ROMAN PERIOD-HARSHITA.pdf

ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT ROME
3rd BC (BCE) – 340 AD (CE)

Historical Background
Location
➢ Roman architecture refers to the
architecture of Rome and of the Roman
Empire
➢ The Roman Empire was one of the largest
early empires in history, stretching from
England in Northern Europe to the
Ancient Near East and Africa
➢ The pink area of the Map shows the
greatest extent of the Roman Empire
➢ Rome, located on the Italian peninsula
was the capital of the empire
➢ From the capital, an infrastructure of
roads and communication systems was
established to connect the whole empire
➢ Rome is today the capital of Italy.

Period
➢ The city of Rome was founded in 753 BC.
➢ Roman civilization with Rome as capital lasted for more than a thousand years.
➢ The history of the civilization can be divided into three periods;
1. 753- 510 BC -Etruscan Period
2. 510 – 44 BC -Republican Period
3. 44 BC – 476 A.D. - Imperial Period/Roman empire
3

➢ The Roman architecture was influenced by their fore fathers, 'Etruscans'.
➢ Etruscans were the earliest settlers in the region called 'Etruria', the area north of Rome and south
of Florence.

BASILICAS-USED AS ADMINISTRATION CENTERS
Bathhouses
Servedasmeetingplacesaswellasaplacetoget
cleaninwarm water
TEMPLES
AQUADUCTS

TRIUMPHALARCHESANDCOLUMNS ARCHOFAUGUSTUS.

Peperino stone structure Travertine , Italian stone
Lava along with sand
and gravel
Pozzolana

CC
Roman orders
The influence of Tuscan order, Greek order, Ionic, Corinthian orders influenced Roman architecture and
resulted in Roman Doric and Ionic orders. They freely adopted and used to their best, the Corinthian
order and developed a new order called "Composite " order., a combination of Ionic and Corinthian.

Romans also constructed great vaults, domes along with complicated construction designs for various
purposes with the help of concrete with local ingredients.
(Ex: Pantheon, Thermae, Basilicas, palaces etc.).
Ancient Roman Baths - Thermae,
Baths of - Caracalla
Basilica

➢ Romans expanded their
empire and many cities
were built in their style
with Roman concrete,
columns and arches,
domes etc. in various
parts of Europe, N. Africa
& Asia Minor etc.

▪ GEOGRAPHY
➢ Italian peninsula: Central
and commanding position
on Mediterranean sea.
▪ CLIMATE INFLUENCE
➢ Temperate in the north.
➢ Sunny in central Italy.
➢ Almost tropical in south.
▪ RELIGION
➢ Polytheistic, several cults.
➢ Roman mythology slowly
derived attributes from
those of Greek gods.
•i
Factors affecting architecture

▪ Social Characteristics & Belief -Religious Beliefs
➢ Roman people were not deeply religious, particularly during the early part of their
development.
➢ They did not have religious beliefs and mythologies of their own, but borrowed from
societies they come into contact with.
➢ Contact with other people always resulted in changes to their culture, art and way of life
➢ Most of their religious beliefs were borrowed from the Greeks, and like the Greeks, they
also believed in a number of Gods.
➢ The Romans believed that the faith of their empire lies in the hands of their various Gods
➢ The state spent money to built temples to the various gods.
➢ Public assemblies, such as senate meetings, war victories and most state functions were
always started with sacrifices to a particular god in his temple.
➢ The religious well being of the individual Roman was his own concern.

▪ Social Characteristics & Belief-Introduction
➢ Roman society was made of the Latinized people living on the Italian peninsula and other foreign
people belonging to the conquered provinces.
➢ The society was not homogenous as its puts together people of different origins
➢ Latin was the widely spoken language, particularly in Rome and its environment.
➢ The Roman people were classified into citizens and non citizens; citizenship can be conferred on
non citizens.
➢ Citizens are divided into two classes; members of the Roman Senate belonging to the highest
social class and other citizens.
➢ The Roman people were essentially farmers and traders.
➢ Many also aspired to became soldiers and warriors; being a warrior provided one of the best
means of advancing in the society.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
➢ The Environment around Rome was not
as rich as the Greek mainland in
construction material especially marble.
➢ Romans construction material consists
of Stone (tufa, peperino, travertine,
lava stone, sand, gravel) principally local
travertine and timber.
➢ Roman also invented a system of firing
brick and used brick widely in
construction
➢ Romans were also the first people to
discover concrete.
➢ Romans made significant improvements to the arch to address its shortcoming.
➢ They also developed new construction systems based on the arch and dome.
➢ The combination of arch and vault construction with brick as formwork and concrete as bonding
material enabled the Romans to construct great buildings with very large interior spaces.

