2. Rome: Its Location
Rome: Republican Phase: 750-500 BC
Rome: Maximum Extent of Empire, AD 63
3.
4. Rise of Rome
Latins invaded the peninsula in 1000 BC
By 800 BC, founded Rome at the lower valley of the
Tiber River, central locus for control of the rest of
Italy
Other ethnicities migrated to the region: Etruscans,
Phoenicians, Greeks
Unlike the other villages, Rome encouraged other
ethnic groups to migrate there
5. Multiethnic Contributions to
Rome
Phoenicians contributed maritime and commercial
skills and phonetic alphabet
Etruscans brought urban planning, chariot racing,
the toga, bronze and gold crafting—and the arch
Greeks: the pantheon of gods and goddesses,
linguistic and literary principles, and aesthetic
6. Roman Republic: Roots
Etruscans ruled the Latins but were
overthrown in 509 BC
Gradually, monarchy gave way to
government by the people (res publica)
Predominately comprised the patricians
(aristocrats) and the plebians
(farmers, artisans, and other common folk.
Slaves formed a third category as the empire
expanded
The rise of the republic was a slow process
8. ORIGINS OF ROMAN
ARCHITECTURE
Elements of Roman architecture show very
significant Greek influence.
However, Roman functional needs sometimes
differed, resulting in interesting innovations.
The Romans were less attached to ―ideal‖ forms and
extended Greek ideas to make them more functional.
9. Roman Innovation
The Romans were
the great engineers
of the ancient world.
Their structures,
particularly of
public works, were
often massive in Ruins of the Basilica of Constantine
scale.
10. Roman Innovation
The Roman ability to build massively was
largely determined by their discovery of slow-
drying concrete, made with pozzolana sand.
This allowed not only bases, but also walls to be
constructed of mainly concrete or concrete and
rubble.
Facings could be made of more expensive stone
or inexpensive brick.
The result was strong structures that could be
formed in any desirable shape.
11. General Characteristics
Special importance for the internal space
Integral view of the art combining:
Beauty and sumptuosity with
Utility and practical sense
Buildings are integrated in the urban space
12. General Characteristics
Building systems:
Lintelled:
Copied from the Greeks
Spaces are closed by straight lines
Vaulted
Taken from the Etrurian
Use of arches
Barrel vaults
Use of domes
Strong walls so that they do not use external supports
13. General Characteristics
Materials:
Limestone
Concrete
Mortar
Arches:
They used half point or semicircular arches
They could use lintels above these arches
Pediments were combined with them
14. General Characteristics:
Building techniques
Opus incertum Opus testaceum Opus reticulatum
Mortar in the
Opus spicatum Barrel Vault
foundations
18. General Characteristics
Greek shapes assimilation:
Architectonical orders were used more in a
decorative than in a practical way
Order superposition
The use of orders linked to the wall created a
decorative element
They used the classical orders and two
more:
Composite
Tuscan
19. Roman Town Planning
Cities were the centre of Roman life
Need for infrastructures
Water and sewer system
Transport and defence
Public spaces and markets
Psychological effect: power and control
There was a need of linking them throug paved
roads
20. Roman Town Planning
The plan of the city was
based on the camp
It had two main axes
Cardus E-W
Decumanus N-S
Where the two converged
was the forum
The rest of the space was
divided into squares in
which insulae or blocks of
flats were built
21. Roman Town Planning
The most important part of the city was the forum,
where political, economic, administrative, social and
religious activity were centred.
Main buildings were in this forum
In big cities there were theatres, circuses, stadiums,
odeons.
23. Roman Innovation – The Arcuated
Arch
Romans did not
invent this
form, but they
used it well in
bridges, within
buildings, and to
allow aqueducts
to span rivers
and gorges.
24. Bridges
Roman engineers were true masters building them, since constructions
were essential elements for reaching places and cities often situated at the
bank of rivers.
This location was due to defensive and infrastructural reasons -supply and
drainage.
They are characterised by:
Not pointed arches.
Constructions of ashlars masonry often with pad shape.
Route of more than 5 m. wide.
Route of horizontal or slightly combed surface "few curved".
Rectangular pillars from their basis with lateral triangular or circular
cutwaters that end before the railings.
25. Roman Public Water Supply
The Romans transported
water from far away to
cities via aquaducts.
Cities themselves were
plumbed, providing
private water for the rich
and for baths and
communal supplies for
poorer neighbourhoods.
26. Aqueducts
Aqueducts were built in
order to avoid geographic
irregularities between
fountains or rivers and
towns.
Not only valleys were
crossed by superposed
cannels, but also mountains
were excavated by long
tunnels, pits and levels of
maintenance.
They were used to bring
water to cities.
