Classical and Sumerian architecture
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From the point of view of modern times, the ancient civilizations of
the Mediterranean sometimes seem to blend smoothly into one melange
we call the Classical. This stylistic designation elides the 8 or 10
centuries the period spans and the remarkable changes in technology
and architectural design that took place. While later architects
reviving classical forms in the Renaissance or the Neo-classical
styles picked what they wanted to imitate, it is essential to
separate the parts. |
Division of Classical and Sumerian architectureA working division can be made into:
Greek architecture before Alexander the Great
Hellenistic architecture
Roman architecture
Only Greek Architecture before Alexander (who died in 323 BC)
carries any ethnic designation. The ancient Greeks were notoriously
dismissive of barbaroi, those who spoke Greek non-natively or not at
all. The incredible conquests of Alexander and the subsequent
application of a veneer of Greek city states to a base of Egyptian,
Semitic, and even Iranian populations produced an important change.
Though Greek-speaking remained the touchstone of whether one was a
member of civilized culture or not, the ethnic diversification of
the Hellenistic world is clear. The formal elements of classical
Greek architecture were applied to temples for gods never worshipped
in Greece.
The Romans can be seen as the latest Hellenistic empire.
Pre-imperial architecture is more or less Etruscan with some Greek
elements. By the time the Romans conquered mainland Greece in the
2nd century BC they were importing Greek craftsmen to build major
public buildings. The term Roman Art and Roman Architecture has no
ethnic meaning of Italic Romans. Most art historians assume that it
has the ethnic meaning of "Greek-speaking slave" or "Greek-speaking
free laborer," in fact.
The elements of classical architecture turn out to be just that -
elements that can be applied in radically different architectural
contexts than those for which they were developed The classical
orders - doric, ionic, and corinthian - have a kind of meaning or
stylistic developmental history in 5th century BC Greece that can be
passed over or shifted in 1st century AD Gaul, which is why they
have been revived over and over again since then.
The Tigris-Euphrates plain lacked minerals and trees. Sumerian
structures comprised plano-convex mudbrick, not fixed with mortar
nor cement. As plano-convex bricks (being rounded) are somewhat
unstable in behaviour, Sumerian bricklayers would lay a row of
bricks perpendicular to the rest every few rows. They would fill the
gaps with bitumen, straw, marsh reeds, and weeds.
Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, so they were
periodically destroyed, levelled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This
constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, so that
they came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resulting
hills are known as tells, and are found throughout the ancient Near
East. Sumerian cylinder seals also depict houses built from reeds,
not unlike those built by the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq until
recent years.
Sumerian temples and palaces made use of more advanced materials and
techniques, such as buttresses, recesses, half columns, and clay
nails.
Scribes were also important to Sumerian architecture, to make
records of construction carried out for government, nobility, or
royalty.ZigguratsThe most impressive and famous Sumerian buildings are the ziggurats
-- large terraced platforms with temples on top. Such ziggurats may
have been the inspiration for the Biblical Tower of Babel.
Ziggurats typical of the Ubaid period were built very high on a
platform of mud brick. On these large platforms were built gradually
smaller and smaller concentric platforms, although sometimes there
were ground level temples more typical of the protoliterate period.
These were similar to some modern buildings in the shape of
ziggurats. Many temples had inscriptions engraved into them, such as
the one at Uqair. |
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