What is the name of religious architectural structures. Ancient stone structures
There were no skyscrapers in the ancient world, but tall buildings were. Some of them were built in order to perpetuate the glory of the ruler; scientists still argue about the appointment of others.
"Public Hill"
Height: up to 9 m
Construction time: 9,000 BC
Place: 15 kilometers northeast of the city of Urfa (Sanliurfa), Turkey
“Göbekli Tepe” is the name of this place in Turkish. The oldest and unique temple for its time, the construction of which began in the Middle Stone Age. About twenty round buildings, stone benches, sculptures of wild boars and foxes, columns from 3 to 9 meters high. A thousand years later, it was deliberately covered with sand. Huge heavy blocks were within the power to build an already organized society.
Jericho tower
Height: 8 m
Construction time: 8000 BC
Place: Jericho, Palestine
Huge for its time tower in the Jericho wall. Jericho is the most ancient city on the ground. It has been continuously inhabited since almost the 10th millennium BC. BC, although the earliest settlement was more of a large village. The purpose of the tower is not entirely clear. It could be used for intimidation and represent the first castle in history.
The Pyramid of Cheops
Height: 146 m
Construction time: from 2540 BC before 2850 BC according to various estimates
Place: El Giza, Egypt
The Pyramid of Cheops (the full name of the pharaoh is Khnum-Khufu) is the only surviving one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Its full name is Akhet-Khufu ("Horizon of Khufu"). It was built on a hill and faced with white limestone, shining peach in the sun. The top was crowned with a gilded stone - a pyramidion. The entrance was sealed with a large granite slab, which the Baghdad caliph Abdullah al-Mamun could not move, who made a new entrance, through which the path to the pyramid is still open today.
Nurag Su-Nuraxi
Height: about 20 m.
Construction time: 17th century BC
Place: commune of Barumini, about. Sardinia, Italy.
Nuraghi are megalithic towers found on the island of Sardinia, built in the 2nd millennium BC. e. Their number throughout the island reached 20,000. The towers could serve as an overview of the surroundings, defense and control over trade routes. At this time, Sardinia, according to ancient legends, could be inhabited by the tribes of Corses, Iolai and Balars. Which of these tribes built the towers is unknown. The builders could also be the "peoples of the sea", who more than once attacked the Egyptian kingdom.
The largest known nuraghe is Su-Nuraksi, whose height could reach 20 meters. The building had no foundation and was supported only by the mass of stones at the base. A fortified settlement was located next to it - about 50 round huts, which were a single complex.
Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki
Height: 91 m
Construction time: 18th century BC, reconstruction in the 7th century BC
Place: outskirts of Al-Hilla city, Iraq
Translated from Sumerian, Etemenanki means “the house of the foundation of heaven and earth” or “the house where the heavens meet the earth.” It is this ziggurat that is most often associated with the legend of tower of babel. It already existed in the 18th century BC. during the reign of Hammurabi, but after that the temple tower was rebuilt several times after the destruction.
The latest reconstruction made the tower one of the tallest and most grandiose buildings. ancient world. The ziggurat consisted of 7 tiers, on the last of which the temple was located. The construction was started by the architect Aradaheshshu during the reign of Esarhaddon, and the ziggurat was completed under Nebuchadnezzar II, 100 years later.
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
Height: 46 m
Construction time: 359-353 B.C. e.
Place: Bodrum, Turkey
The first "mausoleum" and "wonder of the world". It is named after the Carian king Mausolus. In honor of him, this tombstone was built by his wife Artemisia III of Caria. The mausoleum was crowned with about 330 statues, and it had the shape of an almost regular square in plan, which was atypical for Greek architecture. It stood for one and a half thousand years and was destroyed during an earthquake.
The Colossus of Rhodes
Height: 36 m
Construction time: 292 - 280 BC e.