27. Roads
The need to move
legions and trade
goods in all weather
led to the
development of the
best roads in the
world (to the 19th
century).
28. Roads
The roads were made with strong foundations
Different materials were put into different layers
To meassure the distance they created the
Milliarium or stones located in the sides
Section of a Roman paved road
31. Ports and Lighthouses
Roman ships and those for
commercial trade should travel
from port to port with the speed
and security adequate to the life of
a great Empire.
In these ports every necessity for
the execution of the usual works in
a port ensemble should be found:
gateways with stores and
bureaux,
shipyards for stationing ships,
roads for taking ships to
earthly ground,
drinkable water fountains and
machinery for loading and
downloading merchandises.
Indeed, a system of indication was
necessary in order to mark the right
access and exit to the port i.e.
lighthouse
32.
33. Religious: Temple
It copied the Greek model
It has only one portico
and a main façade
It tends to be
pseudoperiptero
The cella is totally closed
It is built on a podium
Instead of having stairs
all around, it only has
them in the main façade
34.
35. Religious: Temple
There were other kind
of temples:
Circular: similar to the
Greek tholos
Pantheon: combined
squared and circular
structures and was in
honour of all gods.
37. The Maison Caree @ Nimes
Romans needed
interior space for
worship, whereas the
Greeks worshipped
outside.
Their solution was to
extend the walls
outward, creating
engaged
columns, while
maintaining the same
basic shape.
38. The Maison Caree @ Nimes
It was built c. 16 BC.
The Maison Carrie is an ancient building
in Nimes, southern France; it is one of the best
preserved temples to be found anywhere in the
territory of the former Roman Empire.
The temple owes its preservation to the fact that it
was rededicated as a Christian church in the fourth
century, saving it from the widespread destruction
of temples that followed the adoption of Christianity
as Rome's official state religion.
39. The Maison Caree @ Nimes
Architecture
The Maison Carrée is an example of Vitruvian architecture
Raised on a 2.85 m high podium, the temple dominated
the forum of the Roman city, forming a rectangle almost twice
as long as it is wide, measuring 26.42 m by 13.54 m.
It is a hexastyle design with six Corinthian columns under
the Pediment at either end, and pseudoperipteral in that
twenty engaged columnsare embedded along the walls of
the cella
Above the columns, the architrave is divided by two recessed
rows of petrified water drips into three levels with ratios of
1:2:3. Egg-and-dart decoration divides the architrave from
the frieze. The frieze is decorated with fine ornamental relief
carvings of rosettes and acanthus leavesbeneath a row of very
fine dentils
40. The Maison Caree @ Nimes
Architecture
A large door (6.87 m high
by 3.27 m wide) leads to
the surprisingly small and
windowless interior,
where the shrine was
originally housed. This is
now used to house a
tourist oriented 3-D
film on a series of heroes
that arose through Nîmes'
history. No ancient
decoration remains inside
the cella
42. The Pantheon
The Pantheon is a building in Rome, Italy, commissioned
by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome
The name comes either from the statues of so many gods placed
around this building, or else from the resemblance of the dome to
the heavens.
The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge
granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups
of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links
the porch to the rotunda, which is under
a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the
sky
Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's
dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome
43. The Pantheon
The magnificent
interior space of the
Pantheon was
achieved by:
Employing a dome
over a drum.
Coffering the dome
to reduce weight.
Placing an occulus to
allow light to enter.
44. The Temple of Fortuna Primigenia
The Temple of
Fortuna
Primigenia was a
massive
structure, made
possible by
concrete
construction.
46. Baths of Caracalla
Roman baths were
the recreation
centers of Roman
cities, incorporating
pools, exercise
facilities and even
libraries.
They could serve
hundreds or
thousands at a time.
47. Baths of Caracalla
The entire bath building was on a 6 metre (20 ft)
high raised platform to allow for storage and
furnaces under the building
The libraries were located in exedrae on the east and
west sides of the bath complex. The entire north
wall of the complex was devoted to shops. The
reservoirs on the south wall of the complex were fed
with water from the Marcian Aqueduct.
The "baths" were the second to have a
public library within the complex. Like other public
libraries in Rome, there were two separate and
equal sized rooms or buildings; one for Greek
language texts and one for Latin language texts
The baths consisted of a central 55.7 by 24 metre
(183x79 ft) frigidarium (cold room) under three 32.9
meter (108 ft) high groin vaults, a double
pool tepidarium(medium), and a 35 meter (115 ft)
diameter caldarium (hot room), as well as
two palaestras (gyms where wrestling and boxing
was practised). The north end of the bath building
contained a natatio or swimming pool.
