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Evolution of
Architecture
Egyptian Architecture (4000-2280
B.C.E. )
• Art in Ancient Egypt continued strangely
unchanged through the various phases of
foreign influence. The close connection
between religious rites and architecture
is everywhere manifested, both of tombs
and temples.
Pyramids of Giza
Pyramids of Giza
• The desire for permanence appropriated in a tomb, was
expressed by the extremely stable shape, by the static mass,
and perhaps by the size, which also testified to the Pharaoh’s
power. The same desire to build for eternity was evident in the
tombs of the nobles called Mastabas , solid block-like masses
of rough masonry sketched in cut stone.
Step Pyramid of Djoser
• Due to the scarcity of wood, the two predominant building materials
used in ancient Egypt were sun-baked mudbrick and stone, mainly
limestone, sandstone and granite. Stone was generally reserved for
tombs and temples, while bricks were used even for royal palaces,
fortresses, the walls of temple precincts and towns, and for subsidiary
buildings in temple complexes.
Luxor temple
Luxor Temple Complex
Temple of Horus
Karnak Temple
 Great Temple of Ramses II

Great Temple of
Amon
Temple of Hatshepsut
Colossi of Memnon
• Egyptian monumental architecture ,
which is essentially a columnar and
trabeated style, is expressed mainly in
pyramids and in temples. Egyptian
temples approached by impressive
avenues of sphinxes- mythical monsters,
each with the body of a lion and the
head of a man, hawk, ram or woman.
• Egyptian architecture is
impressive by its solemnity and
gloom, as well as by its solidity,
which suggests that the building
were intended to last eternally.
Great Sphinx of Giza
 Mesopotamian Architecture (6th Century BC)
• The story of Mesopotamian Architecture begins in South
eastern Turkey, when the first permanent structures were built,
with the erection of large monoliths at the site of Gobekli Tepe.
It is overwhelmingly one of clay masonry and of increasingly
complex forms of stacked mudbrick.
Gobekli Tepe
• Mesopotamian Architecture is evident in its
palaces and temples. The distinguishing
characteristic is the Ziggurat, or tower, built at
successive levels with ramps leading from one
platform to the next. In many respects, the
Ziggurat is like the modern building with
setbacks.
• Ziggurat- are massive structures built in the
form of terraced step pyramid of successively
receding stories or levels.
ZIGGURAT
One best example of Mesopotamian
Architecture is the Temple of Babylon built by
Nebuchadnezzar, where the stones where
differently coloured from bottom to top. The
effect may have been garish, but at the base, it
was striking.
 Greek Architecture ( 1100-100 B.C.E.)
• Greek architecture in its most characteristic form is found in
the temple, a low building of post-and-lintel construction. In
this type of construction, two upright posts are surmounted by
a horizontal piece, the lintel, long enough to reach one to the
other. A typical example of post-and-lintel construction is found
in the ruins of the Temple of Apollo at old Corinth.
 Three Types of Greek Architecture

• Doric
– Is seen in the Temple of Apollo at old Corinth, and in the Parthenon,
one of the greatest temples ever built. The Doric column has no base;
the bottom of the column rests on the top step. The Doric order can
be identified by the low cushion-like shape of part of its capital. The
frieze is divided into triglyphs and metopes.
The Parthenon
Example of Doric order
 Ionic order
• The ionic column is taller and more slender than the Doric. It
has a base, and a the capital is ornamented with scrolls on
each side. The frieze is continuous instead of being divided.
The architecture below the frieze is stepped; that is, it is
divided horizontally into three parts. Some features of the Ionic
order trace the ancestry to Asia Minor.
 Corinthian order
• The Corinthian column, with the base and shaft
resembling the Ionic, tended to be much more slender.
The distinctive feature is the capital.
Corinthian Order- Temple of Zeus
The Three Orders
 Roman Architecture ( 1000 B.C.E.-
C.E. 4000 )
• The Romans adopted the Columnar and
trabeated style of the Greeks and
developed also the arch and vault from
the beginnings made by the Etruscans
(the early inhabitants of west-central
Italy). The combined used of column,
beam, and arch is the keynote of the
Roman style in the earliest stages.
• The Romans developed the stone arch of the
Etruscans. Above all, the use of concrete
allowed the Romans to build vaults of a
magnitude never equalled toll in the
introduction of steel for buildings in the 19th
century. The art of buttressing was developed
in the course of early engineering works,
which frequently required the retaining of
masses of the earth.
PANTHEON
• Another characteristic of Roman architecture
is the flat round dome that covers an entire
building, as in the Pantheon. The Pantheon at
Rome, the finest of all illustrations of Roman
construction, embodies every form of Roman
buttress.
• Roman domes are always saucer-shaped
outside, through hemispherical within.
The Ruins of the Colloseum
 Byzantine Architecture (C.E. 200-1453)
• Byzantine take its name from Byzantium, later called Constantinople,
and now called Istanbul. Byzantine architecture is characterized by a
great central dome which had always been a traditional feature in the
east. The grouping of small domes or semi-domes round the large
central dome was effective. One of the characteristic features of the
Byzantine churches was the forms of the vaults and domes were visible
externally, undisguised by any timbered roof; thus in the byzantine style,
the exterior closely corresponds with the interior.
Hagia Sophia
Pammakaristos Church
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
New Athos Monastery