Incredible Bronze Age Architecture From the Near East and the Aegean

The technology of the Bronze Age seems primitive by today’s standards, which makes it incredible that Bronze Age people living 3000-5000 years ago were able to build architectural marvels that still stand today. Including the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, and the palaces of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece, this is a look at some of the most impressive and important examples of Bronze Age architecture from the Near East and Aegean.

Egypt has some of the world’s most enduring architecture. Its most famous monuments are the pyramids. But before the Egyptians built their pyramids, they built tomb structures known as mastabas, which means bench in Arabic. These tomb structures were given this name by later Arab visitors to Egypt, who thought the rectangular structures looked like simple benches.

The kings of the 1st dynasty (c. 3000-2800 BCE) and the last two kings of the 2nd dynasty (c. 2800-2675 BCE) were buried underneath these tombs near the Upper Egyptian city of Abydos.

During the 3rd dynasty, Egypt’s capital moved north to Memphis, and this became the new necropolis area. Egypt experienced a major architectural revolution when Djoser (ruled c. 2687-2648 BCE) built the Step Pyramid. The king’s vizier and architect Imhotep oversaw and planned the work. It was essentially six mastabas placed on top of each other. The 196-foot-high structure was enclosed by a wall 34-foot-high and 5,397-foot-long.

The Pyramid Age

The first king of the 4th dynasty, Sneferu (reigned c. 2613-2589 BCE), ushered in the “Pyramid Age” with his attempts to build a true pyramid. The ambitious king commissioned four pyramids: one at Meidum, two at Dahshur, and one at Seila. The most famous are the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid at Dahshur. Many scholars consider the former to be the first true pyramid. This laid the groundwork for the greatest pyramids at Giza.

The Giza pyramids include those of Khufu (c. 2589-2566 BCE), Khafra (2558-2532 BCE), and Menkaura (2532-2503). Khufu’s pyramid is the largest and is considered the Great Pyramid by modern scholars. The ancient Greeks included it as one of their Seven Wonders of the World. The Great Pyramid covers 13.1 acres of space, is 479 feet tall, and has an impressive slope of 53 degrees. The Giza pyramids were built with locally quarried limestone by well-organized groups of 25,000 men working in three-month shifts.

The purpose of the pyramids was to serve as tombs for the deceased kings and their wives. Many pyramids had “satellite” pyramids for the queens. They were also the focal point of a larger religious complex where priests would carry out rituals to worship the deified kings.

Although modern scholars know the purpose of Egyptian pyramids, their symbolism remains enigmatic. Some scholars argue that the shape of a pyramid represents the sun’s rays giving life to the reborn king. Others have suggested they represent the primordial mound of creation from Egyptian mythology.

After the 4th dynasty, pyramids were still built but declined in size and quality. Little remains of the pyramids built in the Middle Kingdom because they were made with mud brick rather than sandstone cores. The next major Egyptian architectural innovations happened during the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BCE).

New Kingdom Egypt is known for its empire that stretched far south into Nubia and north into the Levant, which brought wealth into the Nile Valley. The Egyptians used that wealth to build monumental temples and tombs cut into the side of cliffs. The pyramids remained ancient wonders, but the temples were equally impressive.

The most impressive building activity happened around Thebes (modern-day Luxor) in Upper Egypt. The temples of Karnak, Luxor, Medinet Habu, and the Ramesseum are among the largest and best preserved temples. These New Kingdom temples were built of stone to endure time and were added to by subsequent kings. Like rings on a tree, kings added pylon gateways, chapels, and temples within temples to create massive labyrinths. The later Greek and Roman rulers were so impressed with the New Kingdom temples that they modeled new temples on them.

Architecture in Ancient Mesopotamia

As the Egyptians were building their pyramids, hundreds of miles to the east between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, people were building equally impressive architectural monuments. Unlike ethnically homogenous Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia comprised many different peoples, although the different groups shared similar beliefs and architectural styles. The most impressive of all Mesopotamian monuments was the ziggurat.

Ziggurats, which means “temple-tower,” were triangular-shaped temples that looked similar to Egyptian pyramids, but served very different functions. Pyramids were tombs and temple complexes for the deified kings, while ziggurats had many purposes. Ziggurats did function as temples, but they were also used as scribal schools and astronomical observatories. Like pyramids, ziggurat construction evolved over a considerable period before they arrived at their final, most revered form.

The predecessors to the ziggurat were simple towers built on top of platforms, first built by the Sumerians during the Uruk Period (c. 3500-2900 BCE). Each ziggurat was dedicated to a particular god or goddess, and it was believed that the complex served as the earthly home of the patron deity. The tower itself likely symbolized the mountain home of the deity. Although ziggurats were well built, they were made of mud brick, which is why only fragments remain today.

The first true ziggurats were built during the Sumerian Ur III dynasty (c. 2112-2004 BCE) and from there quickly spread across the region. The best known and preserved ziggurat is the Ziggurat of Ur, built by King Ur-Nammu (ruled c. 2112-2095 BCE). The ziggurat honored the moon-god, Sin, and stood in the center of a massive temple complex in the dynasty’s capital city of Ur. The base of the ziggurat measures 190 by 130 feet and possibly 100 feet in height, although only two levels remain. Today, most Assyriologists believe there were three levels.

After the collapse of the Ur dynasty, ziggurat building was adopted by other ethnic groups and dynasties in Mesopotamia and beyond. Babylon became the cultural and political center of Mesopotamia for much of the second millennium and ziggurat building likely took place there. Unfortunately, ancient Babylon is now covered by farmland and the suburbs of Baghdad, leaving little evidence of ziggurats. More archaeological evidence has been uncovered just east of Mesopotamia in Elam and the northern Mesopotamian region of Assyria.

