Ancient
Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek
architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from
Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are often
considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in
the Roman Republic and even more so under the Empire, when the great majority
of surviving buildings were constructed. It used new materials, particularly
Roman concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make
buildings that were typically strong and well-engineered. Large numbers remain
in some form across the empire, sometimes complete and still in use to this
day.
Roman
architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in
509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late
Antique or Byzantine architecture. Almost no substantial examples survive from
before about 100 BC, and most of the major survivals are from the later empire,
after about 100 AD. Roman architectural style continued to influence building
in the former empire for many centuries, and the style used in Western Europe
beginning about 1000 is called Romanesque architecture to reflect this
dependence on basic Roman forms.
The Romans
only began to achieve significant originality in architecture around the
beginning of the Imperial period, after they had combined aspects of their
original Etruscan architecture with others taken from Greece, including most
elements of the style we now call classical architecture. They moved from
trabeated construction mostly based on columns and lintels to one based on
massive walls, punctuated by arches, and later domes, both of which greatly
developed under the Romans. The classical orders now became largely decorative
rather than structural, except in colonnades. Stylistic developments included
the Tuscan and Composite orders; the first being a shortened, simplified variant
on the Doric order and the Composite being a tall order with the floral
decoration of the Corinthian and the scrolls of the Ionic. The period from
roughly 40 BC to about 230 AD saw most of the greatest achievements, before the
Crisis of the Third Century and later troubles reduced the wealth and
organizing power of the central government.
The Romans
produced massive public buildings and works of civil engineering, and were
responsible for significant developments in housing and public hygiene, for
example their public and private baths and latrines, under-floor heating in the
form of the hypocaust, mica glazing (examples in Ostia Antica), and piped hot
and cold water (examples in Pompeii and Ostia)
Despite the
technical developments of the Romans, which took their buildings far away from
the basic Greek conception where columns were needed to support heavy beams and
roofs, they were very reluctant to abandon the classical orders in formal
public buildings, even though these had become essentially decorative[citation
needed]. However, they did not feel entirely restricted by Greek aesthetic
concerns and treated the orders with considerable freedom.
Innovation
started in the 3rd or 2nd century BC with the development of Roman concrete as
a readily available adjunct to, or substitute for, stone and brick. More daring
buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes.
The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of purely
decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale
architecture, concrete's strength freed the floor plan from rectangular cells
to a more free-flowing environment.
Factors
such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient
Romans to discover new architectural solutions of their own. The use of vaults
and arches, together with a sound knowledge of building materials, enabled them
to achieve unprecedented successes in the construction of imposing
infrastructure for public use. Examples include the aqueducts of Rome, the
Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, the basilicas and Colosseum.
These were reproduced at a smaller scale in most important towns and cities in
the Empire. Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the town
walls of Lugo in Hispania Tarraconensis, now northern Spain. The administrative
structure and wealth of the empire made possible very large projects even in
locations remote from the main centers, as did the use of slave labor, both
skilled and unskilled.
Especially
under the empire, architecture often served a political function, demonstrating
the power of the Roman state in general, and of specific individuals
responsible for building. Roman architecture perhaps reached its peak in the
reign of Hadrian, whose many achievements include rebuilding the Pantheon in
its current form and leaving his mark on the landscape of northern Britain with
Hadrian's Wall.
Origins
While
borrowing much from the preceding Etruscan architecture, such as the use of
hydraulics and the construction of arches, Roman prestige architecture remained
firmly under the spell of Ancient Greek architecture and the classical orders.This
came initially from Magna Graecia, the Greek colonies in southern Italy, and
indirectly from Greek influence on the Etruscans, but after the Roman conquest
of Greece directly from the best classical and Hellenistic examples in the
Greek world. The influence is evident in many ways; for example, in the
introduction and use of the triclinium in Roman villas as a place and manner of
dining. Roman builders employed Greeks in many capacities, especially in the
great boom in construction in the early Empire.
Roman
Architectural Revolution
The Roman
Architectural Revolution, also known as the Concrete Revolution, was the
widespread use in Roman architecture of the previously little-used
architectural forms of the arch, vault, and dome. For the first time in
history, their potential was fully exploited in the construction of a wide
range of civil engineering structures, public buildings, and military
facilities. These included amphitheatres, aqueducts, baths, bridges, circuses,
dams, domes, harbours, temples, and theatres.
A crucial
factor in this development, which saw a trend toward monumental architecture,
was the invention of Roman concrete (opus caementicium), which led to the
liberation of shapes from the dictates of the traditional materials of stone
and brick.
