ROMAN ARCHITECTURE Key Points:

• Roman Empire
TOPICS:
• Colloseum
1. Introduction • The Pantheon
2. Geographical Characteristics
3. Roman Religion
4. Geological Characteristics
5. Historical Influence Definition of Terms:
6. Arch, Vaults, and Dome The Roman Empire, at its
7. Construction Method height (c. 117 CE), was the
8. Roman Buildings most extensive political
9. Is it Greek or Roman? and social structure in
western civilization. By
285 CE the empire had
Spartacus – Thracian Gladiator ended slavery grown too vast to be ruled
from the central
ANCIENT ROMAN CRUCIFIXION government at Rome and
so was divided by
Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished crucifixion in Emperor Diocletian (r.
the Roman Empire in 337 out of veneration for Jesus Christ, its most famous 284-305 CE) into a Western
victim. and an Eastern Empire.
The Roman Empire began
when Augustus Caesar (r.
The hypothesis that the Ancient Roman custom of crucifixion may have 27 BCE-14 CE) became the
developed out of a primitive custom of arbori suspendere—hanging on first emperor of Rome and
an arbor infelix ("inauspicious tree") dedicated to the gods of the nether ended, in the west, when
world—is rejected by William A. Oldfather, who shows that this form of the last Roman
emperor, Romulus Augus
execution consisted of suspending someone from a tree, not dedicated to tulus (r. 475-476 CE), was
any particular gods, and flogging him to death. Greeks are against deposed by the Germanic
crucifixion. King Odoacer (r. 476-493
CE). In the east, it
continued as the Byzantine
ROMULUS & REMUS Empire until
• Twin brothers the death of Constantine
• Sons of Rhea Silva and Mars (God of War) XI (r. 1449-1453 CE) and the
• Belief says they are the founders of Roman City fall of Constantinople to
the Ottoman Turks in 1453
• Discovered by Lupa or She-wolf CE. The influence of the
• Symbol of Rome Roman Empire on western
civilization was profound
ROMAN RELIGION in its lasting contributions
to virtually every aspect of
• derived from Greek Gods to Roman Gods western culture.
• Religion became a part of the constitution of the state
• controlled by EMPERORS and not Gods https://www.ancient.eu/Ro
• resulting to less temples for worship man_Empire/

• they religion requires sacrifices

• where Judaism and Christianity refused to participate

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DEEP THOUGHTS By Marcus Aurelius
The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for
what they are.

MARCUS AURELIUS
• Roman Emperor 161 – 180
• The last of 5 good emperors
• Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus

CONCRETE
• Roman’s invention/ greatest contribution in Construction
• Consist of Volcanic Ash which creates a crystal structure that prevents tiny crack from
spreading
• Volcanic Ash + Aggregates

HISTORICAL INFLUENCE (PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT):

1. ETRUSCANS 2. ROMANS
- The earliest civilization - adopted Columnar and trabeated style of Greeks
- The great builders “Radiating Arch” - developed the Arch, Vaults & Domes of Etruscans
- Inventors of concrete - Complex builders/ multi storey
- Inventors of Tuscan Capital

CONSTRUCTION METHOD
1. Opus Quadratum – made up of rectangular blocks of stone with or w/ out mortar joints but
frequently secured with dowels and cramps.
2. Opus Incertum – made up of small stones laid in a loose pattern roughly assembling the
polygonal work.
3. Opus Recticulatum – fine joints were in diagonal lines like the meshes of a net.
4. Opus Testaceum – triangular bricks ( plan) specially made for facing the walls.
5. Opus Mixtum – consisted of bands of “tufa” introduced at intervals in the ordinary brick facing
or alteration of rectangular blocks with small squared stone blocks.

