Historical Timeline of Architecture

3000 BCE 2600 BCE

ANCIENT EGYPT EARLY JAPANESE MAYA, INCA, AZTEC BYZANTINE

PRE HISTORIC GREECE ROMAN EARLY ROMANESQUE GOTHIC RENAISSANCE 18TH – 19TH 20TH
3800 BCE CHRISTIAN CENTURY CENTURY
RIVIVAL MODERN

MESOPOTAMIAN INDUS VALLEY EARLY INDIAN ISLAMIC

CHINA
YELLOW
(HUANG HE) RIVER
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
ANCIENT EGYPT
Time periods for Ancient Egyptian Culture

Sepulchral tombs of pharaohs & nobles Temples for gods

Mastabas & pyramids Tombs tunnelled out Temples

of rocks cliffs

Old Kingdom 2680–2258 BC Middle Kingdom 2134–1786 New Kingdom 1570–1085 BC

Pharaohs organised Corrupt government Pharaohs created a

centralised states suffered frequent large empire
rebellions
Built enormous tombs, Traded with lands along
the pyramids Land drained for eastern Mediterranean
farming and Red Sea
Power struggles, crop
failures and cost of Hittites invaded and Nubians then others
pyramids caused conquered invaded
collapsed
Ancient Egyptian Architecture

• Location & climate

• Important types – tombs and temples
• Materials – sun baked mud bricks and stone (limestone, sandstone & granite)
• Characteristics – Load bearing heavy mud brick & post and lintel construction,
massive walls covered with hieroglyphic and pictorial carving, flat roofs,
astronomically aligned
• Ornamentation – hieroglyphics, mimetic – papyrus, lotus, river reeds
EGYPT
• RITUAL
• AFTERLIFE
• IMMORTALITY
• KA & BA
• AKH
• MUMMIES
Ornamentation
Mimetic
 Mastaba – ‘bench’, early tomb.
MASTABA A single storey structures built on top of an underground burial tomb
Pyramid of Djoser (Zoser) At Saqqara,
3rd Dynasty, Old Kingdom
The oldest complete stone building complex known in history was built.
First attempt at a pyramid
 Tomb painting showing the papyrus
plant
Papyrus shaped half columns,
North Palace funerary complex of King Djoser, at Saqqara
Pyramids of Giza
The Sphinx was constructed to guard the
pyramids. In the records of many, it is noted
that the face of the Sphinx is much to the
likeness of Pharaoh Khafra.

It is 241 feet long and is facing towards the

rising sun.

Source: Sigurd Gartmann/Flickr

Pyramid of Cheops Pyramid of Dahshur with bent sides Djoser’s Step Pyramid
Middle Kingdom Tombs
Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
Deir el-Bahri

14th Dynasty 1540 -1295 BCE

Proto-Doric columns
NEW KINGDOM
19TH CENTRY DYNASTY

RAMESSES II (the Great)

Ruled Egypt from
1279 BCE to 1213 BCE
Temple of
Ramesses II
at Abu Simbel
19th Dynasty,
New Kingdom
Astrological alignment:
Every year on both Ramesses’s birthday and the
anniversary of his coronation, the rising sun
shines in a perfect unbroken beam directly
through the temple, illuminating the statues in
the sanctuary

The sun falls directly on Amun, Ra and

Ramesses. Ptah because he was associated with
darkness, is not illuminated and always remain
darkened by shadow
 Ptah Amun Ramesses Ra (Re-Horkathy)
Astrological alignment: Seated on either side of Ramesses are Amun and Ra; both were
associated with the sun. It appears as if they are summoning the power of the sun and
channelling it onto the figure of the king between them upon whom it falls most brightly
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
ARCHITECTURE
influence in modern day architecture
Discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in
1922
. Egyptian Influence in
Art Deco

Paramount Theatre, Oakland,

San Francisco

Egyptian reeds on the Chrysler

building elevator doors.

