Introduction to Roman Architecture

Prof. Amal Shah, Faculty of Design, CEPT University
HISTORY OF DESIGN
A J OU RNEY INTO T H E H ISTORY OF A RC H IT EC T U RE A ND INT ERIOR D ES IG N
Roman Architecture

The Roman Empire, at its
height (c. 117 CE), was the most
extensive political and social
structure in
western civilization. By 285 CE
the empire had grown too vast
to be ruled from the central
government at Rome and so
was divided by Emperor
Diocletian into a Western and
an Eastern Empire. The Roman
Empire began when Augustus
Caesar became the first
emperor of Rome (31 BCE) and
ended, in the west, when the
last Roman emperor, Romulus
Augustulus, was deposed by the
Germanic King Odoacer (476
CE). In the east, it continued as
the Byzantine Empire until the
death of Constantine XI and
the fall of Constantinople to
the Ottoman Turks in 1453 CE.

The language of the romans
was Latin, which was the
source of roman unity and
tradition. Latin was the language
of the law courts in the west and
of the military throughout the
empire, but was not imposed
officially on peoples brought
under roman rule. This
policy contrasts with that
of Alexander the great, who
aimed to impose
Greek throughout his empire as
the official language.
Romans who received an elite
education studied Greek as
a literary language, and most
men of the governing classes
could speak Greek. The Julio-
Claudian emperors encouraged
high standards of correct
Latin (latinitas), a linguistic
movement identified in modern
terms as Classical Latin, and
favored Latin for conducting
official business.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
A 5th-century papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by Cicero

Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes.
Fired clay or terracotta was also widely employed in the Roman period for architectural purposes, as structural bricks
and tiles, and occasionally as architectural decoration, and for the manufacture of small statuettes and lamps.
POTTERY
Red gloss terra sigillata ware with relief decoration. Highly finished gloss pots as
compared to unglossed painted pots.

Roman coins were first produced in the late 4th century BCE
in Italy and continued to be minted for another eight centuries
across the empire. Denominations and values more or less
constantly changed but certain types such as the sestertii and
denarii would persist and come to rank amongst the most
famous coins in history.
COINS
A coin depicting Roman general and statesman Gnaeus Pompeius
Magnus, Pompey the Great. The reverse side shows Neptune. (c. 40 BCE).

Decorative arts for luxury consumers included fine pottery, silver and
bronze vessels and implements, and glassware.
DECORATIVE ART
Gold earrings with gemstones, 3rd century
Silver cup early 1st century AD
Glass cage cup from the Rhineland,
latter 4th century
Cameo glass 1st century AD

Clothing in ancient Rome was adopted from Greek, it generally comprised the toga, the tunic, the stola, brooches for
these, and breeches. Fabrics used are Wool, Silk and cotton, Dyeing, Hides, leather, and skins.
CLOTHING
Togas were important
social representations,
denoting power,
occupation, and social
place of upper class
Roman citizens.
Tunic was sometimes worn under
the toga, especially at formal
occasions. The length of the
garment, the presence or lack of
stripes, as well as their width and
ornamentation, would indicate the
wearer's status in Roman society.
Stola was the traditional garment
of Roman women, corresponding
to the toga. After the 2nd century
BC, it was considered disgraceful
for a woman to wear a toga;
wearing the male garment was
associated with
prostitution and adultery.
Breeches are an article
of clothing covering the
body from
the waist down, with
separate coverings for
each leg, usually
stopping just below the
knee, though in some
cases reaching to the
ankles.
A brooch is a
decorative jeweller
y item designed to
be attached to
garments, often to
hold them closed.

Roman Architecture
Ancient Roman architecture developed different
aspects of Ancient Greek architecture and newer
technologies such as the arch and the dome to make a
new architectural style.
Roman architecture flourished throughout the Empire
during the Pax Romana. Its use of new materials,
particularly concrete, was a very important feature.
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.
Roman architectural style continued to influence
building in the former empire for many centuries, and
the style used in Western Europe beginning about
600AD is called Romanesque architecture to reflect
this dependence on basic Roman forms.

Roman Architecture
Typology and Type of Buildings
The Ancient Romans 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, and piped hot and cold water.
They were making buildings such as Apartment blocks, Warehouses,
public latrines, and amphitheaters to improve the living standards of
people residing in towns and cities across the empire.

