MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION

•MESOPOTAMIA : Land between rivers. Tigris & Euphrates.

(Present day Iraq, Syria parts of Iran and Turkey)
• The richness of the land brought different people to this area –
Land of many different Political entries. Mesopotamia was a
Mesopotamia place where many cities began to grow
•Known as Fertile Crescent.
•Many city-states formed along the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia.
•They each had their own form of
government
•Eventually, they each had their own kings.
•The climate began to gradually become
cool and dry in northern Mesopotamia.
•These weather conditions were not
suitable for farmers, as they were
dependent on rain for their livelihood.
•As a result, residents of Northern
Mesopotamia were moving south, where
they found a fertile land and water in
abundance.

•Here were built the first cities in southern Mesopotamia - Uruk, Jemdat Nasr, and other cities.
•The region where the two rivers meet was called Sumer. The people who lived in the Sumer region
were called Sumerians.
•The Sumerians, who arrived in Sumer, are considered as the first to develop civilization in
Mesopotamia.
•The flat structure of the ground did not provide natural protection. As a result, the history of
Mesopotamia was repeatedly fraught with invasion, conquest, re conquest, and destruction
accompanying them.
City

Settlement
Village
•As cities began to develop, people
began to worry about others who might
come and invade their city.
•They wanted to protect themselves
from enemies, so people in
Mesopotamia built walls around their
cities.

Sumeria Akkadian Babylonian Assyrian New Babylonian Persian

n
Sumerian Period (independent city and states)
•Each city/state was governed by priest.

Empires (Akkadian, Babylonia, Assyrian, New-Babbylonian)

•Military chief took political control, and became kings of vast
empires.

•Due to the fertile soil in Mesopotamia, farming was very successful.

In fact, people were able to create surpluses of food.
•This meant that some people could stop farming and begin doing
other things, like building a city.

Agriculture Growth of cities Division of Labor Trade

•Polytheistic – believed in many gods
•Believed in life after death

•Most important buildings

•Palaces
•Ziggurats
•They were the centre of city life.

ZIGGURATS & TEMPLES:

•The temple constituted the heart of the
Mesopotamian city.
•The temple complex was the hub of an economic
system, it had a huge wall of fortification around it
and formed the last barrier against the city’s enemies.
•TEMPLES: there were two ways in which the temples
differed from the others in the city.
•It stood on a raised platform called the Ziggurat.
•temples in the shape of terraced pyramids
with successively smaller levels, the last
one was the sanctuary.

•They were believed to be homes for the gods and goddesses.

•Only priests were permitted on the ziggurats and it was their responsibility to take care of
the gods and attend to their needs.
•As the result, priests were very powerful members of the society.
•It was free from the pressures of density in its ample precinct.
•Their cuneiform script, which is a practical method of writing, was adopted by
the Babylonians, who adopted their religious faith as well.
•Due to the arid weather conditions, rivers dried up and there was a shortage of
fertile lands.
•Residents have overcome this problem by construction of irrigation canals.
•In order to build the canals joint effort and concentric rule were required.
•City - states fought over water resources and

sought to expand their borders.

•Surpluses of agricultural crops and products
manufactured by the local people, such as textile,
allowed economic prosperity and purchase of raw
materials that were available.
•Under these circumstances developed the
magnificent culture of trade.

