ROMAN

ARCHITECTURE
GROUP 4
ARQUISOLA, Deo Francis
EXCONDE, Mae Gelline
MARQUEZ, Michelle
NISOLA, Jessabelle
OLAVE, Natascha Roise
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE

• Followed the Etruscan, was a composite style derived by the union of

the Greek and Etruscan styles.
• Flourished in the Roman Republic and even more so under the
empire, when the great majority of surviving buildings were
constructed. It used new materials, particularly concrete, and newer
technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that
were typically strong and well engineered.
 GEOGRAPHICAL
• Around the center of Italian Peninsula
• Many parts of Italy are mountainous
• Unlike the Greece: the whole land is not divided up into little valleys.
: Romans are not sea-fairing peoples.
• Roman power can be built up by a gradual absorption of small states.
 GEOLIGICAL
• Italy differs from Greek; most of the building material is marble.
• In Italy (Materials): 1. Marble 3. Stone
2. Terra-cotta 4. Brick
• In Rome (Materials) :
• 1. Travertine 3. Peperino 5.Excellent Sand and Gravel

2. Tufa 4. Lava and Pozzolana

• Walls were generally formed of concrete and were faced in a decorative
way with brick, stone, alabasters, porphyries or marble of all kinds.

• Roman Architecture known in the world as influenced naturally by the

materials.

• Favorite material : Brick, Stone casing or bonding.

CLIMATE
• Central Italy is more genial and sunny : while the south is almost
tropical.
RELIGION
• Polytheistic
- (polytheistic religious system) they believed in
many different gods.
SOCIAL CLASSES
• Ancestry (Partitian or plebian)
• Census Rank
• Noble
• Citizenship
HISTORICAL
• The foundation of Rome is of Uncertain date, but is generally taken at
B.C. 750.
• Engaged in many wars, conquering several Etruscan cities, but was
defeated in B.C. 390.
• Roman conquest of Italy began at B.C. 343.
• First Punic war (B.C. 264 – 241) against carthage, resulted in Sicily
• Sicily – first roman province.
• The second Punic war (B.C. 218 – 201) was the most severe struggle.
• Third Punic war (B.C. 149 – 146) ended in the total destruction of
carthage.
• Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul in B.C. 59 made the Rhine and the English
channel is northern boundaries.
• Pompey’s defeat at pharsalia, Julius Caesar remain without arrival but
was murdered in B.C. 44.
• The Triumvirate : Marcus Antonius, Caius Octavius and Marcus
Aemilius, Lepidus ; opposed to Brutus and Cassius.
• Antony at Aktion, Augustus Caesar was made emperor B.C. 27 and
governed till his death A.D. 41.
• The Augustan age was one of those great eras in the world history.
• Architecture then fell into complete decay until the vigorous effort of
Constantine (A.D. 306 – 337).
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• Roman adopted the columnar and trabeated style of the greeks, and
joined to it the arch, the vault and the dome (borrowed from
Etruscans).
• Union of beam and arch is the key note of the style in its earliest
development.
ETRUSCANS
• Etruscan, member of an ancient people of Etruria, Italy, between the
Tiber and Arno rivers west and south of the Apennines, whose urban
civilization reached its height in the 6th century BCE. Many features
of Etruscan culture were adopted by the Romans, their successors to
power in the peninsula.
ETRUSCAN TEMPLE
PARTS OF ETRUSCAN TEMPLE
• A cella or naos is the inner chamber of temple in
classical architecture.
• Podium-the “foot,” or base of a structure, such as a raised pedestal or
base, a low wall supporting columns, or the structurally or
decoratively emphasized lowest portion of a wall.
• Anta- is an architectural term describing the posts and pillars on
either side of a doorway and entrance of a temple.
CEMETERY
CERVETERI

-was an important Etruscan town which flourished between the 7th and
4th century BCE.
-located in northern Lazio in the province of Rome, and is commonly
thought to be one of the city states of the Etruscan League. One of the
most impressive sites in Cerveteri is the Necropoli della Banditaccia .
 TARQUINIA

• Tarquinia is a town located on the western coast of central Italy which was
an important Etruscan and then Roman settlement.
• It is famous today as the site of around 200 Etruscan tombs which were rich
in artefacts and decorated with magnificent wall paintings showing lively
scenes from mythology and Etruscan everyday life.
TUSCAN ORDER
It is influenced by the Doric order, but with un-fluted columns and a simpler entablature
with no triglyphs.

