• Accadian architecture: The architecture of the Accads, a people inhabiting the country east of Syria in primitive times.
• Achaemenian: Period in Persian architecture from the time of Cyrus the Great (d. 529 BC) until the death of Darius III (330 BC). Its most elaborate buildings include the vast palace complex at Persepolis which included large relief decorations, while the apadana (or Hall of the Hundred Columns) had elaborate capitals with vertical volutes and animal-heads. Reliefs of green, yellow, and blue glazed bricks were employed at the palaces of Susa, and the rock-cut tombs at Naksh-i-Rustam have similar capitals to those of Persepolis, with door-surrounds derived from Egyptian precedents.
• Achaemenid: Period in Persian architecture from the time of Cyrus the Great (d. 529 BC) until the death of Darius III (330 BC). Its most elaborate buildings include the vast palace complex at Persepolis which included large relief decorations, while the apadana (or Hall of the Hundred Columns) had elaborate capitals with vertical volutes and animal-heads. Reliefs of green, yellow, and blue glazed bricks were employed at the palaces of Susa, and the rock-cut tombs at Naksh-i-Rustam have similar capitals to those of Persepolis, with door-surrounds derived from Egyptian precedents.
• Achaemenid architecture: An architecture developed under the Achaemenid rules of Persia (6th to 4th century BC) by a synthesis and eclectic adaptation of architectural elements which included those of surrounding countries. In the hypostyle hall it achieved a highly original new building type.
• almehrabh: In Arabian architecture, a niche in a mosque which marks the decoration of Mecca.
• Anatolia: A vast plateau between the Black, Mediterranean, and Aegean Seas, synonymous with the peninsula of Asia Minor: today comprises most of Turkey.
• apadana: Square porticoed, free-standing hypostyle hall such as that in Persepolis built by Darius I.
• Arabotedesco: A modification of Byzantine architectural forms by Arabian or Saracenic motifs.
• arctuated lintel: Same as Syrian arch.
• Asiatic base: A type of Ionic base; consists of a lower disk with horizontal fluting or scotias (there may be a plinth below the disk) and an upper torus decorated with horizontal fluting on relief; developed in Asia minor.
• Assur: See Assyrian architecture.
• Assyrian architecture: Architecture of the Assyrian empire (centered between the Tigris and the Upper and Lower Zab rivers in southwest Asia) was expressive of its might, as conquerors of Mesopotamia and much of the adjacent countries between the 9th and 7th century B.C. Mud brick was used as the building material, although stone was available; stone was used only for carved revetments and monumental decorative sculptures. Vaulting played a much greater role than in southern Mesopotamia. Excavations have uncovered large palaces and temple complexes with their ziggurats in Assyrian cities such as Assur, Calah (Nimrud), Nineveh, and Dur Sharrukin (Korsabad), as well as extensive fortifications.
• augustaeum: A building, or a temple, dedicated to the deified Augustus, as that at Ancyra in Asia Minor.
• Babylonian architecturee: In ancient Babylon, architecture characterized by: mud-brick construction; walls articulated by pilasters and recesses (for aesthetic and structural reasons), sometimes faced with burnt and glazed brick; narrow rooms, mostly covered with flat timber and mud roofs; and extensive use of bitumen in drain and pavement construction and as mortar…
• bāgh: Enclosed garden of Persian origin. A chahar bāgh or chār-bāgh is a garden subdivided into four parts by canals and paths, e.g. the Paradise-garden of the Taj Mahal at Agra.
• bagnio: A bathing establishment. 2. A brothel. 3. A Turkish prison.
• ballie pole: A rough-hewn pole used in Iran for structural framework and scaffolding.
• beit hilani: In northern Syria, a type of palace in the first millennium BC having a forward section with two large transverse rooms, a portico with one to three columns, and a throne room. 2. In ancient Assyrian architecture, the pillared portico of a belt hilani.
• bit hilani: In northern Syria, a type of palace in the first millennium B.C. having a forward section with two large traverse rooms, a portico with one to three columns, and throne room. 2. In ancient Assyrian architecture, the pillared portico of a beit hilani. See beit hilani.
• calah: See Assyrian architecture.
• caravanserai: In Turkey, a caravansary.
• Catal Hüyük: A Neolithic settlement in Anatolia, dated 6500-5000 B.C. One of the world’s earliest cities, it had mud-brick fortifications and houses, frescoed shrines, a fully developed agriculture, and extensive trading in obsidian, the chief material for tool-making.
• chahar bāgh: From the Persian, meaning ‘four gardens’, it is a garden-type divided into four parts by means of walks and water-courses intersecting in the center, so is a formal geometrical design symbolizing both the organization of territory and the idea of the Celestial Gardens of Paradise. Such gardens were associated with Mughal palaces and mausolea.
• charbāgh: From the Persian, meaning ‘four gardens’, it is a garden-type divided into four parts by means of walks and water-courses intersecting in the center, so is a formal geometrical design symbolizing both the organization of territory and the idea of the Celestial Gardens of Paradise. Such gardens were associated with Mughal palaces and mausolea.