ROMAN ORDERS

1. TUSCAN ORDER - counterpart of doric order

2. COMPOSITE - combination of ionic & corinthian

ROMAN BUILDINGS
1. Domus - Roman House
2. Insulae - Roman Apartment
3. Forum - Roman Market Place
4. Thermae - Roman Public Bath
5. Balneum - Roman Private Bath
6. Curia - Roman Senate House
7. Pons - Roman Bridges
8. Aqueducts - Water Supply
9. Triumphal Arches - Emperor’s Victorious campaign
10. Roman Basilica - Indoor Public Place
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 11. Roman Theater - Semi Circular in Plan
12. The Colosseum - Largest Roman Amphitheater
13. Roman Temples - Rectangular or Circular
14. Pantheon - Roman Temple/ Church

DOMUS - ROMAN HOUSE

PARTS OF DOMUS
• Prothyrum or Entrance passage
• Atrium or Entrance court, open to the sky & at the center is a “Impluvium” a water cistern
collector
• Tablinum or open living room
• Peristyle – an inner collonated court w/ garden
• Cubicula or bedroom
• Oecus or reception room
• Alae or recesses for conversation
• Kitchen & Pantry

INSULAE
• Roman Apartment Building
• 3 to 4 Storey tenement type building
• Prototype for the modern condominium

ROMAN FORUM
An open space used as a meeting place , market place or rendezvous for political demonstrations. In
the town center was an open space called the forum Surrounded by a hall, offices, law courts and shops.

TRAJAN’S FORUM
Largest Forum in Rome

THERMAE
• A public palatial bath
• 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

BALNEUM
A Roman private bath. E.G. Hadrian’s Villa
• Tepidarium 9
• Calidarium
• Frigidarium
CURIA - A Roman Senate House/ Building

PONS - A Roman Bridge, a simple, solid & practical construction designed to resist the rush of water.

PONTE MILVIO - was the site of the famous BATTLE OF MIVIAN BRIDGE

AQUEDUCTS - Use for water supply, w/ smooth channels or “specus” lined w/ hard cement & carried
on arches, in several tiers.

TRIUMPHAL ARCH of Septimus Severus

Erected to commemorate the victorious campaign of Emperors and generals

TRAJAN’S COLUMN - PILLARS OF VICTORY

ROMAN BASILICA - INDOOR PUBLIC PLACE

ROMAN THEATER - SEMICIRCULAR IN SHAPE

THE COLOSSEUM
• An oval amphitheater in city center in Rome, Italy
• The largest amphitheater ever built
• 50k to 80k spectators
• Used for gladiatorial contest
• Soil flooring
• Wooden flooring
• Superimposition - all orders in one structure
• spoliarium is a Latin word referring to the basement of the Roman Colosseum where the
fallen and dying gladiators are dumped and devoid of their worldly possessions. At the
center of Luna's painting are fallen gladiators being dragged by Roman soldiers.

POMPEI AMPHITHEATER
• The Amphitheatre of Pompeii is the oldest surviving Roman amphitheater. Course
It is located in
Packet in 79 AD,
the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, and was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius
that also buried Pompeii itself and the neighboring town of Herculaneum.
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ROMAN TEMPLES

• RECTANGULAR TEMPLE - Maison Caree, Nimes

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• CIRCULAR TEMPLES - The Pantheon

MAISON CARRÉE - The so-called Maison Carrée or “square house” is an ancient Roman temple
located in Nîmes in southern France. Nîmes was founded as a Roman colony (Colonia Nemausus)
during the first century B.C.E. The Maison Carrée is an extremely well preserved ancient Roman
building and represents a nearly textbook example of a Roman temple as described by the architectural
writer Vitruvius.
THE PANTHEON - Roman Temple/ Church – Oldest Dome Rome, Italy. With OCULUS 30ft in
diameter.

THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM

Commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in California housed on two campuses: the Getty
Center and Getty Villa. The two locations received over two million visitors in 2016The secondary
museum, the Getty Villa, is in the Malibu neighborhood and displays art from Ancient Greece, Rome,
and Etruria.

THE FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE “In 476 C.E. Romulus, the last of the Roman emperors in the west,
was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. The
order that the Roman Empire had brought to western Europe for 1000 years was no more.”