Piers of colosseum, which are
strengthened and faced by the attached
columns not only supported the arches
but also the entablature.
The aqueducts consisted of arches supported on piers.
Thus the orders which were constructive in Greece became decorative in Rome with exceptions like
temples, colonnades, basilicas etc.
column
Piers

Opus quadratum
Stone size 4' x 2' x 2'
Opus incentrum

Opus Reticulatum
Opus Testaceum

The use of concrete allowed Romans to build vaults of a magnitude never equaled till the introduction of
steel for buildings in 19th century.
The other advantage of concrete was it could be accommodated to the complicated plan forms without
involving difficult and laborious stone cutting.
The vaults were supported on centering or temporary wooden framework until the concrete was set.
Sometimes brick ribs were used to enlighten the load imposed on centering and also to avoid the cracks.
The commonly used vault types were:
a) Barrel vault (semicircular/wagon headed/tunnel vault) with two parallel wall supports.
b) Cross vault, which was formed by intersection of two-barrel vaults of equal span on a square plan
and the pressure, was taken by piers/columns at four corners. This further lead to square modules in
plan and sometimes these was double or triple in height. The line of intersection of vaults was
known as groins.
c) Cupolas or hemispherical domes were used over circular structures and seem domes for exedrae or
semicircular recesses.

➢ Vaults are used to cover an area as a roof
➢ The simplest of the vaults is the Barrel vault,
which is just made up of an arch extended
over a certain distance.
➢ It can be adapted to suit different types of
plans by making simple modifications to it.
➢ The disadvantage of the vault is that it exerts a
continuous load and therefore needs some
form of continuous support.
➢ It is also difficult to light the space under a
vault except from the ends.
➢ The Romans invented unique ways of
overcoming these difficulties.
Vaults

➢ The cross vault was created from the barrel vault to overcome some of
the problems of the ordinary vault
➢ This is formed by intersecting two barrel-vaults at right angle and is
called a “groin vault”
➢ The weight of the groin vault is concentrated at the corners eliminating
the need for continuous support
➢ The opening of the space in 4 directions means that ample light can be
provided to the area below it

DOMES
a) Cupolas or hemispherical domes were used
over circular structures and seem domes for
exedrae or semicircular recesses.
Concrete vault thickness were made light by recesses or coffers in the
ceiling which in turn helped to make the ceiling beautiful

A special mixture known as 'opus signinum' of
terracotta powder, lime and with or without
sand was used in aqueducts, reservoirs and in
damp situations as a water proof measure.
Glass mosaics made a brilliant
decoration for vaults
Marble mosaics

TEMPLES
➢ Temple is the focal point of the building (in contrast to Greek temples where all four sides could be
equally important in the urban landscape).
➢ Surviving practically complete and a typical example is the Maison carrée at Nimes (16 BCE).
➢ Temples were usually rectangular but could take other forms such as circular or polygonal, for
example, the temple of Venus at Baal beck (2nd-3rd century CE).
GREEK TEMPLES
➢ The Roman temple was a Combination of the
Etruscan and Greek models with an inner cella at
the rear of the building surrounded by columns and
placed on a raised platform (up to 3.5 metres high)
with a stepped entrance and columned porch.

TEMPLES
CREATEDTOWORSHIPAND HONOURGOD’S
False or pseudo columns

The Forum
The Forum of Augustus (20 - 2 BC)
The Forum of Julius Caesar (54-46 BC)
The Forum of Vespian (71 – 75AD) /
The Peace Forum
The Forum ofNerva

The Forum of Trajan (98-117AD)
➢ It is the largest of all the forums in Rome, as big as all the other forumstogether.
➢ The complex was built to celebrate the victory of Trajan over the dacians

BASILICAS
➢ The basilica was adopted by the Christian
church but was conceived by the Romans
as a place for any large gathering, with
the most common use being law courts.
➢ They were usually built along one side of
the forum, the city’s market place, which
was enclosed on all sides by colonnades.
➢ The basilica’s long hall and roof was
supported by columns and piers on all
sides.
➢ The columns created a central nave
flanked on all sides by an aisle. A gallery
ran around the first floor and later there
was an apse at one or both ends.