Roman Architecture
Basilica of ConstantineRoman theatre of Aspendos, Turkey
Forum Romanum Trajan's Forum in Rome

Roman Architecture
Aqueduct in Segovia, Spain Cistern of the Imperial Palace
Rome, obelisk in top
of Spanish Stairs
The Arch of Titus

Roman Architecture
Influences and Background
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 structures 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 smaller scale in most important towns
and cities in the Empire. The Ancient Romans intended that
public buildings should be made to impress, as well as perform a
public function. The Romans did not feel restricted by Greek
aesthetic axioms (rules) alone in achieving these objectives.
The Romans absorbed Greek Architectural influence both
directly by using Greek Architects and craftsmen in the early
Roman Republic years.

Architecture and Design features
Elements of space making
The Roman use of the arch and their improvements in the use
of concrete and bricks along with the use of features such as
domes, vaults, and arches facilitated liberation of shapes from
the dictates of the traditional materials of stone.

Materials
Tile covered concrete
quickly supplanted marble
as the primary building
material, 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
rectangular cells to a more
free-flowing environment.

The Orders
Tuscan Order
Has been described as "the solidest
and least ornate”.
Tuscan order was an older primitive
Italic architectural form, predating
the Greek Doric and Ionic.
In its simplicity, The Tuscan order is
seen as similar to the Doric order, and
yet in its overall proportions and
intercolumniation, it follows the
ratios of the Ionic order.
This strong order was considered
most appropriate in military
architecture and in docks and
warehouses when they were dignified
by architectural treatment.

The Orders
Composite Order
The composite order is a mixed order,
combining the volutes of the Ionic order
capital with the acanthus leaves of the
Corinthian order. The composite order
volutes are larger, however, and the
composite order also has the moulding with
egg-and-dart ornamentation between the
volutes. The column of the composite order
is 1:10 proportion.
Until the Renaissance, the composite was
not ranked as a separate order. Instead it
was considered as a late Roman form of the
Corinthian order. The Arch of Titus, in the
forum in Rome, built in 82 AD, is considered
the first example of a composite order.
The composite order, due to its delicate
appearance, was deemed by the
Renaissance to be suitable for the building
of churches dedicated to The Virgin Mary or
other female saints.

The Roman Urban Villa
After 2nd Century BC private houses became ever more
luxurious. Colonnaded gardens, inspired by Egyptian
architecture, were added behind the
house. Plinths and libraries were installed, as well as
fountains, summer dining rooms and even private
baths.
Windows became bigger, and walls were ornamented
with illusionistic pictures. In Pompeii, some families
bought out their neighbors to increase their living space
and create a grand house.

The Social Structure of the Roman
House
The Roman house was more than just a place to live.
It played an important role in Roman societal rituals.
In the Roman world, individuals were frequently
bound to others in a patron-client relationship
whereby a wealthier, better educated, and more
powerful patronus protected the interests of a cliens,
sometimes large numbers of them. The standing of a
man in Roman society often was measured by
clientele size. To be seen in public accompanied by a
crowd of clients was a badge of honour.
In this system, a plebeian (a member of the social
class that included small farmers, merchants, and
freed slaves) might be bound to a patrician;
regardless of rank, all clients were obligated to
support their patron in political campaigns and to
perform specific services on request, and to call on
and salute the patron at the patron’s home.

Wall Paintings/frescoes at Pompeii

In Roman architecture, an insula was a
kind of apartment building that housed
most of the urban citizen population of
ancient Rome, including ordinary people
of lower- or middle-class status and all
but the wealthiest from the upper-
middle class.
The traditional elite and the very
wealthy lived in a domus, a large single-
family residence, but the two kinds of
housing were intermingled in the city
and not segregated into separate
neighbourhoods.
The ground-level floor of the insula was
used for taberna, shops and businesses,
with the living space upstairs. Like
modern apartment buildings, an insula
might have a name, usually referring to
the owner of the building.

As well as geometric
patterns and designs,
Roman mosaics frequently
depicted divine characters
or mythological scenes
MOSAIC ART

Ulysses during his journey Neptune driving his chariot
Antioch Mosaic

The mosaic is a decoration made of colourful
chips of stone inserted into cement. This
tiling method took the empire by storm in
the late first century and the second century.
A hypocaust was an ancient Roman system
of underfloor heating, used to heat houses
with hot air. The hypocaust was an invention
which improved the hygiene and living
conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner
of modern central heating.