These
enabled the building of the many aqueducts throughout the empire, such as the
Aqueduct of Segovia, the Pont du Gard, and the eleven aqueducts of Rome. The
same concepts produced numerous bridges, some of which are still in daily use,
for example the Puente Romano at Mérida in Spain, and the Pont Julien and the
bridge at Vaison-la-Romaine, both in Provence, France.
The dome
permitted construction of vaulted ceilings without crossbeams and made possible
large covered public space such as public baths and basilicas, such as
Hadrian's Pantheon, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, all in
Rome.
The Romans
first adopted the arch from the Etruscans and implemented it in their own
building. The use of arches that spring directly from the tops of columns was a
Roman development, seen from the 1st century AD, that was very widely adopted
in medieval Western, Byzantine and Islamic architecture.
Domes
The Romans
were the first builders in the history of architecture to realize the potential
of domes for the creation of large and well-defined interior spaces.[8] Domes
were introduced in a number of Roman building types such as temples, thermae,
palaces, mausolea and later also churches. Half-domes also became a favoured
architectural element and were adopted as apses in Christian sacred
architecture.
Monumental
domes began to appear in the 1st century BC in Rome and the provinces around
the Mediterranean Sea. Along with vaults, they gradually replaced the
traditional post and lintel construction which makes use of the column and
architrave. The construction of domes was greatly facilitated by the invention
of concrete, a process which has been termed the Roman Architectural
Revolution.[9] Their enormous dimensions remained unsurpassed until the
introduction of structural steel frames in the late 19th century (see List of
the world's largest domes).
Influence
on later architecture
Roman
architecture supplied the basic vocabulary of Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque
architecture, and spread across Christian Europe well beyond the old frontiers
of the empire, to Ireland and Scandinavia for example. In the East, Byzantine
architecture developed new styles of churches, but most other buildings
remained very close to Late Roman forms. The same can be said in turn of
Islamic architecture, where Roman forms long continued, especially in private
buildings such as houses and the Turkish bath, and civil engineering such as
fortifications and bridges.
In Europe
the Italian Renaissance saw a conscious revival of correct classical styles,
initially purely based on Roman examples. Vitruvius was respectfully
reinterpreted by a series of architectural writers, and the Tuscan and
Composite orders formalized for the first time, to give five rather than three
orders. After the flamboyance of Baroque architecture, the Neoclassical
architecture of the 18th century revived purer versions of classical style, and
for the first time added direct influence from the Greek world.
Numerous
local classical styles developed, such as Palladian architecture, Georgian architecture
and Regency architecture in the English-speaking world, Federal architecture in
the United States, and later Stripped Classicism and PWA Moderne.
Roman
influences may be found around us today, in banks, government buildings, great
houses, and even small houses, perhaps in the form of a porch with Doric
columns and a pediment or in a fireplace or a mosaic shower floor derived from
a Roman original, often from Pompeii or Herculaneum. The mighty pillars, domes
and arches of Rome echo in the New World too, where in Washington, D.C. stand
the Capitol building, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and other
government buildings. All across the US the seats of regional government were
normally built in the grand traditions of Rome, with vast flights of stone
steps sweeping up to towering pillared porticoes, with huge domes gilded or
decorated inside with the same or similar themes that were popular in Rome.
In Britain,
a similar enthusiasm has seen the construction of thousands of neoclassical
buildings over the last five centuries, both civic and domestic, and many of
the grandest country houses and mansions are purely Classical in style, an
obvious example being Buckingham Palace.
Materials
Marble is
not found especially close to Rome, and was only rarely used there before
Augustus, who famously boasted that he had found Rome made of brick and left it
made of marble, though this was mainly as a facing for brick or concrete. The
Temple of Hercules Victor of the late 2nd century BC is the earliest surviving
exception in Rome. From Augustus' reign the quarries at Carrara were
extensively developed for the capital, and other sources around the empire
exploited, especially the prestigious Greek marbles like Parian. Travertine
limestone was found much closer, around Tivoli, and was used from the end of
the Republic; the Colosseum is mainly built of this stone, which has good
load-bearing capacity, with a brick core. Other more or less local stones were
used around the empire.
The Romans
were extremely fond of luxury imported coloured marbles with fancy veining, and
the interiors of the most important buildings were very often faced with slabs
of these, which have usually now been removed even where the building survives.
Imports from Greece for this purpose began in the 2nd century BC.