Place: Rhodes, Greece
Rhodes in ancient times was a large and rich city. Therefore, he could afford to live in the literal sense "in a big way." huge statue Helios, only a few could grasp the thumb, was built by the ancient Greek architect Chares. The lack of money allocated for the construction forced him to get into heavy debts, and, ruined, he committed suicide.
The statue took 500 talents of bronze and 300 talents of iron (more than 20 tons). The colossus stood for only 65 years. After the earthquake, the clay statue covered with iron and bronze fell, and lay in a broken form for about a thousand years, until the Arabs sold its parts.
faros lighthouse
Height: 135 m
Construction time: 3rd century BC e.
Place: Alexandria, Egypt
The lighthouse of Alexandria was built by Sotrates of Cnidus in just 5 years on the island of Pharos near Alexandria. It consisted of three marble towers: rectangular, octagonal and cylindrical. After its construction under the first Ptolemies, Egypt truly became a country of giant buildings. The light from the lighthouse was visible at a distance of more than 50 kilometers. Survived two earthquakes in the 7th and 14th centuries, after which it was finally destroyed. On the remains of the lighthouse, the Mamluk Sultan erected a fortress in his honor.
Coliseum
Height: 50 m
Construction time: 80 AD e.
Place: Rome, Italy
Colosseum comes from the Latin word colossus- "huge". According to one version, the name arose as a tribute to the memory of the Colossus of Nero located on this site - a huge (37 m) statue that crowned the complex of the Golden House - the emperor's palace. Vespasian decided to get rid of the old cult and strengthen his own. About 100,000 prisoners brought to Rome took part in the grandiose construction. Due to an earthquake in the 14th century, it collapsed South part, after which the Colosseum became a source of building materials for other buildings in Rome.
Stupa of Kanishka
Height: from 128 to 168 m according to various estimates
Construction time: 2nd century AD
Place: near Peshawar, Pakistan
The Kushan kingdom, founded by immigrants from China - the Eastern Sarmatians (Yuezhi), became the "golden mean" of the ancient world both directly (in terms of wealth) and in figuratively. Greco-Buddhism, an oriental religion saturated with Hellenistic culture, became widespread in it.
According to the description of Chinese travelers, the stupa built in honor of the Kushan king exceeded 400 chi (128 m) in height, there were gold and silver umbrellas at the top, and the relics of the Buddha inside. Size data vary, but the stupa could be equal to or exceed the height of the pyramid of Cheops. There are many Buddhist legends and predictions associated with the stupa. It was destroyed by Muslim conquerors in the Middle Ages and has not survived to the present day.
Location: Cholula de Rivadabiya, Mexico
tallest building Ancient America and the largest pyramid in the world. Built in ancient Teotiukan. The temple dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl was built over 12 centuries by the pre-Aztec culture until it became the largest religious center. Today it is a tetrahedral overgrown hill, a small part of which has been recreated in its original appearance.
Architecture of the era of the primitive communal system
The beginning of construction activity dates back to the Paleolithic era and is associated with the first human experience in building a dwelling with the help of primitive stone tools. In areas where there was a tree, dugouts were usually built, covered with twigs and branches, as well as free-standing gable or conical huts.
The origin of architecture, apparently, should be attributed to the Late Paleolithic, when construction from a purely technical activity, solving utilitarian tasks, gradually began to turn into a more complex activity, aimed at satisfying the primitive spiritual needs of people. Aesthetic understanding of the simplest structural systems and their elements is associated with the beginnings of tectonic thinking, and in the subsequent development of a certain ideological and figurative content, it marked the beginning of artistic and technical construction, that is, architecture in the full sense of the word. With the time of the late Paleolithic, the emergence of a completely new sphere of human activity, the fine arts, was also associated.
During the Neolithic period, more advanced stone tools appeared, and the material possibilities of man increased significantly. During this period, a dwelling made of wood took the form of a relatively large rectangular building, the walls of which were a wattle fence on log posts. A similar dwelling was found on the territory of the USSR in the Dnieper region in the Trypillia settlement of Kolomiyshchina-1 (III - II millennium BC). Large houses up to 30 m long and 150 m2 in area were located in two concentric circles: on the outer circle with a diameter of 170 m there were large houses, on the inner circle - small ones. This settlement is one of the earliest examples of a regular organization of a residential complex, taking into account the characteristics of community life and defensive functions.
