AR 120: History Of Architecture 1

2nd Qtr 2009-2010

TThS 9-1030, 1030-12 S413

Ealdama

West Asiatic
Architecture
Reference: History of Architecture by Sir
Banister Fletcher, 17th ed.

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internally and externally, not with glazed bricks, but with

alabaster or limestone slabs carved with low-bas relief and
inscriptions.
In Persia there were hard, colored limestones
which were used in the building of Susa and Persepolis, and
timber was used for the roofs while Persian tiles have
always been famous for their beauty of texture and color.

Influences
Geographical.
Geographically speaking, Babylonia and Assyria were one
country which ancient writers called Assyria. Just as the
pyramids and early monuments of Egypt clustered first
around the Nile, so in Chaldea the earliest building appear
to have been at the mouth of the two famous rivers of
Western Asia, the Tigris and the Euphrates.
In Egypt civilization spread southwards from
Memphis to Philas, whereas in Western Asia it advanced
northwards from Babylon in Chaldea to Nineveh in Assyria,
and thus in both countries it followed the natural course,
inland from the sea.
On the east of Babylonia and Assyria was ancient Persia,
which, under Cyrus and Darius, extended over the high
plateau of Iran from the Tigris to the Indus.

Geological.
Babylonia or Chaldea is an alluvial district of thick mud and
clay deposited by the two rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates. Such soil, in which no stone was found and no
trees would grow, was eminently suitable for the making of
bricks, which thus became the usual building material in
Babylonia.
The walls were constructed of crude, sun-dried
bricks faced with kiln-baked bricks of different colors.
There were also bitumen springs to be found, and in early
times not bitumen or pitch was used as cementing
material, and mortar of calcareous earth in later periods.
In Assyria there was plenty of stone in the
mountains to the north, but the Assyrian followed the
Babylonians in the use of brick; though they faced the walls

Climatic
Chaldea was, by reason of its situation around the river
deltas, a region of swamps and floods, besides which
torrents of rain fell for weeks at a time, and these
conditions were aggravated during the long summer by
unhealthy, miasmic exhalations.
Therefore elevated platforms on which to build
towns and palaces were desirable. Assyria, nearer the
mountains and farther from the river mouths than Chaldea,
had a similar estimate but with fewer swamps and lesser
miasma, but any climatic difference had little effect on
architecture, as Assyrians followed the Babylonian style.
The Dry, hot climate of the high table-land of
Persia was striking contrast to the damp of the low-lying
plains of the Mesopotamia, and it accounts for the
innovation of open columned halls in the palaces of Susa
and Persepolis.

Religious

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 West Asiatic Architecture

The polytheism of Babylonia and Assyria was variously

expressed, in the worship of heavenly bodies, divisions of
the universe, and local deities. The priests, as depositories
of wisdom, arrogated to themselves the power of reading
the stars, of divination, and to interpreting the will of the
gods, and for these astrologer-priests the towering
ziggurats or temple observatories were erected. The
Babylonians and Assyrians were not great tomb builders as
they had not the strong belief of the Egyptians in a future
life.
The religion of the Persians based on the
teachings of Zoroaster, was a system of ethical forces, good
and evil at war from the beginning of time, with a belief in
the final triumph of good. Fire was held to be the
manifestation of good, and fire worship needed no temples,
but only altars for the sacrificial flame, and thus in Persia we
must not look for temple remains, nor expect religion to
have exercised much influence on architecture.

Social
In Babylon, a powerful priestly class arrogated to itself the
learning known as Chaldean wisdom. The degree of
civilization reached by the Babylonians was extraordinary:
they had an elaborate legal system, cities had rights and
charters, there were feudal holdings, a system of police and
even a postal service. They practiced a cuneiform system
of writing on clay tablets which have proved more lasting
than the Egyptian records on perishable papyrus.
The Babylonians were
primarily traders in origin
and commercial life
flourished. The people
were divided into nobles
with hereditary estates, a
landless class of freemen,
and lastly slaves, a social
system that is not only
Medieval but almost
modern in some aspects.

In Assyria a military
autocracy with a conscript army was the dominating class.

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The Assyrians were fighters and sportsmen rather than

traders like the Babylonians. Assyrian wall sculptures form
an illustrated history of the battles and exploits from
monarchs; there is little reference to religion, with its
sacrificial rites, on these delicately incised slabs, which are
devoted to war and chase, and the trail of cruelty is over
them all.

