Chapter 6

Roman Architecture
300 B.C.-A.D.
• OBJECTIVES:
• To determine the influences that affect
development of Roman
architecture.

• To know the architectural character of Roman

• To identify the architectural examples of Rome

ORIGINS OF ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
• a. As with sculpture, the Romans borrowed heavily from two
cultures that they conquered – The ETRUSCANS and the GREEKS.

• b. Elements of Roman architecture show very significant Greek

influence.

• c. However, Roman functional needs sometimes differed, resulting

in interesting innovations.

• d. The Romans were less attached to “ideal” forms and extended

Greek ideas to make them more functional.

• e. Romans needed interior space for worship, whereas the Greeks

worshipped outside.

• f. Their solution was to extend the walls outward, creating engaged

columns, while maintaining the same basic shape.
A. GEOGRAPHICAL
The central and commanding position of
Italy in the Mediterranean Sea enabled Rome to
act as an intermediary in spreading art and
civilization over Europe, Western Asia and North
Africa. There is marked geographical differences
between Greeks and the Roman with regards to
national character. Romans were very close.
• B. GEOLOGICAL
The Romans took very great pains to exploit
natural resources to the full. Chief building
material was concrete which rendered finest
example of Roman Arch. They also have ample
supply of marbles, terracotta, stones, bricks,
sand, gravel and timber. Concrete was formed
of stones or brick rubble and a mortar of which
the important ingredient was pozzolana.
Terra-cotta

Bricks
• C. CLIMATIC
Rome was divided into three regions: North Italy has the
climate of the temperature region of Europe, Central Italy is
genial {comforting} and sunny, while the South is almost
tropical.

• D. RELIGIOUS
Since the Romans were originally a mixed people, their
polytheistic religion was the fusion of several cults, but
owed most to the Etruscans who involve a scrupulous
attention to rituals to conformity, and to the will of the gods
in a Fatalistic acceptance of their domination.

Religion became part of the constitution of the state.

They venerated more their emperors than their gods and
because of this attitude, there were less temples to make
worshipping.
E. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
• Important Emperors who Patronizes Architecture in Rome
1. Nero
2. Vespasian
3. Trojan
4. Hadrian
5. Septimius Severus
6. Caracalla
7. Diocletian