The most developed type of buildings of the Neolithic period were buildings built on wooden piles, which were usually erected over rivers and lakes in swampy areas. The spread of this type of settlements is explained by defensive considerations, as well as the convenience of fishing in reservoirs. Pile structures are found in Central Europe, they were also found on the territory of the USSR. In a pile settlement on the river. Modlon in Vologda region(II millennium BC), a number of houses were placed on a log flooring, supported by piles by means of girders. The walls were erected from vertically placed poles intertwined with rods. The middle poles were higher than the others and had a fork at the ends, on which the ridge run of a sloping gable roof was strengthened. The roof was made of birch bark, pressed down with stones, the floor was covered with clay.
IN bronze age metal tools made it possible to sharply increase labor productivity. By this time, megalithic structures, which originated in the late Neolithic era, were widely used - buildings made of large stone blocks, slabs, and vertical supports. The purpose of these structures was mainly associated with religious rites and memorable events. Among the megalithic structures preserved in various places the globe, including on the territory of the USSR, there are three main types: menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs.
Menhirs are vertically placed stones, sometimes reaching very large sizes. These are ritual monuments or monuments erected alone or in groups. Sometimes menhirs are found in combination with dolmens - structures of several vertical stones supporting a horizontal stone slab. Dolmens served most often as burial chambers and at the same time as tombstones.
Menhirs sometimes reached 20 m in height and 300 tons in weight. Dolmens were originally small in size - about 2 m long and about 1.5 m high, but later they were given big sizes and sometimes they arranged an approach to them in the form of a stone gallery.
The most complex type of megalithic structures is the cromlech.
Cromlech in Stonehenge (England) - a circle with a diameter of 30 m from vertically placed stones, covered with horizontal slabs. Inside - two rings from not big stones, A
between them - high blocks with slabs placed in pairs, organizing the center of the space. A clear compositional idea with symmetry, rhythm and subordination of elements has already appeared here.
Log buildings deserve special attention, in particular - mounds - a common type of memorial structures. Their prototype was residential log houses. During the construction of the barrow, first a powerful frame with a wooden floor was built in the pit, inside which a second chamber was arranged for burial. The chambers were blocked by rolls of logs coated with birch bark. Backfilling with earth formed a mound, often of considerable height. An example of a log mound is the Pazyryk mound in the Altai Mountains.
Along with memorial and ritual buildings, at the later stages of the development of primitive society, new type architectural structures - stone and wooden fortresses.
The so-called cyclopean fortresses are characteristic, the walls of which are lined with huge blocks of stone. In areas poor in stone, but abundant in forests, settlements spread - "fortifications", fortified with log fences, earthen ramparts and ditches. Initially, the fortresses had one defensive wall, later a second wall could be built inside the fortress around the citadel - the seat of the leader of the community and the tribal nobility.
With the division of labor and the separation of craft from agriculture, the contradictions of tribal society become more acute. With the advent of private property, property differences become more and more significant. The importance of slave labor is growing. All this leads to the disintegration of the tribal system, the emergence of an early class society, and the appearance of the first slave-owning states.
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Megalithic buildings are called Stone Age buildings, built of large boulders or slabs of dry masonry. This name combines menhirs, dolmens, alinmans or alleys of stones, covered alleys or dolmen galleries, cromlechs. The most ancient megalithic monuments belong to the Neolithic period. Buildings of this type are found in all areas of the globe, with the exception of Australia.
