LECTURE 2

Mesopotamian Civilization
E a r l y H u m a n M i g r a ti o n o u t o f A f r i c a

Earliest Homo Sapien

fossils have been found
in Ethiopia

North America South America

Africa West Asia Europe East & South Asia

Australia
 natural determinants
topography (location)
climate
natural resources, building materials and technology

man-made determinants
trade
political power
religion
defense
mobility
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
L o c a ti o n o f A n c i e n t M e s o p o t a m i a n C i v i l i z a ti o n
L o c a ti o n o f A n c i e n t M e s o p o t a m i a n C i v i l i z a ti o n

This civilization rose in the valleys

between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers (source in Turkey).

Mostly dry desert climate, except in

the region between 2 rivers

The rivers flood every year and leave

behind a thick bed of silt

It is termed as the Fertile Crescent –

dense network of cities and villages,
grain- bearing valleys
S h i ft i n g o f t h e C o a s t l i n e

Alluvial soil plain between 2 rivers

Mesopotamia – In Greek mesos = middle, potamos = rivers

Northern part is known as Akkad and south as Sumer

South west – Arabian desert, South east – Persian gulf,

North – Zagros mountains

Natural defense boundaries were absent

Arid landscape in which farming was impossible without

irrigation

A network of canals, irrigation channels and levees was

developed

Rivers caused floods seasonally – April and May

Since 4000 BCE, the coastline has shifted outwards by 100

miles in the southern plain of Iraq
ANCIENT
MESOPOTAMIA
Oldest known civilization
Cradle of Human
Civilization
Ziggurat
Hanging gardens
FIRST SUMERIANS

• Sumerians first arrived in region

around 5000 BC
SUMERIAN AGRICULTURE
SOCIAL CLASSES

The King

The Governors

The Aristocracy

The Peasantry
SLAVERY
• Originated with practice of men
selling themselves and/or their
families to pay off debts
• Supplemented by using prisoners
of war as slaves
Demand for slaves increased as
civilization progressed

◦ Advance of civilization did not bring same

benefits to everyone
◦ Some benefited a great deal
◦ Others saw a deterioration in their situation

Civilization brought important benefits

but it also introduced inequality,
exploitation, taxes, and slavery
The Beginnings of Writing

Farmers needed to keep records.

Tokens were used for trade.

A system of writing develops.

Who used cuneiform?

 Geography

• This civilization rose in the

valleys between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
• Some say this Fertile Crescent was
the real Garden of Eden.
The layout of cities:
There is not enough at the lower levels of explored mounds to give us a total image of the
Mesopotamian city before the Early Dynastic Period. By then a dozen or so cities containing from
10,000 to 50,000 people prospered, both in lower Mesopotamia or Sumer and further north in
Babylonia.
 SUMERIAN
CITY-STATES

In the city-state (or state), kin and tribal loyalties are, by definition, subordinated and replaced
by political ties.
W h y d i d t h e s e c i ti e s d e v e l o p ?

Inventions -
Writing
Wagon wheel
Potter’s wheel
Number system, demarcation of time
Religious Beliefs - Ziggurats

Through daily rituals, attention to the deities, proper funeral practices and simple civic duty, the people of
Mesopotamia felt they helped maintain balance in the world and kept the forces of chaos and destruction at bay 

•The Mesopotamian thinking - instruction for the layout and design of temple precincts came
directly from the gods – in the form of a mysterious dream
•Position of king was enhanced and supported by religion
•Each god had control of certain things and each city was ruled by a different god
•The belief that gods lived on the distant mountaintops gave rise to Ziggurats

•The word ziggurat comes from the Assyrian for ‘raised up’ or ‘high’. Ziggurats were built in
the centre of the city
•Connection between heaven and earth
•Stepped pyramid – Temple complex
Historical and Analytical account of cities in
Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia means “land between rivers”.

Four broad segments of chronology

Protoliterate Period, from ca.3500 to 3000 B.C.

Early Dynastic Period, from 3000 to 2350 B.C.

