Polis: Mesopotamia and the Greek City Flashcards
1
Q
Ziggurat, Ur, Mesopotamia (southern Iraq)
c. 2125‐2025 BC
A
- Stepped pyramid
- Temple tower structure
- Ramps/stairs leading to top
- Rectangular oval or square platform
- Facing often glazed in different colours
- Top forms shrine or temple (important people only)
- Urban setting
- Never at centre
- Surrounded by temple compound - fortified ‘city in a city’
2
Q
Ishtar Gate, Babylon, Mesopotamia (southern Iraq)
c. 612‐539 BC
A
- Highly decorative
- Polychrome architecture
- Writing on the surface
- Mudbrick materials
- Orthogonal planning
- Logical structure, ensures stability
- Defensive mechanism
- Crenelations
- Hide and shoot
3
Q
Palace of Knossos, Crete, c. 1700‐1380 BC
A
- Four story building
- Interior volume via staircase
- Mudbrick on top of plaster
- Elaborate frescoes (interior)
- Assymetrical arrangement
- Single celled rooms with terraced platforms - loggias
- Several gradations of space
- Columns taper downwards
4
Q
What is a megaron?
A
- In ancient Greece and the Middle East, architectural form consisting of an open porch, a vestibule, and a large hall with a central hearth and a throne; usually faced onto a courtyard
- All Mycenaen courtyard houses have megaron plan
- Porch, vestibule, then room - layered space
- Trabeated architecture
- Moderated climate
5
Q
The Lion Gate, Mycenae, c. 1300 BC
A
- Two monoliths, huge lintel on the top
- Two lions placed in the relieving triangle
- Corbelled arch
- Cylopean masonry - wide, strong wall of roughly cut stone
- Reminiscent of tree trunks - making vertical structure permanent
- Lions symbolise power + royalty, also God Hera
- Fortified, defensive wall
6
Q
Palace megaron, Mycenae, c. 1300 BC
A
- Form of interior architecture
- Gradations of space
- Adaptability to climate
- Loggia, vestibule, room
- Looking out onto courtyard supported by columns
- Complex conception of space
7
Q
Stoa of Attalus, Agora
Athens, Greece, c. 150 BC
A
- Commercial buildings
- Facing the agora or public space
- Creation of interior public space
- Hypostyle megaron
- Shrines leading up to the Stoa
- Whole plan is relaxed, assymetrical + organic
- Urban space and public space deeply connected with the Gods, ritual community