To a large extent, the types and styles of ancient Roman furniture followed
those of their Classical and Hellenistic Greek predecessors. Because of this it is
difficult to differentiate Roman forms from earlier Hellenistic ones in many
cases.
Knowledge of Roman furniture is derived mainly from depictions in frescoes
and representations in sculpture, along with actual pieces of furniture,
fragments, and fittings, several of which were preserved by the eruption of
Vesuvius in AD 79.

Early Roman art was
influenced by the art of Greece
and that of the
neighboring Etruscans.
The strengths of Roman
sculpture are in portraiture,
where they were less
concerned with the ideal than
the Greeks or Ancient
Egyptians, and produced very
characterful works, and in
narrative relief scenes.
SCULPTURE
The bronze Drunken Satyr

Bronze Hand of Constantine I
The "Capitoline Brutus"
3rd or 1st century BCE
Commodus dressed
as Hercules, c. 191
CE,
Augustus of Prima Porta, statue of
the emperor Augustus
The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture of a
she-wolf suckling twin human infants, inspired by
the legend of the founding of Rome

Battle of Pydna
Wedding procession of Neptune and Amphitrite, two details of the frieze of the “Altar of
Domitius Ahenobarbus,” from Rome

Census, sacrifice to Mars, and enrollment of troops, detail of the frieze of the “Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus,” from Rome

Rome
Forum of Augustus
Apart from the efforts in the old forum, Augustus decided to lay out a
brand new forum (10–2 BCE), which was located to the east of the Forum
of Caesar and along the city wall to the west. Since it was in a thickly
settled area, houses had to be purchased and cleared away.
One entered the forum from the south side, on axis with the temple,
which was placed at the far end of the forum. It seems Augustus was not
able to purchase all the land he needed, even though the area behind the
forum was one of the poorer sections of town. A large wall was erected
behind the building, to serve both as a firewall and to shield against the
squalor on the other side. To resolve the irregularity of the site,
the architect added porticoes to conceal back entrances to the right and
left of the temple.
The northern portico ends in a square room that contained a colossal
statue of Augustus. The temple was dedicated to Mars the Avenger (Mars
Ultor) in accordance with a vow made by Augustus before the Battle of
Philippi (42 BCE) in which Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius
Caesar, were killed. There are eight Corinthian columns in front and
along the flanks.
The plan is nearly square, measuring 38 by 40 meters. Omitting two rows
of columns created space for a generous entrance. Inside the temple, in
the apse, elevated five steps above the floor, were statues of Mars, Venus,
and the deified Julius Caesar. Forming a cross-axis are two large semi-
circular recess or plinths. Their purpose was to hold statues that tell the
narrative of Romulus and Aeneas, the great men of Rome’s founding. The
Augustan Empire was depicted as the culmination of this history, with
Augustus himself presiding over this portrait gallery in the form of a
bronze statue on a pedestal in the middle of the forum.
Apart from the religious ceremonies that took place here, the forum
became the starting point for magistrates departing for the provinces
and the repository of the triumphal banners. It was also the place for
senate meetings when reports of military successes were expected.

Rome
Colosseum
Colosseum has been one of Rome’s landmarks since the day it was
dedicated. Vespasian’s decision to build the Flavian Amphitheatre,
as it was known at the time, was very shrewd. The site chosen was
the artificial lake on the grounds of Nero’s Palace, which was
drained for the purpose. Vespasian reclaimed for the public the land
Nero had confiscated for his private pleasure and provided the
masses with the largest arena for gladiatorial combats and other
lavish spectacles that had ever been constructed.
The Colosseum takes its name, however, not from its size—it could
hold more than 50,000 spectators.
Romans flocked to amphitheatres all over the Empire to see
two main kinds of spectacles: gladiatorial combats and animal
hunts.
Gladiators were professional fighters, usually slaves who
had been purchased to train in gladiatorial schools as Hand-to-hand
combatants. Their owners, seeking to turn a profit, rented them out
for performances. Beginning with Domitian, however, all gladiators
who competed in the Colosseum were state-owned to ensure that
they could not be used as a private army to overthrow the
government.
Although every gladiator faced death every time he entered the
arena, some had long careers and achieved considerable fame.
Others, for example, criminals or captured enemies, were sent into
the amphitheatre without any training and without defensive
weapons. Those “games” were a form of capital punishment
coupled with entertainment for the masses.

