Eastern Elements in Umayyad Architecture: Audience Hall and Ceremonial Space in Residences (original) (raw)

2019, In: Sasanian Elements in Byzantine, Caucasian and Islamic Art and Culture, eds Neslihan Asutay-Effenberger & Falko Daim (Mayence 2019) 37-59

General opinion holds that architecture under the Umayyadcaliphs (661-750) developed in the Syro-Palestinian Levant, or Bilād al-Shām, and was indebted mostly to late Roman and early Byzantine traditions. Despite the fact that a wealth of motives from Sasanian art was used in Umayyad decorative media, scholars have remained sceptical about the amount and nature of Sasanian elements in Umayyad architecture, perhaps because in the past »Sasanian influence« beyond the place and time of Sasanian rule has been argued in too sweeping terms. This contribution reviews the discussion and re-addresses the question, starting from the three-aisled halls in Umayyad palatial architecture, which are considered formal spaces for representation and audience and have been related to aMediterranean basilical scheme. Contesting the designation »basilical«, the discussion of formal and textual evidence brings to light specific characteristics and a distinct Umayyad spatial pattern. The three-aisled square columnar hall with an added axial room heightened by a powerful symbol of authority, a dome or an apse, is a formula unknown in Roman and Byzantine audience halls. Turning to Mesopotamian and Sasanian parallels, the discussion is extended to the Umayyad adoption of the aywān and of the triple portico with niche room, or T-shaped hall. This reconsideration of elements,from Mesopotamia under Sasanian rule, in Umayyad architecture is based on spatial analysis but may well be extended to architectural motifs