Ancient Roman Architecture - Essay Example

 Ancient Roman Architecture Roman Architecture follows the general lines of the Greek, with significant changes. The temple is no longer the typical building; equally important are civic buildings, baths, law courts, amphitheaters, aqueducts, and bridges. While Rome was still a small town on the banks of the Tiber River, the Etruscan culture to the north developed, partly under Greek influence. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio described the Etruscan’s temples as having overhanging eaves and a colonnaded porch leading to triple rooms side by side, though the remains suggest that they were deeper and less standardized than he indicated (The New Universal Library, p.432). The Etruscans inspired the pedestal or podium below the early Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in 509 B.C. The true arch may or may nit have come to Rome from Etruria, but both peoples often used the corbel arch and both liked decorative terra cotta. The Punic wars I and II, during the third century B.C., brought Rome into contact with Greek culture of southern Italy and Sicily; and with the conquest of Corinth, in 146 B.C., Rome subjugated Greece itself. From the Hellenistic and later Greeks, the Romans adopted the orders of architecture but modified them. They added a base to the Doric column and lightened its proportions to eight lower diameters in height. They joined the volutes of the Ionic capital with straight lines instead of the delicate Greek curves. The Corinthians was their favorite order. To the three Greek orders they added the Tuscan, a simplified version of the Your Last Name 2 Doric, and the Composite, a fusion of the Corinthian and Ionic (The World Book Encyclopedia, p.431). Structurally, the most important innovation of the Roman was the arch, which they used widely although they had not invented it. Next to the post and lintel, arch construction is historically of greatest importance. An arch is made of wedge-shaped stones that are arranged with the small side of the wedge turned down toward the opening. When the stones have been put in place by means of scaffolding or centering, their shape keeps them from falling, just like in the aqueduct of Segovia. Each stone of the arch, by its weight, exerts constant pressure on the stones an each side of it and the arch is held in position only by an exact balancing of these pressures. If that balance is upset, the arch collapses. As an old Arabic proverb has it “An arch never sleeps (The World Book Encyclopedia, p.640).” In the thirteenth century, the cathedral of Beauvais, in France, the arched vaults of the nave collapsed because the building was raised too high and the upper structure therefore, exercised too much downward pressure on them. The Dome of S. Sophia or Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, during the sixth century after Christ, collapsed the first time it was erected killing a large number of workers. It was an expensive lesson for the builders who were successful in their next attempt (The New Universal Library, p.433). Another characteristic of Roman architecture is the flat, round, dome that covers an entire building as in the Pantheon. The Pantheon that was built in portico in 202 A.D. was made with brick, mortar, and concrete, originally faced on the exterior with pentelic marble and stucco. The height of its columns is 46 ½ feet. In the interior, you will see a cement dome and a wall Your Last Name 3 decoration and pavement of marble and porphyry; the diameter of the rotunda is 142 feet (The World Book Encyclopedia, p.639). When the Romans used the same designs as the Greek, they did not use them in exactly the same way. Roman columns are taller and thinner, and often, as in the Pantheon, they are not fluted. The Corinthian column was used extensively, as was the composite column, as invention of the Romans which is made by combining the Ionic volutes with the Corinthian acanthus-circled bell. The orders were not kept separate, but where stacked, or superimposed, as in the Colosseum, where those on the first floor are Doric, those on the second are Ionic, and those on the third are Corinthian. Moreover, the elements borrowed from the Greeks were sometimes used only as ornaments, whereas the Greeks had used them structurally. In the Colosseum, again, the columns between the arches and the entablature above them are not essential to the structure of the building; this is seen in that part of the building from which the outer layer of concrete has been torn away; the columns are missing, but the arches stand as before (Lands and Peoples, p.339). Roman temples ordinarily faced a square or a plaza; hey were not oriented as the Greek temples often were. It was natural therefore to emphasize the front and to pay less attention to the sides or the rear. The small temple of Fortuna Virilis in the first century in Rome, like the prostyle form, had a portico only on the front, but was elevated on the podium. The best preserved Roman temple is the Maison Carree, in the 16th B.C. at Nimes, is also raised on a podium with a deep colonnaded porch approached by a flight of steps; the Corinthian order Your Last Name 4 continues as an engaged colonnade along the walls of the wide cella (Lands and Peoples, p.336). Walls were built either of ashlar or faced concrete. The Temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome during the 6th A.D., was faced with pentelic marble. The Romans occasionally planned circular temples such as the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, with a free standing colonnade