Roman empire

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
ROMAN EMPIRE 27 BC – 395 AD

ANCIENT ROME
• According to legend,
Ancient Rome was founded by the
two brothers, and demi-
gods, Romulus and Remus, on 21
April 753 BCE. The legend claims
that, in an argument over who
would rule the city(or, in another
version, where the city would be
located) Romulus killed Remus
and named the city after himself.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE
• The Roman Empire was among the most powerful
economic, cultural, political and military forces in the
world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in
world history. At its height under Trajan, it covered 5
million square kilometres.It held sway over an
estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the
world's entire population. The longevity and vast
extent of the empire ensured the lasting influence of
Latin and Greek language, culture, religion, inventions,
architecture, philosophy, law and forms of
government on the empire's descendants. Throughout
the European medieval period, attempts were even
made to establish successors to the Roman Empire,
including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state,
and the Holy Roman Empire. By means of European
colonialism following the Renaissance, and their
descendant states, Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian
culture was exported on a worldwide scale, playing a
crucial role in the development of the modern world.

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

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER :
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
Marble
Concrete Wall

ARCHITECTURAL
CHARACTER :COLUMNS
• Orders of architecture, used by Greeks constructively,
were used by Romans as decorative features
• 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 Tuscan order is a Roman adaptation of
the Doric. The Tuscan has an unfluted shaft
and a simple echinus-abacus capital. It is
similar in proportion and profile to the
Roman Doric but is much plainer. The column
is seven diameters high. This order is the
most solid in appearance of all the orders.
The Composite order, which was not
ranked as a separate order until
the Renaissance, is a late Roman
development of the Corinthian. It is called
Composite because its capital is composed
of Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus-
leaf decoration. The column is 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

ARCHS
• The Roman arch was the foundation of Rome's architectural
mastery and massive expanse of building projects across the
ancient world. It allowed the Romans to make bigger
buildings, longer roads, and better aqueducts. The Roman
arch is the ancestor of modern architecture.
• The Romans learned the arch from the Etruscans of Tuscany
and were the first people in the world to really figure out
how to use it. Romans in the first centuries BC discovered
how to use arches in the construction of bridges, aqueducts
and buildings. The Roman arch is largely responsible for the
expansion of infrastructure across the Roman Empire.

ARCHITECTURE :
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES
• The triumphal arch was a type of Roman
architectural monument built all over
the empire to commemorate military
triumphs and other significant events such as
the accession of a new emperor. Arches were
often erected over major thoroughfares and
as the structure had no practical function as
a building it was often richly decorated with
architectural details, sculpture and
commemorative inscriptions (often using
bronze letters). Celebrated surviving
examples of triumphal arches include the
Arch of Constantine and the Arch
of Septimius Severus, both in Rome.

TYPES OF VAULTS
• Wagon/ Barrel/ Tunnel Vault:
• Semi-circular or wagon-headed,
borne on two parallel walls
throughout its length
• Cross Vault:
• Formed by the intersection of two
semi-circular vaults of equal span -
used over square apartment or bays
• Hemispherical Dome/ Cupola:
• Used over circular structures

DECORATION
• 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

ARCHITECTURE :
BRIDGE
• The Romans built large and magnificent stone bridges
such as the 135 meter (443 ft) long Pons Aemilius in
Rome. The first stone bridges used stone blocks held
together with iron clamps. By the mid-2nd century BCE,
Romans made extensive use of concrete: bridges were
often constructed with a concrete core and a stone-block
facing. The use of concrete significantly increased the
bridges' strength and durability. Concrete was also used to
build strong piers. When piers could not be built out of
rock, the Romans used “cofferdams”, which were
temporary enclosures made from wooden piles sealed
with clay. The cofferdams were driven into the riverbed
and filled with concrete, in order to make piers.
• Roman builders were also the first to fully understand the
structural advantages of an arch. Bridges had arches
consisting of individual arch stones (longer on one end
than the other) called voussoirs, which efficiently
distributed the bridges’ weight.

ARCHITECTURE :
AQUEDUCTS
• Aqueducts already existed in the Near East for centuries before the
construction of Rome’s first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia in 312 BCE. The
Romans, however, introduced many innovations which allowed them to
build aqueducts on an unprecedented scale. Aqueducts consisted of
conduits, tunnels and pipelines bringing water from far-away springs and
mountains into cities and towns. They supplied water to the cities’
fountains, latrines, public baths and houses of wealthy Romans. They
were also used to power mills and other machines
• Roman aqueducts used gravity, not pumps, with a slight downward
inclination for the water to flow. Other innovations included the use of
arcades to transport water over valleys and low-lying terrain, with the
extensive use of concrete and waterproof cement linings. Another
innovation was the use of settling tanks at regular intervals to regulate the
water supply.
• Aqueducts could be over 100 kilometers (62 miles) long. For example, the
Aqua Marcia built in 144-140 BCE ran underground for about 91 km (57
miles) underground, and then 10 km (6 miles) aboveground on
substructures and arcades before it reached the city of Rome.