Menhirs. Menhirs are single large elongated stone blocks dug vertically into the ground in the form of a pillar or obelisk (Plate 7, fig. 1). Their height is very diverse (from 1-2 m to 20 m), the weight of the largest reaches 200-300 tons. Usually these are natural blocks of stone, sometimes they are roughly hewn and have relief images. Menhirs are widespread in France, where more than six thousand of them are registered, in England and Ireland, in Syria, North Africa, South America and on the territory of the USSR, in the Caucasus and Siberia (Table 7, fig. 4). Sometimes under the menhirs or next to them there are burials that connect them with the cult of the dead. According to the images on them, one can assume a connection with the cult representations of primitive man. Of particular interest are menhir-like stones with relief images of fish, and sometimes the stones themselves have a rough shape of a fish; these are the so-called stones-in and hats, often found in Transcaucasia. A number of menhirs so clearly reflect the cult of ancestral totems (for example, a bull) that they can be put in direct connection with the totem poles of the American Indians and other peoples.
Dolmens. Dolmens are a chamber (usually rectangular) of several vertically placed flat boulders, horizontally covered by one or two or three boulders or huge flat boulders (Plate 7, figs. 2 and 3). The size and weight of the overlapping stone slabs are sometimes very large; so, for example, the overlapping slab of one of the dolmens in La Perotte in Charente (France) weighed 40 tons. A covered gallery arranged in the same way was sometimes attached to the main chamber of the dolmen, sometimes the dolmen itself turned into such a gallery, closed on both sides by large slabs. Drawings were often applied to the walls of the dolmen, usually of an ornamental nature.
In addition to France, where there are about four and a half thousand dolmens, they are found in England, Ireland, southern Scandinavia, Denmark, Holland, northern Germany, Spain, the Mediterranean islands, Italy, North Africa, Syria, Northern Iran, India, Korea, America and the USSR - in the Crimea, the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Dolmens are usually considered to be the tombs of the dead, which is proved both by the frequent presence of burials in them, and by the fact that many dolmens are enclosed in a grave mound poured over them.
Dolmens-dwellings. Recent excavations allow, however, to establish that some dolmens served as housing. Dolmen, (excavated in 1938 in Bowlinemon in Ireland, is an ordinary two-chamber building made of monolithic stone slabs placed vertically on a rectangular base (Table 7, fig. b). Previously, it was covered with flat stone slabs, the remains of which were found near the walls of the dolmen. This dolmen was a residential stone house with a well-lined floor, with an entrance formed by two vertically placed stones and a threshold slab between them. The hearth, located on the site in front of the entrance to the dwelling, preserved a layer of coal; apparently, only much later this a dolmen was used for burial.Another similar example is one of the dolmens in Zeeland, in relation to which it was found that its inlet could only be closed from the inside.
Big dolmen in Bagno. One of the largest French Neolithic dolmens at Bagno, near Saumur, is a rectangular structure about 20 m long and 7 m wide, formed by fourteen huge sandstone slabs, three of which form its flat roof (Table 8). The height of vertically placed slabs reaches 3 m. From the narrow front side, where the remains of a stone alley adjoin the dolmen, a wide entrance is arranged between two vertical slabs. This dolmen in size, height and entrance can be considered as a large residential building of the tribal commune.
Dolmens North Caucasus . Among the numerous dolmens of the North Caucasus, most are small single-chamber buildings, often closed on all sides, built from whole slabs, or with walls formed from several rows of hewn stone. On one side, a round hole is usually made in the wall. Some dolmens, which stand out both in size and in the arrangement of the entrance and floor, obviously served as dwellings earlier. Such, for example, is a large dolmen in the gorge of the Dzhubga River, built of huge flat slabs and having a wide door opening on the front side of the entire height of the dolmen (a semicircular extension of smaller slabs was made later).
