The Roman Empire spanned over 1/9th of the Earth's surface and ruled over a quarter of humanity across three continents at the height of its power. Roman architecture and town planning had a lasting legacy. They developed advanced building techniques like concrete and the arch, which enabled massive structures like the Colosseum and aqueducts. Roman towns were planned with gridded streets and usually centered around a forum. Notable architectural achievements included amphitheaters, temples, bath complexes, and the iconic Pantheon dome. Roman dress varied by class, gender, and occasion, with tunics and togas for citizens and more elaborate versions for elites.

1. ROMAN
Art &
Architecture

2. Roman Empire
Height of power:
• Spanned over 1/9th of the Earth’s surface
• Covered 3 continents
• Ruled over a quarter of humanity
• Governed people of different races, religions, tongues,
traditions and cultures

4. • Before the rise of Rome:
Stone Age (to 3000 BC)
Bronze Age (ca. 3000 BC-1000 BC)
Etruscans (ca. 1000 BC-500 BC)
• Roman Republic
The early period (ca. 500 BC-300
BC)
The Punic Wars (ca. 275 BC-146
BC)
The Civil Wars (ca. 146 BC-30 BC)
• Roman Empire
The Julio-Claudians (30 BC-68 AD)
The Flavians (69 AD-96 AD)
The Five Good Emperors (96 AD-
161 AD)
• The Severans (161 AD-235 AD)
The Third Century Crisis
Constantine and his family (312
AD-363 AD)
The Theodosians (363 AD-450
AD)
The Fall of the Roman
Empire (476 AD)
• After the fall of Rome:
The Ostrogoths
The Visigoths
The Franks
The Vandals
The Byzantines
The Lombards, the Pope, and
Islam

5. Emperors

6. Origins
In the 8th century BC, Italic
speakers
• Latins (in the west),
• Sabines (in the upper valley of
the Tiber),
• Umbrians (in the north-east),
• Samnites (in the South),
• Oscans and others — shared
the peninsula with two other
major ethnic groups:
• the Etruscans in the North,
• Greeks in the south. The Palatine Hill

7. Origins
Palatine Hills

8. Origins
• 1000 BC
• Ruins of the palaces of
Augustus, Tiberius and
Domitian
• Location of Lupercal cave
Capitoline Wolf
Due to the stories about Rome’s founding twins, the she-
wolf (often shown with suckling boys) became an icon of
the city. This she-wolf was either cast in the 5th century
BCE or the 13th century CE. The twins were added by
the sculptor Pollaiolo in the 15th century CE.

9. Aerial view of Ancient Rome

10. The Tiber River overlooking the Vatican

11. Roman Empire
http://www.roman-empire.net/maps/map-empire.html

12. Overview
• In Europe, the Middle East and Africa today, the remains of
Roman civilization are everywhere.
• Ancient Roman structures are being used today for other
purposes.
• The Roman use of art to, especially portraits and historical
relief sculptures, to manipulate public opinion is similar to the
carefully crafted imagery of contemporary political
campaigns.
• Roman mastery of concrete construction began an
architectural revolution still felt today.
• The Roman Empire is the bridge –in politics, arts and religion-
between the ancient and the medieval and modern Western
worlds.

14. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE

15. Foundation
• Romans were expert
engineers.
• Developed advanced
building methods and
techniques despite their
lack of sophisticated
mathematics like calculus.
• Introduced building
techniques or ideas still in
use today.

16. Foundation
Basis of Roman art and
architecture
• Etruscan tradition
• Greek tradition
• Eclectic = resulting to a
distinctly Roman style
Temple of Portunus
2nd century BC, dedicated to the god
Portunus

17. Foundation
• Roman temple design is
based on an eclectic use of
Etruscan and Greek models.
They are typically strictly
frontal, on a high podium
with a flight of stairs, and
have a deep colonnade
portico in front of the cella.

18. Foundation
Typical Etruscan temple plan
Podium
Entrance/steps
Columns/colonnade
3 part Cella
Greek temple plan
Ionic columns
Engaged half-columns at the
sides and the back
Distinctly Roman

19. Roman Legacy
• Concrete
• Stucco
• Arch
• Vaults
• Hemispherical domes
Arch of Constantine, Rome

20. Legacy
• Concrete was an essential
building material for the
Romans. It is lightweight,
strong, and durable and could
even be used underwater.
• July 2013: mixture of lime and
volcanic rock/ash = mortar
• calcium-aluminum-silicate-
hydrate (C-A-S-H): underwater
is exceptionally strong.