Towering ziggurats or temple

observatories were erected for
astrologer-priests who studied the
stars

The Persian domination was due to the military superiority

of this hardy, upland race, which gradually imposed its
civilization on Western Asia under the rule of the Satraps.
They were soldiers all; landowners as horsemen and people
as infantry.
It is therefore not surprising that the Assyrians
and Persians erected lordly palaces in preference to
stupendous temples and tombs.
Here again, the colossal nature of building
undertakings points to the social conditions that prevailed;
for the thousands of prisoners taken in battle raised those
enormous platforms on which the palaces of Nineveh,
Babylon, and Persepolis were placed. It is estimated that
10,000 man labored for twelve years on the platform of
Nineveh.

AR 120: History Of Architecture 1

2nd Qtr 2009-2010

TThS 9-1030, 1030-12 S413

Ealdama
Historical
The historical period is taken to begin c.3000BCE with the
bringing to perfection of the art of writing and the full
development of urban life; but as in the case of Egypt, the
Mesopotamian civilization had been shaping many centuries
previously. There are remains of important buildings that
can be ascribed to an archaic stage, c.3500-300BCE. There
are four main historical periods:

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of Memphis and Thebes caused the introduction of the

column into Persian architecture, though in curious and
grotesque forms.
The Persians under Darius invaded the Greek
mainland but they were defeated at Marathon (BC 490)
and a season expedition under Xerxes was likewise
defeated at Salamis and Platoea (BC 480-479). Under
Alexander the Great (BC 333-323) Persia became a
Greek province.

1. The Babylonian Period (BCE 3000-1250). Little is

known of this period until about BCE 2500 when rivalry
existed between the Babylonian cities. In BCE 2250 the
great King Hammurabi established the domination of
Babylon. The Babylonian power, however, later declined
under the attacks of Hittites and Kassites, until BCE 1700
Assyria became a separate kingdom.
2. Assyrian Period (BC 1250-612). The Assyrians
conquered the Babylonians in BC 1275 and remained the
great military power of Western Asia until the
destruction of Nineveh in BCE 606. Sargon, most
famous of Assyrian Kings, defeated the Egyptians, and like
many a conqueror, he was also a great builder, as is
testified by his magnificent palace at Khorsabad. With
incursions by the Medes decline set until in BCE 606,
Nineveh was captured and destroyed, and the Assyrian
Empire divided. The new Babylonian only lasted 70 years.
3. Neo Babylonian Period, (BC 612-539). Babylonian
leader was Nabopolassar, a Chaldean. He was succeeded
by his son, Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 BCE) of bible
fame, despoiler of Jerusalem and responsible for the
captivity of the children of Israel from 597-538 BCE. He
is lastingly associated with the wonders of Babylon, its
palaces, hanging gardens and towered walls. The dynasty
ended with Nabonidus, defeated by Persian King Cyrus in
539 BCE.
4. Persian Period (BC 539-331). The domination of
Persia over Western Asia and her struggles for a further
extension of power is reflected in her architecture.
Persia conquered Greek colonists of Asia Minor and the
recurring vertical scrolls in Persian column capitals is
probably derived from Greek examples. The Persian
conquest extended to Egypt and there seems no doubt
that the impression produced by the marvelous buildings

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 West Asiatic Architecture

Architectural Character

Babylonian-Assyrian architecture is characterized by

Massiveness, monumentality and grandeur. Grandeur
was produced by the towering masses of palaces and
stepped ziggurats which were planted on great platforms
and approached by broad stairways and ramps.

The Persians continued the use of flanking monsters in

doorways. The outstanding feature of Persian ornament is
their mastery in the preparation and application of pure
color to glazed bricks. The Persians, like the Assyrians,
reserved to their ornament for special positions, in contrast
to the Egyptians who spread it broadcast over their
unbroken wall surfaces.

The Assyrian palace is designed for both internal and

external effect, (in contrast to the Egyptian temple which,
behind the massive entrance is surrounded by a plain,
forbidding girdle wall.)

Twin bull capital from

Persepolis, as
restored by sculptor
Donato Bastiani.

The system of construction used

by the Assyrians is principally
one of arch and vaults.

This column capital

once supported a
roof beam in the
Apadana of Darius I
(521-486 BCE.).

The arch is the principal feature

and was formed by horizontal
corbelled courses or with
radiating vouissoirs using
bricks.
The Assyrians developed blocks
of sufficient size to span wide
openings. The Assyrians also
developed the pointed arch
which was employed as early
as BCE 722 in the drain, under
the palace at Khorsabad.