ARCHITECTURE :
TEMPLE
• In ancient Rome the rituals that located and sited the temple
were performed by a high priest, an augur, who, through the
observation of the flight of birds or other natural phenomena,
understood the loci of the god. Roman temples usually faced
east or toward the rising sun, though a notable exception is the
great Pantheon which faces north. In ancient Rome, only the
deities of the Roman pantheon had a templum; any building
honoring a foreign deity was called a fanum. Visitors to Rome
were welcome to worship at the fanum of their native gods but
were required to worship the gods of Rome in the temples.
• Ancient Roman temples were among the most important
buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings
in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of
complete state.
• The most common architectural plan had a rectangular temple
raised on a high podium, with a clear front with a portico at the
top of steps, and a triangular pediment above columns. The
sides and rear of the building had much less architectural
emphasis, and typically no entrances. There were also circular
plans, generally with columns all round, and outside Italy there
were many compromises with traditional local styles. The
Roman form of temple developed initially from Etruscan
temples, themselves influenced by the Greeks, with
subsequent heavy direct influence from Greece.
The Maison Carrée in Nîmes
The Temple of Hercules Victor, in the Forum
Boarium in Rome
Temple of Augustus in Pula, Croatia
Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek, Lebanon

PANTHEON : THE
TEMPLE TO ALL GODS
• The Pantheon is the best preserved building
from ancient Rome and was completed in c.
125 CE in the reign of Hadrian. Its
magnificent dome is a lasting testimony to
the genius of Roman architects and as the
building stands virtually intact it offers a
unique opportunity for the modern visitor to
step back 2,000 years and experience the
glory that was Rome.

PANTHEON EXTERIOR &
INTERIOR
• The whole building stands on a 1.3 m high base which originally extended a further 7
metres in front of the colonnade. Steps in Numidian yellow marble extended from the
outer ends of this base. The building consists of two principal parts - the porch, which is
very Classical Greek in presentation, and the circular main building which is much more
Roman in style and reminiscent of the architecture of the large Roman baths. The
circular building is built with brick and concrete but was originally faced with white
marble stucco to match the porch in appearance. The dome is concrete with the
external surface originally covered in sheets of bronze but these were removed by
Constans II in 663 CE. The interior of the porch was also panelled with marble but this
has since been lost, revealing the brickwork.
• The Pantheon may well be the first building from Classical architecture where the
interior is deliberately made to outshine the exterior. The circular part of the building or
rotunda was entranced via two bronze doors measuring 12 x 7.5 m (those of today are
ancient but not original). The rotunda measures 43.2 m in diameter which is exactly the
maximum height of the dome, itself a perfect hemisphere. At the very top of the dome
is an opening to the sky (oculus) which is 8.8 m in diameter and has a decorative bronze
sheet frieze. The dome is made from a light tufa and scoria (a type of pumice) mix of
concrete (caementa) and its interior is further lightened by five rings of 28 coffers which
reduce in size as they rise towards the centre of the dome. These may have been
originally covered in bronze sheets.
• The wall of the rotunda is 6 metres thick and has seven alcoves which are alternatively
semi-circular and rectangular . The alcove opposite the door is the most impressive and
reaches the ceiling. It has a decorative red porphyry frieze and cornice and is flanked by
two Corinthian marble columns of Phrygian purple. Each alcove also had three niches
for statues and a small window with another seven windows placed around the rotunda
walls.

PANTHEON
Pantheon is derived from the Ancient Greek "Pantheion" meaning "of, relating to, or common to all the gods"

ARCHITECTURE :
FORUM
• A Forum was the main center of a Roman city.
Usually located near the physical center of a Roman
town, it served as a public area in which
commercial, religious, economic, political, legal, and
social activities occurred. Fora were common in all
Roman cities, but none were as grand as the fora
of Rome itself.
• A forum is not unlike a Greek Agora in concept and
even design somewhat. It is likely that there was
some Greek influence on the concept of a public
gathering place for the Romans. In fact, a Roman
forum often included certain physical aspects of a
Greek agora, such as the use of porticoes. However,
where an agora was maintained as an open public
place in a Greek city, Roman fora developed into
much more, with greater purpose and use. They
were filled with shops, porticoes, temples, offices,
and triumphal arches; and they were where
important civic and political announcements were
made. As the years of Roman history passed, the
fora of Rome became quite enclosed, and probably
very crowded and chaotic.

