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The Architecture of Ancient Rome: An illustrated guide to the glorious classical heritage of the Roman Empire
The Romans built lavishly across their empire, founding or refounding magnificent cities like Carthage and Petra. Discover the wonders of Roman architecture, from the city of Rome itself to Palmyra and Pompeii.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published May 16, 2013
18 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Rodgers
56 books9 followersNigel Rodgers, who has a degree in history and history of art from Cambridge University, has written widely on history, philosophy and art. (Barnes and Noble)
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August 17, 2022
However, Rome, unlike ancient Alexandria or Antioch- or Paris or Washington today - was never a city of great avenues. Rather, it developed as an accumulation of tight-packed buildings and narrow streets punctuated by such immense monuments as the Colosseum or by noble colonnaded open spaces such as the Forum of Trajan.
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According to Suetonius, Augustus claimed he had "found Rome of brick and left it in marble", boasting that he had restored 82 temples in 28BC alone … Known as the first Roman emperor, Augustus took pains to seem no more than princeps to his contemporaries.
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The chief characteristic of Roman architecture from a relatively early date was its use of vaults, arches and domes. The buildings so created, especially during Nero's reign (AD54-68) and after, were still often adorned by classically proportioned columns, but they were not usually structurally dependent on such pillars. Instead, vaults, arches and domes transmitted their weight to the supporting walls.
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Vitruvius gave stringent requirements for the (ideal) architect. He was expected to be "literate, a skilled draughtsman and good at geometry, well-versed in history and philosophy, knowledgeable about music, medicine and law, with experience in astronomy”.
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Few monuments are more characteristically Roman than the freestanding monumental triumphal arches that they built, usually to celebrate military or political triumphs. Although the Romans did not invent the arch, they were the first to use it to commemorate such events ceremonially … In its essence a triumphal arch is a vaulted passageway apparently, but not in reality, supported on pilasters with a decorated frieze (sculpted entablature) and an attic carrying statues, trophies and, in ancient Rome, inscriptions.
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The early Roman domus (house, from which we derive our word domestic) was a simple, one- or two-storeyed building with rooms set around an atrium, a central hall open to the sky. An impluvium (pool) in its centre caught rainwater. This type of domus, called the Italic house, was derived partly from Etruscan originals. Another larger courtyard, the peristyle, was increasingly added to the domus in the later Republic. Although both courts grew more grandly colonnaded and decorated, a domus typically had mere slits for windows. Often wholly windowless rooms opened off the atrium to the outer world, for security rather than privacy.
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According to Suetonius, Augustus claimed he had "found Rome of brick and left it in marble", boasting that he had restored 82 temples in 28BC alone … Known as the first Roman emperor, Augustus took pains to seem no more than princeps to his contemporaries.
------------------------------
The chief characteristic of Roman architecture from a relatively early date was its use of vaults, arches and domes. The buildings so created, especially during Nero's reign (AD54-68) and after, were still often adorned by classically proportioned columns, but they were not usually structurally dependent on such pillars. Instead, vaults, arches and domes transmitted their weight to the supporting walls.
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Vitruvius gave stringent requirements for the (ideal) architect. He was expected to be "literate, a skilled draughtsman and good at geometry, well-versed in history and philosophy, knowledgeable about music, medicine and law, with experience in astronomy”.
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Few monuments are more characteristically Roman than the freestanding monumental triumphal arches that they built, usually to celebrate military or political triumphs. Although the Romans did not invent the arch, they were the first to use it to commemorate such events ceremonially … In its essence a triumphal arch is a vaulted passageway apparently, but not in reality, supported on pilasters with a decorated frieze (sculpted entablature) and an attic carrying statues, trophies and, in ancient Rome, inscriptions.
------------------------------
The early Roman domus (house, from which we derive our word domestic) was a simple, one- or two-storeyed building with rooms set around an atrium, a central hall open to the sky. An impluvium (pool) in its centre caught rainwater. This type of domus, called the Italic house, was derived partly from Etruscan originals. Another larger courtyard, the peristyle, was increasingly added to the domus in the later Republic. Although both courts grew more grandly colonnaded and decorated, a domus typically had mere slits for windows. Often wholly windowless rooms opened off the atrium to the outer world, for security rather than privacy.
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