Near East

The Historical
Timeline of Architecture

Pre-Historic
PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN Near East
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN
CHINESE & JAPANESE
FILIPINO

Mesopotamian Empire
under King Sargon of Agade
Mesopotamian Empire
under King Hammurabi
Assyrian Empire
under King Ashurbanipal
Persian Empire
under King Darius I
Near East
Mesopotamian
• 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

Assyrian
ASHUR • Based in Ashur, biggest empire under King Ashurbanipal
DAMASCUS
PERSIA – conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt
AGADE
BABYLON
UR
MEMPHIS PERSEPOLIS

EGYPT

THEBES

PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
INFLUENCES
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
HISTORY
ROMAN Persian
• Started as villages on the flat land between Tigris and
EARLY CHRISTIAN
Euphrates rivers - “Mesopotamia” • Begun by Cyrus the Great from 559 to 529 BC
BYZANTINE • Turned into city-states with populations of thousands • Covered Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Eastern Mediterranean,
ROMANESQUE Bactria, Indus Valley and North Africa
GOTHIC • Each city-state surrounded by a wall and dominated by a • Darius I had provinces ruled by a satrap, who guarded
RENAISSANCE large temple the roads, collected taxes and controlled the army
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL • Society of kings, craftsmen, soldiers, farmers, priests • Local peoples were allowed to keep their religions and
20TH C MODERN • Fought and traded with each other customs
• Sometimes would conquer each other and form an • Capital moved from Susa to Persepolis
ISLAMIC
empire • Network of roads linking the royal court to other parts of
INDIAN the empire – from Susa in Persia to Sardis in Anatolia
CHINESE & JAPANESE • Traded raw materials, carpets and spices
FILIPINO
• Darius and Xerxes tried to conquer Greece
• Ended with the defeat of Darius III to Alexander the Great
of Macedonia
 Near East
RELIGION ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Each city-state worshipped their own god for protection
• People aimed to make peace with their wrathful god MATERIALS
• 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

GEOGRAPHY and GEOLOGY

PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN
Fertile Crescent:
ISLAMIC
• Marshlands with few natural advantages aside from
INDIAN water and soil
CHINESE & JAPANESE • Import materials like hardwood and metals
FILIPINO
Also:
• Deserts of the Arabian Peninsula
• Mountains and plateaux from west to east
 Near East
EXAMPLES PALACES
• Kings celebrated their victories, wealth and power by
ZIGGURATS building large palaces
• Religious buildings built next to temples
• On top was a small temple

Palace Platform at Persepolis

• Ruins still exist
• 50 years to build
• People from all over the empire were involved in its
PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

construction
NEAR EAST Development: • Variety of architectural styles
EGYPTIAN • Archaic ziggurat
GREEK • Two or Three-staged ziggurat • parts: audience halls, reception halls, storerooms for
ROMAN • Seven-staged ziggurat during the Assyrian period tributes and valuables, military quarters, apadana – tallest
EARLY CHRISTIAN building, with 36 columns of 20m height
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN DWELLINGS
CHINESE & JAPANESE • Known as Megaron
FILIPINO • Entrance at end rather than on the long sides
• Portico - colonnaded space forming an entrance or
Ziggurat at Ur vestibule, with a roof supported on one side by columns
• 2000 BC • Suited to climate of Anatolian plateau
 Egyptian

The Historical
Timeline of Architecture

Egyptian

Pre-Historic
PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN Near East
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN
CHINESE & JAPANESE
FILIPINO
 Egyptian
HISTORY
• Wealthy country despite the desert - every year, Nile
would overflow, leaving the land fertile for growing crops
• Nile River was a trade route
• Gold from Nubia in the south

• Two kingdoms, Lower and Upper Egypt, combined by

King Menes in 3100 BC
• Many small towns, but royal cities at Memphis and
Thebes
• A single kingdom for most of its existence - unified under
SYRIA
the centralized omnipotent authority of the pharaoh (king)
GIZA
MEMPHIS

EGYPT
KARNAK
THEBES

NUBIA
PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
INFLUENCES
EGYPTIAN
GREEK Pharaohs:
GEOGRAPHY & CLIMATE
ROMAN
• Narrow stretch of fertile and arable land along the Nile • Seen as gods dwelling on earth
EARLY CHRISTIAN
• Beyond riverbanks, barren desert and rugged cliffs • Sole masters of the country and its inhabitants
BYZANTINE prevented attack from invaders • Builders and leaders
ROMANESQUE • Mediterranean and Red seas • Initiated the design, financing, quarrying and transporting
GOTHIC of materials, organization of labor and construction itself
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL Society:
20TH C MODERN • Divided into groups, by order of importance: senior
priests, officials, noblemen, and army commanders
ISLAMIC
• Most ordinary Egyptians were farmers
INDIAN • Architects, engineers, theologians, masons, sculptors,
CHINESE & JAPANESE painters, laborers, peasants, prisoners
FILIPINO • Weaving, glass-making, pottery, metal, jewelry and
furniture
• Astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, music and writing
literature and history written on papyrus and stone tablets
 Egyptian
RELIGION ROOF & OPENINGS
• Cult of many gods representing nature: sun, moon, stars, • Roof was not an important consideration
animals • Flat roofs sufficed to cover and exclude heat
• No windows
• Spaces were lit by skylights, roof slits, clerestories