21. Legacy
Built in the 2nd century A.D., Rome's Pantheon
is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome
in the world.

22. Legacy
• Most Roman buildings were
built with concrete and
brick and then faced
in stucco, expensive stone,
or marble.
• Typically consisting of
crushed or burned lime or
gypsum mixed with sand
and water.
• Modeled easily into relief or
decorative forms.

23. Legacy
Relief with goat, 1st
century A.D.; Early Imperial,
Augustan
Relief panel, second half of
1st century A.D.; Early Imperial

24. Legacy
• The arch is a quintessential
architectural shape in
Roman architecture.
• By distributiong weight
from the capstone down
into the ground, the Roman
arch could support massive
loads and enebled the
romans to construct the
Coliseum, bridges, and
many miles of raised
aquaducts.
Ancient Roman triumphal arch of
Medinaceli. Province of Soria, Spain.

25. Legacy
Typical plan for entrances
Weight or force distribution

26. Legacy
• Arches can be used together to create vaults (barrel and
groin) and domes as well as to create unique interior spaces.

27. Legacy
Renaissance groin vault
Upper level loggia of
the Basilica Palladiana
Gothic rib vault
Saint-Severin Church, Paris

28. ROMAN TOWN PLANNING

29. Town Planning
• Town-planning—the art of laying
out towns with due care for the
health and comfort of
inhabitants, for industrial and
commercial efficiency, and for
reasonable beauty of buildings
• An art of intermittent activity
Roman Types of Settlements
1) Roman cities
2) Military camps –castrum/castra
3) Colonia- Roman outpost
established in conquered
territory
• Oppidum-Roman commercial
town.

30. Town Planning
• The ancient ‘ideal city’ –
typified by Athens in the 5th
century BC and imperial Rome
(c100 BC – c400 AD) – was not
planned.
• The same with Etruscan town
which grew with little or no
planning.
• Streets had no clear pattern.
• Cities grew without restriction
• Very organic evolution
The maze like design of Rome

31. Town Planning
• Greek and Etruscan town
plans influenced the
evolution of Roman town
plans.
• Resulting Roman town
planning used the grid
pattern of streets.
• It had two major streets
intersecting at right angles
to provide a crossroads or
focal point in the town
center.

32. Town Planning
• Roman cities were planned
with two major streets
running East –West and
North-South intersecting at
the forum, which was the
center of commerce in the
city.
• Cardo: North-South
• Decumanus: East-West
• Enclosed by rectilinear walls
Pompeii showing major street

33. Town Planning
The decumanus maximus on the
site of Palmyra, Syria
The cardo maxima of Apamea, Syria

34. • Because of the military influences on Roman
colonization, Roman planning fully integrated urban
defenses with the city plan and the street system.
• The walls and the streets were laid out concurrently as
part of the coordinated planning of the city.
• The main streets led directly from the center of town to
the gates, and the ‘pomerial’ road ran around the city
immediately inside the walls.
1 Forum
2 Baths
3 Amphitheater
4 Basilica
5 Christian Church
6 Temple
7 Town
house/blocks of
flats
8 North Gate

35. Town Planning
• The heart of an ancient
Roman city was the Roman
forum.
• The forum was the religious
and civic centre of the city.
• An open space lined with
monumental buildings and
marble statues erected in
honor of emperors and
leading citizens.
• The city’s commercial hub, a
place where people
exchanged money and
goods.

36. Town Planning
Plan of the Forum, Rome

37. Town Planning
• The Forum Romanum, designed by the architect Vitruvius,
consisted of temples, baths, basilicas and colonnades. Many
of these buildings were in the classical style copied from
Greece.