48. Basilica
The Latin word basilica w
as originally used to
describe a Roman public
building, usually located
in the forum of a Roman
town
Basilica were first built to
house audience facilities
for government officials.
When Christianity became
the state religion, this kind
of building was adapted to
Christian worship.
49. Basilica
The Roman basilica was a large roofed hall erected for
transacting business and disposing of legal matters.
Basilicas often contained interior colonnades that divided the
space, giving aisles or arcaded spaces on one or both sides, with
an apse at one end (or less often at each end), where the
magistrates sat, often on a slightly raised dais. The central aisle
tended to be wide and was higher than the flanking aisles, so that
light could penetrate through the clerestory windows
The oldest known basilica, the Basilica Porcia, was built in Rome
in 184 BC by Cato the Elder during the time he was Censor. Other
early examples include the basilica at Pompeii (l
50. Basilica
A large nave is
flanked by side
aisles behind a
row of supporting
piers.
An Apse draws
attention in the
direction of the
altar.
51. Public Entertainment
Public spectacles – be
they gladiatorial
combat or theatrical –
were given public
venues.
Theatres and arenas
were built to hold
multiple thousands of
people and were
engineered so as to
allow quick and
effective entry and exit.
53. Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum,
originally the Flavian Amphitheatre is an
elliptical amphitheater in the centre of the
city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in
the Roman Empire. It is considered one of
the greatest works of Roman
architecture and Roman engineering.
its construction started in 72 AD under the
emperor Vespasian and was completed in
80 AD under Titus
Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the
Colosseum was used for gladiatorial
contests and public spectacles such as
mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions,
re-enactments of famous battles, and
dramas based on Classical mythology.
54. Colosseum Architecture
The Colosseum is roughly elliptical in shape, with its
long axis, oriented WSW-ESE, which measures 188 m
and the short one 156.
The building stands on a base of two steps; above it
there are three floors of arcades built in travertine
stone and a fourth storey with windows. There were
eighty arches on every floor, divided by pillars with
a half column
The ground floor half columns are doric in style,
those of the second floor are ionic and those of the
upper floor Corinthian
55. Colosseum Architecture
The arches are 4.20 m. (13’9") wide and
7.05 m (23’1") high on the ground
floor, while on the upper floors they are
only 6.45 m (21’2") high. Including the
cornices between the floors and the
attic, the overall height of the building is
48,5 m
The arena where the shows took place
measures 76 by 44 metres, it had a floor
made with wooden planks covered with
yellow sand taken from the hill of Monte
Mario.
All around the top there were the sockets
for 240 wooden beams which supported
the awning (velarium) that covered the
spectators from the sun and was
manoeuvred by a unit of sailors of the
imperial fleet, stationed nearby
58. Houses: Insulae
There are urban houses
In order to take advantage
from the room in
cities, buildings up to four
floors were constructed.
The ground floor was for
shops -tabernae- and the
others for apartments of
different sizes.
Every room was
communicated through a
central communitarian patio
decorated with flowers or
gardens.
59.
60. Houses:
Domus
It was the usual housing for important people in
each city.
It was endowed with a structure based on
distribution through porticated patios:
the entry -fauces- gives access to
a small corridor -vestibulum-.
It leads to a porticated patio -atrium-.
Its center, the impluvium, is a bank for the
water falling from the compluvium.
At both sides -alae- there are many
chambers used as rooms for service slaves,
kitchens and latrines.
At the bottom, the tablinum or living-
room can be found, and close to it, the
triclinium or dining-room.
This atrium gave also light enough to next
rooms.
At both sides of the tablinum, little
corridors led to the noble part of the
domus.
Second porticated patio peristylium, was
bigger and endowed with a central garden.
It was surrounded by rooms -cubiculum-
and marked by an exedra used as a
chamber for banquets or social meetings.
61.
62. Houses: Villa
Houses far from cities, were
thought for realizing
agricultural exploitations -
villae rustica-, or else as
places for the rest of
important persons -villae
urbana-.
Entertaining villa was
endowed with every
comfortable element in its age
as well as gardens and
splendid views.
Country villae got stables,
cellars, stores and orchards
apart from the noble rooms.
63.
64. Palaces
There were the
residence of the
emperor
They consisted of a
numerous series of
rooms
Their plan tended to
be regular
66. Conclusion
Romans were imperialists first and republicans second
Even the Republican era was one of conquests in the
Italian peninsula—much like manifest destiny in the
United States during the 19th century
Much of the themes emphasize war and conquest
The arts mostly had a practical side
Toward the end of the era, wealth mattered more than
duty that had marked Rome’s earlier years
The insecurity of the latter years also opened the populace
to new ideologies: mystical cults, revivals of older beliefs
from Egypt—and Christianity