The height of nave will be more than that of aisles so as to get clear storey lighting.
Nave
aisles

AQUADUCTS
➢ These massive structures, with single, double, or triple tiers of arches, were designed to carry fresh
water to urban centers from sources sometimes Many kilometers away.
➢ The earliest in rome was the aqua appia ,but the most impressive example is undoubtedly
➢ The pont du gard near nimes (c. 14 ce).
➢ Roman bridges could make similar use of the arch to span rivers and ravines. Constructed with a flat
wooden superstructure over stone piers or arches, examples still survive today.
Since water was an
essential need and
due to various types of
Roman social activities
the aqueducts has
become a common
feature in Roman
Empire

THERMAES:
➢ The Romans had a unique need for exercise, bathing and relaxation and they devised a unique
architectural element, the Bath to address that need.
➢ The roman bath was more that just merely swimming or washing.
➢ This practice became so popular that at some point, they took it more serious than their gods.
➢ The bathing procedure involves a pattern of exposing the body to various levels of heater air and
water.
➢ The core program of the bath consist of a disrobing room, the apodyterium, a series of at least two
heated rooms, the tepidarium, and a hot room or cauldarium.
➢ Besides the heated rooms, the bath may also have a swimming pool, or natatio for cold plunges on
hot summer days or a cool unheated room called the frigidarium.
➢ Bathing also dries the skin so baths also provided rooms with special attendants to oil and towel
bathers dry.
➢ Wealthy people and Emperors had private both, but the greatest baths were the public ones built
for the populace.

APODYTERIUM
➢ Dressing rooms.
Here, the bathers removed their clothing, which was taken in charge by slaves known as capsarii. The
apodyterium was a spacious chamber, mostly with stone seats along two sides of the wall.
NATATIO
➢ Unheated, open swimming pools.
FRIGIDARIUM
➢ Cold-water bathing hall
TEPIDARIUM
➢ Warm-water bathing hall.
➢ The tepidarium is generally the most highly ornamented room in baths. It was merely a room to sit
in and be anointed in.
CALDARIUM
➢ Hot-water bathing hall
➢ The floor(often mosaic) was directly above the furnace.
PALAESTRA
➢ Exercise court
LACONICA, SUDATORIA
➢ Steam baths

★ Temple dedicated to all the gods (pan=all and theion=gods)
pediment
dome
cylindrical
drum
ThePantheon, Rome,c. 118-125 CE.

ROMAN TEMPLE- Pantheon-Introduction
• The Pantheon is the best surviving of all
classical buildings
• It is also represents the highest
achievement of Roman architecture
• It was built between AD 118 and 128 by
the Emperor Handrian on the site of an
earlier temple by Agrippa
• It was built as a temple dedicated to all
the Roman Gods, hence the name
Pantheon
• It the 609 AD the building was transform
into a church, dedicated to Santa Maria

The Pantheon
essentially consist of
two parts; the an
entrance portico and
a circular part or
rotunda
Pantheon – A brilliant
composition of
geometric forms

Entrance
portico
Rotunda
Pantheon-Form

8 columns wide
3 rows
Unfluted corinthian
order
• The portico is 8 columns wide and 3 columns deep and leads to the
entrance of the temple
• The columns are of unfluted Corinthian order
Pantheon-Plan

Pantheon – The ceiling of the portico

The wall of the rotunda is 3 storeys high on the outside; they are made
up of brick faced concrete and support the dome roof of the temple
Pantheon-View

The Dome roof forms a perfect sphere with a diameter of 142 feet in the interior
Pantheon-Dome

At the head of the dome is a 30ft wide occulus, that opens up the great dome to the
outside and illuminates the space with light
Pantheon- Occulus

AMPHITHEATRES-INTRODUCTION
The amphitheater is a roman structure with no Greek
equivalent
Amphitheatre is a public building used for spectator
sports, games and displays
The fully enclosed amphitheatre was a particular
favourite of the Romans.
Apart from function, the important outward distinction
between an amphitheatre and a theatre is that
amphitheatre is round or oval in shape
An amphitheater was first built in Pompeii in 80 BC, but
the best example of the Roman amphitheater is the
colosseum
The Colosseum is the largest and most famous, and it is a
typical example copied throughout the empire: a highly
decorative exterior, seats set over a network of barrel
vaults, and underground rooms below the arena floor to
hide people, animals and props until they were needed in
the spectators.

