The Great Meso......

Mesopotamia:

The Cradle of Life, where some of the first civilization emerged. Elements like The Hanging Garden of Babylon, The Tower of Babel, The Istar Gate, The Ziggurats are some of the familiar ones when one mentions about Mesopotamia. A region of various civilizations, replacing or succeeding one another, had now been lost under what is now known as The Middle East. What really fascinates me is the existence of The Hanging Garden of Babylon during that time. This is considered to an engineering feat though not the greatest at that time. It is also one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World. But sadly it took only the recent century for planting above ground to reappear(rooftop gardening)

But sadly, Alexander The Great from Macedonia, Greece, overran the entire Mesopotamia, Egypt, as well as parts of India and planted marks of Greek culture everyway, changing the entire culture game in the region, and worst naming lots of cities as Alexandria until everyone got confused!

The Indus valley civilization:

Hail to great planners of the ancient civilizations!

I'm rather curious about the Indus valley civilization, were the cities built before of after the invasion of the Aryans? (The Aryans were nomadic tribes from the north who invaded India during ???BC and intermarriage with the native people) This can be crucial as there might have been a clash in cultural differences. Through the Aryans, the caste system and a new pantheon of gods were introduced. This will in turn influence the architecture style as well as the landscape around. Over time, it had developed into a unique style of its own.

Also, I had found out that generally, basic building materials like mud, clay bricks, and stones were constructed into series of dwelling compartments and public facilities. These in turn were confined behind walls made of similar materials that eventually became a city. But nonetheless it was the various architecture styles of the ancient civilizations that made them unique.

It is through the various architecture styles that defined the landscapes although there are also other factors contributing to a landscape. Architecture and Landscape are together, inseparable as a whole.

Personally I feel that most of these understandings of ancient landscape do not affect us greatly towards the contemporary theories of landscape design. But it helps us the see the big picture behind everything that had been made over aeons of modification through "artificial creations"

Carpe Diem!