The social life of the Romans is clearly revealed in their

architecture {love of extravagance]. There were thermae for
bathing and games, circuses for races, amphitheatres for
gladiatorial contest, theaters for drama, basilicans for lawsuits,
state temples for religion and the apartments house or the
“Domus” for family life , while the forum was everywhere the
centre of public life and national commerce.
Romans were not colonizers but conquerors. They have that
outward expression of the national love of power.
F. Historical
• From its legendary foundation in 753 B.C. and
throughout the sixth century B.C. Rome was little
more than an insignificant hill town in South
Etruria. It was under Etruscan domination and
ruled by Etruscan Kings, aided by a form of
popular assembly, Towards the close of the sixth
century B.C., Etruscan supremacy began to
decline and fall. The declaration and
development of a constitutional republic and civil
service are indicative of Roman characteristics;
they were great organizer, thrifty patient farmer-
solders, dutiful to authority and the law and
concerned with efficiency and justice.
• PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT
1. Etruscan – the early inhabitants of West-central
Italy. They were great builders and their methods
were taken over by the Romans. They made
remarkable advances in the organization of large
scale undertakings, such as the construction of city
walls and sewers, the draining of marshes and the
control of rivers, and the cutting of channels to
regulate the water level of lakes.
They were credited with the earliest use of the true
or radiating arch, TUSCAN. Their temples were
oriented at the South.
2. Roman – adopted the columnar and trabeated
style or the Greeks and developed the arch, vault,
and dome of the Etruscans
G. ARCHITECTURAL CHARATER
1. Vastness and magnificence
2. Ostentation and ornateness
Different Types of Vaults Developed by the
Romans
a. Roman Waggon Vault – semi circular or
wagon headed vault otherwise known parallel
walls of a rectangular apartment.
b. Roman Waggon Vault with Intersecting
Vault
c. Cross-Vault – formed by the intersection of
two semi-circular vaults of equal span, was used
over a square apartment and the pressure was
taken by the four angles.
d.Hemispherical Domes – or cupolas were used
over circular structures and semi domes for
exedrae or semi circular recesses.
e. Buttress – a mass of masonry built against a
wall to resist the pressure of an arch or vault.
f. Pinnacle – a turret or part of a building
elevated above the main building. This was
placed on the tops of sput buttresses to help by
their weight to drive the oblique thrusts more
sleeply down to earth.
Two Column Capital Developed
1. Tuscan order is the simplified version of the
Roman Doric Order and has no shaft flutes.
2. Composite – combines the prominent
volutes of lonic with the acanthus of the
Corinthian on its capital and is thus the most
decorative. The shaft may be fluted or plain. It is
a Roman elaboration of the Corinthian Order.
Roman Concrete Walls
Opus Quadratum – made up of rectangular
blocks of stones with or without mortat joints
but frequently secured with dowels or cramps,
still continued in used stones 2x2x4 Roman feet
in dimensions.
Opus Incertum – stones became quite small,
and on the wall faces appeared in a loose
pattern roughly resembling the polygonal work.
Opus Recticulatum – fine joints running
diagonally like the meshes of a net; each stone
unit was precisely square though ste Lozenge
fashion.
Opus Testaceum – triangular bricks {plan}
specially made for facing the walls; brick facing
superseded the reticulate work became the hall-
mark of the imperial period in Italy.
Opus mixtum – consisted of bands of tufa
introduced at intervals in the ordinary brick
facing or alternation of course of brickwork and
small, squared stones blocks.
The Romans adopted the columnar and
trabeated style of Greeks, and developer also
the arch and the vault from the beginnings
made by Etruscans. This combined use of
column, beam and arch is the keynote of the
Roman style in its earliest stages. In the
colosseum piers strengthened and faced by
attached half column support arches, which in
their turn, carry the entablature. In the
aqueducts, the arch was supported on piers
without the facing column. Thus the orders of
architecture (Greek used in constructively) were
used by Roman as decorative features which
could be omitted.
• The Pantheon at Rome, the first illustration of
Roman construction, embodies every form of
Roman buttress. The building is two tiers high
to the springing of the hemispherical dome
inside. But there is an extra tier on the
outside, providing rigid and weighty haunches
to prevent the dome from splitting outwards
and as an extra precaution, a further series of
steps of concrete rises two thirds at height of
the dome.
ROMAN ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES
1. FORUMS
The forum, corresponding to agora in a Greek city
was a central open spaced used as a meeting place,
market or rendezvous for political demonstrations.
In towns which had grown from small beginnings,
forums were often somewhat irregular in shape,
but when towns were newly founded or for some
reason partially rebuilt, the forums were laid out
systematically on formal lines.

• e.g Forum Romanum, Rome- oldest and most

important, used as hippodrome
• Forum of Trajan, Rome- largest forum
2. RECTANGULAR TEMPLES
Roman temples are an amalgamation of
Etruscan and Greek types, the typical prostyle
portico and podium were derived from Etruscan
temple. The most characteristics is pseudo
peripteral, which instead of side colonnades, has
half columns attached to the walls with a
prostyle portico in front, raised in a podium,
oriented towards the south.
 Temple of Foruna
Virilis, Rome

Temple of Mars, Rome

3. CIRCULAR AND POLYGONAL TEMPLES-
derived from the temples of the Greeks and the
Etruscans which became the prototype of the
Christian baptistery
Temple of Vesta, Rome – the most sacred shrine
and source of Roman life and power
The Pantheon, Rome- most famous and perfect
preservation of all ancient buildings in Rome. It
was now converted into a Christian church
named Sta. Maria Rotunda.
BASILICAS- halls of Justice or assembly hall
the usual of basilica was a rectangle twice as
long as its width. Either two or four rows of
columns forming a nave or two or four aisles ran
the whole length and there were sometimes
galleries over the aisles.

