NEAR EAST ARCHITECTURE
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
• Started as villages on the flat • Each city-state surrounded by a
land between Tigris and
Euphrates rivers
“Mesopotamia”
• Turned into city-states with
populations of thousands
wall and dominated by a large
- temple
• Society of kings, craftsmen,
soldiers, farmers, priests
• Fought and traded with each
other
• Sometimes would conquer each
other and form an empire
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Mesopotamian Architecture

• City-states of Ur, Babylon, Agade,

Ashur and Damascus
• 2334 BC, King Sargon of Agade
formed the first major empire
• 1792 BC, next by King Hammurabi
• Instituted laws to keep order
• Invention of writing - pictograms
or cuneiform records on clay
tablets
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Mesopotamian Architecture • Mud bricks moulded from straw
and mud used to build
everything from houses to
• Some of the most important early
temples
civilizations developed in Iraq
after c. 4300 BC
• They were based around the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the
area known as the Fertile
Crescent (Mesopotamia)
• A series of city states evolved
some of which expanded into
empires
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Mesopotamian Architecture
• Evolved from Sumerian to
Assyrian, Babylonian to Persian
Architecture
• The floodplains of the rivers
supplied the mud for making
bricks
• Their temples were elevated on
platforms due to climatic factors
• The Sumerians of Southern
Mesopotamia were the first
people to settle in the region
• They built Ziggurats or Holy
Mountains
• A fire altar is found at the top of
a Ziggurat
• Ziggurats four corners were
oriented towards the cardinal
points
• The use of monsters or mythical
beasts in doorways is prevalent
to drive away evil spirits
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Assyrian

• Based in Ashur, biggest empire

under King Ashurbanipal –
conquered Mesopotamia, Syria,
Palestine and Egypt
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Assyrian • The chief architectural ornament
of the Assyrians is the Chilesed
Alabaster
• The Assyrians were often involved
in wars, so their city palaces were • The top of their walls is finished
protected from invasion by strong with battlement cresting
walls and towers
• Their records were written in
cuneiforms or clay tablets
• The system of construction used
by the Assyrians were Arch and
Vault
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Assyrian
• The famous Hanging Gardens is
found in the Palace of
Nebuchadnezzar
• In the absence of windows,
ventilation in Assyrian palaces
were allowed in the interiors
through the Terra Cotta Pipes
• The Hall of Hundred Columns was
built by Darius
• Famous palaces are Palace
Complex of Khorsabad, Palace of
King Saigon and Palace Platform
of Persepolis
• Assyrian Palaces are divided into
apartments:
Seraglio (palace proper)
Harem (private family
apartments)
Khan (service chamber)
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Assyrian
• Ishtar Gate is a strong gatehouse
adomed with colored glazed
• The structures at the Palace bricks showing animal symbols
Platform at Persepolis: of Babylonian Gods on blue
Palace of Darius background
Palace of Xerxes
Hall of Hundred Columns
Propylaea
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Persian
• Begun by Cyrus the Great from
559 to 529 BC
• Covered Mesopotamia, Anatolia,
Eastern Mediterranean, Bactria,
Indus Valley and North Africa
• Darius I had provinces ruled by a
satrap, who guarded the roads,
collected taxes and controlled the
army
• Local peoples were allowed to
keep their religions and customs
• Capital moved from Susa to
Persepolis
• Network of roads linking the
royal court to other parts of the
empire – from Susa in Persia to
Sardis in Anatolia
• Traded raw materials, carpets
and spices
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE
Persian • The Persians developed the
column because of climate and
geology
• Darius and Xerxes tried to
conquer Greece
• Ended with the defeat of Darius III
to Alexander the Great of
Macedonia
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Mesopotamian Architecture • Important Structures:
(Assyrian/Babylonian) Ziggurats
Palace Complexes
• Characteristics:
Massiveness, Monumentality,
Grandeur, Simplicity
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Mesopotamian Architecture • Materials:
(Assyrian/Babylonian) Mud Bricks
Comparative Analysis: • System of Construction:
Arch and Vault
• Plan: • Doorways:
Palaces are elevated on platforms Semi Circular Arches
with room covered by vaults • Mouldings:
• Walls: None
Built with sun dried bricks and • Decorations:
battlement crestings
Chiseled Alabaster Wall Slabs
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Assyrian Architecture • Columns:
Finished with chiseled alabaster None
slab
• Mouldings:
None
• Openings:
• Ornament:
Doors are semi-circular headed
with sculptured monsters Chiseled Alabaster Wall Slab
• Roof:
Externally appeared flat but
covered by brick vaults internally
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Assyrian Architecture • Palace
Principal Buildings: Usually built by Assyrian
• Ziggurat Elements:
Holy Mountains Seraglio
Archaic Ziggurats Palace proper
Rectangular with upper temple Harem
Multi-level Ziggurats Private family apartments
2 to 5 tiers Khan
Assyrian Ziggurats Service chamber
Square in plan with continuous *Palace of Sarbon, Corsabat
ramp and fire altar
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Persian Architecture • Doorways:
• Characteristics: Square Headed
Light and Airy Magnificence, Open • Mouldings:
Type Plan Gorge Mouldings
• Materials: Vertical Scrolls
Stone for Columns, Brick for Wall • Roofing:
Surface, Timber for Roof
Flat Roofing
• System of Construction:
• Decorations:
Columnar and Trabeated
Elaborated Columns
Royal palaces are built on platforms
to achieve monumentality
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Persian Architecture
Comparative Analysis:
• Plan:
Open widely spaced columns
• Wall:
Made of bricks covered with
polychrome brickwork
• Openings:
Windows and doors are square
headed
• Roof:
Flat roof made of timber
• Columns:
Flat & slender with fluted shafts,
15d & scroll, twin horse capital
• Mouldings:
Greek & Egyptian
• Ornament:
Polychrome brickwork
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Persian Architecture
Buildings:

