Page Title

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed” (A. Einstein)

Course Description:
Buildings were designed after concepts stirred up by our natural and cultural environment. As Erwin Panofsky puts it, "... meaning can only be apprehended by re-producing, and thereby 'realizing’ the conceptions that manifest themselves (in forms)”. This course unearths conceptions that inspired medieval buildings in the Middle East. In the beginning of the course, ’symbol’ as signifier is discussed in navigating Semotics in order to provide a methodological bridge to comprehend relationship between concept and architectural symbol. Following this, lectures concentrate on the way cosmological concepts were related to the architectural forms. The course equips students with knowledge on human-environment relationship and its architectural end-products. Readings through cosmology, philosophy, symbolism and mysticism render students familiar with the conceptual sources that nourished architectural design. Hence, the course introduces its addressees to the field of symbolism and meaning in architecture. For this reason, symbols in the format of decorative motifs are dealt with along with a detailed survey of concepts and forms. The course includes a series of lectures by the instructor. It is designed for architectural history graduate students. Graduate students from other departments might be accepted on condition that they either study similar topics in their graduate program or completed any art/architectural history survey course.

Course/Learning Objectives:
This course provides:

Relationship between architecture and speculative sciences like religion and cosmology;
Formation of cosmological conceptions based upon human communication with surroundings;
Formation of architectural forms after concepts;
How ancient concepts rephrased in medieval philosophy and mysticism influenced architecture.
Architecture in ancient and medieval Mesopotamia and the Middle East.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course students are expected to:

Relate concepts borrowed from an interdisciplinary reading into architecture;
Analyze sign and symbols in medieval architecture;
Describe medieval architecture in the Middle East in a compendium where earliest formations can be related to the later ones in terms of meanings;
Set proofs to reveal medieval design methods in terms of cosmology,
Delineate architecture as a signification process;
Read advanced texts in philosophy and cosmology.

Tasks:
Weekly readings; term paper; paper presention; final exam; % 70 attendance. Grading:
Final examination 40%; Term paper 40%; Paper Presentation 10%; Performance in class discussions and attendance 10%.

