Chapter one Pre- History of Architecture

Pre-History of Architecture

1. MESOPOTAMIA HARTDS 1

2. Map of Mesopotamia Land between Rivers

3. Architectural Marvels

4. Architectural Character MASSIVE MONUMENTAL GRAND

5. BABYLON

6. Ziggurat -(in ancient Mesopotamia) a rectangular stepped tower, sometimes surmounted by a temple. Ziggurats are first attested in the late 3rd millennium BC and probably inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9).

7. A ziggurat is a built raised platform with four sloping sides—like a chopped-off pyramid. Ziggurats are made of mud-bricks—the building material of choice in the Near East, as stone is rare. Ziggurats were not only a visual focal point of the city, they were a symbolic one, as well—they were at the heart of the theocratic political system (a theocracy is a type of government where a god is recognized as the ruler, and the state officials operate on the god’s behalf). So, seeing the ziggurat towering above the city, one made a visual connection to the god or goddess honored there, but also recognized that deity's political authority.

8. Digital reconstruction of the White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk (modern Warka ), c. 3517-3358 B.C.E

9. Archaeological site at Uruk (modern Warka ) in Iraq

10. Ruins of the ziggurat and temple of Nabu at Borsippa , Babylonia, Iraq. It is an example of a ziggurat with 2 or more tier or stages. Modern scholarship concludes that the Sumero -Akkadian builders of the Ziggurat in reality erected it as a religious edifice in honour of the local god Nabu , called the "son" of Babylon's Marduk

11. The Ziggurat of Ur is a Neo-Sumerian ziggurat in what was the city of Ur near Nasiriyah , in present-day Dhi Qar Province, Iraq. The structure was built during the Early Bronze Age but had crumbled to ruins by the 6th century BCE of the Neo-Babylonian period, when it was restored by King Nabonidus

12. Ziggurat of Ur stairway

13. Ziggurat at Chogja Zanbil Elam Chogha Zanbil is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. It is one of the few existing ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. It lies approximately 30 km southeast of Susa and 80 km north of Ahva z.

14. Hanging Garden of Babylon (A seven base ziggurat) Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II was said to have constructed the luxurious Hanging Gardens in the sixth century B.C. as a gift to his wife, Amytis , who was homesick for the beautiful vegetation and mountains of her native Media (the northwestern part of modern-day Iran).

15. Tower of Babel Nehemiah 8:4 (ESV)

16. The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city. It was part of a grand walled processional way leading into the city

17. Ishtar Gate Digital Recreation

18. Ishtar Gate now housed in Berlin Musseum

19. PERSIA

20. Darius I built the greatest palace at Persepolis on the western side of platform. This palace was called the Apadana . The King of Kings used it for official audiences. The work began in 518 BC, and his son, Xerxes I, completed it 30 years later. Builder: Darius I, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I Events: Battle of the Persian Gates; Macedonian ... Founded: 6th century BC Periods: Achaemenid Empire

21. The largest hall at Persepolis is known as the Hall of a Hundred Columns, or Throne Room, measuring almost 70m square and supported by 100 stone columns. The Palace was the second-largest building at Persepolis, built during the reigns of Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. Several theories have been put forward as to the function of this hall, including that of a storage room for the tribute brought at the New Year celebrations: after a procession in the courtyard, the vassal delegations would have placed their tribute at the feet of the King of Kings, seated in the hall. An impressive array of broken columns remains, and reliefs on the doorjambs at the back (south) of the building show a king, soldiers and representatives of 28 subject nations.

22. Persepolis, reconstruction of the Apadana by Chipiez

23. A bull at the northern gate Hall of 100 Columns, one of the southern gates Hall of 100 Columns, relief of carriers Hall of 100 Columns, one of the southern gates, audience

24. ASSYRIA

25. Sargon's palace ( Dur Sharrukin ) is an immediate predecessor of Sennasherib's Palace, with its Hanging Gardens, at Nineveh, to the south west of Khorsabad . The outer wall of the Sargon's fortress covered an area of three square kilometres and had seven fortified gates. In times of siege, it became an armed encampment.

26. Floor Plan of the Palace of Sargon

27. A lamassu from the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin .

28. END THANK YOU.