Ancient Greek Architecture Was Profoundly Influenced by the Ancient Near East. Discuss.
Ancient Greek Architecture Was Profoundly Influenced By The Ancient Near East. Discuss.
To answer this question, it is vital that we define the boundaries of the ancient near east. Two prominent countries, Mesopotamia and Egypt, seem to have been subjected to an appearance of ‘monumental architecture and sculpture’ at almost the same time, according to Henri Frankfort in his publication The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (Fourth Edition 1970, p.11), with the other countries being Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Persia. The Mesopotamians, whose civilisation began in the Protoliterate period (3500-3000 B.C.), built out of the readily available mud-brick obtained from the alluvial plain between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which was dried and baked in the Sun. This was used to construct ‘larger and more permanent’ structures than simple shelters (p.18). A.W. Lawrence in Greek Architecture (Fifth Edition, 1996) observes that Greek architecture was worthless until the first ‘approximate attempt at aesthetic architecture’ which was ‘a facade of burnt brick’ at Tiryns (p.3). This would seem to be the first, if not definitely direct, example of Mesopotamian, and indeed ancient near eastern influence.
One of the most fundamental influences of ancient near eastern architecture can be found in Troy, Asia Minor. An early house plan, typical of Trojan dwellings, consists of a long rectangular hall accessed by a porch, defined by extensions of the longest walls. Frankfort (p.208) observes that homes in Asia Minor were in general designed on a ‘very rigid plan’ like below, a portion of Troy at Hissarlik before the second millennium B.C. The rooms placed behind one another, with a porch leading into a main chamber and sometimes a room further behind. We will see that the Greek ‘megaron’ plan and ‘in antis’ temple plan is based on this scheme, although A.W. Lawrence (p.7) says there is ‘no firm evidence’ that Trojan culture directly influenced Greek
To answer this question, it is vital that we define the boundaries of the ancient near east. Two prominent countries, Mesopotamia and Egypt, seem to have been subjected to an appearance of ‘monumental architecture and sculpture’ at almost the same time, according to Henri Frankfort in his publication The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (Fourth Edition 1970, p.11), with the other countries being Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Persia. The Mesopotamians, whose civilisation began in the Protoliterate period (3500-3000 B.C.), built out of the readily available mud-brick obtained from the alluvial plain between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, which was dried and baked in the Sun. This was used to construct ‘larger and more permanent’ structures than simple shelters (p.18). A.W. Lawrence in Greek Architecture (Fifth Edition, 1996) observes that Greek architecture was worthless until the first ‘approximate attempt at aesthetic architecture’ which was ‘a facade of burnt brick’ at Tiryns (p.3). This would seem to be the first, if not definitely direct, example of Mesopotamian, and indeed ancient near eastern influence.
One of the most fundamental influences of ancient near eastern architecture can be found in Troy, Asia Minor. An early house plan, typical of Trojan dwellings, consists of a long rectangular hall accessed by a porch, defined by extensions of the longest walls. Frankfort (p.208) observes that homes in Asia Minor were in general designed on a ‘very rigid plan’ like below, a portion of Troy at Hissarlik before the second millennium B.C. The rooms placed behind one another, with a porch leading into a main chamber and sometimes a room further behind. We will see that the Greek ‘megaron’ plan and ‘in antis’ temple plan is based on this scheme, although A.W. Lawrence (p.7) says there is ‘no firm evidence’ that Trojan culture directly influenced Greek