SCHEDULE
First Week:
Introduction to the Course
Second Week:
Study of Architectural Signs and Symbols and Semiotics.
Readings: Akın, 1993; Eco 1980; Jencks, 1970: Jencks, 1980.
Third Week:
Ancient Mesopotamian Architecture and Cosmology.
Readings: Campbell, 1974; Contenau, 1966; Frankfort, 1958; Frankfort, 1946; Frankfort, 1948; Kuhn, 2002, Langdon, 1964; Opp enheim, 1977; Smith, 1956.
Fourth Week:
Basic Cosmological Notions I: Vertical Axis
Readings: Same as above and Burckhardt, 1977, 1987; Corbin, 1977, 1981, 1988; Davidson, 1992; Nasr, 1964; Netton, 1989.
Fifth Week:
Basic Cosmological Notions II: Horizontal Axis
Readings: Same as above
Sixth Week:
Cosmological Diagrams
Seventh Week:
Ancient Cosmological Concepts Rephrased in Islamic Mysticism.
Readings: Attar; Ibn Arabi; Suhrawardi, 1982
Eight Week:
Islamic World View and Architecture in the Middle East and Spain.
Readings: Burckhardt, 1976; Ettinghausen-Grabar, 1994; Katz, 1980; Michell, 1984; Grabar, 1987; Hoag, 1977; Nasr, 1987; Necipoğlu, 1995; Akkach, 1992, 1993, 1995, Haider, 1988; Beckwith, 1984; Grabar, 1988.
Ninth Week:
Meaning in Iranian Architecture: Pre-Islamic and Islamic Periods
Readings: Pope, 1965, Ardalan-Bakhtiar, 1973; Daneshvari; 1986; Godard, 1965; Peker, 1993.
Tenth Week:
Meaning in Anatolian Seljuk architecture.
Readings: Ertuğ, 1991; Ögel, 1994; Peker, 1993; Peker, 1998, Peker, 1999; Peker, 2006; Peker, 2007.
Eleventh-Twelfth Weeks:
Student presentations
Final Examination and Submission of the Term PapersRecommended paper topics:
1. Sumero-Akkadian cosmology and architecture.
2. Daily life and architecture in ancient Mesopotamia.
3. Evolution of the state mechanism and transformation from city temple to palace-temple in ancient Mesopotamia.
2. Islamic world view and formation of Islamic architecture.
3. Cosmological patterns in Early Islamic architecture.
4. Main notions in the works of the early philosophers and early Islamic architecture.
5. The concept of light in pre-Islamic and Islamic Iranian philosophy and its reflections in architecture.
6. The philosophical currents of the 13th century Anatolia and the architecture of the Anatolian Seljuks.
7. The meaning of the dome in the Middle East.
8. The concept of Heavens and its reflections in Islamic architecture.
9. Philosophy & science of geometry and Islamic art & architecture
10. Meaning in Gothic Cathedral.
11. A review of Otto von Simson’s The Gothic Cathedral.
12. A comparison of symbolism in Seljukid and Byzantine architecture in Anatolia.
13. A comparison of symbolism in Seljukid and Byzantine/Armenian architecture in Antolia.COURSE READINGS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE TERM PAPERS
General Sources:
A.G. Ardalan and A.G. Bakhtiar, The Sense of Unity. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1973.
Titus Burckhardt, Art of Islam: Language and Meaning. Westerham, Kent: Westerham, 1976.
Georges Contenau, Everyday Life in Babylon and Assyria. New York: W.W. Norton&Comp., 1966.
Abbas Daneshvari, Medieval Tomb Towers of Iran: An Iconographical Study. Lexington: Mazda Publishers, 1986.
Pierre Duhem, Medieval Cosmology: Theories of Infinity, Place, Time Void, and the Plurality of Worlds. Edited
Translated by Roger Ariew. Chicago and London: The University of chicago Press, 1985.
Ahmet Ertuğ (Ed.), The Seljuks: A Journey Through Anatolian Architecture. Text by M.N. Bragner. İstanbul: 1991.
Richard Ettinghausen and Oleg Grabar, The Art and Architecture of Islam (650-1250). New Haven and London: Yale University, 1994.
Henri Frankfort, The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man; An Essay on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East, by H. and H. A. Frankfort, John A. Wilson, Thorkild Jacobsen [and] William A. Irwin. Chicago: The University of Chicago press, 1946
Henri Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods, A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society & Nature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 1948
Henri Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. Harmondsworth-Middlesex: Penguin Books lmtd., 1958.
Andre, Godard, The Art of Iran. Translated by M. Heron. Washington: George Allen and Unwin, 1965.
Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art. New Haven-London: Yale University, 1987.
Edward Grant, Planets, Stars, and Orbs: the Medieval Cosmos, 1200-1687. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University, 1994.
J.D. Hoag, Islamic Architecture. New York, 1977.
J.G. Katz (Ed.), Architecture as Symbol and Self-identity. Philadelphia: Smith-Edwards-Dunlap Co., 1980.
S.H. Langdon, The Mythology of All Races. V: Semitic. New York: Cooper Square Pub., 1964.
G. Michell (Ed.), Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames and Hudson,
1984.
S.H. Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987.
Gülru Necipoğlu, The Topkapı Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture (Topkapı Palace Museum Library MS H.1956). Santa Monica: Getty Center, 1995.
A. Leo Opp enheim, Ancient Mesopotamia : Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1977.
Semra Ögel, Anadolu'nun Selçuklu Çehresi. Istanbul: Akbank, 1994
A.U. Pope, Persian Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 1965.
E. B. Smith, Architectural Symbolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages. New Jersey: Princeton University, 1956.
Sources on philosophy and cosmology:
Titus Burckhardt, Mystical Astrology According to Ibn 'Arabi. Gloucestershire: Beshara, 1977.
Titus Burckhardt, Mirror of the Intellect. Albany: State University of New York, 1987.
Joseph Campbell, The Mythic Image. New Jersey: Princeton University, 1974.