Basilica of Trajan, Rome – built by

apollodorus of Damascus
• Basilica of Constantine, Rome – also known as
Basilica Maxentius or Basilica Nova built by
Emperor Maxentius between 307 and 310 and
completed by Contantine the Great after 312
Thermae- Palatial public baths of Imperial Rome. This
were not only designed for luxurious bathing, but were
resorted to for news and gossip, and served like a modern
club as rendezvous of social life besides being used for
lectures and athletic sports, and indeed entered largely
into a daily life of the imperial city.
Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such
buildings, which were enters of public bathing and
socialization. Baths were extremely important for
romans. They stayed there for several hours and went
daily. Wealthier Romans were accompanied by one or
more slaves. After paying a fee, they would strip naked
and wear sandals to protect their feet from heated floors.
Slaves carried their masters’ towels and got them drinks.
Before bathing, patrons exercised. They did things such as
running, mild weight-lifting, wrestling, and swimming.
After exercising, servants covered their masters in oil and
scraped it off with a strigil ( a scraper made of wood or
bone) which cleaned off the dirt.
THREE MAIN PARTS
1. Main Building- Central structure with chief
apartments.
a. Tepidarium-warm room
b. Calidarium- hot room or with hot water bath
c. Frigidarium- cooling room
d. Sudarium- dry sweating room
e. Apodyteria- dressing room
f. Palaestra- for physical exercises
g. Unctuaria or untoria- place for oils and
perfumes.
h. Sphaeristerium- game room
Xystus or Public Park with Avenues of Trees- a
larger open space with trees, statues and
fountains, part of it was used as a stadium for
foot racing and where athletic sports took place.
An Outer ing of Apartments
a. Lecture rooms
b. Exedrae
c. Collonade
d. Large reservoir
e. Shops
Thermae of Caracalla, Rome- with a capacity of
1,600 bathers.
Balneum- small private bath in Roman Palaces
and houses containing the Tepidarium,
Calidarium and frigidarium.
Theatres or Odeion- built up by means of
concrete vaulting and supporting tiers of seats.
Roman theatres often adopted from the greek
to suit the roman drama, and for this the
auditorium, which it tiers of seats one above the
other, was restricted to a semi circle.
Theater Orange-considered one of the best-
preseerved Roman theaters in the world and is
used today for theatrical performances.
Amphitheares or Colosseum- used for
gladiatorial combats, elliptical in plan.

The Colosseum, Rome(70-82)- known as “

Flavian Amphitheater” commenced by
Vespasian and completed by Domitian.

• Ground Floor- Doric columns with ¾ shafts

• Second Floor- Ionic columns
• Third Floor- Corinthian Columns
• Fourth Floor- Corinthian pilasters with corbels
The Colosseum in Rome is best known for its
multilevel system of vaults made of concrete. It
is called the Colosseum for a colossal statue of
Nero that once stood nearby. It was used for
staged battles between lions and Christians,
among other spectacles, and is one of the most
famous pieces of architecture in the world.
The Colosseum at Rome italy has a vast ellipse
189 x 156.5m with eighty external arcaded
openings on each storey, those on the ground
floor forming entrances from which the various
tiers of seats were reached.
• Verona Arena- One of the best-preserved
amphiteaters of the Roman Empire is in the
center of the Italian City of Verona. Dating
from the 1st Century A.D., the Verona Arena is
used today for operas and concerts.
• Circuses- for horse and chariot racing, was
derived from the Greek Hippodrome. Chariot
racing was enormously popular, and vast sums
were spent upon the training and selection of
men and horses.