During the early Bronze Age, the Elamites established a kingdom just east of Mesopotamia in what would today be southwestern Iran. By the late Bronze Age, an Elamite dynasty ruled lands as wealthy and powerful as their more famous Near Eastern neighbors. The Elamite King Untash-Napirisha (ruled c. 1275-1240 BCE) founded the city of Al-Untash-Napirisha (Choga Zanbil), and a massive ziggurat was its crown jewel.

The ziggurat was dedicated to Napirisha, the primary Elamite god, and Inshushinak, the patron god of the Elamite capital city of Susa. Millions of baked bricks were used to build the ziggurat, and today it is the best-preserved ziggurat in the Near East.

The ziggurat-building tradition continued in the Near East after the Bronze Age collapse in around 1200 BCE. The Assyrians built a number of ziggurats in their homeland. The most notable of these were built by Assurnasirpal II (reigned 883-859 BCE), who built a large ziggurat next to his palace in the capital city of Nimrud. Sargon II (ruled 721-705 BCE) also built an impressive palace and ziggurat in his capital city of Dur-Sharrukin. Sargon’s ziggurat stood 143 feet high and possibly had seven different levels. In addition to the Assyrians making their ziggurats bigger, they also added the feature of connecting the royal palace to the ziggurat.

One final post-Bronze Age ziggurat worth mentioning is the Etemenanki Ziggurat in Babylon. This ziggurat, whose name is translated into English as the “House of the Frontier between Heaven and Earth,” was built by Nebuchadnezzar II (reigned 604-562 BCE). The Etemenanki Ziggurat was dedicated to Marduk, the patron of Babylon, and was very likely the inspiration for the Old Testament “Tower of Babel” in Genesis 11:4.

The island of Crete is the location of Europe’s first advanced society, the Minoans. Named for King Minos of Greek myth by British archaeologist Arthur Evans in the early 20th century, the Minoan culture rose by about 2000 BCE.

The Minoans were a naval power who controlled trade in the Aegean until about 1600 BCE and are credited with many contributions to classical Greek culture. The Greeks inherited sports and some elements of art from the Minoans, but the classical Greeks inherited little of Minoan architecture.

Minoan architecture is often referred to as “palace architecture” because the most impressive structures have the appearance of palaces. The most notable of these structures are located in Knossos, Malia, and Phaistos, but the reality is that modern scholars are only beginning to understand their purpose.

The language of the Minoans—Linear A—is still undeciphered. Consequently many elements of their culture remain open to conjecture. Archaeologists now believe that serving as royal palaces was only one of the purposes of these large structures.

The layout of these structures was similar at each site, although the size varied. Most of these “palaces” were large squares with several adjoining rooms, hallways, and at least one open court area. The complexes are believed to have been multifunctional, combining economic, political, and religious elements. The royal family may have lived in a part of the complex, and certain areas were off-limits to the public.

The palace complexes at Phaistos and Knossos had large courtyards that archaeologists call “theatrical areas.” These areas were likely semipublic for sporting and musical events and religious rituals. It was in these theatrical areas where the famous bull leaping took place that the Minoans documented on their beautiful frescoes.

Minoan palace complexes resembled contemporary Near East temples rather than later Mycenean or classical Greek temples. What Minoan palaces represented and how they functioned is perhaps best described by Donald Preziosi and Louise Hitchcock.

“A Minoan palace may best be understood as a theory or diagram of an ideal integration of the component parts of Minoan life and society, assembled together in a sophisticated architectural package, itself harmoniously integrated into its environment.”

Minoan society collapsed by 1600 BCE, probably due to a combination of warfare between the Minoan states and the eruption of a volcano on the island of Thera. The Mycenaeans, Greek-speaking people from mainland Greece, quickly moved in to fill the void. The Myceneans conquered Crete by 1450 BCE and took control of most of the Aegean. Between 1300 and 1230 BCE, the Mycenaeans built a large palace in the settlement of Pylos on the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece that in many ways was the hallmark of Mycenaean architecture.

The Pylos palace consisted of four separate structures, including a two-story building with a throne on the east wall of the courtyard. This is where the megaron, a large circular courtyard, was located. Megara were common features in Bronze Age Greece. Archaeologists know that Pylos was a palace from Linear B tablets discovered there. Other important Mycenaean palaces may have included Mycenae, Tiryns, and a Mycenaean-era palace at Knossos. While no extant Linear B tablets definitively state these were palaces, their size and structure resemble the palace at Pylos.

Archaeologists have determined that the techniques used by the Mycenaeans to build their palaces were probably inherited from the Minoans. Timber and rubble cores were used in the interior of the walls, just like the Minoans, while exterior walls were made of ashlar blocks or porous limestone. The blocks were cut into “V” shapes for fitting, just as the Minoans did on Crete.

One final piece of Mycenaean architecture that deserves mention are the circular tombs. Known as tholos tombs, they were located next to the palaces at the major sites. When several tholos tombs were located in the same vicinity, they created a “beehive” effect that still creates quite a stunning visual.

The largest and most impressive of all the tholos tombs is located at Mycenae. The so-called “Treasury of Atreus” was once believed to have been associated with the legendary King Atreus, but it is not known for whom the tomb was built. It was cut into a hillside and is nearly fifty feet in diameter and 118 feet in length. It was likely the tomb of a Mycenaean ruler and his family, but there are no extant inscriptions to confirm the information.