38. --Column of Trajan
--Basilica of Maxentus and
Constantine
--Arch of Septimus and Severus

39. Town Planning
• Basilica – public court
building or hall normally
adjacent to the forum
• Roofed with a wide central
area (nave)
• Colonnaded
• 1-2 storeys

40. Town Planning
• Baths (thermae) from the
Greek word “thermos” (hot)
• Thermae –imperial bath
complexes
• Facility for bathing,
socializing
• Offered libraries,
restaurants, gymnasium
and massage rooms as well
as poetry reading area
Baths of Caracalla
25 hectare

41. Town Planning
• Amphitheatre
• Venue for watching spectacles
like gladiator fights, public
executions and animal fights
• Mock naval battles and animal
performances
• Arena-Latin for sand
• Due to their massive size, they
were usually constructed on the
edge of a city or directly outside
its walls.
• Military amphitheaters (ludi)
built near forts and fortresses
served as training grounds for
soldiers.
Amphitheater in Arles, France

42. ARCHITECTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS

43. Amphitheater

44. Temple of Fortunus
• Temple of Fortuna Virilis
• Temple of Portunus
• Roman god of harbors
• Follows the Etruscan pattern
• High podium
• Deep porch
• Stone (local tufa and travertine)
• Ionic columns
• Series of engaged Ionic half-
columns
• Pseudoperipteral temple
• Uniquely Roman though it
combines both Etruscan and
Greek elements

45. Aqueducts
• Water distribution system
• Moved water through
gravity alone
• Mostly buried underneath
• Water piper made of
concrete or lead
Pont du Gard, France

46. Aqueducts
How Aqueducts work

47. Colosseum
• Colloseum, coliseum or
Flavian amphitheater
• Center of Rome
• Stone and cement
• Largest amphitheater in the
world
• Flavian dynasty: Vespasian,
Titus and Domitian
• Completed 80 AD
• UNESCO World Heritage
Site

48. Pantheon
• Commissioned by Marcus
Agrippa during the reign of
Augustus
• Temple to all the gods of
ancient Rome
• Circular building with large
portico
• One of the best-preserved
of ancient Roman buildings

49. Pantheon
• The Piazza dela Rotonda
• Used as a Catholic church
since the 7th century AD
• Dedicated to Saint Mary
and the Martyrs
• Pantheos—all gods
• Pantheon – resting place of
honor for the illustrious
dead

50. ROMAN DRESS

51. citizen, matron, curule magistrate, emperor, general, workman, slave
CLOTHING DIAGRAM

52. • Wool – the most commonly
used fibre
• Sheep of Tarentum –known
for the quality of their wool
• Production similar to hemp
and linen
• Silk and cotton –China and
India

53. • Tunic
• Fr. Latin, tunica
• Adapted from the Greek in 3rd
BCE
• From the Greek chiton
• Worn by citizens and non-
citizens alike
• Indicator of status (through
length, width, ornamentation,
stripes)
• Dyed with bright colors or
bleached white
Roman worker
dressed in a tunic

54. • Laticlave
• Laticlavus
• Worn by senators, with
broad purple stripes, 3
inches
• Adorned or set with little
round plates of gold or
silver, like the heads of nails
• Emblem of office

55. • Angusticlavia
• Angustus –narrow
• Clavus - nail
• For the Equestrian (one of
two Roman artistocratic
classes)
• Patrician –ruling class
families
• With one inch stripes
• Worn under the trabea,
usually in red or purple
• Military men or business
men

56. • Toga
• For male citizens only
• Wool, very large
• Not sewn or pinned but
draped around the body
and over one arm
• Law: worn for public events

57. • plain white toga: was worn by all
adult male citizens
• off-white toga: with a purple border
was worn by magistrates and upper
class boys
• toga made of dark coloured wool:
was worn after someone had died
• bleached toga: worn by politicians
• Candida > candidates
• purple toga with gold embroidery:
was worn by a victorious general and
later by emperors.
• In later times it became more
acceptable to wear togas of different
colours with embroidery but this was
frowned on by those who preferred
to keep to the established order.
Statue of the Emperor Tiberius showing the
draped toga of the 1st century AD.

58. • The toga trabea was
ceremonial toga of various
colours. It was either wholly
purple (if meant to decorate
the statues of deities) or
featuring purple stripes for
kings, augurs and some
priests.

59. Draping steps of the Toga

60. • Stola
• For women
• A long tunic reaching to the
ground
• Long or short-sleeved
• Or sleeveless
• Worn over another long
tunic, the tunica interior
• Instita- ornamental border
on the lower hem to denote
wealth

61. • Stola and palla
• Draped cloak over the
shoulder
• Similar to toga but
much smaller and less
unwieldy
• No specific size or
shape

62. • Children
• Wore simple belted tunics
• Bulla – an amulet worn by
boys until manhood or the
age of 16
• Girls carried it until
marriage

63. End