Architecture Greek and Roman City

Architecture

Greek and Roman City

The study of ancient Mesopotamian architecture is based on the archaeological evidence that is available. This includes pictorial representations of buildings and texts on building practices. Scholarly literature usually focuses on temples, palaces, city walls and gates along with other monumental buildings, but occasionally there is talk of residential architecture as well.

The materials that were used to build a Mesopotamian house were the same as those that might be used today: mud brick, mud plaster and wooden doors, which were all naturally available around the city. Most houses contained a square center room with other rooms attached to it, but a great variation in the size and materials used to build the houses suggest they were built by the residents themselves. The smallest rooms did not necessarily belong to the poorest people. It was noted in fact the poorest people often built houses out of perishable materials such as reeds on the outside of the city.

The palaces in early Mesopotamian were large scale complexes, and were often generously decorated. These palaces often functioned as large scale socio-economic institutions. Meaning that along with residential and private functions, they housed craftsmen workshops, food storehouses, ceremonial courtyards, and were often associated with shrines. Assyrian palaces of the Iron Age have become famous because of the pictorial and textual narratives that were on their walls. These pictorials either included cultic scenes or a narrative account of the kings' military and civic accomplishments. Gates and important passageways were often edged with massive stone sculpture of mythological figures. The architectural planning of these Iron Age palaces was also planned around large and small courtyards. There is also a lot of evidence that suggests that bronze repousse bands decorated the wooden gates.

Ziggurats were massive stepped cult platforms that were found in certain Mesopotamian sanctuaries. This idea is thought to have originated in early Mesopotamian temples which were built in sequence; one building built over another on the same site over many centuries, creating a massive mound that raised the new temples up over the rest of the city. It is often thought that ziggurats were built in order to resemble mountains. The entire mud brick core structure of these ziggurats was originally given a facing of a baked brick envelope that was set in bitumen. Each of these baked bricks was stamped with the name of the king. The sloping walls of the stages were reinforced. "The access to the top was by means of a triple monumental staircase, which all converges at a portal that opened on a landing between the first and second stages. The height of the first stage was about 11 m while the second stage rose some 5.7 m. Usually a third stage is reconstructed by the excavator of the ziqqurat (Leonard Woolley), and crowned by a temple."

Greek architecture often followed a highly structured system of proportions that related to the individual architectural components to the entire building. This system revolved around three styles, or orders. Each order consisted of an upright support known as a column. The column extended from a base at the bottom to a shaft in the middle and had a capital at the top. The capital was often a symbol of natural forms, such as animal horns or plant leaves. The capital supported a horizontal element called the entablature, which was divided further into three different parts:

The architrave which was the lowest part

The frieze was the middle part

The cornice was the very top

These elements were further detailed with decorative moldings and ornamentation. Each part of the classical order was sized and arranged according to an overall proportioning system based on the height and diameter of the columns.

In order to examine the artistic features of that time period it is useful to look at the building materials with which a Greek architect had to use and the methods of putting them together. Greece had a large amount of good building stone. Many times there was an inexhaustible supply of white marble. There was also many beautiful colored marbles that the Romans had to figure out how to use. There was also many other common types of stone that was readily available, especially soft, brown lime stones which the Greeks called by the name of poros. In the instances where poros or crude brick were used, it was coated with very fine, hard stucco, which gave it a surface like that of marble. Roof tiles were made of terra-cotta in this early period, until Greek travelers brought back the idea of using baked bricks.

In is also worth noting that there was an absence of lime-mortar in Greek architecture. Lime-stucco was in use everywhere, but lime mixed with sand and used as a bond for masonry, was found nowhere in Greek work. Because of this the walls of temples and other carefully constructed buildings had an elaborate system of bonding that was done by means of clamps and dowels. Another important fact is there was an absence of the arch from in Greek architecture. It has been reported that the principle of the arch was first discovered by the Greek philosopher, Democritus. The arch has no part in the columnar architecture of Greece. In a Greek temple or similar building the only thing that was known was the flat ceiling.