Teblitu River, whose course Sennacherib had changed to
accommodate his building site, the king’s palace incor-
porated mud-brick stone and precious materials, includ-
ing ivory and cedar brought from the forested mountains
of Lebanon. It included large columns of bronze or ce-
dar. The walls were lined with slabs of gypsum alabaster
brought from Assyrian quarries and used because the soft
stone was more easily carved than other types of stone in
the area. The doorways included stone statues of human-
headed winged bulls and lions as guardians on either side.
Smaller statues were also used to help support columns.
In addition, numerous stone reliefs of spirits and animals
decorated the palace walls and were meant to protect the
king from evil. The palace contained more than 70 halls
and chambers, most lined with stone panels depicting the
king’s many accomplishments.
During the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Period (ca. 625–
539 b.c.e.) builders combined both northern and southern
architectural approaches and methods, including the poly-
chrome glaze popular among the Assyrians. Th e Chaldeans,
who made enameled baked bricks by applying a colored paste
before baking, used these bricks for the exterior of their palaces
and temples, oft en completely covering the faces of the struc-
tures with them. Th eir success in producing these bricks is evi-
denced by the fact that the remains of the brilliant blue, white,
black, yellow, and red enameled bricks have maintained their
brilliancy to modern times. Some of the bricks included fl oral
designs and animal fi gures. Th e inside of the Chaldean palaces
were also heavily decorated with murals. Another decorative
technique applied to the inner walls was a thick layer of clay
stucco, in which dry cones of baked clay were buried within the
wall. Th e cones were visible on the wall’s surface at regular in-
tervals and covered with various colors. In addition, the cones’
heads were separated by colored geometrical lines.
During the Persian Empire (ca. 538–331 b.c.e.) many of
the Mesopotamian techniques were still being used in Near
Eastern architecture. By this time, however, the Persians had
incorporated the extensive use of columns, as evidenced by
the famous complex of palaces at Persepolis (518–460 b.c.e.),
in which the throne room alone had 100 columns. Founded
by Darius the Great, who reigned in Persia from 521 to 486
b.c.e., the palace was not completed until approximately 100
years later by Artaxerxes I, who reigned from 464 to 424 b.c.e.
One reason construction took so long was that the construc-
tion of buildings could not even begin until a complex plat-
form was completed, a technically diffi cult project because it
was inserted into an irregular and rocky mountainside. Th e
palace complex was designed not only as a seat of government
but also as a showplace and center for receptions and festivals.
Th e northern part of the palace was meant primarily for of-
fi cials and included the Hall of the Apadana, the Th rone Hall,
and the Gate of Xerxes. Th e rest of the complex included the
Palaces of Darius and Xerxes, the Harem, the Council Hall,
and other such facilities.
By the time of the Sassanians, who can be traced back to
around 250 b.c.e., architects began using rough-hewn stone to
construct their palaces. At places like Firuzabad and Sarvestan
the palaces featured triple aivans, which were huge, open-air
entrance halls that led to reception halls, beyond which were
situated the monarch’s residential quarters. Th e Sassanians
also made extensive use of stucco, which accounts for the loss
of architectural remains of these triple aivans, whose existence
is based on period literature. Also worth mentioning is the
Palace of Shapur I, who ruled from 241 to 272 c.e. Found at
Ctesiphon, southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, the palace
features the largest single-span arch in the world.HOUSES
Th e earliest known dwellings in Mesopotamia consisted of
round, mud-wall huts sunk into the ground with an entrance
and a hearth. In what was the northern region of Mesopota-
mia archaeologists have discovered huts dating to the ninth
millennium b.c.e. sunk into the ground with stone pillars
made out of plaster. Many houses connected to the Marsh Ar-
abs and their reed culture were also built of tall reeds. Th ese
reeds were staked into the ground in two parallel rows with
their tops tied together and covered with matting. A simi-
lar, more complex technique is still used in rural sections of
modern Iraq.
Outside the marshlands, however, houses were built of
mud bricks and mud plaster. Typically, house construction
varied according to the socioeconomic status of the occupants.
Th e poorer people lived in single-story houses of reinforced
mud brick with fl oors of packed earth or mud bricks. Th ese
houses were sometimes merely circular huts supported by a
center post. As building techniques progressed, however, those
higher on the socioeconomic ladder had much grander living
quarters that were two and sometimes even three stories high.
Based on archaeological excavations at Ur, the typical
“upper-middle-class” home of around 2000 b.c.e. was mul-
tistoried and built around an open-air courtyard, which
allowed light to enter the windowless rooms. Typical ground-
fl oor areas included a kitchen with a fi replace, a long, narrow
reception room where guests were received, a chapel with an
altar, and a tomb under the pavement or ground. Th e open-
air yard probably included storage sheds or stalls for sheep,
goats, and other domestic animals. Th e home’s second story
was reached by stairs, sometimes leading to a wooden balcony
supported by columns. Th is balcony usually extended around
the entire central courtyard, and the second fl oor usually
consisted of bedrooms. Despite this luxurious space for that
era, a ladder was oft en used so that people could sleep on their
rooft ops on hot summer nights. Th e roofs were buttressed
with timbers packed with mud. Eventually these houses also
included a bathroom just off the courtyard. For most houses
the bathrooms were small enclosures with a central drainage
hole paved on each side with bricks where people would place
their feet and squat.64 architecture: The Middle East