Henry Corbin, Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth from Mazdean Iran to Shiite Iran. New Jersey: Princeton University, 1977.
Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi. New Jersey: Princeton University, 1981.
Henry Corbin, Avicenna and the Visionary Recital. New Jersey: Princeton University,1988.
Herbert A. Davidson, Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes on Intellect : Their Cosmologies, Theories of the Active Intellect, and Theories of Human Intellect. New York : Oxford University Press, 1992.
Thomas S. Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002 (1957).
Gerhart B. Ladner, God, Cosmos and Humankind: the World of Early Christian Symbolism. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California, 1995.
S.H. Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines. Cambridge-Massachusettes: Belknap, 1964.
S.H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages. Cambridge-Massachusettes: Harvard University, 1964.
I.R. Netton, Allah Transcendent, Studies in the Structure and Semiotics of Islamic Philosophy,Theology and Cosmology. London and New York: Routledge, 1989.
Rudolf Simek, Heaven and Earth in the Middle Ages: the Physical World Before Columbus. Translated by Angela Hall. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1996.
Medieval Texts:
F. Attar, “The Conference of the Birds,” selections, trans. A. Darbandi, D. Davis (Internet source)
Ibn ‘Arabi, “Epistle on Cosmic Unification,” trans. Angela Jaffray,
http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/epistle-on-cosmic-unification/
Ibn 'Arabi, Kernel of the Kernel (Ismail Hakkı Bursevi's Translation of). Gloucestershire: Beshara.The Mystical and
Visionary Treatises of Shihabuddin Yahya Suhrawardi. Translated by W.M. Thackston. London: The Octagon Press,1982
S. Y. Suhrawardi, The Mystical and Visionary Treatises of Shihabuddin Yahya Suhrawardi, trans. W.M. Thackston.
London: the Octagon Press, 1982
Commentories on the symbolism of the forms:
Phyllis Ackerman, "The Symbolic Sources of Some Architectural Elements,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, XII/4, (1953), 1968, pp 3-7.
Samer Akkach, "Analogy and Symbolism: An App roach to the Study of Traditional Islamic Architecture,” The Islamic Quarterly, XXXVI/2, (1992), pp 84-99.
Samer Akkach, "Aspect of the Traditional Islamic Philosophy of Art,” The Islamic Quarterly, XXXVII/1, (1993), pp 45-62.
Samer Akkach, "In the Image of the Cosmos Order and Symbolism in Traditional Islamic Architecture (Part 1-2),” The Islamic Quarterly, XXXIX/1, (1995), pp 5-17, XXXIX/2, (1995), pp 90-106
Günkut Akın, Asya Merkezi Mekân Geleneği. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1990.
C.I., Beckwith, "The Plan of the City of Peace: Central Asian Iranian Factors in Early Abbasid Design,” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, XXXVIII/1-2, (1984), pp 143-64.
A.K. Coomaraswamy, "Symbolism of the Dome,” The Indian Historical Quarterly, XIV/1, (1938), pp 1-56.
Oleg Grabar, "The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem,” Ars Orientalis, III, (1959), pp 34-62.
Oleg Grabar, "The Iconography of Islamic Architecture,” Content and Context of Visual Arts in the Islamic World. Edited by P.P. Soucek, University Park and London: The Pennsylvania State University, (1988), pp 52-60.
S.G. Haider, "Islam, Cosmology and Architecture,” Theories and Principles of Design in the Architecture of Islamic Societies. Edited by M. B. Ševcenko. Cambridge, Massachusettes: MIT, (1988), pp 73-85.
A.U. Peker, "The Monumental Iwan: A Symbolic Space or A Functional Device?,” M.E.T.U. Journal of the Faculty of Architecture. XI/1-2, (1991), (1993), pp 5-19.
A.U. Peker, "Ortaçağ Anadolu Mimarisinde Anlam,” Arkeoloji ve Sanat, XX/85, (1998), pp 29-38.
A.U. Peker, "The Origins of the Seljukid Double-Headed Eagle as a Cosmological Symbol," Art Turc/Turkish Art: Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Turkish Art (Geneva 17-23, 1995), (Geneva: Fondation Max van Berchem, 1999), pp 559-566.A.U. Peker, “Evrenin Binasi: Mimarîde Yazı ve Kozmolojik Anlam,” Selçuklu Uygarlığı, v. 2, edited by Ali Uzay Peker and Kenan Bilici, (Ankara: Ministry of Culture, 2006) pp . 31-41.A.U. Peker, “Taklidin Estetiği: Anadolu Selçuklu Mimarisinin Mimesis Kavramı Üzerinden Okunması,” Turkish
Congress of Aesthetics, Paper Abstracts SANART – ODTÜ (Ankara, 2006) p. 117.
A. U. Peker, “Taklidin Estetiği: Anadolu Selçuklu Mimarisinin Mimesis Kavramı Üzerinden Okunması,” Türkiye’de
Estetik: Türkiye Estetik Kongresi Bildirileri, ed. Jale Erzen, Pelin Yoncacı (Ankara: TMMOB, 2007) pp. 563-571.A.U. Peker, “Evrenin Binasi: Mimarîde Yazı ve Kozmolojik Anlam,” Selçuklu Uygarlığı, v. 2 edited by Ali Uzay Peker and Kenan Bilici, (Ankara: Ministry of Culture, 2006) pp. 31-41.A.C. Soper, "The "Dome of Heaven" in Asia,” The Art Bulletin, XXIX/4, (1947), pp 225-47.
Charles Wendell, "Baghdad: Imago Mundi, and Other Foundation Lore,” Journal of the Middle Eastern Studies, II, (1971), pp 99-127.
Sources on Signs and Symbols in Architecture:
Günkut Akın, “Mimarlık Tarihinde Pozitivizmi Aşma Sorunu ve Osmanlı Merkezi Mekan İkonolojisi Bağlamında Edirne Selimiye Camisi’ndeki Müezzin Mahfili.” Türk Kültüründe Sanat ve Mimari. İstanbul: 1993, pp 1-39.
Charles Jencks, "Semiology and Architecture." Meaning in Architecture. Edited by C. Jencks-George Baird. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1970, pp 11-25.
Charles Jencks, “The Architectural Sign”, Signs, Symbols and Architecture. Edited by Geofrey Broadbent-Richard Bunt-Charles Jencks. New York: John Wiley&Sons, 1980, pp 71-118.
Umberto Eco, "Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture,” Signs, Symbols and Architecture. Edited by G. Broadbent-R. Bunt-C. Jencks. New york: John Wiley & Sons, 1980, pp 11-69.