Sumerian Period, from 2350 to 1600 B.C.

Assyrian Period, from 1350 to 612 B.C.

1-Protoliterate Period:

2-Early Dynastic Period:

Uruk: a substantial ceremonial hub by 3500 B.C.

3-Sumerian Period: Ziggurat of Ur Nammu
4-Assyrian Period:
Timeline in Mesopotamia 3500-2000
B.C. (5500-4000 B.P.)

• 3500 B.C. Cities growing across Mesopotamia

• 3200 B.C. Pictographic record keeping
• 3000 B.C. Signs used to write Sumerian
• 2800 B.C. Legendary rulers like Gilgamesh
• 2600 B.C. Royal Tombs of Ur
• 2400 B.C. Signs become cuneiform
• 2300 B.C. Sumerian cities united by King Sargon
of Agade (Akkad) 
Cities 3000-2300 B.C.
Timeline
• 2200 B.C. Agade Empire expands and declines
• 2100 B.C. Ur becomes the capital of a new empire
• 2000 B.C. Ur destroyed by Elamites & Amorites 
Agade Empire 2250 B.C.

Empire united by King Sargon of Agade (Akkad) 

Kingdoms 1800 B.C.

1800 B.C. Hammurabi unites much of Mesopotamia

1500 B.C.

1500 B.C. Mitannian Empire controls north Mesopotamia

Kassites control south Mesopotamia
1200 B.C.

1300 B.C. Assyrians conquer much of Mesopotamia  

1100 B.C. Aramaean and Chaldaean  tribes become important  
650 B.C.

1000 B.C. Assyrians begin reconquest of Mesopotamia

Babylon rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II 
550 B.C.

The Neo-Babylonian Empire

500 B.C.

Mesopotamia becomes part of the Achaemenid Persian empire

A Sumerian City

Narrow Streets

Courtyard Area
CITY CHARACTERISTICS
Ancient town of Jericho

9000 BCE - Neolithic Agricultural Community

Ancient Mesopotamian Houses (3500 BCE)
Social System – Akkadian Period
Social System – Sumerian Period
 Around 3000 B.C.E

C i t y o f Wa r k a
Ci ty o f Wa rka ( a n c i e nt U ruk )
C i t y o f W a r k a – T h e W h i t e Te m p l e
C i t y o f W a r k a – T h e W h i t e Te m p l e
 A millennium later… Around 2100 B.C.E

City of Ur
Features of City and Building Materials

• Development of Urban Planning

• Courtyard houses
• Ziggurats
• Mud plaster, adobe construction (Earth, Water, Straw/dung), glazed bricks, bitumen
• Buildings were regularly destroyed, levelled and rebuilt on the same spot; level raised (Tel – Arabic word for hillock)

Materials:
• Earth plaster used to seal and finish exterior and interior spaces of common residences
• Lime plaster used to seal and finish exterior and interior spaces of wealthy residences, places, and temples
• A type of terrazzo used as flooring (Burnt lime + clay + natural colour pigment)
• Terracotta panels used for decoration
• Bitumen used to seal plumbing
City of Ur

SURROUNDING
FIELDS AND
VILLAGES
City of Ur

Late Babylonian
Quarter
Ur, the capital city of Mesopotamia
R e s i d e n ti a l Q u a r t e r s o f U r - D o m e s ti c A r c h i t e c t u r e
R e s i d e n ti a l Q u a r t e r s o f U r - D o m e s ti c A r c h i t e c t u r e
Ur, residential area southeast of
the royal mausolea in the
twentieth century B.C.;Plan
 1. Courtyard
2. Entry Vestibule
3. Reception Room
(Liwan)
4. Private Chapel
5. Kitchen
3. 6. Lavatory
7. Stair case
8. Drain
1. 2. 8. 9.Shop
4.
7.
6. 5.
1.
1.
1.

3.
1.
4.

9.

Ur, Residential quarter between the Ziggurat precinct and the

West Harbor , Plan
R e s i d e n ti a l Q u a r t e r s o f U r - D o m e s ti c A r c h i t e c t u r e
Uruk
Ziggurat of Ur- Nammu
Ziggurat of Ur- Nammu
Ziggurat of Ur- Nammu
C i t y o f U r – P r e s e n t d a y r e s t o r a ti o n s
 Sumer, 3200-2350 B.C. Sargon’s Empire, 2350-2320B.C. The Dynasty of Ur, 2100-2000B.C.

The Amorite invasions, 2100-1900 B.C. Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, 1792-1750 B.C.
HISTORICAL CONDITION: The ancient architecture of West-Asiatic
developed FROM 3000 BC TO 330 BC. in the following period.
(a) Early Sumerian (3000—2000 BC)
(b) Old Babylonian (2016-1595 BC) ---NEO Babylonian (626-539 BC)
(c) Assyrian (1859—626 BC)
(d) Persian (750—330 BC)
 BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE

 After the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC and

the end of the Assyrian civilization,
focus of Mesopotamian civilization
shifted to old Babylon.
 A new dynasty of kings, including
Nebuchadnezzar, revived old
Babylonian culture to create a Neo-
Babylonian civilization.
 Old Sumerian cities were rebuilt.
 The capital old Babylon was enlarged
and heavily fortified.
 The capital old Babylon was enlarged and heavily fortified and magnificent new
buildings were built.
 The traditional style of Mesopotamian building reached its peak during the
period.
 Traditional building was enhanced by a new form of facade ornament consisting
of figures designed in colored glazed brick work.
City of Babylon:
 The city of Babylon is shaped in the form of a quadrangle sitting across and
pierced by the Euphrates.
  The city was surrounded by a fortification of
double walls.
 These had defensive towers that project well
above the walls.
 The walls also had a large moat in front, which
was also used for navigation .
 The length of the wall and moat is about five and
a quarter miles.
 The city had a palace located on its northern side
on the outer wall.
 ISHTAR GATE
 From the palace originated a procession street that
cuts through the city raised above the ground to
the tower of Babel.
 The procession street enters the city through the
famous Ishtar gate.
 The Ishtar gate is built across the double walls of
the city fortification.
 The gate had a pair of projecting towers on each
wall.
 All the facades of gates and adjoining streets were
faced with blue glazed bricks and ornamented
with figures of heraldic animals-lions, bulls, and
dragons.
 These were modelled in relief and glazed in other
colors.
 None of the buildings of old Babylon has survived
to the present age.
 Architecture in the city of Babylon:
 Nebuchadnezzar’s palace covered a land area of 900
feet by 600 feet.
 It had administrative offices, barracks, the king’s
harem, private apartment all arranged around five
courtyards.
 The palace is also praised for its legendary hanging
garden.
 This is recorded as one of the seven wonders of
the ancient world, but exact knowledge of the
nature of this garden is not known.
 Temples and towers were also prominent
architectural elements of Babylon.
 The legendary tower of Babel located at the end
of procession street is mentioned in the Christian
bible.
 ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE

 The principal cities of Assyria were Nineveh, Dun,

Khorsabad, Nimrudand Assur.
 The Assyrians were great warriors and hunters, and
this was reflected in their art.
 They produced violent sculptures and relief carving
in stone that was used to ornament their houses.
 During the Assyrian periods, temples lost their
importance to palaces.
 Palaces were raised on brick platforms, and their principal entrance ways were
flanked by guardian figures of human headed bulls or lions of stone.
 Their halls and corridors were lined with pictures and inscriptions carved in
relief on stone slabs up to 9 feet high.
 The interiors were richly decorated and luxurious.
 The walls of cities were usually strengthened by many towers serving as
defensive positions.
 KHORSABAD
Khorsabad:

The city was a royal Assyrian foundation, begun in 706 B.C., and abandoned, unfinished,
shortly afterward.
It covered 2.5 Sq.Km. (almost 1 Sq.mile).
There were two arched gates on each side of the square, guarded by stone demons in the
form of human-headed bulls.
On the North-West side one of the gates had been replaced by a bastion that served as a
platform for the royal place.

