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West Asiatic
Architecture
Reference: History of Architecture by Sir
Banister Fletcher, 17th ed.
Influences
Geographical.
Geographically speaking, Babylonia and Assyria were one country which ancient writers called Assyria. Just as the pyramids and early monuments of Egypt clustered first around the Nile, so in Chaldea the earliest building appear to have been at the mouth of the two famous rivers of Western Asia, the Tigris and the Euphrates.
In Egypt civilization spread southwards from Memphis to Philas, whereas in Western Asia it advanced northwards from Babylon in Chaldea to Nineveh in Assyria, and thus in both countries it followed the natural course, inland from the sea.
On the east of Babylonia and Assyria was ancient Persia, which, under Cyrus and Darius, extended over the high plateau of Iran from the Tigris to the Indus.
Geological.
Babylonia or Chaldea is an alluvial district of thick mud and clay deposited by the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Such soil, in which no stone was found and no trees would grow, was eminently suitable for the making of bricks, which thus became the usual building material in Babylonia.
The walls were constructed of crude, sun-dried bricks faced with kiln-baked bricks of different colors. There were also bitumen springs to be found, and in early times not bitumen or pitch was used as cementing material, and mortar of calcareous earth in later periods.
In Assyria there was plenty of stone in the mountains to the north, but the Assyrian followed the Babylonians in the use of brick; though they faced the walls
inscriptions.
In Persia there were hard, colored limestones which were used in the building of Susa and Persepolis, and timber was used for the roofs while Persian tiles have always been famous for their beauty of texture and color.
Climatic
Chaldea was, by reason of its situation around the river deltas, a region of swamps and floods, besides which torrents of rain fell for weeks at a time, and these conditions were aggravated during the long summer by unhealthy, miasmic exhalations.
Therefore elevated platforms on which to build towns and palaces were desirable. Assyria, nearer the mountains and farther from the river mouths than Chaldea, had a similar estimate but with fewer swamps and lesser miasma, but any climatic difference had little effect on architecture, as Assyrians followed the Babylonian style.
The Dry, hot climate of the high table-land of Persia was striking contrast to the damp of the low-lying plains of the Mesopotamia, and it accounts for the innovation of open columned halls in the palaces of Susa and Persepolis.
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Towering ziggurats or temple
observatories were erected for
astrologer-priests who studied the
stars
The polytheism of Babylonia and Assyria was variously
expressed, in the worship of heavenly bodies, divisions of the universe, and local deities. The priests, as depositories of wisdom, arrogated to themselves the power of reading the stars, of divination, and to interpreting the will of the gods, and for these astrologer-priests the towering
ziggurats or temple observatories were erected. The
Babylonians and Assyrians were not great tomb builders as they had not the strong belief of the Egyptians in a future life.
The religion of the Persians based on the teachings of Zoroaster, was a system of ethical forces, good and evil at war from the beginning of time, with a belief in the final triumph of good. Fire was held to be the
manifestation of good, and fire worship needed no temples, but only altars for the sacrificial flame, and thus in Persia we must not look for temple remains, nor expect religion to have exercised much influence on architecture.
Social
In Babylon, a powerful priestly class arrogated to itself the
learning known as “Chaldean wisdom”. The degree of civilization reached by the Babylonians was extraordinary: they had an elaborate legal system, cities had rights and charters, there were feudal holdings, a system of police and even a postal service. They practiced a cuneiform system
of writing on clay tablets which have proved more lasting
than the Egyptian records on perishable papyrus. The Babylonians were primarily traders in origin and commercial life flourished. The people were divided into nobles with hereditary estates, a landless class of freemen, and lastly slaves, a social system that is not only Medieval but almost modern in some aspects.
In Assyria a military autocracy with a conscript army was the dominating class.
The Assyrians were fighters and sportsmen rather than traders like the Babylonians. Assyrian wall sculptures form an illustrated history of the battles and exploits from monarchs; there is little reference to religion, with its sacrificial rites, on these delicately incised slabs, which are devoted to war and chase, and the trail of cruelty is over them all.
The Persian domination was due to the military superiority of this hardy, upland race, which gradually imposed its civilization on Western Asia under the rule of the Satraps. They were soldiers all; landowners as horsemen and people as infantry.
