Roman architecture,

The Etruscans

The origins of Roman architecture can be traced to the Etruscans, who migrated from Asia Minor to Italy in the 12th cent. B.C. What little is known about their architecture has been ascertained from clay models and tomb interiors. Etruscan architecture is thought to have derived from prototypes found in the nearby Greek colonies in southern Italy established during the 8th and 7th cent. B.C. The Etruscans are thought to have used arches and vaults in their later architecture.

Structural Characteristics

Following the establishment of the Roman Republic in the 5th cent. B.C., Roman architects began to absorb and synthesize influences from both the Etruscans and the Greeks, adapting earlier building types to their specialized urban needs. A characteristic feature of Roman design was the combined use of arcuated and trabeated construction (employing arches and constructed with post and lintel). Although at first tentatively employed in the spaces between the classical columns, the arch eventually came to be the chief structural element. Flanking columns, usually engaged and superimposed (partly embedded into a wall and laid over it), served merely as buttresses or for decoration.

The cut-stone construction of the Greeks was largely replaced after the invention of concreteconcrete,
structural masonry material made by mixing broken stone or gravel with sand, cement, and water and allowing the mixture to harden into a solid mass. The cement is the chemically active element, or matrix; the sand and stone are the inert elements, or aggregate.
..... Click the link for more information.  in the 2d cent. B.C. This enabled architects to cover vast interior spaces with vaults of increasing complexity and without interior supports. These included the barrel vault, the cross or groined vault, and the dome and semidome. Vault buttresses, instead of forming exterior projections, became an integral part of the interior support system. Although unfired brick was employed in all periods, under the empire baked bricks became popular as a facing for concrete walls. From early times stucco was used as a finish for important buildings. For the more luxurious finishing of exterior and interior walls, sheathings of alabaster, porphyry, or marble were used.

Of the Republican period (c.500–27 B.C.), the great aqueducts outside the city of Rome are the most impressive remains, but monumental architectural ruins also have been excavated at the city-state of GabiiGabii
, ancient town of Latium, 12 mi (19.3 km) E of Rome on the road to Praeneste (modern Palestrina). According to legend, Romulus was reared there. One of the most important of the Latin cities, it supposedly resisted a siege by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (see Tarquin) but
..... Click the link for more information. . Dated to c.350–250 B.C., the formative period of Roman architecture, the Gabii remains consist of a large complex with stone walls and terraces connected by an impressive staircase and surrounded by rooms as well as other structures. Ambitious and grand in scale, they appear to contradict the small and modest reputation ascribed to buildings of this period; the influence Gabii may have had on the growth of Rome is unclear.

Roman Landmarks and Building Patterns

The principal monuments of Roman architecture belong chiefly to the period between 100 B.C. and A.D. 300, including the ColosseumColosseum
or Coliseum
, Ital. Colosseo, common name of the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, near the southeast end of the Forum, between the Palatine and Esquiline hills. Begun by Vespasian, c.A.D. 75, and completed by his son Titus in A.D.
..... Click the link for more information.  (A.D. 70–82), the Pantheon (A.D. 118–125; see under pantheonpantheon
, term applied originally to a temple to all the gods. The Pantheon at Rome was built by Agrippa in 27 B.C., destroyed, and rebuilt in the 2d cent. by Hadrian.
..... Click the link for more information. ), and the Baths of Caracalla (c.A.D. 215). Beginning with the reign of Augustus (30 B.C.–A.D. 14), the Roman architectural output proceeded on a vast scale to accommodate the needs of the rapidly expanding empire. Provincial towns were laid out according to logical plans, particularly in North Africa. In Syria, arcaded streets were built.

Each town's focus was the forumforum,
market and meeting place in ancient Roman towns in Italy and later in the provinces, corresponding to the Greek agora. By extension the word forum often indicates the meeting itself in modern usage.
..... Click the link for more information. , or open public square, surrounded by colonnades and the principal buildings in axial arrangement. The great forum in Rome itself was built in stages, as each emperor sought to glorify his achievements. The last large forum to be built was that of Trajan (2d cent. A.D.), and was the most extravagant. Within each forum, a temple, conforming to Etruscan type, was usually elevated on a high base with steps ascending to a deep portico. Since the temple was to be seen only from the front, the Roman architect utilized pilasters or engaged columns along its sides. This pseudoperipteral type is seen in the Maison Carrée (1st cent. A.D.) at Nîmes, France. Examples of circular temples include the temple of Vesta at Tivoli (1st cent. B.C.) and the 3d-century temples of Jupiter at Split and Venus at Baalbek.

Roman Architectural Innovations

Most important among the structures developed by the Romans themselves were basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, and triumphal arches. Unlike their Greek prototypes, Roman theaters were freestanding structures. The auditorium was semicircular, with movable seats at the orchestra level. Distinctly Roman innovation were the uniting of stage and auditorium as a single structure and the rich architectural embellishment of the stage itself. For the oval amphitheaters such as the colosseum, there are no known Greek precedents. The monumental or triumphal arch was also a purely Roman invention. The basilicabasilica
, large building erected by the Romans for transacting business and disposing of legal matters. Rectangular in form with a roofed hall, the building usually contained an interior colonnade, with an apse at one end or at each end.
..... Click the link for more information. , probably a Roman development based on the Greek temple, provided a large and relatively open interior space. From its original use as a Roman law court, the basilica form was adapted by the Christians for their churches.

The bathsbaths,
in architecture. Ritual bathing is traceable to ancient Egypt, to prehistoric cities of the Indus River valley, and to the early Aegean civilizations. Remains of bathing apartments dating from the Minoan period exist in the palaces at Knossos and Tiryns.
..... Click the link for more information. , while probably derived from Greek gymnasia, were constructed on a totally unprecedented scale, the complexity of their plan competing with the luxury of their detail. In the typical Roman dwelling, the rooms were grouped about the atrium, which, by means of an opening in its roof, also served as a court. Multistory houses in the larger cities, called insulae, anticipated modern apartment buildings, as can be seen for example at Ostia (3d cent. A.D.). A third type of Roman dwelling was the luxurious country villa built by wealthy citizens to escape the congestion and squalor of the cities.

Bibliography

See G. T. Rivoira, Roman Architecture (1925, repr. 1972); M. Wheeler, Roman Art and Architecture (1964); W. L. MacDonald, The Architecture of the Roman Empire (2 vol., 1965 and 1986); A. Boëthius, Etruscan and Roman Architecture (1970); J. B. Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture (1981).

Roman architecture

An architecture influenced by the Etruscans, combining the use of the arch with Greek columns. The invention of concrete led to a system of vaulting and the development of the dome used to roof a circular area, demonstrated sophisticated engineering skills. The pilaster was used decoratively on walls instead of half-columns. Colonnades and arcades were both in use, and occurred one above the other at times. Doorway headers were both square and semicircular and became decorative features of importance in the exterior design of large public buildings. Window headers were generally semicircular. Orders were sometimes superimposed, and pedestals were developed to give the column additional height. The Romans relied on the abundant carving on their moldings rather than on the contours. Marble, granite and alabaster were the primary facing materials, as well as stucco and mosaics. The emphasis was on monumental public buildings, reflecting the grandeur of the empire. Many had very sophisticated building services, such as plumbing, heating and water supply. On an urban scale the Romans also produced an impressive array of planning elements: formal axial planning with whole communities and towns constructed on a grid plan were typical