Summerians : (Southern part) Priests were the

controllers
Akkadians : (Northern part) king took control
Babylonian : (these two regions were unified
part) took control over all the rest of
Mesopotamian cities
Assyrians : empire stretched from Persian gulf to
the Mediterranean sea
Persian : Extended to the Indus river.
Geographical conditions:
•Abundant amount of clay was available.
•Lower Mesopotamia(Babylonia) : Thick mud
and clay in which no stone was found and no
trees would grow, was eminently suitable for
making of bricks, which thus became the usual
building material.
•Assyria : though there was stone available they
continued following the Babylonians.
•Persia : hard, colored limestone was available
and thus was used in their buildings along with
timber which was obtained from Elam on the
west.
Climatic condition: Social life:
•The climate was semi-arid, hot and dry. •The climate was semi-arid, hot and dry.
•Lower Mesopotamia: around the river delta – •Lower Mesopotamia: settled near
region of swamps and floods, it rained for weeks the mouth of the river – traders.
together, thus making it unhealthy and created Nobles- freemen – slaves.
poisonous atmosphere –Elevated platforms on “code of laws”(Hammurabi)
which the towns were built.
•Assyria: military – dominating class
•Assyria: near the mountains, but similar climate
•Persia: military – dominating class
– followed Babylonian style.
•Persia: Hot and dry climate(contrasting to the
rest of the areas) – accounts for open columned
halls in the palaces
• Mesopotamia hierarchy: privileged groups and non-privileged groups. Priests
• Privileged-groups: controlled the power and the wealth.
– The Monarch Kings and
– The priests Nobility
– The army and the civil servants
Craftsmen and
• Non-privileged groups: produced the products needed by society Peasants
– Farmers, peasants, stockbreeders…
– Merchants, traders, craftsman... Slaves
• Slaves: group without rights. They were their master’s property. They
became slaves through conquest (war prisoners) or debts.
ZIGGURATS :
•Artificial mountains made up of tiered rectangular stages which rose in number from one to seven.
•The concept of a Ziggurat may have combined 2 separate functions:
•Religious, recreation of a sacred mountains.
•Secular, permanent reminder of political, social and economic importance.
•The central focus of the ziggurat was called the cella, a place for religious ceremony, civic meetings,
musical celebrations, etc.
•They were load bearing construction made of clay bricks and may have been used as fortifications in
times of war.

“The White temple” - Ziggurat at Warka :

•Origin of the Ziggurats, built with mud bricks
•The temple platforms 12Mts above the ground, walls were
thick and had sloping sides supported by buttresses
•A rectangular shaped temple on the northern corner,
reached by a long flight of easy steps from which a circulating
ramp led off from an intermediate landing.
•The temple was white washed, had a long hall with “Altar” in
one corner, flanked on both sides by series of smaller rooms.
Cites began to emerge in Mesopotamia around 4500 years ago. Ur, the capital of ancient Sumeria, was the
world’s first city. It supported a complex and sophisticated society.

City of Ur :
•The city were closed by a wall and surrounded by suburban villages and hamlets.
•The two monumental centers were the ZIGGURAT complex with its own defensive wall, overseen by a
powerful priesthood, and Palace of the King.
•Lesser temples were sprinkled here and there within the rest of the urban fabric, which was a
promiscuous blend of residential and commercial architecture.
•Small shops were at times incorporated into the house. In the later periods the existences of a Bazaar has
also been found.
•Only a few principal thoroughfare that led to the public buildings were as wide about 7.0–8.0 M these
were bordered with the houses of the rich.
•The poorer folks lived at the back with narrow twisted network of unpaved pedestrian streets of
about 3.0Mts wide.
•Houses were usually one-storey structures of mud brick, plans were usually rectangular and
neatly divided into orthogonal rooms around a central living space, there were usually no
outside windows provided .
•Buildings were not of the same size as each house was compelled to fit into a predetermined
space provided by the unplanned road network.