• e.g; Circus Maximus, Rome – with total length

of 2,000 feet and width of 650 feet and seated
255,000 spectators.
CIRCUS MAXIMUS, ROME ( PLAN)
• TOMBS
The Roman practiced both forms of burial,
cremation and interment, and thus sacorphagi for
the ashes are sometimes found in the same tomb
chamber.
The Roman had five classes of burial places:
• 1.) Coemeteria or Subterranean Vaults and later
called “Catacombs” by the early Christian Period.
It contained the following:
• Columbaria- niches formed in the rock to
receive a vase containing the ashes of the deceased
and with the name inscribed thereon.
• Loculi- or recesses of corpse were sealed
with a front slab inscribed with the name.
Catacombs
Columbaria
Loculi
• 2) Monumental Tombs – consisted of a large
cylindrical blocks, often in a quadrangular
podium, topped with a conical crown of slab
or stone.
• e.g. Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome- a huge
cylinder 88.39m (290 ft.) in diameter, faced in
travertine, supporting a mound of earth,
44.20m (145 ft.) high from the ground,
planted with evergreen trees and surmounted
b a bronze of effigy of Augustus.
Mausoleum of Augustus
Mausoleum of Augustus ( Plan)
3) Pyramidal tombs- followed by the design of
Egyptian Pyramids
e.g. Pyramid of Chestius, Rome
4) Temple Shaped Tomb- usually consisted of a
mortuary chapel often having a colonnaded
portico or peristyle.
e.g. Mausoleum of Diocletian, Spalato
5) Sculptured Memorials- minor tombs, a small
but richly outside.
e.g. Tomb of Naevoleia Tyche, Pompeii

Sarcophagus
• TRIUMPHAL ARCHES- erected for emperors
and generals commemorating victorious
campaign.
e.g. The Arch of Titus, Rome (A.D. 82)- with a
single opening commemorates the capture of
Jerusalem. On each main face attached columns
flank the opening and the outer angles, and
these are earliest known examples of the fully
developed Roman Composite Order.
The Arch of Titus
Arch of Constantine, Rome (A.D. 312)- built in
honour of Constantine’s victor over Maxentius,
is a proportions with eight monolithic detached
Corinthian columns supporting an entablature
returned back to the wall, and on the attic
storey, a Quadriga. Much of the decorative
structure was brought from earlier monument
of the time of Trajan, and represents incidents of
his reign.
Arch of Constantine
• Arch of Augustus, Perugia- built of a large
blocks of travertine stones, without mortar.
TOWN GATEWAYS AND ARCHWAYS
Three main types:
• Those forming part of protective wall circuit
usually simple but sometimes elaborated into
commemorative monuments.
• Ornamental portals to forums, market places or
other large enclosure.
• Arches build at main street intersections
particularly when the main street were
colonnaded.
e.g. Porte S. Andre, and the Porte d’ Arroux, Autun
Porte De Mars, Rheims
Portico of Octavia, Rome- by Augustus
Porte S. Andre, and the Porte d’ Arroux, Autun
PILLARS OF VICTORY OR MONUMENTAL COLUMNS- erected to
record triumphs of victorious generals (conquered by land)
• e.g. Trajan’s Column, Rome- a Roman Doric Column, entirely
of marble with a total height of 115 ft. 7 inches and a shaft 12
ft. 12 inches diameter with a spiral staircase.
Rostral Columns, Rome- frequently erected in
the time of the emperors to celebrate naval
victories and took their name from the rostra, or
rows of captured ships.
PALACES- used to house the emperors

e.g. Palaces of the Emperors, Rome

Golden House of Nero, Rome

Palace of Diocletian, Spalato- largest palce and

often called “a city in a house” covered a total of
8 acres, almost the size of Escorial, Spain.
Palace of Diocletian,
Spalato
ROMAN HOUSES
Roman dwelling houses are of three types:
Domus or private houses- center of family apartments
Typical Parts of a Domus
• Prothyrum or entrance passage
• Atrium or entrance court- open to the sky and at the
center is an “Impluvium” a water cistern collector.
• Tablinum- open living room
• Peristyle- an inner colonnaded court with garden
• Cubicula- bedroom
• Oecus- reception room
• Alae- recesses for conversation
• Kitchen and Pantry
• Triclinia- dining room
e.g. House of Surgeon, Pompeii

