cst sabe a.a. 2018/19 history of architecture i …...2. history writing first developed as a means...

ARCH1162_HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I1

CSTSABEA.A. 2018/19

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE_I

|ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA|

Dr. Manlio MICHIELETTO

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Column base, Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix, 1986

ARCH1162_HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I

INDEX

1. Geography2. History

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ARCH1162_HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I

1. Geography

4ARCH1162_HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I




1. Geography

2. (Pre)HistoryArchitecture is an ancient and necessary art, for peoplehave always sought shelter from the elements, and thus thebeginnings of architecture are part of prehistory, the periodbefore the development of written language.

Prehistory begins as early as 35,000BCE and extends toabout 3000 BCE in the lands of the eastern Mediterraneanand until well after 2000 BCE in parts of western Europe.



2. (Pre)HistoryPREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS AND MEGALITH CONSTRUCTIONSHuman settlement seems to have originated at the smallclan or family level, with a sufficient number of peopleliving together to provide mutual assistance in hunting anfood gathering and joint protection against enemies.

Among the earliest huts to be discovered are those at sitein the central Russian Plain, dated to about 14,000 BCE.



2. (Pre)HistoryPREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS AND MEGALITH CONSTRUCTIONSExcavations of town sites suggest that larger communitieswere a much later development.

The existence of urban settlements depends on anagricultural surplus that enables some people to assumespecialized roles (priest, ruler, merchant, craftworker) notdirectly tied to the production of food.



2. (Pre)HistoryPREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS AND MEGALITH CONSTRUCTIONSThe inhabitants were farmers and hunters who buried theirdead below the hut floors.

Residents gained access to the dwellings across roofs, whilehigh openings in the walls were for ventilations.

Mud-brick walls and a post-and-lintel timber frameworkenclosed rectangulas spaces that abutted the neighboringhouses so that together they established a perimeter townwall.



2. (Pre)HistoryPREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS AND MEGALITH CONSTRUCTIONS



2. (Pre)HistoryPREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS AND MEGALITH CONSTRUCTIONSThe significant prehistoric architectural achivements ofwestern Europe were magalith constructions, composed oflarge stones or boulders (megalith literally means« great stone »), many of which were erected forastronomical abservatories or communal tombs for theprivileged classes.



2. (Pre)HistoryPREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS AND MEGALITH CONSTRUCTIONSThe ability to work large stones and to observefundamental astronomical phenomena merges in the mostcelebrated of megalith contructions, Stonehenge, locatedon Salisbury Plain in Southwestern England. 2900BCE



2. HistoryThe distinction between the prehistoric world and historictimes involves the development of written language, whichwas achieved by about 3500 BCE by the Sumerians in theMiddle Eastern lands of present-day Iraq and Iran.

There, in the fertile lands between the Tigris and Euphratesrivers (named Mesopotamia or « between the rivers » by theancient Greeks; ancient Assyria and Babylonia), the earliestliterate civilizations developd in independent urbancommunities called city-states.



2. History



2. HistoryWriting first developed as a means of documentinggovernmental transactions and was only later employed forwhat might be called literary purposes, reflecting thelegends, glorious deeds, hopes, and fears of the people.

In about 3000 BCE, perhaps as a result of contacts withMesopotamia, another center of civilization emerged innortheast Africa, along the banks of the Nile river in Egypt.

These two regions, Egypt and Mesopotamia, areconsidered the cradles of Western history and architecture.



2. History



2. HistorySUMERIANSSometime around 4000 BCE, a nomadic people called theAl Ubaid, Indo-Europeans from the steppes of central Asia,migrated into southern Mesopotamia from the regioan eastof the Caspian Sea.

They settled in the fertile valley, mastered the arts ofagriculture, and developed systems of irragation to use theflood waters of the Euphrates.



2. HistorySUMERIANS



2. HistorySUMERIANSTheir civilization, which lasted until about 2350 BCE, isknown as Sumerian, and the typical form of theirsettlements was the city-state, a political and religiouscenter devoted to serving gods based on natural elements.

Urban communities developed around religious shrines,the dwelling places of the gods and the repositories forsurplus food stores, and thus there were monumentaltemple complexes at the heart of Sumerian cities.



2. HistorySUMERIANS



2. HistorySUMERIANSMost Sumerian buildings were executed in sun-bakedbrick, a material easily obtained by shaping mud in moldsand leaving it to dry for several weeks in the sun, but theresulting brick is not particularly resistant to weathering.

As a result, much of Sumerian architecture is known onlyfrom foundations and lower sections of walls.

Roofs were fabricated from lightweight wooden membersor reeds that could not span great distances, so there wereno large interior spaces.



2. HistorySUMERIANS



2. HistorySUMERIANSIn both Sumerian and later Mesopotamian architecture,important buildings were given additional durability byhaving weather-resistant casing for the brick, and greaterdignity by being raised on a platform.



2. HistorySUMERIANSSuch was the case at Uruk, were the so-called White Templewas built (ca. 3500-3000 BCE) on a forty-foot high(ca.13m) base of rubble from earlier buildings and providedwith a protective coat of whitewash over its sun-dried brickwhich was laid in panels between sloping buttresses.



2. HistorySUMERIANS



2. HistorySUMERIANSEntrance to the temple was through a chamber in the longside, so that a « bent axis » led from the ouside into thecourtyard and sanctuary.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)This period witnessed the development of urban templeforms, particularly the temple elevated on an artificialmound, or ziggurat.

Commonly constructed of sundried brick bonded withbitumen, reed matting, or rope, ziggurats were finished witha weather-resistant exterior layer of kiln-fired brick.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)From a rectangular base, the ziggurat rose with battered orinward-sloping walls in a series of stepped platforms,culminating in a high temple at the top.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)A flight of stairs set in the center of one side connected thetemple to the ground.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)Ziggurats were essentially stepped platfomrs designed toelevate the temples to the gods so that the latter mightdescend from the heavens and ensure the prosperity of thecommunity.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)Symbolically, the ziggurat may have represented themountains whence the Sumerians came. To make their godsfeel at home in the lowlands of the river valley, theSumerians and their seccessors in Mesopotamia may haveaspired to re-create their highland dwelling place.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)Raising the temple well above the elevation of the valleymay also have reflected a desire to protect the sacredprecint from flood waters; it certainly gave it visualprominence in the city.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)Little remains of the ziggurats constructed during the briefNeo-Sumerian interlude.

Sun-dried brick is not sufficiently durable to withstand theweather, and once this outer casing was removed byscavengers, the earthen core of ziggurats erodedconsiderably.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)Of those lofty artificial mountains that towered overMesopotamian cities, only the ziggurat at Ur (ca. 2100 BCE)remains with some of its features intact.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)In contrast to the grand temple complexes, the houses of theordinary population were set in densely packedneighborhoods.

Plan were roughly orthogonal, and houses were constructedaround open courtyards that provided light and fresh air toall rooms.

To the street, the houses presented a blank wall, therebyensuring privacy. Courtyard houses continue to the presentday to be typical of Mediterranean and Middle Easterncommunities.



2. HistoryNEO-SUMERIANS (ca. 2150-2000 BCE)



2. HistoryBABILONIANSBabylon developed as a major city, with a great temple toMarduk, who was considered the king of the gods.



2. HistoryNEO-BABILONIANS



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cst sabe a.a. 2018/19 history of architecture i …...2. history writing first developed as a means...

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