Cromlechs. stonehenge. Cromlechs are ring-shaped fences of one or more rows of vertically placed stones such as menhirs, sometimes occupying a very large area (up to 90 m and even 150 m in diameter (Kerlaskan and Menes cromlechs in Brittany). Large cromlechs usually lead to alleys of stones formed by parallel rows vertically placed stone blocks from 1 to 4 and even up to 7 m high. Of the surviving alleys (in the village; Carnac in Brittany), the largest is about 3 km long. Of the large cromlechs, Stonehenge built in the Bronze Age in England is best preserved (table 7, fig. 5), the original appearance of which can be reconstructed. Outside, it was surrounded by a large annular rampart with a moat about 90 m in diameter. At a distance of 30 m from the rampart was the first circle of thirty vertically placed massive stone blocks in the shape of parallelepipeds and covered from above by a solid ring of thick horizontal slabs.Behind this outer steep, at a distance of 3 m, there was a second circle of 45 - 50 small stones pointed upwards; the third, open circle consisted of five triliths (two vertical blocks covered by a horizontal slab). Inside the third circle there was another horseshoe-shaped row of small pointed stones, and finally, slightly shifted from the center of the circle, lay a flat stone slab 5 m long and 1 m wide.
In large cromlechs, one can assume open sanctuaries, and in the central slabs - altars on which sacrifices were made.
Mounds North America . Quite a different type primitive structures are the "mounds" of North America. Mounds are earthen structures depicting mostly totem animals: a bear, an elk, a bison, a fox, snakes, turtles, birds, etc. Such mounds are especially common in Wisconsin. The images were probably made in the following way: the outline of the animal was drawn on the surface of the hill, then the rock lying behind the outline was chipped off and thrown back. The sizes of such mounds often reach a length of 60, 75 and even 150 m. southern regions such images were made from large fragments of rocks placed or laid along the contour of the figure. By the nature of the images and the presence in some cases of an elevation in the form of an altar, and sometimes burials, it can be assumed that the mounds were dedicated to the cult of ancestors - totems.
As for the lectures, I want to note the following: I don’t just post them here, they are directly related to the topic of this community and can be of some benefit to everyone. It is often believed that after school and institutes, education should be completed, but this is a huge misconception, because the older a person becomes, the more he is able to accommodate and understand if he works in this direction. Now it may seem that this information will never be useful, but everything we read is stored in our minds and is always ready to help when it becomes necessary. I also want to note that people from all over came to our institute to listen to such lectures, what can we say about the fact that new knowledge, especially in the field of art, sets a person up for a good thought, and these moments, in turn, contribute to the nutrition of both body and spirit . Here I do not have the opportunity to give all the information in full, due to the fact that it will be quite difficult to perceive it and all this will take too much time, but I tried to invest in each lecture as much as possible Furthermore what I managed to write down myself and what the books gave me. May it benefit everyone who wants to receive it...
"Of all the unknowns, the most unknown is time." Aristotle
The first dwellings of those mentioned are available modern man, Neanderthals began to create about 35 thousand years BC. / this is the official theory, although the true chronology goes much deeper /. These dwellings were parking lots and sheds.
Primitive people preferred to use natural shelters - caves. The device of artificial caves in the rocks became possible only with the advent of metal tools. To prevent collapse of the ceiling during the excavation of weak and layered rocks, the caves were given a lancet shape. Such a shape, more or less correct, is given to a large number of artificial caves. With the transition to a settled way of life, the first buildings appear.
In the Paleolithic era, people have new skills, and dwellings have improved accordingly. The reason for the improvement was also climate change, which required more sustainable housing and tools.
In the first half of 3 thousand BC. matriarchy sets in, in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. patriarchy comes and with it monumental architecture appears, megalithic architecture / menhir- 1 stone; dolmen- 2, covered by a third; cromlech- education, a number of stones. For example, Stonehenge, 17th century BC/.
Nuraghi- tower-like structures of 2-3 thousand BC /about.Sardinia/
According to officially accepted data, it is believed that Homo sapiens / reasonable man / appeared on Earth 40,000 years ago.
5000 - 4000 years - the oldest stone Age and the first architectural structure;
4000 - 3000 years - Bronze Age;
2000 years - Iron Age.
Frequently used symbols of that time are circle, vertical, horizontal, right angle.
