The Ancient Roman Architecture
Introduction
The architecture of the Romans was an art of shaping space around ritual. In other words, Ancient roman architecture was regulated by their custom of a system of rites. Throughout this web page, you will see the history and actual buildings of Roman architecture, how it relates to Roman rituals, and why the Romans were great builder of places of worship, country house, and public building carved out of marble.
The Overview of Ancient Roman Architecture History
Priests were the known earliest Roman architects. They were the places declared by religious leaders as the dimensions for the gods and for their ritual of worship. However, the earliest tangible buildings were family huts. During this primitive period, Romans knew how to build with solid materials to form their visions.
The Etruscans and the Greeks were two main sources provided the Romans by architectural techniques. The Romans made two major advances from their education. The first advance was the improvement on temple structures. Roofs were supported by lots of columns, stairs led to an elevated floor, and decorative colors were included. The second advance was that the old small huts were transformed into larger and bigger houses. The main building materials used by the Romans at those days was a mixture of volcanic rock and rubble, which was called as pozzolana.
With the emergence of Empire Roman and its explosion to a world power, a revolution in architecture was undergoing. Greece bought lotÕs of imagination, freedom and customization into Roman architectural designs. The Romans started to add arches and vaults into their buildings as new arts. This was the origin of amphitheater, monumental avenue, and public baths.
As the development of the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire architecture became more calm which were remarked by the emergence of the theater, colosseum and the race track.
The Ancient Romans had reached very high level in their construction tools. Some of those tools have still been used by modern construction workers, like the plumb bob (A tool to make things vertically straight).
Some Ancient Roman Buildings
1) Tomb of Caecilia Metella
Located in Rome, Italy, this tomb was built at the end of the Roman Republican period, around 25 BC. The sarcophagus of Caecilia Metella, the daughter of Quintus Metellus, the conqueror of Crete and the wife of Crassus were buried inside this tomb. The whole building is a stone bearing masonry cylinder surrounding the cell, which rests on a square base. The square podium is 100 feet in square and the cylinder above it is only barely smaller in diameter.
2) The Roman Forum
This building is a city center at the core of ancient Rome, from 100 BC to 300 AD. ItÕs assembled with bearing masonry, cut stones.
3) Roman Colosseum
ItÕs an amphitheater built from 70 AD to 82 AD. Located on marshy land between the Esquiline and Caelian Hills, The Colosseum Amphitheater was the first permanent amphitheater built in Rome. ItÕs a vast ellipse (615 feet X 510 feet) with tiers of seating for 50,000 spectators around a central elliptical arena. It had eighty entrances for audiences to enter and leave quickly. An attic story is about 158 feet tall, roughly equivalent to a 12-15 story building.
4) Markets of Trajan
Built from 100 AD to 112 AD, the markets were a commercial center with about 150 shops and offices. Both monumental and functional, it is a typical of ancient Roman architecture.
5) City of Timgad
Built around 100 AD, the City of Timgad was a Roman colonial city founded by Trajan with 40 feet high arches.
3. Conclusion
Throughout this page, you have read and viewed many information and pictures associated with Ancient Rome. I hope you enjoying them. If you have any comment or suggestion, please feel free to contact me at following email address:
Reference:
1. Nancy B. Mautz, " The Development of Western Civilization Š World History Š Rome", August 22, 1998.
2. Boston College, Jeffery Howe, "A Digital Archive of Architecture", 1997
3. Kevin Matthews and Artifice, Inc. , "Ancient Roman Architecture", 1999
4. KMM & Artifice, Inc., "The Great Buildings Collections", 2000
5. John-Gabriel Bodard, "The Centre for Roman Studies", October 22, 1999
6. Walter Badillo, "The cultural aspects of Ancient Rome", 2000
Claims:
The copyright of all information and pictures used in this page belong to their corresponding authors.
Hai Chen, 2000
Page last updated on: April 26, 2000
Page created on: March 10, 2000