• clay walling: A primitive method of wall construction in regions abounding in clay, as in Mesopotamia, in some parts of Great Britain, and of Southwestern states of the U.S. The wall is sometimes formed of compacted or stamped clay in the mass (pise), sometimes and more often of unburned bricks dried in the sun, called in the United States and Spanish America adobe. In some cases the clay wall is baked at least in part by fires of fagots built against it.
• Code of Hammurabi: A Babylonian legal code instituted by Hammurabi in the mid-18th century B.C., based on principles absorbed from Sumerian culture.
• cone mosaic: A mosaic facing of glazed terra-cotta, in early Mesopotamian architecture.
• Crusader castles: Twelfth century military architecture in the Middle East, consisting of pilgrims’ forts, coastal fortifications, and large castles.
• cuneiform: Having a wedge-shaped form; especially applied to characters, or to the inscriptions in such characters, of the ancient Mesopotamians and Persians.
• dalan: In Persian and Indian architecture, a veranda, or sometimes a more stately reception hall, more or less open to the weather, with a roof carried on columns, or the like.
• dallan: In Persian and Indian architecture, a veranda, or sometimes a more stately reception hall, more or less open to the weather, with a roof carried on columns, or the like.
• Dur Sharrukin: See Assyrian architecture.
• feroher: A symbolic winged disc, observed in Mesopotamian monuments.
• Fertile Crescent: An agricultural region arching from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the west to Iraq in the east: the location of humankind’s earliest cultures.
• fire altar: An open-air stone structure for the cult of the sacred fire in ancient Persia.
• fire temple: A tower built for the maintenance of the sacred fire in ancient Persia.
• fire-temple: There are about 50 fire-temples in Iran, associated with fire-worshipping Zoroastrianism…
• gatch: Plaster as used in Persia for decorative purposes.
• hammam: An establishment for bathing in the Oriental way, with steam rooms, etc.; a Turkish bath.
• hanging garden: One supported on vaults or arches and carried high above the streets of a town. Those of Babylon were of very great size, but nothing is known of their construction nor of the way in which the soil was maintained in proper condition.
• hanging gardens: Gardens planted in a series of stepped hillside terraces. The paradigm, was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, although it appears there were exemplars at Nineveh laid out under the Assyrian Sennacherib constructed on an artificial hill and featuring running water…
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon: A series of irrigated ornamental gardens planted on the terraces of the Citadel, the palace complex in ancient Babylon: regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
• hilammar: A portico having a roof supported by columns, leading to the sanctuary of a Hittite temple.
• Hittite architecture: The distinctive rugged architecture created in central Anatolia at the time of the Hittite Empire (14th to 13th century B.C.), preeminent for its fortifications, citadels, and temples.
• horseshoe arch: An arch shaped like a horseshoe; common in Islamic architecture. Appears in Exotic Revival houses in the 1850s and 1880s. Also called a Syrian arch.
• hoyuk: The Turkish equivalent of a tell.
• imaret: A type of hostelry for the accommodation of Muslim pilgrims and other travelers in the Turkish empire.
• kale: A Turkish citadel or fortress.
• khan: In Turkey, a caravansary.
• Khorsabad: See Assyrian architecture.
• konak: An official residence, or other large residence, in Turkey.
• Lamassu: The monumental human-headed winged bulls that guarded the entrances to Mesopotamian palaces and temples.
• lapis lazuli: A hard, tough, and compact rock of a rich azure blue color, mottled with gray, and with a vitreous luster. Of a very complex chemical nature. Occurs in granular limestone and syenitic rocks, but only in small masses, and is quite expensive. Commercial sources, Persia, Siberia, and China.
• madina: An Arabic word for city. 2. In North Africa, the native quarter of a city.
• maq’ad: In the Near East, an arched veranda or loggia overlooking the courtyard of a palace or house.
• mashrebeeyah: Timber lattice-work (often intricate, geometrical, and beautiful) in Islamic architecture, once common in the Ottoman Empire: the term is usually applied to a projecting balcony or bay protected by such a screen so that those inside can see without being seen.
• meshrebeeyah: Timber lattice-work (often intricate, geometrical, and beautiful) in Islamic architecture, once common in the Ottoman Empire: the term is usually applied to a projecting balcony or bay protected by such a screen so that those inside can see without being seen.
• Mesopotamia: An ancient region in western Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, comprising the lands of Sumer and Akkad and occupied successively by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians: now part of Iraq.
• Mesopotamian architecture: Architecture developed by the Euphrates and Tigris Valley civilizations, from the 3rd millennium to the 6th century B.C. Primarily a massive architecture of mud bricks set in clay mortar or bitumen. The heavy walls were articulated by pilasters and recesses; important public buildings were faced with baked or glazed brick. Rooms were narrow and long and generally covered by timber and mud roofs, but in certain cases also by tunnel vaults; columns were seldom sued; openings usually were small.