Roman brick
The Romans
made fired clay bricks from about the beginning of the Empire, replacing
earlier sun-dried mud-brick. Roman brick was almost invariably of a lesser
height than modern brick, but was made in a variety of different shapes and
sizes.[16] Shapes included square, rectangular, triangular and round, and the
largest bricks found have measured over three feet in length.[17] Ancient Roman
bricks had a general size of 1½ Roman feet by 1 Roman foot, but common
variations up to 15 inches existed. Other brick sizes in ancient Rome included
24" x 12" x 4", and 15" x 8" x 10". Ancient Roman
bricks found in France measured 8" x 8" x 3". The Constantine
Basilica in Trier is constructed from Roman bricks 15" square by 1½"
thick.There is often little obvious difference (particularly when only
fragments survive) between Roman bricks used for walls on the one hand, and
tiles used for roofing or flooring on the other, so archaeologists sometimes
prefer to employ the generic term ceramic building material (or CBM).
The Romans
perfected brick-making during the first century of their empire and used it
ubiquitously, in public and private construction alike. The Romans took their
brickmaking skills everywhere they went, introducing the craft to the local
populations. The Roman legions, which operated their own kilns, introduced
bricks to many parts of the empire; bricks are often stamped with the mark of
the legion that supervised their production. The use of bricks in southern and
western Germany, for example, can be traced back to traditions already
described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. In the British Isles, the
introduction of Roman brick by the ancient Romans was followed by a 600–700
year gap in major brick production.
Roman
concrete
Concrete
quickly supplanted brick as the primary building material,[citation needed] and
more daring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches
and domes rather than dense lines of columns suspending flat architraves. The
freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of purely
decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale architecture,
concrete's strength freed the floor plan from [Rectangle|rectangular]] cells to
a more free-flowing environment. Most of these developments are described by
Vitruvius, writing in the first century BC in his work De architectura.
Although
concrete had been used on a minor scale in Mesopotamia, Roman architects
perfected Roman concrete and used it in buildings where it could stand on its
own and support a great deal of weight. The first use of concrete by the Romans
was in the town of Cosa sometime after 273 BC. Ancient Roman concrete was a
mixture of lime mortar, aggregate, pozzolana, water, and stones, and was
stronger than previously-used concretes. The ancient builders placed these
ingredients in wooden frames where they hardened and bonded to a facing of
stones or (more frequently) bricks. The aggregates used were often much larger
than in modern concrete, amounting to rubble.
When the
framework was removed, the new wall was very strong, with a rough surface of
bricks or stones. This surface could be smoothed and faced with an attractive
stucco or thin panels of marble or other coloured stones called a
"revetment". Concrete construction proved to be more flexible and
less costly than building solid stone buildings. The materials were readily
available and not difficult to transport. The wooden frames could be used more
than once, allowing builders to work quickly and efficiently. Concrete is
arguably the Roman contribution most relevant to modern architecture.
City design
The ancient
Romans employed regular orthogonal structures on which they molded their
colonies They probably were inspired by Greek and Hellenic examples, as well as
by regularly planned cities that were built by the Etruscans in Italy. (see
Marzabotto)
The Romans
used a consolidated scheme for city planning, developed for military defense
and civil convenience. The basic plan consisted of a central forum with city
services, surrounded by a compact, rectilinear grid of streets, and wrapped in
a wall for defense. To reduce travel times, two diagonal streets crossed the
square grid, passing through the central square. A river usually flowed through
the city, providing water, transport, and sewage disposal. Hundreds of towns
and cities were built by the Romans throughout their empire. Many European
towns, such as Turin, preserve the remains of these schemes, which show the
very logical way the Romans designed their cities. They would lay out the streets
at right angles, in the form of a square grid. All roads were equal in width
and length, except for two, which were slightly wider than the others. One of
these ran east–west, the other, north–south, and they intersected in the middle
to form the center of the grid. All roads were made of carefully fitted flag
stones and filled in with smaller, hard-packed rocks and pebbles. Bridges were
constructed where needed. Each square marked off by four roads was called an
insula, the Roman equivalent of a modern city block.
Each insula
was 80 yards (73 m) square, with the land within it divided. As the city
developed, each insula would eventually be filled with buildings of various
shapes and sizes and crisscrossed with back roads and alleys. Most insulae were
given to the first settlers of a Roman city, but each person had to pay to
construct his own house.
The city
was surrounded by a wall to protect it from invaders and to mark the city
limits. Areas outside city limits were left open as farmland. At the end of
each main road was a large gateway with watchtowers. A portcullis covered the
opening when the city was under siege, and additional watchtowers were
constructed along the city walls. An aqueduct was built outside the city walls.
The
development of Greek and Roman urbanization is relatively well-known, as there
are relatively many written sources, and there has been much attention to the
subject, since the Romans and Greeks are generally regarded as the main
ancestors of modern Western culture. It should not be forgotten, though, that
the Etruscans had many considerable towns and there were also other cultures
with more or less urban settlements in Europe, primarily of Celtic origin.[
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