Location of Ancient Mesopotamian Civilization:

1.This civilization rose in the valley’s between Tigris and Euphrates rivers. (Source in Turkey)

2. Mostly dry desert climate except the region between two rivers

3. The rivers flood every year and leave a thick bed of silt.

4. It is termed as the Fertile Crescent

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Cuneiform:

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerian of Mesopotamia between 3500 to
3000 BCE it is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerian and
the greatest among those of the Sumerian city of Uruk.
Ziggurats:

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

2. The Mesopotamian thinking - instruction for the layout and design for temple precincts came directly
from the gods in the form of a mysterious dream.

3. Position of king was enhanced and supported by religion.

4. Each god had control of certain things and each city was ruled by a different god.

5. The belief that god lived on the distant mountain tops gave rise to ziggurats.

6. The word ziggurats comes from the Assyrian for ‘raised up’ or ‘high’. Ziggurats were build in the centre
of the city.

7. Connection between heaven and earth

8. Stepped pyramid - Temple complex

A Sumerian City:

1. Sumerian city streets were so narrow that you could hardly cart through them.

2. Sumerian houses faced away from crowded streets and faced. Instead, they faced onto courtyards. These
houses had flat roofs.

Ancient Mesopotamian Houses (3500 BCE):

1. Basic building material - Mud and Timber

2. Mud was mixed with reeds and laid in horizontal courses to make wall

3. Houses had rectilinear rooms - each side measuring 1.5 to 2m

4. Interior wall surfaces were decorated with gypsum plaster
Ur, The Capital City of Mesopotamia:

5. The cities were closed by a wall and surrounded by suburban villages and hamlets.

6. The two monumental centers were the ziggurats complex with it’s own defensive wall, overseen by a
powerful priesthood, and the palace of the king.

Domestic Architecture:

1. Houses were built sun baked mud bricks.

2. Windows were rare

3. Accumulation of garbage led to an increase in the elevation of the street - door threshold had to be
raised.

4. Roof were made of mud layered on mats which were placed on wooden rafters.

5. The processionals road leading to the sacred temple percent was the only planned passageway.
Ziggurat of Ur - Nammu:

1. It was located in a Temple Complex of Nanna (The Moon God)

2. The ziggurat was a free standing structure.

3. Base - 100m x 65m; Height - 21m

4. 3 terraces with the sacred shrine on the highest one

5. Main lines were built with slight curves to correct optical illusion.

6. Mud bricks reinforced with reeds.

Timeline:
Cuneiform: