed towers بالتساوي موزعة أبراج like the ziggurat تتخللهاprecinct at Ur, the palaces at Khorsabad and Parsepolis and the city of Babylon all had such walls

Temples started during the Sumerian period ,continued as a common during the Babylonian period and declined in importance to the period of the Persian Empire الفارسية . االمبراطورية

Sumerian temples were raised on Ziggurats and divided into chief temples الكبيرة located outside the city and the city temple located المعابدwithin the fabric of the city المدينة نسيج while there is no traceفيBabylonian temples. البابلية للمعابد اثر يوجد ال

The Sumerian Palaces became more prominent بروزا and important أكثرthan temples during the Assyrian period, like the Palace of Sargon at Khorsabad and the scale and complexity of palaces increased from the Assyrian period to the period of the Persian Empire like the palace of Nebuchadnezzar نصر نبوخذ during the Neo-Babylonian civilization with قصرits hanging garden المعلقة بابل .حدائق

Assyria, imitating Babylonian architecture البابلية الحضارة , تقاليدbuilt its palaces and temples of brick, even when stone was the natural building material of the country

later Assyrian architects began to use stone as well as brick. The walls of Assyrian palaces were lined with sculptured and colored slabs of stone, instead of being painted

The Palaces at Parsepolis shows the level reached in palace development in the ANE. There was no temple at the Parsepolis palace القصر في معبد هناك يكن . لم

Babylonian temples are massive structures of crude brick منالخام دعامات supported by buttresses ,الطوب من بدعم

the rain being carried off by drains أقنية such the drain at Ur مدينةwhich made of lead اور الرصاص من . صنعت

The use of brick led to the early development of the pilaster العمودالتاج ذو الجدارية and column, and of frescoesالمستطيل andاللوحات

enameled tiles المصقول . البالط

The walls were brilliantly colored, and sometimes plated with zinc or gold, as well as with tiles.

Painted terra-cotta التيراكوتا الكون cones for torches طالء.were also embedded in the plasterللمشاعل

The gardens of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia were of three kinds: large, enclosed game reserves such as the garden of Edenعدن described by the Hebrews in the Old TestamentPleasure gardens, which were essentially places where shade and cool water could be privately enjoyed. Sacred enclosures rising in man-made terraces, planted with trees and shrubs, forming an artificial hill such as the Hanging Garden of Babylon.

Gardens Types

Gardens Types

Gardens Types

Building Materials

The buildings materials used were mud bricks, stone and timber.

Clay was abundant وفيرand compressed in moulds and dried in the sun to provide mud bricks that was widely used in the construction of all types of buildings.

Stone and timber were however scarce. Wood used for construction, being imported from Lebanon and applied mainly for roofing or for producing tools and ornaments.

Stone was used by the Assyrians for relieve carving and column support العمود نحت من Stone was . للتخفيفextensively imported from Persia. Which is rich stone resources because of its mountain.

The Babylonians also introduce glazed brick as a finishing in the façade of their gates and prominent buildings المباني البارزة

 

Construction System and Technologies Materials

The predominance of mud brick as a building material led to the development of construction methods appropriate to its physical properties.

Structurally brick are weak compared to stone. so the walls of buildings were very thick and reinforce with buttresses .which is evident in the Sumerian temples دعامات

Vaulting and domes were also used in roofing due to weak nature of mud bricks. Rooms were usually roofed with domes or vaults. Tunnel vaults were used to cover long narrow oblong spaces ضيقة مستطيلة . فراغات

Mesopotamian civilizations النهرين بين ما had حضارةknowledge of the principles of vault and dome construction and Column construction was not popular.

Persian architecture was column in nature, with column treatment incorporating the Egyptian and Greek civilizations.  

 

Architectural Organizing principles

three principles are used in organizing both architectural formand the city.1. All architectural elements have a courtyard typeorganization. Thus houses, palaces and built temples are allorganized around courtyards. 2. Buildings, especially significant ones, are usually raisedabove the ground on a mountain.

3. The city fabric is organized in an organic order with streetspenetrating into neighborhoods االحياء تخترق and the الشوارع

whole city fenced.

Also three forces were identified for the prevailing of theseArchitectural organization principle; A. the nature of the geography of the region, B. symbolism and meaning to the people C. social factors.

A. Nature of Geography

Geography is a strong factor in shaping both the spatial organization of buildings and their built form. The limited construction materials except mud which is the most common and weakness of mud limited ability to construct wide spaces and to go beyond two stories in height.

Rebuilding practice because mud buildings were short lived, gradually led to the elevation of buildings that once elevated and secured from the floods of Tigris and Euphrates rivers و دجلة increased in scale and complexity with time and , الفراتresulted in the staged towers or ziggurats of the temples.

Plan of the ancient city of Babylon, 500 B.C.

.B. Symbolism of People الشعب رمزية • The role of symbolism as much as of physical and natural forces is evident in the case of the Ziggurat temples and palaces

• In an area where the forces of nature are unpredictable غير the Sumerians had evolved a well-defined religious , متوقعةbeliefs of which monumental architecture give expression.

• Ziggurat was a ladder to the sky السماء الى so the God سلمcame down to communicate with the chief priest الكهنة كبيرand climbing the ladder offered a holy experience التجربةwhich gave impressive symbolic meaning55656564 المقدسة

• Palaces expressed the power of Kings, who were in competition with gods for attention.

.

Assyria architecture expressed the authority and power of the king along with the use of the regional practice of courtyard construction.

The palace at Khorsabad shows the decline in the symbolic importance of the temple compared to the palace of the king

In Persia Empire, The scale and treatment of the palace at Parsepolis is a reflection of the power of the Sovereign king ال لسلطة .انعكاس

السيادية ملك The availability of stone enabled the Persian emperors

to building the huge reception rooms of the palace, while the general form of the palace reflects the practices of courtyard construction and fortified buildings المباني . المحصنة

C. Social Concerns

Social concerns contributed to the evolution of the principles of the creation of architectural and urban form

Warfare الحروبwas a common so there was need for defense and protection from invading armies الغازية . الجيوشSo building walls with towers was dictated for defense و أسوار

للدفاع . ابراج

The Ziggurat tower also developed to last defense where people could flee to when they are under attack الناس كان

لهجوم يتعرضون عندما . يفرون

Relative safety of both physical and spiritual, of the temple precinct المعبد enable to repel any attack , حرم هجوم أي لصد

The courtyard house result of privacy needs which is able to seclude صالته the private domain of the house from theقطعpublic.

Modernized Warfare" Was Known 45 Centuries Ago

Mesopotamian Noah and the Great Flood

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