around its circular cella. The largest was the Pantheon, built under Hadrian, but using for its portico materials from earlier temple built by Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. Its colossal dome, partly embedded within the cylindrical walls, dramatized the special unity of the interior, which was lighted by an oculus in the center of the dome. The forum, as a meeting and market place, was the center of every Roman city. Due to its antiquity, the Forum Romanum was irregular, as basilicas and temples were added where space could be found. When Rome became mistress to the world, the Forum was outgrown and one emperor after another built additional for a. Augustus built his around the Temple of Mars Ultor, Vespasian contributed the Forum of Peace, Domitian and Nerva the Forum Transitorium. Rectangular groined vaulted aisles surrounded the unvaulted center of the Basilica Julia in the Forum Romanum; a clerestory lighted it. The Basilica of Maxentius or Constantine, also in the Forum, had three groined vaults lighting the central aisle, whose space was extended to either side by three sections of barrel vaults. Triumphal arches commemorate the emperors. Engaged Corinthian columns with their entablature enframed the arch of Augustus at Rimini; and the Arch of Titus in the Forum commemorating his capture of Jerusalem also had a single arch with an inscribed attic above. Your Last Name 5 The Romans also built buildings for entertainment like theaters. Originally, the Roman Theater was rectangular. In imperial times, the Greek semi-circular shape appeared, but with the orchestra and stage more closely united than in Greek theaters. The seats of the Greek theater rested on a hillside, whereas in Roman times, vaulted galleries support them. In the theater at Orange (c. 50 A.D.) the wall of the scene building with its superposed orders reached its full height behind the stage (Hirsch et al, p. 190). A roof partly suspended by chains, partly cantilevered, enclosed the open-air Greek theater. The Roman amphitheater, on the other hand, was open save for its canvas awning. The earliest was at Pompeii, and the largest, the Colosseum in Rome, had a capacity of about 45,000. Marble seats supported on vaulted galleries and reached by stairways in each section rose tier on tier above the oval arena for gladiatorial combats. Engages columns and entablatures enframed the exterior arches, as arch orders, first used in the Tabalarium in 78 B.C. (Hirsch et al, p. 191). The Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders composed the three lower floors with a final story of pilastered wall on top. Other amphitheaters in fair preservation exist at Verona, Pola, now known as Yugoslavia, Nimes and Arles in France. One of the most important Roman building types was the bath. Though bathing was their primary function, they were really afternoon social centers used by all classes with gymnasia, dressing rooms, libraries, gardens, and small shops like large country clubs. The hot baths were warmed by hypocausts, the flues or heated air and smoke passing under the floors and up through the walls. Your Last Name 6 In Domestic architecture, Roman palaces were immense. The Golden House of Nero and its park covered more ground than the Vatican and its gardens. The throne room of Domitian’s palace on the Palatine hill had a barrel vault spanning 100 feet. Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli, between 124-125 A.D., included among other things a picture gallery, the Poecile (or porch), an imitation of the one in Athens; a Canopus inspired by that in Alexandria; and a sunken garden with a canal (Gay, p. 32). The House of the Surgeon in Pompeii was a typical small house with a few windows breaking its whitewashed walls, is the center for living in the open atrium. The tiled roofs pitched inwards to the atrium, whose sides were lined with rooms. At one end, a vestibule and at the other the tablinum, where the lares and penates were venerated, opened from it. Alcoves flanked the tablinum. In larges houses, like the House of Pansa in Pompeii, an open colonnaded peristyle with rooms leading off was added behind the atrium. The peristyle with its garden was reserved for the family, while the household slaves lived in the atrium, where businesses might also be conducted. Mosaics pave the entrance and the atrium. The walls of the principal rooms were painted at first in imitation of stone facing, but later with pictures, fanciful architecture, and arabesques as in the House of Vettii, also found in Pompeii. Although Rome had modified the Greek orders to suit her own needs, the relation of base, column, and entablature had generally remained intact. Today, though worn by time and weather, the Colosseum still remains to be an awe-inspiring symbol of Roman Empire’s glorious days; and the Temple of Saturn, now reduced to eight meaningless pillars, gives us a glimpse and feel into the mythical world of Roman gods and goddesses – all priceless gifts of history. Bibliography “Rome and the Ruins of its Ancient Splendor.” Lands and Peoples, volume 2. Canada: The Groiler Society Inc.; 1959. “Roman Architecture.” The World Book Encyclopedia, volume 23. Chicago: World Book Inc.; 1992. Hirsch, E.D., Kett, J.F., and Trefil, J. “World History.” Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company;1988. “Architecture and Building.” The New Universal Library, volume 1. London: The Caxton Publishing Company Limited; 1961. Gay, P. and Krieger, L. “Ancient Rome.” The Great Ages of Men. Time Life-Books. The Netherlands: Time Life International Inc.; 1966. Read More