• miedan: In Persia, an open square surrounded by shops; a bazaar.
• Neo-Babylonian architecture: The Mesopotamian architecture that developed after the decline of the Assyrian Empire, deriving much from Assyrian architecture and enhanced by figured designs of heraldic animals in glazed brickwork.
• nephrite: A hard, jade-like mineral used in pre-historic ornaments and utensils, and more recently in Asia for fine carving.
• orthostat: One of many large stone slabs, set vertically as a revetment at the lower part of the cella in a classical temple, or at the base of a wall in the ancient architecture of Anatolia, northern Syria, and Assyria.
• Ottoman: The later phase Turkish Muslim architecture, from the 14th century onward, much influenced by Byzantine forms.
• papakhu: The holy of holies in an Assyrian or Babylonian temple.
• Paradise: The court of the atrium in front of a church. 2. The garth of a cloister. 3. A Persian pleasure garden, usually elaborately planted.
• Paradise garden: Geometrical enclosed Islamic garden of Persian origin with regularly laid out canals and paths dividing it into four areas, themselves divided by paths. The canals represent the rivers flowing out of the Garden of Eden. A good example is the 17th c. garden of the Tâj Mahal.
• Parthian architecture: An architectural style developed under Parthian domination (3rd century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.) in western Iran and Mesopotamia, combining classical with autochthonous features. Its major achievement is the monumental iwan covered by a barrel vault in stone or brick.
• Persian architecture: The architecture developed under the Achaemenid dynasty of kings who ruled ancient Persia from 550 B.C. until its conquest by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., characterized by a synthesis of architectural elements of surrounding countries, as Assyria, Egypt, and Ionian Greece.
• Persic: Column with bell-shaped capital and similarly sized base, ornamented with lotus-like forms, derived from Achaemenian prototypes from Persepolis. It was fashionable in early-19th c. Egyptian-Revival schemes of decoration.
• plano-convex: A shape of sun-dried brick, flat on one side, convex on the other, typical of early Mesopotamian construction.
• processional way: A monumental roadway for ritual processions in ancient cities, e.g. Babylon.
• qala’a: An Arab fortress or stronghold built on a hill. Same as kal’a.
• qasr: An Arabic palace, castle, or mansion. See kasr.
• quanat: The ancient Persian system of distributing water underground by gravity. Also see ghanat.
• sarai: Building for the accommodation of travellers (see caravanserai) 2. Turkish palace. 3. Incorrect work for a serail or seraglio (part of a dwelling reserved for women, or a harem). 4. Warehouse. 5. House, or, more usually, commercial premises (e.g. shops), often of two stories, grouped round a court (sometimes with a garden), associated with a corridor lined with shops.
• Sassanian architecture: A period in Persian architecture about the 5th and 6th centuries.
• Seljuk: The earlier phase of Turkish Muslim architecture (11th to 13th century), much influenced by Persian architecture, predominantly mosques and minarets.
• Seljuk architecture: The earlier phase of Turkish Muslim architecture (11th to 13th century), much influenced by Persian architecture, predominantly mosques and minarets.
• serai: A Turkish palace, harem, or seraglio. 2. A caravanserai.
• serail: A Turkish palace, harem, or seraglio. 2. A caravanserai.
• Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Giza Pyramids; Hanging Gardens and Walls of Babylon; Temple of Artemis, Ephesus; Statue of Zeus, Olympia; Mausoleum, Halicarnassus; Colossus of Rhodes; and the Alexandrian Pharos.
• stew: A heated room, as in a Turkish bath; a hothouse; a stove.
• Sumer: An ancient region in southern Mesopotamia, where a number of independent cities and city-states were established as early as 5000 B.C. A number of its cities, as Eridu, Uruk, and Ur, are major archeological sites.
• Sumerian architecture: A monumental architecture developed by the Sumerians, who dominated southern Mesopotamia from the end of the 4th to the end of the 3rd millennium B.C.
• sweating room: A room for sweating bathers in a Turkish bath.
• Syrian arch: A type of semicircular arch that has very low supports, with the result that the distance from the impost to the level of the crown of the arch is greater than the height of the impost from the ground. It is so called because it was used in the Early Christian churches of Syria, in the 5th and 6th centuries.
• tepe: In Anatolia (Turkey) and Persia, the equivalent of a tell.
• Tower of Babel: A temple-tower presumed to be the great ziggurat at Babylon, which no longer survives…
• winged bull: An Assyrian symbol of force and domination, of frequent occurrence in ancient Assyrian architectural sculpture; pairs of winged human-headed bulls and lions of colossal size usually guarded the portals of palaces.
• yali: A Turkish summer residence.
• Zoroastrianism: Iranian religion derived from the teachings of Zoroaster (Zarathustra) (c. early-second millennium BC), which still has devotees (e.g. the Parsees of India). The most important architectural remains are fire-temples: they provided precedents for later Islamic mausolea and elements of mosque design.

Also see Architecture Origin index.

Also see Architecture index.