ARCHITECTURE : BASILICAS
• The basilica was a fundamental element of
a Roman forum. It was used as a public
building, much like the Greek stoa. It also
served as a meeting place for administration,
as a law court, and as a marketplace. It
provided cover and shade for hot or stormy
afternoons too After Christianity became the
main religion of the Roman Empire, the
basilica came to be a church where the
masses worshipped, and remains its function
today.

ARCHITECTURE : CIRCUS
• The Circus Maximus was a chariot racetrack
in Rome first constructed in the 6th century BCE. The
Circus was also used for other public events such as
the Roman Games and gladiator fights and was last
used for chariot races in the 6th century CE. It was
partially excavated in the 20th century CE and then
remodeled but it continues today as one of the
modern city’s most important public spaces, hosting
huge crowds at music concerts and rallies.
• The Circus Maximus, located in the valley between the
Palatine and Aventine hills, is the oldest and largest
public space in Rome and legend says that the Circus
was originally laid out in the 6th century BCE by the
first Roman kings, although, it first took on its
distinctive shape under Julius Caesar. Its principal
function was as a chariot racetrack and host of the
Roman Games (Ludi Romani) which honored Jupiter.

ARCHITECTURE : THEATERS
AND AMPHITHEATERS
• The most fundamental difference between a Roman amphitheatre and
a Roman theatre is the shape, theatres have a semi-circular
arrangement of raised seating looking into a stage, whereas
an amphitheatre is a 'theatre in the round' – amphi is Greek for
around.
• An amphitheatre was a structure built throughout the Roman
empire where ordinary people could watch such spectacles
as gladiator games, mock naval battles, wild animal hunts, and public
executions. Usually oval in form, the largest examples could seat tens
of thousands of people, and they became a focal point
of Roman society and the lucrative entertainment business.
Amphitheatres are one of the best surviving examples of
ancient Roman architecture, and many are still in use today, hosting
events ranging from gladiator re-enactments to opera concerts.
• For their theatres, the Romans followed the Greek plan of tiers of seats
in a semi-circle facing the stage, but whereas the Greeks tended to take
advantage of natural slopes on which to erect the seats, Roman
theatres were usually built on level ground. The first stone theatre in
Rome was opened in 55 BC. The theatre of ancient Rome was a
thriving and diverse art form, ranging from festival performances of
street theatre, and acrobatics, to the staging of Plautus's broadly
appealing situation comedies, to the high-style, verbally elaborate
tragedies of Seneca.

COLOSSEUM
• The Colosseum, officially opened in 80 CE and known to
the Romans as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is the largest and
most famous example with a capacity of at least 50,000
spectators. Dwarfing all other buildings in the city, it was
45 metres high and measured 189 x 156 metres across. It
had up to 80 entrances, and the sanded arena itself
measured a massive 87.5 m by 54.8 m. On the upper storey
platform, sailors were employed to manage the large
awning (velarium) which protected the spectators from
rain or provided shade on hot days.
• The Colosseum's design became famous as it was placed
on coins so that even people who had never been in
person knew of Rome's greatest temple to entertainment.
The design was copied throughout the empire: a highly
decorative exterior, multiple entrances, seating (cavea) set
over a network of barrel vaults, a wall protecting
spectators from the action of the arena (sometimes with
nets added), and underground rooms below the arena
floor to hide people, animals, and props until they were
needed in the spectacles.

COLOSSEUM
ARCHITECTURE
• The theatre was spectacular even from the outside with
monumental open arcades on each of the first three floors
presenting statue-filled arches. The first floor carried Doric
columns, the second Ionic and the third level Corinthian. The top
floor had Corinthian pilasters and small rectangular windows.
There were no less than eighty entrances, seventy-six of these
were numbered and tickets were sold for each. Two entrances
were used for the gladiators, one of which was known as the
Porta Libitina (the Roman goddess of death) and was the door
through which the dead were removed from the arena. The other
door was the Porta Sanivivaria through which victors and those
allowed to survive the contests left the arena. The final two doors
were reserved exclusively for the Emperor’s use.
• Inside, the theatre must have been even more impressive when
the three tiers of seats were filled with all sections of the
populace. Encircling the arena was a wide marble terrace
(podium) protected by a wall within which were the prestigious
ring-side seats or boxes from where the Emperor and other
dignitaries would watch the events. Beyond this area, marble
seats were divided into zones: those for richer private citizens,
middle class citizens, slaves and foreigners and finally wooden
seats and standing room in the flat roofed colonnade on the top
tier reserved for women and the poor.