• Travertine, tura blocks, bricks and
opus cementicium.
• External shell – travertine
• Foundation – concrete
• Radial walls – Tura at bottom to
brick faced cement at top.
• 100,000 cubic meters of
travertine
• The main pillars are made of
travertine, radial walls are of
travertine and tuff, the vaults are
cast in cement work
• Earthquake proof construction
technique
• Extraordinary for its time
• Enormous metal clamps were
placed inside the stone blocks for a
total weight of 300 tonnes.
CONSTRUCTION

60
Roman aristocrats
Wealthy citizens
Poor citizens, foreigners and slaves
Roman emperors
and game organizers
Shaded area for wife of high ranking men

Its construction began under the Emperor Vespasian in 72 A.D. and was completed in A. D. 82
The external façade was 4 storeyed with 80 arcaded openings on each storey with entrances in
ground storey.
The height of the external façade was 157' with Tuscan order in ground storey, Ionic order in I floor,
Corinthian order in II floor and pilaster of Corinthian order in III floor which supported the velarium
Tuscan

• 50,000 Spectators
• To get people in and out quickly, the
architects came up with a system of
arches and staircases inside the
building.
• Over 80 archways with multiple sets
of stairs leading to the seats it would
easily be emptied in less than ten
minutes.
• Underneath the seats there were a
labyrinth of corridors and stairs.
• The stairways from the first level
rose to the second and third levels.
• Ordinary citizens would enter the
building through one of seventy six
arches. The other four were reserved
for the emperor and his family to use.

➢ The massive piers and arcades,
which encircle the exterior and
form, covered corridors
➢ The combination of classical orders of
architecture in a single building.
➢ The unbroken band of entablature
rounds the building
The special features of this important building
were:

• Elliptical in shape, 188 m X 156m.
• There were eighty arches on every floor, divided by pillars.
• The four arches on the axes of the building were the main entrances .The other 76
arches were numbered for an easier access to the seats.
• All around the rims of the first three floors there were circular promenades that
could accommodate most of the public in case of rain.
• The arena where the shows took place measures 76m X 44m; its floor was made
with wooden planks.
• All around the arena there was a wall called podium, about 10 feet high.
• During the shows the arena covered with yellow sand (harena) taken from the hill
of Monte Mario; on special occasions the arena was covered with specially
coloured sand, or mixed with speckles of glittering minerals.
• Stands on a base of two steps; above it there are three floors of arcades and a
fourth storey without arches but with small rectangular windows.
• The arches are 4.20 metres (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.
Plan and elevation

• The seating formed a uniform elliptical ring capable of
supporting the 50,000 spectator capacity of the facility
• Vaulting was used both radially and concentrically to
support the structure
• The Colosseum was ingeniously designed; most
spectacle venues have been influenced by the
Colosseum's structure into modern times

ROMAN TRIUMPHAL ARCH
➢ Atriumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more
arched passageways, often designed to span a road.

SOFFIT: DEEPLY
COFFERED WITH
RELIEF

PANEL RELIEF THAT
LINE THE
PASSAGEWAY

➢ Built to commemorate victorious generals or significant public events such as the founding of new
colonies, the construction of a road or bridge, the death of a member of the imperial family or the
accession of a new emperor.
➢ The simplest form of a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch,
crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be mounted or which bears
commemorative inscriptions. The main structure is often decorated with carvings, sculpted reliefs
and dedications. More elaborate triumphal arches may have multiple archways.
➢ The two key elements of the triumphal arch - a round-topped arch and a square
entablature
➢ The Greeks made comparatively little use of the arch. Entablatures were an essential part of the
structural fabric of such buildings, as they were used to hold up the roofs. The great innovation of
the Romans was to combine a round arch and a square entablature in a single free-standing
structure. The columns became purely decorative elements on the outer face of arch, while
the entablature, liberated from its role as a building support, became the frame for the civic
and religious messages that the arch builders wished to convey

THE ARCH OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS: ROME AD 203

1.The Early Roman:
2.Etruscan Period
➢ Rome was ruled by Etruscan Kings aided by a popular assembly
➢ Towards the end of the 6th century B.C., Etruscan power began to decline
➢ In 509 B.C. Rome revolted against their king and established an independent city
state
➢ Further decline in the power of the Etruscans was accompanied by the rising influence
and increasing significance of Rome

3. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC (509 BCE – 27BCE)

4. IMPERIAL (44 BCE – 476 ADE)-THE ROMAN EMPIRE

ROMAN PERIOD-HARSHITA.pdf

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