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Architecture - Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian culture, cheat sheet covering monumental architecture including temples and palaces.

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Egypt - Temples

Overview
- Temple = fulfilling the role of house. Entrance into the divine world, allows gods to be provided for in their spiritual form. Duty of king to maintain temples.
- Two types of temples: cult and mortuary temples.
Old Kingdom
(2686-2125 BCE)
- Early temples as arenas for royal display rather than places of worship?
- Abu Ghurab - Central obelisk, alabaster altar
New Kingdom
(1550-1069 BCE)
- Abu Simbel - Temple dedicated to Amon-Re during reign of Ramses II, existence of temple very much for the purpose of glorifying the king. Symbolism in the archit­ecture targeted at elite members of society - statue over entrance that spells out Ramses' name + scenes inside the temple repres­enting the king smiting enemies. 4 monumental statues of Ramses in the front.

Abu Simbel

  

Mesopo­tamia - Temples

Uruk
(4th millennium BCE)
- Pre-mud brick - reed altars with naval processions.
- Eanna complex:
Different constr­uction stages illust­rating the develo­pment of archit­ecture from 4th to 3rd millennium.
Tripartite floorplan.
Square building = latest addition to Eanna, break in homoge­neity of structure - political statement, new traditions.
Eanna as public building? Central + visible. Or as demons­tration of power.
Early Dynastic
(2900-2334 BCE)
- Rectan­gular + multi-­lev­elled structure on top of mound. --> bottom level = similar structure to Babylonian house + very restricted access.
- Marduk temple - biblical tower of Babel.
Ur III
(2112-2004 BCE)
- Ziggurats.
- Low homoge­neity in design, continuity in building program, but no standa­rdi­sation of architecture.
Used for cultic activity, storage, court and admini­str­ation. Walled off and separated from everyday life.
Gippar­u-House - temple of high-p­rie­stess + used as storage room.
Neo-As­syrian
(934-612 BCE)
- Oblong shape with court for worshi­ppers where deity could be found
- Deity = master of house, but shielded from view so could not be seen without entering the temple.

Mesopo­tamia - Settle­ments in Sumer and Akkad

Ubaid period
c.3100-1500 BCE
Small sites, with the additional emergence of larger ones e.g. Eridu and Ur.
Uruk period
c.4000­-3100 BCE
Urbani­sation in Uruk through migration from surrou­nding regions and sedent­isation of local pastoral nomadic groups.
Jemdet Nasr + Early Dynastic I period
c. 3000-2600 BCE
Expansion of urbanism. --> abando­nment of countr­yside (coerced or not).
Early Dynastic II-III - Ur III
c. 2600-2100 BCE
Standa­rdi­sation + spread of cuneiform and political unific­ation. Each city = house of a god. e.g. Lagash.
Ur III
c. 2100-1850 BCE
Followed by political decent­ral­isation in the Isin-Larsa period. End of 3rd millennium = first irrigation systems.
Old Babylonian period
c. 1850-1500 BCE
Political reunif­ication under Hammurabi. Growth of existing cities e.g. Nippur and Ur.
Issues with settlement surveys:
Relies on assumption that physical traces are left behind on surface. Therefore tends to miss smaller sites, and requires reliance on textual sources.