Court of Nanna
Ziggurat
Moon god

Shrine
Temple
platform

Shrine
ZIGGGURAT of URNAM, UR.
•It was constructed of mud bricks reinforced with thin layers of matting and cables of twisted reeds.
•The Great Ziggurat was located as part of a temple complex
•The chief priest (head of the city) of the temple lived close to it
•The temple sits on a three multi-tiered Ziggurat mountain
•Access to the temple is through triple stairways that converge at the summit of the first platform
•From this stage, one passed through a portal with dome roof to fourth staircase.
•The fourth staircase gave access to the second and third stages of the ziggurat and to the temple.
•Weep-holes through the bricks were provided for drainage.
•The ziggurat is believed by the Sumerians to unite the heavens and the earth
•The people believed that climbing the staircase of the ziggurat gives a holy experience
•The chief temple was also used as a last line of defense during times of war.
ZANBIL:
•Ziggurat built in 5 levels.
•The base was 107Mts square, total height of 53Mts.
•The temple was on top.
•Flight of stairs recessed in the mass, let o the top of the first tier
•The façade was covered with blue and green glazed terracotta.
•Interior was decorated with glass and Ivory mosaic.
CITY OF KHORSABAD:
•Khorsabad was designed as the royal capital of Assyria.
•The city was built on a flat land with an area of about a square mile and was enclosed by a double wall
with seven city gates.
•Only a part of the city including palaces, temples and administrative headquarters was built
 •The palace was located on the north west side of the
PALACE OF SARGON
city
•The palace is approached at ground level through a
walled citadel.
•All the buildings within the citadel were
arranged around courtyards
•There were two arched gates on each
side of the square, guarded by stone
demons in the form of human-headed
bulls.

•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
•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
THE PALACE at FERUZ-ABAD
•An immense entrance hall in the center of the main
front is flanked on each side by two halls placed at right
angles to it, so as to resist the thrust of the elliptical
barrel vaults of the entrance hall.
•This hall leads to a series of three square halls, side by
side, each surmounted by a dome carried on pendentives
.
•Beyond is an open court, the smaller rooms round all
covered with barrel vaults.
•They roughly formed angular semi-domes which enable
the circular domes to be applied to square
compartments.
•The angles of the square hall are vaulted, with a series of
concentric arches, each ring as it rises being brought
forward, the object being to save centering, because
each ring rested on the ring beneath it.
•The material employed is rubble masonry with thick
joints of mortar, and fortunately portions of the stucco
both externally and internally.
•As there are no windows of any sort, the exterior wall
surface has been decorated with semi-circular attached
shafts and paneling between, which recall the primitive
decorations.
 THE PALACE at CTESIPHON
•An interesting structure, built of coloured brickwork, but is now
only a ruin
•Consisting of a great central arched portal, about 83 ft. wide,
leading into a throne room, 160 ft. deep, flanked by thick side
walls, and covered with a remarkable vault, elliptical in form.
•The facade of this remnant of the palace consists of a wall 112 ft.
6 ins. high, arranged with tiers of pilasters and arches divided by
string courses

Babylon – “Gateway of the God” (Bab = Gate and ili = God)

•The gate consisted of two portals one
behind the other, each flanked by
huge towers. It was built in Kiln-burnt
bricks, cemented with pitch.
The outer surface was covered by
enamelled bricks with colored figures
of dragons.

•HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLONIA:

•Built by King Nebuchadnezzar, to please his persian wife
•They occupied an area of 275mx183m and situated near Euphrates river.
•The terraced gardens planted with flowers and trees, With the beautiful
fountains were 25m to 100m above the Ground.
•Water was stored in the reservoir and supplied through pipes
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES:
•3 building types : Cities and houses, temples and palaces
•Temples and palaces were the most outstanding buildings types built on raised platform.
•Palace towers flanked by towers.
•Doors ways spanned by semicircular arches
•Significant development in house organization and city fortification
•Development in house organization led to the evolution of the inward looking courtyard house
•Houses formed the dominant buildings of the city with narrow passages to distribute people
•Three principles appear to predominant in the organization of architectural form and space
•Courtyard organization
•Lifting of buildings on artificial mountains
•Organic organization of city fabric

TECHNOLOGY:
•Two technologies appear to have been commonly used passive cooling and water supply.
•The evolution of courtyard was probably a product of its desert environment and the need for
climate modification.
•Courtyards were used for cooling to create livable environments in houses
•The thick walls of houses may also have served as a thermal storage. They help to mitigate
against the wide fluctuations of temperature.
•People also mastered the art of water supply
•Channels were used to move water and supply it to agricultural fields and houses.
•Invented means of transporting water from the ground to the garden in the upper levels.