The Royal place:

The administrative court of honor is at the top of the plan, with the great Throne Room
on the left.

The entrance court is associated with a number of temples grouped along the west side.
They were all served by single ziggurat that was no other example of this
Mesopotamian building type.
 4.

3.
2.

1. Citadel wall

2. Entrance court
3. Court of honor
4. Unexcavated

Khorsabad (the ancient Dur Sharrukin, Iraq),

Assyrian city founded by SargonII (721-705 B.C.), Plan
 Court Of Un-excavated
Entrance Honor
Temple Court

Khorsabad, citadel with royal palace Citadel Wall

Khorsabad, citadel with royal palace
 PALACE OF SARGON:
 The palace is approached at ground level through a
walled citadel.
 Within the citadel is found the main palace, two
minor palaces and a temple dedicated to Nabu.
 The main palace was set on a platform located on
the northern side of the citadel.
 All the buildings within the citadel were arranged
around courtyards.
 ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE
 The principal cities of Assyria were Nineveh, Dun,
Khorsabad, Nimrudand Assur.
 The Assyrians were great warriors and hunters, and
this was reflected in their art.
 They produced violent sculptures and relief carving
in stone that was used to ornament their houses.
 During the Assyrian periods, temples lost their
importance to palaces.
  The palace was arranged around two major
courtyards about which were grouped smaller
courtyards.
 The palace consisted of large and smaller rooms
with the throne room being the largest.
 The building was decorated with relief
sculpture and glazed brick.
 PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE
 Their architectural solutions were a synthesis of ideas gathered from almost all parts of
their empire and from the Greeks and Egyptians.
 Their materials of construction was also from different locations.
 Material included mud-brick from Babylon, wooden roof beams from Lebanon, precious
material from India and Egypt, Stone columns quarried and carved by Ionic Greeks.
 Despite sourcing materials and ideas from different areas, their architecture was original
and distinctive in style.
 PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS:
 Persian architecture achieved its greatest
monumentality at Persepolis AND WAS constructed
as a new capital for the Persian Empire.
 It is set along the face of a mountain levelled to
create a large platform 1800 feet by 900 feet.
 It was surrounded by a fortification wall.
 The site was more than half covered by buildings
 The palace consisted of three parts:
1) An approach of monumental staircases, gate ways and
avenues .
 2) Two great state halls towards the center of the platform.
3) The palace of Xerxes, the harem, and other living quarters
at the south end of the site.
 Structurally, the buildings relied on a hypostyle scheme
throughout.
 Some of the spaces were very big and generally square in
plan.
 The spaces were enclosed by mud brick walls.
 The most impressive aspect of the palace was the royal
audience hall.
  The Royal audience hall was a square 250 feet in length.
 It contained 36 slender columns widely space & 67 feet high.
 The columns had a lower diameter of only 5 feet.
 The centers of the columns were spaced 20 feet or 4 diameters apart.
 The column was the greatest invention of the Persians.
 The columns were fluted and stand on inverted bell shaped bases.
 Their capital combine Greek motifs with Egyptian palm leaf
topped by an impost of paired beast.
 Another famous aspect of the palace at Parsepolis was the
throne room.
 This was also known as hall of a 100 columns.
 The columns in the room were 37 feet high, with a diameter
of only 3 feet.
 They were spaced 20 feet apart or seven diameters from axis
to axis.
 The slim nature of the column created room and spacious
feeling in the room when compared to the audience hall.
 The monumental entrance to Parsepolis is also one of
the unique aspects of the Palace.
 The monumental gateway ensure a dramatic entry to
the Palace.
 It was heavily adorned with relief sculpture
ornamenting its stairway.
 The relief structure addresses different themes relating
to the role of Parsepolis as the capital of the Persian
Empire.
 In some places, the sculpture shows delegates from
the different parts of the Persian bringing gifts and
rare animals to the king during celebrations .