Chapter 2 Architecture THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST fortified column mud brick capital theocratic cylinder seal facing base polytheistic incised ziggurat shaft propitiate glyptic art load-bearing impost block shrine votive figure citadel Cyclopaean cuneiform hierarchical fortification masonry iconography proportions cella elevation cone mosaics dynasty altar plinth stele attribute Apadana registers anthropomorphic relief cult convention Chronology of Ancient Near East and Principal Sites Neolithic Era (c. 9000-4500/4000 BCE) ...... …. Jericho; Çatal Hüyük stylization Mesopotamia…………………………………………. modern Iraq inlaid Uruk (c. 3500-3100BCE)………………. Uruk Sumer…………………………………… Sumer composite Early Dynastic (c.2800-2300 BCE)….. Tell Asmar; Ur profile Akkad (c.2300-2100 BCE)……………. Akkad frontal Neo-Sumerian (c.2150-1800 BCE)… Lagash Babylon………………………………… Babylon isometric Old Babylonian (c.1830-1550 BCE) inlaid Neo Babylonian (c. 612-539 BCE) Assyrian Empire (c.1100-612 BCE)… Assur Anatolia…………………………………………………. modern Turkey Hittite Empire (c.1450-1200 BCE)… Hattusas (modern Boghazköy) Ancient Iran……………………………………………. modern Iran Achaemenid Persia (539-331 BCE)… Persepolis (near modern Shiraz) Scythian (c.800-550 BCE)…………………………… modern Russia and Ukraine
Neolithic plastered skull, from Jericho, c. 7000 BCE
1 Çatal Hüyük, Turkey
Anatolian goddess giving birth from Çatal Hüyük, Turkey c. 6500-5700 BCE baked clay
2 Cone mosaics, from Uruk, Uruk period, c. 3500 BCE
Carved cult vase (Warka Vase), from Uruk Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE Alabaster; 36 inches
3 Carved cult vase (Warka Vase), from Uruk, details Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE Alabaster; 36 inches
Female head, from Uruk Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE white marble; 8 inches
The White Temple on its ziggurat, Uruk Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE Stone and polished brick
4 The White Temple on its ziggurat, Uruk, diagram Uruk period, c. 3500-3000 BCE Stone and polished brick
Mesopotamia 8th-7th century BCE Chalcedony
Cylinder seals and impressions
Uruk c. 3500-3000 BCE Greenish black serpentine
Clay tablet with pictograph text that preceded cuneiform, likely from Iraq Mesopotamian, c. 3000 BCE
5 Cuneiform tablet with cylinder seal Mesopotamian, c. 3100-2900 BCE clay
Votive figures from the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar Sumerian, c. 2700-2500 BCE Limestone, alabaster and gypsum
6 Lyre sound box, from the tomb of Queen Puabi, Ur Sumerian, c. 2685 BCE Wood with inlaid gold, lapis lazuli, and shell
Head of an Akkadian ruler (Sargon I?), from Nineveh, Iraq Akkadian, c. 2300 BCE Bronze
7 Victory stele of Naram-Sin, from Susa c. 2254-2218 BCE Pink sandstone
Head of Gudea, from Lagash, Iraq Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100 BCE Diorite
Gudea with a temple plan, from Lagash, Iraq Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100 BCE Diorite
8 Nanna ziggurat, Ur Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100-2050 BCE Mud brick faced with baked brick embedded in mortar made of bitumen
Nanna ziggurat, Ur Neo-Sumerian, c. 2100-2050 BCE
9 Stele inscribed with the law code of Hammurabi, Susa Babylonian, c. 1792-1750 Basalt, approx. 7 ft
Lion Gate (Royal Gate), Hattusus, Boghazkoy, Turkey Hittite Empire, c. 1400 BCE Stone
King Assurnasirpal II hunting lions, from Nimrud, Iraq Assyrian, c. 883-859 BCE Alabaster relief
10 City attacked with a battering ram, palace of King Assurnasirpal II, Nimrud, Iraq Assyrian, c. 883-859 BCE Alabaster relief
Dying Lioness (detail from the Great Lion Hunt), from the palace of King Assurbanipal II, Nineveh, Assyrian, c. 668-627 BCE Alabaster relief
Plan of Sargon II’s palace Assyrian, c. 720 BCE
11 Lamassu, from the gateway, Sargon II’s palace at Dur Sharrukin, (now Khorsabad, Iraq) Assyrian, c. 720 BCE Limestone
Ishtar Gate (reconstructed), from Babylon Neo-Babylonian, c. 575 BCE Glazed brick
Beaker, from Susa Ancient Iran, c. 5000 – 4000 BCE Painted pottery
12 Kneeling bull holding a spouted vessell Ancient Iran, c. 3100 – 2999 BCE Silver
Stag, from Kostromskaya, Russia, Scythian, 7th century BCE Chased gold
Apadana (Audience Hall) of Darius, Persepolis (in modern Iraq) Achaemenid Persia, c. 500 BCE
13 Royal guards, relief on the stairway to the Audience Hall of Darius, Persepolis Achaemenid Persia, c. 500 BCE
Bull capital, Persepolis Achaemenid Persia, c. 500 BCE
Achaemenid drinking vessel Persian, 5th century BCE gold
14