The main types of megalithic structures.
Menhir is a single, vertical stone. Standing stones are the main element of the monuments of the Neolithic era. Sometimes there is only one stone, resembling a spindle or a rough obelisk in its shape - such a structure is called a menhir. Menhirs appeared at a late stage in the development of primitive society /for example - at the carnac in Brittany/.
Dolmen- two menhirs with a crossbar. Dolmen - tomb, entrance to the village. It consists of stones placed upright and covered from above with one or two stone slabs. May be inside burial mounds. The area of the dolmen varies between 4 and 70 sq.m., and its height is between 1 and 3.5 m. The entrance to it is usually closed with a stone slab, usually movable, sometimes drilled! round hole. Sometimes there are accessory crypts. The room is often preceded by a vestibule or corridor, more or less long and wide, usually straight, but sometimes angulated.
Megaliths. Mega - big, cast - stone. They were divided according to the "gender" sign - a rhomboid meant "feminine", a rectangular pillar - "masculine".
Cromlech - several menhirs forming a circle. Sometimes menhirs stretch in rows, forming alleys called strings. Sometimes two adjacent stones are connected horizontally by a movable monolith. It happens that the entrance to the cromlechs is preceded by short corridors. A structure in the form of two stones placed vertically with a crossbar in the form of a third stone is called a trilith.
Stonehenge /2 thousand BC, England/ - the most famous megalithic structure. Consists of dolmens placed in a circle.
Stonehenge is a structure used for religious and magical purposes.
Only one thing can be said - everything shows and understands that such structures, the true meaning of which is still unknown to scientists, could not be built by rude, stupid people, and it is quite clear that in their development and in their abilities, people of that era were not below us. It is enough that these buildings are still standing, but what will remain of our era? Will the skyscrapers and our beloved P-series anthills stand the test of time? I highly doubt it. But not only is history not being revised and rewritten, although everyone already agrees that there are too many inconsistencies in it, but the meaning of history is being pushed into the background by offering our children only a few free items to choose from. Of course, why do we need such "nonsense" as history, and even more so archeology. And we don't live without it.
Well, a few more examples:
The first rudiments of art, in principle, can be seen in the work of even primitive man. In those days, people were already trying to find ways to reflect their idea of the world and the beautiful. According to archaeologists, the first monuments related to fine arts- graphics, sculpture, painting - originated in the Paleolithic era.
Of course, the first drawings were very primitive: prints of a human hand, "macaroni" - wavy lines squeezed out by fingers, contours of the heads of animals. Showing himself in the sculpture of later periods, man also depicted animals, displaying their character and habits.
Middle Stone Age - Mesolithic
During this period of time, images become more colorful, compositions consisting of several figures begin to be created. As a rule, they display life, battles or hunting. A person begins to realize his place in the world, trying to reveal the patterns of life.
Neolithic - new stone age
Primitive people began to master the sculptural skill. An example of ancient sculptures are " stone women”, found on the territory of the northern Black Sea region. Architecture in this period of time is still underdeveloped, but artistic crafts appear, which have become the prototype of the future decorative art.
Bronze Age and architecture
Approximately 3000 years before our era, man begins to pay special attention to architectural features buildings. The so-called architecture of large stones appears, or megalithic architecture: dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs. The reason for the construction of such buildings is the development of religious ideas of ancient man.
Dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs
Menhirs were called stone pillars which were up to 20 meters high. An example is Zorats-Karer, found in Armenia, or the Karnak stones excavated on the territory of French Brittany.
Most of all, architectural art was manifested in dolmens - cult, often burial, structures, consisting of 2-4 vertically arranged slabs, covered with a horizontal slab. This is how the main components appeared architectural structure- ceilings and supports.
The Cromlech is a more complex structure, most famously located in Wilshire, England. This is Stonehenge, the construction of which dates back to around 2000 BC. It is assumed that this is a cult building dedicated to the sun.
Cromlech Stonehenge in the UK