House of Livia
Village or Country House- a luxurious country
house with surrounding terraces and gardens,
colonnades, palaestra, theater and thermae.
e.g. Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli- largest villa
Insula or Apartment Blocks- many storeyed
tenement also called “workmen’s dwelling”
The house of Pansa, Pompeii- illustrates the typical
domus or family mansion. It comprises two options;
atrium or forepart, which served for formal occasions
as well as normal use; and a rear or “peristyle” portion,
which was the more intimate private part.
FRONT ELEVATION

INTERIOR
THE RUINS OF HOUSE OF PANSA, POMPEII
The House of Pansa
• Peristyle- a range of columns surrounding a court or a temple
• Atrium- an apartment in a Roman house, forming an entrance
hall or court, the roof open to the sky in the center.
• Copluvium- (rain) a quadrangular opening in the atrium of a
roman house towards which the roof sloped so as to throw
the rain water into a shallow cistern or impluvium in the floor.
• Prothyrum- a porch or vestibule in the front of the door of a
house.
• Impluvium- a shallow tank under the compluvium, as
opening in the roof of an atrium.
• Lean-to – a small extension to a building with a roof having
but one slope whose supports lean against the building.
• Tablinum- a large open room or apartment for family records
and hereditary statues situated at the end of the atrium
farthest from the main atrium.
• Feuces- the passageway from the street to the atrium
• AQUEDUCTS- used for water supply, with smooth
channels or specus lined with hard cement and carried
on arches, in several tiers.
The Romans gave importance to an adequate water supply.
Immense quantitie of water were required for the great
thermae and for public fountains, and for domestic supply
for the large population.
e.g. The Pont du Gard, Nimes, France- forms part of a
magnificent aqueduct, 40km (25 miles) long, constructed to
bring water to Nimes from the neighborhood of Uzes. It is
268.83m long and formed three tiers of arches, crossing the
valley 47.24m above the river gard. In two lover tiers the
arch above the river is the wildest and the others vary in
width, while in the uppermost tier there are 35 arches of
4.27m span supporting the “specus” or water channel.
e.g.Aqua Marcia, Rome
Aqua Claudia, Rome- built by Emperors Caligula and
Claudia
The Pont du Gard
The Pont du Gard (ELEVATION)
The Pont du Gard (SECTION AND BLOW-UP DETAILS)
Road Building
The need to move legions and trade goods in all-
weather led to the development of the best
roads in the world (to the 19th century).

Roman Appian Way-The Appian Way was the

first long road built specifically to transport
troops outside the smaller region of greater
Rome
BRIDGES OR PONS- simple, solid and practical
construction designed to resist the rush of water

e.g. Pons Sublicius, Rome

Pons Mulvius, Rome
Pons Fabricius, Rome

Bridge of Agustus, Rimini (A.D.14)- the best

preserved and one of the finest ancient
structure in Italy.
Bridge of Agustus,
Rimini
FOUNTAINS- striking features of ancient and
modern Rome
Two types:
• Lacus or Locus- designed similar to a large
basin of water
• Salientes- similar to a large basin of water
with spouting jets
e.g. Fountain of the Four Rivers, Rome- by
Gianlorenzo Bernini
Lacus or Locus
Salientes
Fountain of the Four
Rivers, Rome- by
Gianlorenzo Bernini
EXAMPLES OF ETRUSCAN STRUCTURES:
• Etruscan Sacorphagi- both ordinary burial, and cremation
were practiced in Etrunia. The receptacles grew increasingly
large, until the 4th century B.C. Sacorpahagi of stone,
alabaster and terra-cotta were used in very large numbers.
• Cloaca Maxima, Rome- constructed as an
open drain for the valleys between the hills of
Rome.
• Temple of Juno Sospita, Lanuvium- the plan
has thee cells for three dieties and a front
portico with two rows of four columns, widely
spaced and approached by walled-in steps.
• Necropolis Cerveteri- is one of the most
remarkable burial sites. The tombs are laid out
systematically along paved streets, like a town
for the living.
Quadriga- four- horsed chariot, in sculptured
form, often surmounting a monument.