ARCHITECTURE : 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
Baths of Diocletian, Rome

ARCHITECTURE :
DOMUS
• The Roman domus was much more than a place of dwelling for
a Roman familia. It also served as a place of business and a
religious center for worship. The size of a domus could range
from a very small house to a luxurious mansion. In some cases,
one domus took up an entire city-block, while more commonly,
there were up to 8 domus per insula (city-block).
All domus were free-standing structures. Some were
constructed like modern-day townhouses with common walls
between them, while others were detached.
• Because safety was a primary concern in
ancient Rome, domus did not face the streets. Similarly, there
were rarely outside-facing windows for this reason, but
most domus did have two front rooms open to the street. Some
families ran their own stores from these rooms, while others
leased them out to others.
• The domus included multiple rooms, indoor courtyards, gardens, and
beautifully painted walls.
• Atrium
• Lararium (household shrine)
• Tablinum (office)
• Triclinium (dining room)
• Hortus (garden)

ARCHITECTURE :
INSULAE
• In Roman architecture, an insula (Latin for "island," plural insulae)
was a kind of apartment building that housed most of the urban
citizen population of ancient Rome, including ordinary people of
lower- or middle-class status (the plebs) and all but the wealthiest
from the upper-middle class (the equites).
• The traditional elite and the very wealthy lived in domus, large
single-family residences, but the two kinds of housing were
intermingled in the city and not segregated into separate
neighborhoods. The ground-level floor of the insula was used for
tabernae, shops and businesses, with the living space upstairs. Like
modern apartment buildings, an insula might have a name, usually
referring to the owner of the building.
• Living quarters were typically smallest in the building's uppermost
floors, with the largest and most expensive apartments being
located on the bottom floors. The insulae could be up to six or
seven stories high, and despite height restrictions in the Imperial
era, a few reached eight or nine stories.
• Because of safety issues and extra flights of stairs, the uppermost
floors were the least desirable, and thus the cheapest to rent. Often
those floors were without heating, running water or lavatories,
which meant their occupants had to use Rome's extensive system
of public restrooms (latrinae).
• Prototype for the modern condominium

ARCHITECTURE : VILLA
• A Roman villa was living space during the
Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. A villa
was originally a Roman country house built for
the upper class. According to Pliny the Elder,
there were two kinds of villas: the villa urbana,
which was a country seat that could easily be
reached from Rome (or another city) for a night
or two, and the Villa rustica, the farm-house
estate permanently occupied by the servants
who had charge generally of the estate. The
villa rustica centered on the villa itself, perhaps
only seasonally occupied.
•

COMPARISON BETWEEN GREEK
AND ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
• The architecture between the two groups is relatively similar.
They are founded in symmetry, the use of stonework (especially
marble), columns, and esplanades.
• There are many differences between Greek and Roman
architecture. The Greeks built many structures on top of hills,
the Romans changed the hills into architectural structures. Early
Greeks used the post and lintel system, whereas Romans
extensively used the arch, vault and dome. Concrete was a
major building material for the Romans, the Greeks were always
trying to find better building materials and used huge stones
held together with clamps and dowels.
• In theatre design, both Greeks and Romans preferred to use
hillsides, but because of large cities the Romans were forced to
build their theatres on flat ground. This practice brought on the
revolutionary design of a freestanding theatre structure.
• The Greeks took their religion seriously and built their temples
for the gods. The Romans took the view, brought it inside the
temple interior and declared that what went on inside was very
important so the temple must look good on the inside too.

ROMAN FURNITURE
• Furniture in Roman houses tended to be sparse, since
the occupants liked space and simplicity in their decor.
• Beauty was created by mosaics, frescos and water
features and other features of Roman interiors rather
than by use of elaborate furnishings.•
• However, the few items of Roman Empire furniture
were elegant and costly, using excellent materials and
craftsmanship.•
• Even wealthy homeowners had mostly essential
articles: Beds or couches, chairs,stools, tables and
lamps.
• There was an occasional chest, wooden cabinet with
doors, brazier for coals, and a water clock (seldom).

REFERENCE
• http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-roman-arch-definition-construction-history.html
• https://www.the-romans.co.uk/public_architecture.htm
• https://sites.google.com/site/furerplox/re
• http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Engineering/
• https://sites.google.com/site/furerplox/re
• http://www.ancient.eu/temple/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_temple
• http://www.ancient.eu/article/26/
• http://www.ancient.eu/Triumphal_Arch/
• http://www.ancient.eu/Circus_Maximus/
• http://www.ancient.eu/amphitheatre/
• http://www.ancient.eu/Colosseum/
• http://www.crystalinks.com/romebuildings.html
• http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Brief-Comparison-of-Greek-and-Roman-Architecture&id=6957504

Roman empire

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