• Cymatium – molding appears at the top of the cornice and made of the s-shaped cyma,
combining a concave cavetto with a convex ovolo.
• Corona – Wide, sprung molding that is used at the junction of an interior wall and
ceiling. General term for any molding at the top or "crowning" an architectural element.
• Bed mold – Narrow molding used at the junction of a wall and ceiling. Bed moldings can
be either sprung or plain.
• Taenia – a small "fillet" molding near the top of the architrave.
• Trachelium – that part of the necking between the hypotrachelium and the capital of a
classic column.
• Hypotrachelium – any member between the capital and the shaft of a classical column.
• Abacus – is a flat slab forming the uppermost member or division of the
capital of a column.
• Echinus – Similar to the ovolo molding and found beneath the abacus of
the Doric capital or decorated with the egg-and-dart pattern below the
Ionic capital.
• Necking – continuation of the shaft.
• Astragal – Semi-circular molding attached to one of a pair of doors to cover
the gap where they meet.
• Conge – a concave decorative moulding, a cove surmounting a vertical
surface.
• Fillet – Small, flat band separating two surfaces, or between the flutes of a
column.
• Torus – Convex, semi-circular molding, larger than an astragal, often at the
base of a column, which may be enriched with leaves or plaiting.
• Plinth – smooth rounded capital, and no separate base.
COMPOSITE ORDER
is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with
the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order.
• Cornice – uppermost part of the entablature, the most distinct
section due to its increased embellishments.
• Frieze – typically featured a continuous panel of sculpted
ornamentation.
• Architrave – regards to detail, ranged in design – from generally plain
designs to extravagant ornamentations.
• Acanthus leaves – surrounding the capital.
AMPHITHEATRE
• Characteristic roman buildings, found in every important settlement,
and in addition to their normal purposes were used for naval
exhibitions. The modern Spanish bull rings to some degree give an
idea of the arrangement and uses of roman amphitheaters. These are
good exponents of the character and life of the romans, who had
greater love for mortal combats, which were considered to be a good
training for a nation of warriors, than for the tame mimicry of the
stage.
The Modern Spanish Bull Ring
FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE
FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE
• Commenced by Vespasian in A.D. 70, and completed by Domitian in
A.D 82, is the most important example.
• Located in Pozzuoli, is the third largest roman amphitheater in Italy.
• A large ellipsoid arena built in the first Century under the roman
emperors of the Flavian dynasty.
PARTS OF FLAVIAN THEATRE
 THEATRES
• The design of Greek theatres was adapted to suit roman requirements.
• Theatre of ancient Rome refers to the time period of theatrical practice
and performance in Rome beginning in the 4th century B.C., following
the state’s transition from monarchy to republic. Theatre of the era is
generally separated into the genres of tragedy and comedy.
• theatre would represent an important aspect of Roman society because
it would come to function as the primary means through which the
Roman people could express their political emotions during the
republican and imperial periods of Rome.
• The auditorium, instead of being rather more than a semicircle as in
the Greek theatres, was here restricted to a semicircle, and consisted
to tiers of seats one above the other, with wide passages and staircases
communicating with the external porticos on each story. At the ground
level, separating the auditorium of sloping seats from the stage, was a
semicircular are which was occupied by the senators, and which in its
original circular plan in Greek theatres was occupied by the chorus. The
stage thus becoming more important, was raised considerably and
treated with great richness, and became connected more completely
with the auditorium. Theatres were still constructed on the slope of a
hill, but where the site did not allow of this they were, by means od the
new art of vaulting, constructed tier connecting corridors, in which the
people might retreat in case of sudden showers.
 THEATRE AT ORANGE
• one of the best preserved of all
Roman theatres, and served the
Roman colony of which was founded
in 40 BC. Playing a major role in the
life of the citizens, who spent a large
part of their free time there, the
theatre was seen by the Roman
authorities not only as a means of
spreading Roman culture to the
colonies, but also as a way of
distracting them from all political
activities.
THEATRE OF MARCELLUS
Is the only existing example
of a theatre in that city. The
remains consist of the
arcading, two stories high, of
the semicircular auditorium,
the façade of which was
ornamented with the Tuscan
order and the ionic order
superimposed.
THEATRE OF HERODES
ATTICUS, ATHENS
were built for musical
contests and this ancient
stone theatre has gone on to
host some of the world’s best
musical performances during
the last 60 years since its
modern day re-opening,
including Nana Mouskouri,
Luciano Pavarotti and Frank
Sinatra to name a few.
UTILITARIAN
THERMAE
• Great Public Baths are quite as characteristic of Roman civilization.
• The thermae or Baths, Temples, Amphitheatres, Aqueducts, Bridges,
Tombs, Basilicas, and Fora, are all monuments of roman greatness.
• Romans are more economical use of materials, they inaugurated the
use of concrete.
• The craftmanship was perfectly simple: required for mixing the
materials.
• Romans employed the slaves of the district, subjects liable to statute
labour, or even the roman armies.
3 MAIN PARTS
1. Great Central Block- Planned for the baths proper.
2. A Large Open Space- Surrounded the central block; also
used for varius athletic exercises.
3. An Outer Ring of Apartments- Consisted of lecture rooms
for the hearing of discourses.
Parts of thermae
• Apodyterium or apodyteria – rooms for undressing
• Laconicum or sudatorium – the hottest room, usually a circular domed apartment.
• Tepedarium – warm room for the bathers to rest in.
• Frigidarium – cool room, usually containing a cold swimming bath –
“piscina”.
• Unctarium – rooms for oils, pomades or ointments, where the “aliptae” anointed the
bathers and performed the rubbing down, shampooing with the “strigillus” or craper,
oiling and sanding the body.
• Natation – a swimming pool in an ancient roman bath house.
• polaestra –
• Sudatorium – a steam or hot air room in a roman bath house.
• Ephebeum –
• Calidarium- hot room, usually containing a warm water bath.
BATHS OF CARACALLA
• the second largest baths
complex in ancient Rome
• The water supply and
drainage system, in
particular, required careful
planning to ensure an
adequate flow to and from
the numerous hot and
cold basins: it has been
calculated that the baths
used 15-20,000 cubic
meters of water per day.
BATHS OF TRAJAN
• The Baths of Trajan
were a massive
thermae, a bathing
and leisure complex.
• The architect of the
complex is said to be
Apollodorus of
Damascus.
BRIDGES
The chief characteristics of roman bridges were
solidity and simplicity, with a view to their
withstanding the ravages of time and the
elements.
BRIDGE OF REMINI