Comparative Analysis

Pointed arch and vault was

developed by the Assyrians

Persian Architecture, like the Assyrian, Is principally one

of royal palaces, but it is characterized by a light and airy
magnificence in contrast with the ponderous solidity of
Egyptian and the towering monumentality of Assyrian
architecture. The style is columnar and trabeated with
widely spaced columns.
Persian columns were long and slender with highly moulded
bases, fluted shafts and capitals of recurring vertical
scrolls. Sometimes these columns were surmounted by
twin bulls, unicorns, horses, griffins on the backs of
which were placed the cross-beams of the roof.

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PLANS
The Assyrians, who throughout this comparative
table are taken to include Babylonians, erected
temples and palaces on artificial platforms, reached
by flights of steps, 30 to 50 ft. above the plain, for
defense and protection against malaria.
Halls and rooms grouped round open quadrangles
were long and narrow, so as to be easy to vault.
Ziggurats, which rose tower-like in diminishing
terraces to the temple observatory at the top, had
their angles to the cardinal points, thus differing from
Egyptian pyramids whose sides were so placed.
Assyrian buildings were designed for both internal
and external effect, in contrast with Egyptian temples
which, behind the massive entrance pylons, were
enclosed by a plain and forbidding girdle wall which
gradually decreased in height from front to back.

AR 120: History Of Architecture 1

2nd Qtr 2009-2010

TThS 9-1030, 1030-12 S413

Ealdama
The Persians, like the Assyrians, placed their palaces
on lofty platforms, often partly rock-cut and partly
built-up, but the style of palaces at Susa and
Persepolis was influenced by that of Egyptian temples,
and the vast halls had widely spaced columns which
suggest timber roofs, in contrast to the corridor-like,
vaulted apartments of Assyrian palaces.

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OPENINGS
Assyrian doorways were spanned by semicircular
arches, here first met with as ornamental features,
suitable to the nature of brick construction. At palace
entrances the arches were enhanced by decorative
archivolts of coloured bricks.

WALLS
Assyrian walls were composite structures of sundried bricks faced with kiln-dried bricks, which
contrast with the massive stone walls of the Egyptians
and the solid marble walls of the Greeks. Palace walls
were frequently sheathed internally with alabaster
bas-reliefs which record military and sporting
exploits.

It is to be noted that the pointed arch was employed

as early as BCE 722 in the drains under the great
palace at Khorsabad, and indeed Assyria seems to
have been the original home of this feature.

External walls were plainly treated, sometimes with

alternating vertical projections and recesses or with
half-cylinders, and the top was often finished with
battlemented cresting, while towers flanked palace
entrances and occurred at short intervals along the
walls.
The Persians built their walls of brick, which as at
Persepolis have crumbled away, but the massive stone
blocks of door and window architraves and the broad
stone stair-ways have in many instances withstood
the ravages of time and weather.
The highly glazed and coloured brickwork, as found at
Susa and Persepolis was applied to give that surface
finish to the walls which in Greece was obtained by
polishing the surface of the marble to great brilliancy.

Windows were not in use, but light was admitted

through doors and probably through pipe-holes in
walls and vaults. The Persians used horizontal stone
lintels for doors and windows, in contrast to the
arches of the Assyrians, and some may still be seen
among the ruins at Persepolis where large doorways
are surmounted by cornices similar to the Egyptian
gorge.

ROOFS
Assyrian roofs were externally flat and were probably
rendered waterproof by means of bitumen. As is still
usual in the unchanging East, they were used as a
resort in the cool of the evening and were concealed
behind battlemented cresting.
The houses of Babylon were vaulted, as at Khorsabad,

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 West Asiatic Architecture

and the dome was probably employed over small

compartments owing to its suitability for clay and
brick construction.
Persian roofs, of which, however, none remain, were
also flat and probably of timber; for at Susa and
Persepolis they appear to have been supported on
comparatively slender and widely spaced columns.
COLUMNS
The Assyrians could not have used columns, as in all
the excavations no columns or even bases have been
found; indeed in Assyrian architecture the brick-built
tower, and not the column, is the outstanding feature.
Columns may, however, have been used in smaller
buildings, such as the little fishing pavilion which, as
represented on a slab from Khorsabad, has columns
with an early form of the Ionic scroll.
The Persians on the contrary used columns, widely
spaced and comparatively slender, as they had only to
support the weight of timber and clay roofs, instead
of ponderous stone slabs, as in Egypt.
The Persians invented a most distinctive type of
column with high moulded bases, fluted shafts, and
capitals of recurring vertical scrolls. Sometimes these
columns were surmounted by twin bulls, unicorns,
horses, or griffins, on the backs of which were placed
the cross-beams of the roof. This peculiar and
somewhat grotesque treatment has been supposed to
have had a timber origin in which the capital was
formed either of a long beam or of a fork which was
the simplest type of bracket capitals.

