The Architecture of Power: Great Palaces of the Ancient World

Introduction Professor Biography Course Scope Lecture Guides Lecture 1—Palaces Past and Present Saddam Hussein’s Many Palaces Ancient Signs of Authority Palace Structure and Social Structure Created Location The Use and Control of Water Lecture 2—Malkata Palace: Pharaoh, Foreigners, and Gods Location and Layout of the Palace The Main Throne Room Banquet Rooms Lecture 3—Amarna: Palace of the First Sun King From Amenhotep to Akhenaten The North Palace The Great Palace and the Great Temple of the Aten Lecture 4—Phaistos: Palaces between Asia and Europe Four Great Minoan Palaces The Central Courtyard at Phaistos The Western Court The Royal Apartments Craft Areas Lecture 5—Palace of Nestor at Pylos and Bronze Age Greece Mycenaean versus Minoan Palaces The Palace at Pylos Clay Tablets Lecture 6—The Assyrian Palace at Nimrud: Empire in Stone The Northwest Palace The Throne Room Lecture 7—Nineveh: The Architecture of Assyrian Power The City of Nineveh The Palace at Nineveh Reliefs of Royal Imagery The Most Significant Find Lecture 8—Persepolis: Palace of the Persians The Palace at Persepolis The Architecture of the Palace The Fortification Tablets Lecture 9—Greek Palaces in Conquered Lands I The Palace at Ai Khanoum The Palace at Nippur Lecture 10—Greek Palaces in Conquered Lands II The Palace at Iraq al-Amir The Palace at Ptolemais Lecture 11—Greek Palaces Come to Roman Italy The Gardens of Lucullus and Sallust The Villa of the Papyri The House of the Faun Lecture 12—Masada: Herod the Great between East and West The Western Palace The Northern Palace Lecture 13—Herod the Great’s Summer and Winter Palaces The Winter Palaces at Jericho The Summer Palace at Herodium Lecture 14—Caligula’s Floating Palaces The Rediscovery and Excavation of Caligula’s Ships The Design and Decoration of the Ships Lecture 15—Nero’s Domus Transitoria at Rome Nero’s Design-Focused Palace Surviving Suites Lecture 16—Nero’s Golden House: A Roman Palace Theater Original Palace, Rediscovery, and Current State Surviving Spaces Lecture 17—Rome’s Great Imperial Palace of Domitian Palace on the Palatine Hill Spaces and Suites in Detail Lecture 18—Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli Teatro Marittimo The Serapeum/Canopus Complex The Antinoeion The Temple of Venus The Piazza d’Oro Lecture 19—Diocletian’s Retirement Palace, Split The Palace of Diocletian Temple and Tomb Rooms and Halls Lecture 20—Constantine’s Palace, Constantinople A New Capital Sculptures from around the Empire The Hippodrome Lost Elements Lecture 21—China’s Endless Palace: Weiyang Palace The Han Dynasty An Intellectual Model for the Endless Palace The Endless Palace Spatial Organization as a Reflection of Society Lecture 22—The Palace of Montezuma II at Tenochtitlán Montezuma and Cortés The City and Its Center Montezuma II’s Newer Palace Lecture 23—Renaissance Palaces and the Classical Revival Kensington Palace The Tuileries Palace The Palace of Versailles Lecture 24—Palaces in a World of Democracies The White House The Palace of Justice in Rome The Spheres of Amazon Supplementary Material Quiz Bibliography Image Credits