• After death, a persons soul went on to enjoy eternal life in

kingdom of the God Osiris - imagined this kingdom as a
perfect version of Egypt
• Pharaohs were buried, bringing with them the things they
might need in the afterlife, even living people
• Wished for a fine burial, embalmment and funeral rites,
and a permanent tomb or "eternal dwelling" WALL
• Batter wall - diminishing in width towards the top for
• Dead body had to be preserved to house the spirit stability
PRE-HISTORIC
• Remove insides, dry out the body, filled with linen, • Thickness: 9 to 24m at temples
history of architecture

NEAR EAST masked and bandaged • Unbroken massive walls, uninterrupted space for
EGYPTIAN hieroglyphics
GREEK ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
ROMAN DECORATIONS
EARLY CHRISTIAN DESCRIPTION • Mouldings such as "gorge" or "hollow and roll" was
BYZANTINE • Afterlife - life and house on earth is temporary, the tomb inspired by reeds
ROMANESQUE is permanent • Torus moulding
GOTHIC • For sustenance and eternal enjoyment of the deceased
RENAISSANCE • Religion is the dominant element in Egyptian architecture
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN MATERIALS
• Stone was abundant in variety and quantity
ISLAMIC
• Used for monuments and religious buildings
INDIAN • Durability of stone is why monuments still exist to this
CHINESE & JAPANESE day
FILIPINO
• Other materials, metals and timber were imported
• Mud bricks: for houses, palaces (reeds, papyrus, palm
branch ribs, plastered over with clay)
 Egyptian
• Hieroglyphics were pictorial representations of religion, Common ornaments:
history and daily life
• Derived from the practice of scratching pictures on mud-
plaster walls

PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
• Common capitals used were the lotus, papyrus, palm
EGYPTIAN
which echoed indigenous Egyptian plants, and were
GREEK
symbols of fertility as well
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN
• The shaft represented bundle of stems
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN
CHINESE & JAPANESE
FILIPINO

• Avenue of sphinxes: rows of monsters (body of lion, head

of man, hawk, ram) leading to monuments
 Egyptian
EXAMPLES PYRAMIDS
• massive funerary structure of stone or brick
MASTABAS
• Rectangular flat-topped funerary mound, with battered
side, covering a burial chamber below ground

• First type of Egyptian tomb

• Developed from small and inconspicuous to huge an
imposing

Came in complexes:
• Offering chapel (north or east side)
PRE-HISTORIC
• Mortuary chapel
history of architecture

NEAR EAST • Raised and enclosed causeway leading to west

EGYPTIAN • Valley building for embalmment and internment rites
GREEK
ROMAN • Immense use of labor and materials, built in layers, like
EARLY CHRISTIAN steps
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL Parts:
20TH C MODERN • Stairway with 2 doors: one for ritual, second was a false
door for spirits
ISLAMIC
• Column Hall
INDIAN • Offering Chapel
CHINESE & JAPANESE • Serdab (contains statue of deceased)
FILIPINO • Offering room with Stelae (stone with name of deceased
inscribed)
• Offering table
• Sarcophagus – Egyptian coffin
 Egyptian

Pyramids at Gizeh
Step Pyramid of Zoser, Saqqara • Most magnificent of pyramids
• World's first large-scale monument in stone • Equilateral sides face cardinal points
• Designed by Imhotep • Forms a world-famous building group

• Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)

• Pyramid of Chephren (Khafra or Khafre)
• Pyramid of Mykerinos (Menkaura)
PRE-HISTORIC
• The Great Sphinx shows King Chepren as a man-lion
history of architecture

NEAR EAST protecting his country

EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN
CHINESE & JAPANESE Bent Pyramid at Seneferu
FILIPINO
 Egyptian

Great Temple of Ammon, Karnak, Thebes

• Grandest temple and the work of many kings Great Temple of Abu-Simbel
• Example of rock-cut temple
• Constructed by Rameses II
• Entrance forecourt leads to imposing pylon with 4 rock-
cut colossal statues of Rameses sitting over 20 m high
PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

NEAR EAST
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN
BYZANTINE Temple of Ammon, Luxor
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN

ISLAMIC
INDIAN
CHINESE & JAPANESE
FILIPINO

Mammisi Temple Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri

• Became the prototype of the Greek Doric temples
 Egyptian
ROCK-CUT or ROCK-HEWN TOMBS TEMPLES
• Built along hillside
• For nobility, not royalty MORTUARY TEMPLES
• worship/ in honor of pharaohs

CULT TEMPLES
• worship/ in honor of god

Parts:
• Entrance pylon
• Large outer court open to sky (hypaethral court)
• Hypostyle hall
• Sanctuary surrounded by passages
• Chapels/chambers used in connection with the temple
service

PRE-HISTORIC
history of architecture

Tombs at Beni Hasan

NEAR EAST
EGYPTIAN
GREEK
ROMAN
EARLY CHRISTIAN
BYZANTINE
ROMANESQUE
GOTHIC
RENAISSANCE
18TH-19TH C REVIVAL
20TH C MODERN Temple of Khons
• Typical temple: pylons, court, hypostyle hall, sanctuary,
ISLAMIC
chapels all enclosed by high girdle wall
INDIAN • Avenue of sphinxes and obelisks fronting pylons
CHINESE & JAPANESE
FILIPINO

Tombs of the Kings, Thebes