Ancient Construction: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece & Rome

Construction in Ancient Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia did not have much timber, but the area could boast of palm leaves and reed instead. However, before the consumption of fired pottery, and since the period of the earliest Neolithic, the villagers residing east of the Tigris used to construct their homes out of dried clay. The area of Jericho depicts instances of construction done with mud bricks, one type of which would be altered to accept timber cross-beams (Straub, 1952; Derry and Williams, 1961).

One of the advantages of buildings constructed in this way was that they had a longer life in a drier climate. Mesopotamia, characterized by flat alluvial plains, recorded instances of clay construction over a period spanning more than 6,000 years. In comparison, the Nile valley used stone for state construction while clay was still used largely by the general population. The construction of buildings from clay was also found in Asia Minor and the Crete islands, despite those regions being heavily forested. Even Asia Minor had alternative materials in the form of wood and stone. Therefore, rammed clay — also known as pisé — sun-dried brick, and kiln-fired brick were all important elements in the history of the initial empires (Straub, 1952; Derry and Williams, 1961).

The preparation of clay involved adding water to kneaded and chopped straw or dung to prevent deformation, after which bricks were shaped, mostly in pairs. The shape was usually a rectangle without a top or bottom, which would then be allowed to dry after being occasionally flipped from side to side. If water was added in a large quantity to the mixture, the clay would become suitable for plastering (Straub, 1952).

For building purposes, the kiln was mostly reserved for special uses, such as in the construction of pavements and footpaths and when it was necessary to make bricks watertight. However, it was not until classical times that kiln-fired brick began to be used in Egypt. The process of brick-laying and the shapes of bricks in Mesopotamia were quite unlike those that became common in later periods. The upper portion of the brick was kept curved, like the top of a loaf of bread, and the bricks were laid at a slight angle. Every other course slanted in contrasting directions, creating a herringbone effect — a pattern that may still be observed in the west of England in modern times (Hibbert, 1955; Derry and Williams, 1961).

Brick building reached its peak in worship and prayer areas known as ziggurats around 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. At Ur, the ziggurat measured approximately 75 yards long and 60 yards wide, rose to a height of 30 yards, and had walls 8 feet thick; the bricks used were kiln-baked. Records in Strabo indicate that at Hit, rivers contained an ample supply of bitumen used to facilitate the setting of kiln-baked bricks. Developments in Mesopotamia were later furthered by the introduction of stone usage by the Assyrians, who lived in the north.

During the first millennium B.C., gypsum and limestone were both incorporated into brick-building practice in the plains of Mesopotamia. The stone canal of Sennacherib, which carried water to Nineveh from a distance of 50 miles with a gradient of 1 in 80, is a particularly remarkable example of construction. Not only did it span a great distance, but the limestone structure was graded evenly throughout. Bitumen was also used to make the construction waterproof (Toy, 1955; Derry and Williams, 1961).

The Assyrian kings customarily decorated the entrances of their palaces with approximately 20-ton bull colossi, with the carving carried out only after the figures were sledged into place. They were initially transported from the Tigris by water. Most constructions were still done in brick, and arching was used to make the vaults (Stocks, 2003).

It was in Babylon that glazed bricks were used at a high rate. The structures on the Ishtar Gate were set out in a clay panel that was later separated into glazed and fired bricks. Notably, the designs are repeated on both the gate and the underground street walls, meaning that only a modern archaeologist would be able to capture the full composition — a detail that becomes even more remarkable given that the foundations in Mesopotamia, as in Egypt, were the weakest part of any structure (Toy, 1955; Derry and Williams, 1961).