THE COLOSSEUM
The Colosseum was the
largest and most
important amphitheatre
in the world, and the
kinds of spectacles
staged there were
costlier and more
impressive than those
held anywhere else.
There are even accounts
of the Colosseum
being flooded so that
naval battles could be
staged before an
audience of tens of
thousands, although
some scholars have
doubted that the arena
could be made
watertight or that
ships could manoeuvre
in the space available.

Forum of Trajan
Forum of Trajan, Rome, 112AD. Restored view
1) Temple of Trajan,
2) Column of Trajan,
3) library,
4) Basilica Ulpia,
5) forum,
6) equestrian statue of Trajan.

Rome
Pantheon
Rome’s temple to all gods.
Work began on the third Pantheon soon
after Hadrian became emperor and was
probably completed by 125.
Hadrian nonetheless declined to affix his
own name to the building, preferring to
honour Agrippa by retaining the
temple’s original dedication on the
facade
M.AGRIPPA. L.F.COS.TERTIVM.FECIT
(Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius,
consul for the third time, built it).
The Pantheon is not only one of the
best-preserved buildings of antiquity
but also one of the most influential
designs in architectural history. It
reveals the full potential of concrete,
both as a building material and as a
means for shaping architectural space.

Below the dome, much of the original marble
veneer of the walls, niches, and floor has
survived Visitors to the Pantheon can get a
sense, as almost nowhere else, of how
magnificent the interiors of Roman concrete
buildings could be.
But despite the luxurious skin of the
Pantheon’s interior, the sense experienced on
first entering the structure is not the weight of
the enclosing walls but the space they enclose.
Roman architects were the first to conceive of
architecture in terms of units of space that 12-
20 Dome of the Pantheon,
The Pantheon’s interior is a single unified, self-
sufficient whole, uninterrupted by supporting
solids.
It encloses visitors without imprisoning them,
opening through the oculus to the drifting
clouds, the blue sky, the sun, and the gods. In
this space, the architect used light not merely
to illuminate the darkness but to create drama
and underscore the interior shape’s
symbolism.
On a sunny day, the light that passes through
the oculus forms a circular beam, a disk of light
that moves across the coffered dome in the
course of the day as the sun moves across the
sky itself escaping from the noise and torrid
heat of a Roman summer day into the
Pantheon’s cool, calm, and mystical immensity
is an experience almost impossible to describe
verbally.

Extremely hard and durable
basalt was employed in the
mix for the foundations. The
recipe was gradually
modified until, at the top of
the dome, featherweight
pumice replaced stones to
lighten the load. The dome’s
thickness also decreases as it
nears the 30-foot-diameter
oculus, the only light source
for the interior.
The dome’s weight was
lessened, without weakening
its structure, through the use
of coffers, which had been
employed long before. The
coffers further reduced the
dome’s mass and provided a
handsome pattern of squares
within the vast circle.
Renaissance drawings
suggest that each coffer
once had a glistening gilded-
bronze rosette at its centre,
enhancing the dome’s
symbolism as the starry
heavens.

The Roman emperor was the
ruler of the Roman State during
the imperial period (starting in
27 BC). The emperors used a
variety of different titles
throughout history. Often when
a given Roman is described as
becoming "emperor" in English,
it reflects his taking of the title
Augustus or Caesar. Another
title often used was imperator,
originally a military honorific.
Early Emperors also used the
title princeps. Emperors
frequently amassed Republican
titles, notably princeps
Senatus, consul and Pontifex
Maximus.
• Augustus
• Tiberius
• Caligula
• Claudius
• Nero
• Galba
• Vespasian
• Titus
• Domitian
• Nerva
• Trajan
• Hadrian
• Marcus Aurelius
• Commodus
• Diocletian
• Maximian
• Constantine the Great
• Valens
• Theodosius the Great
• Romulus Augustulus

Introduction to Roman Architecture

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (17)

Similar to Introduction to Roman Architecture (20)

More from Amal Shah (10)

Recently uploaded (20)

Introduction to Roman Architecture