Sumerian architecture

The Sumerians were people who lived in Mesopotamia (Ancient Iraq) from the mid 6th millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium BC. Among their architectural accomplishments are the invention of urban planning, the courtyard house, and ziggurat step pyramids. No architectural profession existed in Sumer; however, scribes drafted and managed construction for the government, nobility, or royalty.

The Sumerians were aware of ‘the craft of building’ as a divine gift taught to men by the gods as listed in me 28. Sumerian Architecture is the foundation of later Hebrew, Phoenician, Anatolian, Hittite, Hurrian, Ugaritic, Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Islamic, and to a certain extent Grecoroman and therefore Western Architectures.

The Frankie of Sumerian architecture is overwhelmingly one of clay masonry and of increasingly complex forms of stacked bricks. Because these brick were unbaked Sumerian buildings eventually deteriorated. They were periodically destroyed, leveled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This planned structural lifecycle 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. Civic buildings slowed decay by using cones of colored stone, terracotta panels, and clay nails driven into the adobe-brick to create a protective sheath that decorated the facade.

Links

• Sumerian architecture – Wikipedia

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