ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
HISTORY
• Many city-states on the Italian peninsula
• From 800 -300 BC, among all cities in Italy, Rome became the most powerful
• 334 – 264 BC, Rome conquered all of Italy and established one of the strongest empires in
history
• Was centrally-located on the northern Mediterranean
• Not a sea-faring people
• Depended on conquest by land to extend their power
• Fought with Carthage in North Africa for control of the Mediterranean
• Hannibal led the Carthaginian army and its 38 elephants across the Alps into Rome
2 periods:
Etuscan or Etruscan (750 BC to 146 BC)
Roman (146 BC to 365 AD)
• Developed constitutional republic
• Farmers & soldiers, concerned with efficiency and justice
• For 500 years Rome was ruled by elected leaders called consuls
• In 27 BC, Augustus crowned himself Emperor with total power
• Succession of military dictatorships of which Julius Caesar’s was most famous
RELIGION
• Polytheistic, several cults
• Roman mythology slowly derived attributes from those of Greek gods
GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY and CLIMATE
• Italian peninsula: Central and commanding position on Mediterranean sea
• Temperate in the north
• Sunny in central Italy
• Almost tropical in south
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
DESCRIPTION
• Etruscans were great builders
• Large-scale undertakings, like city walls and sewers
• Draining marshes, controlling rivers and lakes by using channels
• Romans had great constructive ability
• Complex, of several stories
• Utilitarian, practical, economic use of materials
MATERIALS
• Stone: tufa, peperino, travertine, lava stone, sand, gravel
• Marble, mostly white
• Imported marble from all parts of the Empire to river Tiber
• Earth for terra cotta and bricks
• Etruscans introduced the use of concrete (300 AD to 400 AD):
• Stone or brick rubble with pozzolana, a thick volcanic earth material as mortar
• Used for walls, vaults, domes
• Concrete allowed Romans to build vaults of a magnitude never equaled until 19th
century steel construction
COLUMNS
Orders of architecture, used by Greeks constructively, were used by Romans as decorative
features which could be omitted
Tuscan Order
• Simplified version of Doric order
• About 7 diameters high
• With a base, unfluted shaft, moulded capital, plain entablature
Composite Order
• Evolved in 100 AD, combining prominent volutes of Ionic with acanthus of Corinthian
• Most decorative
• The column of the Composite order is typically 10 diameters high.
CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
• Adopted columnar and trabeated style of Greeks
• Arch and vault system started by Etruscans - combined use of column, beam and arch
(arctuated)
• Were able to cover large spaces without the aid of intermediate support
TYPES OF VAULTS
Barrel -simplest form of a vault and resembles a barrel or tunnel cut lengthwise in half.
Rib –intersection of two or three barrel vaults. Reinforced by masonry rib
Groin –is created by two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles
Fan-a type of vault consisting of a set of concave ribs spreading out from a central point
like the ribs of an opened umbrella, used especially in the English Perpendicular style.
Mosaics
• Thousands of small stones or glass tiles set in mortar to form a pattern
• Showed pictures of roman life
• Opus Incertum - small stones, loose pattern resembling polygonal walling
• Opus Quadratum - rectangular blocks, with or without mortar joints
• Opus Reticulatum - net-like effect, with fine joints running diagonally
RECTANGULAR TEMPLE
• Maison Caree, Nimes
CIRCULAR TEMPLE
• The Pantheon. Rome
FORUM
• Roman cities were well-planned with straight streets crossing the town in a grid pattern
• In the town center was an open space called the forum
• Surrounded by a hall, offices, law courts and shops
BASILICAS
• Basilica in the Forum, Pompeii
• Basilica of Septimius Severus, Lepcis Magna
THERMAE
• Romans liked to keep clean and fit
• Built elaborate public baths throughout the empire
• For as many as 30 men and women in the open
Parts of the thermae
• Apodyteria – dressing room
• Laconicum (sudatorium) - sweat room, rubbing with oil
• Tepidarium – warm bath
• Frigidarium – cold bath
• Unctuaria – oils and perfumes room
INSULAE
• 3- or 4- storey tenement type buildings
• Prototype for the modern condominium
CIRCUS
Circus Maximus, Rome
THEATERS and AMPHITHEATERS
• Gladiators trained to fight each other at organized contests
• For the entertainment of the townspeople
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES
• Arch of Septimius Severus, The Forum, Rome
AQUEDUCTS
• Carried water in pipes from the country to the heart of the city