MOULDINGS
Assyrians, like Egyptians, had no general use for
mouldings, as their architecture was on too vast a
scale for such treatment, and moreover the glazed

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tiles and marble slabs which protected the perishable

brick walls were sufficient decoration without
mouldings It is noticeable too that mouldings only
came into general use after they had been evolved
and standardised by the Greeks.
Persians were susceptible to the influence both of
Egyptian and Greek models, and allowed themselves
much latitude in adapting and combining various
motifs, and the conglomerate character of the style is
nowhere more conspicuous than in their use and
application of mouldings. There is at Persepolis a
curious melange attributable to this dual source in
which carved bases, moulded capitals, and Ionic-like
volutes are combined with the Egyptian " gorge "
cornice over doorways.
ORNAMENT
The Assyrians used as their chief architectural
ornament chiselled alabaster slabs which show an
extraordinary refinement of line and detail far
superior to Egyptian carvings, and these, both in
treatment and colouring, undoubtedly influenced
Greek bas-reliefs. These slabs, some of which are in
the British Museum, form an illustrated record of
Assyrian pursuits.
The well-known pavement slab from Nineveh, with
rosettes, palmettes, and border of lotus buds and
flowers, shows a decorative art, doubtless derived
from Egyptian sources, but tempered by the art of
Greece.
The Assyrians displayed their skilled craftsmanship
not only in stone carving, but also in bronze working,
as shown in the gates of Shalmaneser II (B.C. 860
825) which are in the British Museum. The external
ornament of Assyrian palaces appears to have been
concentrated around the main entrance, in the
sculptured monsters which guarded the kingly
threshold, and in the brilliantly glazed and coloured
archivolt of the archway.
The Persians continued the use of flanking monsters

AR 120: History Of Architecture 1

2nd Qtr 2009-2010

TThS 9-1030, 1030-12 S413

Ealdama
to doorways, as in the Propylaea at Persepolis, and of
carved dadoes to stairway walls. The outstanding
feature of ornament as developed by the Persians is
their mastery in the preparation and application of
pure colour to glazed bricks, as in the " Archer " and
" Lion " friezes from Susa, now in the Louvre
Museum, Paris, or as in the bas-relief from Persepolis.
Persians, like Assyrians, reserved ornament for
special positions ; whereas the Egyptians spread it
broadcast over their unbroken wall surfaces.
The Greeks, as we shall see, followed the Assyrian
method in concentrating ornament, allocated it to
entablature, frieze, and pediment, and standardised it
in the " Orders of Architecture," which, as regards
the variation of detail, must be regarded from the
point of view of ornament, though their raison d'etre
is essentially constructive.
Terms (used in this handout)
Bas-relief. Ornament with a projection of a design
from a plane surface less than half its threedimensional form;
Columnar and Trabeated. Type of construction
consisting of vertical columns supporting horizontal
beams (as opposed to arcuated construction)
Corbel. An incremented wall projection used to
support additional weight, most commonly
constructed of brick.
Cuneiform. Early system of writing used by the
Babylonians
Flute. A channel of semi-circular, segmental section
set parallel to each other.

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Vouissoir. A wedge-shaped block, normally of stone

or brick, forming part of the structure of an arch.
Ziggurat. Temple observatory erected for
astrologer-priests who studied the stars

Significant Personalities and Structures

Nebuchadnezzar. King of Babylonia from 605 to

562 BCE. He was a tireless builder who made
Babylon the most splendid city of its time.
Ishtar Gate. Built by Nebuchadnezzar in honor of
the Babylonian goddess of love and battle. Walls were
clad from tope to bottom with glazed blue bricks
decorated with yellow and white reliefs of
dragons, symbols of their chief god Marduk.
Bulls symbols of the lightning god Adad.
Overlooking the Ishtar gate rose the famous
Hanging Gardens.
Hanging Gardens built during Nebuchadnezzars
reign, traces of these gardens were found in the form
of a massive arched substructure, with thick layers of
earth on the roof. In chambers beneath this
Sargon. Military leader of the Akkadians who
conquered Mesopotamia in 2300 BCE, he reigned for
56 years and created the first empire known to
history;
Darius. Persian king

Frieze. A decorative horizontal band;

Gorge. projecting moulding especially used in
Egyptian ornaments.
Shaft. Main body or trunk of a column extending
from the top of the base to the bottom of the capital.

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