Carlton Cinema, London designed

in Egyptian and Aztec styles.
Louvre Museum, Paris
Sunway Pyramid Mall
MESOPOTAMIA
Ancient Mesopotamian YEARS
Civilisation
Starts: 4000 BCE
Mesopotamia (Greek mesos = middle,
potamos = rivers )
Outstanding: 3500 BCE

Ended: 331 BCE

AREA

TIGRIS & EUPHRATES rivers, = NOW IRAQ , KUWAIT, &

PARTS OF SYRIA, TURKEY

It is termed as the Fertile Crescent –

dense network of cities and villages, grain-
bearing valleys
 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
4000-2350 BCE 525-331 BCE

SUMERIANS PERSIANS

THE 612-539 BCE

2350-2150 BCE
CIVILIZATION
EVOLVED BY NEO-
AKKADIANS PEOPLE BABYLONIANS

2150-2000 BCE 900-612 BCE

NEO-
SUMERIANS ASSYRIANS

1800-1600 BCE 1200-900 BCE

BABYLONIANS HITTITIES

1400-1200 BCE
 SUMERIAN CITY-STATES

• City state: a city that its surrounding territory forms

an independent state

• City-states gradually emerged.

• Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, Kish, Umma, etc.
• Larger than Neolithic settlements and
displayed evidence of economic
specialization and strong political
organization
• Consist of the ‘urban centre’ plus the
surrounding countryside
• Each was an independent political unit

Ur
City Characteristics

• Each city was surrounded by walls

• Permanent garrisons of soldiers stationed in towers and at each
gate
• Wide boulevards crossed city, lined by houses of the wealthy
• Rest of city is made up of narrow, twisting alleys surrounded by
small, flat-roofed huts, which were homes of farmers and small
craftsmen
• The flat roofs were used for sleeping outdoors when it was hot.
• Sumerian houses faced away from crowded streets. Instead,
they faced onto courtyards where families ate, and children
played.
ISHTAR GATE
King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered
the construction of the gate and
dedicated it to the Babylonian
goddess Ishtar. The principal
entrance to the city, the Ishtar
Gate was designed to make a big
impression. The Ishtar Gate led
to Babylon’s Processional Way,
which stretched for over half a
mile across the city. This large,
four storey portal was covered in
glazed bricks, colourful tiles, and
decorative figures of bulls, lions
and dragons.
circa 575 BCE
 Residential
Architecture
• Basic building material – Sun-dried
brick made of mud mixed with straw
• Houses – mostly single storey with
rooms wrapped around a courtyard.
Thick walls prevented heat
transmission. Roofs were flat and used
for sleeping outdoors when it was hot.
Wealthy families had 2 storey houses
• Courtyard – Major activity area. Linked
all rooms. Provided privacy, light and
ventilation
• There was a step sown from the
vestibule to the central court
• The central court was brick paved and
slopes toward a central drain
• The stairs and the lavatory were
opposite to the guest room across the
courtyard
 Religious beliefs – Through daily rituals, attention to the deities, proper
funeral practices and simple civic duty, the people of Mesopotamia felt
they helped maintain balance in the world and kept the forces of chaos
and destruction at bay

• Each god had control of certain things and each city was ruled by a
different god

• Complex social system – Existence of social classes (Nobility, free citizens

& slaves). Kings were stewards of God – hence position enhanced and
supported by religion. Priest were Managers of city’s economy and
infrastructure, interpretation of omens for all activities
Ziggurat • The belief that gods lived on the distant mountaintops gave rise to
Stepped platform to elevate Ziggurats
temple to god
• The word ziggurat comes from the Assyrian for ‘raised up’ or ‘high’.
Ziggurats were built in the centre of the city

• The Mesopotamian thinking - instruction for the layout and design of

temple precincts came directly from the gods – in the form of a
mysterious dream

• Connection between heaven and earth

• Stepped pyramid – located within a temple complex
Ziggurat of Ur - Nammu
THANK YOU