It is therefore not surprising that the Assyrians and Persians erected lordly palaces in preference to stupendous temples and tombs.
Here again, the colossal nature of building undertakings points to the social conditions that prevailed; for the thousands of prisoners taken in battle raised those enormous platforms on which the palaces of Nineveh, Babylon, and Persepolis were placed. It is estimated that 10,000 man labored for twelve years on the platform of Nineveh.
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Historical
The historical period is taken to begin c.3000BCE with the bringing to perfection of the art of writing and the full development of urban life; but as in the case of Egypt, the Mesopotamian civilization had been shaping many centuries previously. There are remains of important buildings that can be ascribed to an „archaic‟ stage, c.3500-300BCE. There are four main historical periods:
1.The Babylonian Period (BCE 3000-1250). Little is
known of this period until about BCE 2500 when rivalry existed between the Babylonian cities. In BCE 2250 the great King Hammurabi established the domination of Babylon. The Babylonian power, however, later declined under the attacks of Hittites and Kassites, until BCE 1700 Assyria became a separate kingdom.
2.Assyrian Period (BC 1250-612). The Assyrians
conquered the Babylonians in BC 1275 and remained the great military power of Western Asia until the
destruction of Nineveh in BCE 606. Sargon, most famous of Assyrian Kings, defeated the Egyptians, and like many a conqueror, he was also a great builder, as is testified by his magnificent palace at Khorsabad. With incursions by the Medes decline set until in BCE 606, Nineveh was captured and destroyed, and the Assyrian Empire divided. The new Babylonian only lasted 70 years. 3.Neo Babylonian Period, (BC 612-539). Babylonian
leader was Nabopolassar, a Chaldean. He was succeeded by his son, Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 BCE) of bible fame, despoiler of Jerusalem and responsible for the captivity of the children of Israel from 597-538 BCE. He is lastingly associated with the wonders of Babylon, its palaces, hanging gardens and towered walls. The dynasty ended with Nabonidus, defeated by Persian King Cyrus in 539 BCE.
4.Persian Period (BC 539-331). The domination of
Persia over Western Asia and her struggles for a further extension of power is reflected in her architecture. Persia conquered Greek colonists of Asia Minor and the recurring vertical scrolls in Persian column capitals is probably derived from Greek examples. The Persian conquest extended to Egypt and there seems no doubt that the impression produced by the marvelous buildings
grotesque forms.
The Persians under Darius invaded the Greek mainland but they were defeated at Marathon (BC 490) and a season expedition under Xerxes was likewise defeated at Salamis and Platoea (BC 480-479). Under Alexander the Great (BC 333-323) Persia became a
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Architectural Character
Babylonian-Assyrian architecture is characterized by
“Massiveness, monumentality and grandeur”. Grandeur was produced by the towering masses of palaces and stepped ziggurats which were planted on great platforms and approached by broad stairways and ramps.The Assyrian palace is designed for both internal and external effect, (in contrast to the Egyptian temple which, behind the massive entrance is surrounded by a plain, forbidding girdle wall.)
The system of construction used by the Assyrians is principally
one of arch and vaults.
The arch is the principal feature and was formed by horizontal
corbelled courses or with
radiating vouissoirs using bricks.
The Assyrians developed blocks of sufficient size to span wide openings. The Assyrians also developed the pointed arch which was employed as early as BCE 722 in the drain, under the palace at Khorsabad.
Persian Architecture, like the Assyrian, Is principally one
of royal palaces, but it is characterized by a “light and airy magnificence” in contrast with the ponderous solidity of Egyptian and the towering monumentality of Assyrian architecture. The style is columnar and trabeated with widely spaced columns.Persian columns were long and slender with highly moulded bases, fluted shafts and capitals of recurring vertical scrolls. Sometimes these columns were surmounted by
twin bulls, unicorns, horses, griffins on the backs of
which were placed the cross-beams of the roof.
The Persians continued the use of flanking monsters in doorways. The outstanding feature of Persian ornament is their mastery in the preparation and application of pure
color to glazed bricks. The Persians, like the Assyrians,
reserved to their ornament for special positions, in contrast to the Egyptians who spread it broadcast over their unbroken wall surfaces.