Palace Platform, Persepolis

Propylaea, Xerxes
Palace of Darius
Palace of Cerces
Hypostyle Hall of Cerces
Hall of Hundred Columns
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE
• Each city-state worshipped
their own god for
protection
• People aimed to make
peace with their wrathful
god
GEOGRAPHICAL AND GEOLOGICAL INFLUENCE
Fertile Crescent:
• Marshlands with few natural
advantages aside from water and soil
• Import materials like hardwood and
metals

• Deserts of the Arabian Peninsula

• Mountains and plateau from west to
east
GEOLOGICAL INFLUENCE
• Only materials readily available was
clay, soil, reeds, rushes
• Bricks made of mud and chopped
straw, sun-dried or kiln-fired
• Timber, copper, tin, lead gold, silver
imported
DECORATION
• Colossal winged-bulls guarding chief
portals
• Polychrome glazed bricks in blue,
white, yellow, green
• Murals of decorative continuous stone
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
ZIGGURAT
• Religious buildings built
next to temples
• On top was a small temple
ZIGGURAT
Development:

• Archaic ziggurat
• Two or Three-staged ziggurat
• Seven-staged ziggurat during
the Assyrian period
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Ziggurat at Ur
2000 BC
PALACES
• Kings celebrated their victories,
wealth and power by building
large palaces
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Palace Platform at Persepolis

• Ruins still exist

• 50 years to build
• People from all over the
empire were involved in its
construction
• Variety of architectural styles
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
Palace Platform at Persepolis

Parts:
• Audience halls, reception
halls, storerooms for tributes
and valuables, military
quarters, apadana – tallest
building, with 36 columns of
20m height
DWELLINGS
• Known as Megaron
• Entrance at end rather than
on the long sides
• Portico - colonnaded space
forming an entrance or
vestibule, with a roof
supported on one side by
columns
• Suited to climate of Anatolian
plateau
REFERENCES
• APR Review Center (History of Architecture by Ar. Allan Christopher P.
Luna)
• CDEP Review Center (History of Architecture by Ar. Kevin Espina)