the best preserved

in Italy and has five
arches.
2 types of Roman Bridges in Spain
• Many-arched type
- As exemplified in the extreme length of the bridges at
cordova and alcantara.

• Single-arched type
- Which the romantic sweep of the bridge to Toledo,
spanning the rocky valley of the tagus, is the best example.
 Aqueduct of Segovia
• was built during the second half of the 1st century A.D.
under the rule of the Roman Empire and supplied water
from the Frío River to the city into the 20th century.
• The pillars and arches of its tall, two-story arcades are
made of solid blocks of stone fit closely together with little
or no mortar, and the lower arches alternate in height
according to the structure’s adaptation to the contours of
the land.
AQUEDUCT OF SEGOVIA
 PONT DU GARD
• The Finest existing Example.
• the bridge is constructed out of soft yellow
limestone blocks, taken from a nearby quarry that
borders the river. The highest part of the structure is
made out of breeze blocks joined together with
mortar. It is topped by a device designed to bear the
water channel, whose stone slabs are covered with
calcium deposits.
ROMAN WALLS
OPUS INCERTUM
OPUS RETICULATUM
OPUS MIXTUM
OPUS TESTACIUM
OPUS QUADRATUM
WAGON VAULT

• The simplest kind of vault is the

barrel vault, which is generally
semicircular in shape.
• Headed vault resting on two
sides of the covered rectangle
was used in apartments whose
walls were sufficiently thick.
COPULA
- It is also called hemispherical domes.
- were used for covering circular structures as in the pantheon. Semi-
domes were employed for the exedrae and other recesses.
EXEDRAE
a semicircular architectural recess, often
crowned by a semi-dome, which is
sometimes set into a building's façade or
is free-standing.

An exedra may also be expressed by a

curved break in a colonnade, perhaps
with a semicircular seat.
 PANTHEON

The circular portion, known as the ROTUNDA, occupies the site of an older
umcovered piazza, used as a “nymphaeum”, or place for plants, flowers, and
running water, the level of its floor being 8 feet be;ow the present level.
St. Peter’s Basilica
• One of the holiest temples for Christendom and one of the largest
churches in the world. Besides, it is where the Pope presides many
liturgies all year round.

• The basilica was called St Peter’s after one of Jesus’s twelve disciples
known as Saint Peter, who became one of the founders of the
Catholic Church and was executed in Rome and buried where the
Basilica now stands.
BUTTRESS
Masonry projecting from a wall provided to give additional
strength to the same and also to resist the thrust of the roof or wall
especially when concentrated at any one point.
Pinnacle
• Roman buttress placed on top of a spur buttress to help by their
weight drive the oblique thrust more steeply down to earth
 FORUM
• Forum of trajan
– The Forum of Trajan was the last and largest of the Imperial Forums that
formed the political and governmental center of the Roman Empire. The complex
consisted of an enormous basilica, two libraries, markets and a large temple.
• Roman forum
– The Roman Forum, known as Forum Romanum, it is the oldest roman
forum and most important in the city. It was a site located at the center of the
ancient city of Rome and the location of important religious, political and
social activities. Historians believe people first began publicly meeting in the
open-air Forum around 500 B.C., when the Roman Republic was founded.
MOSAIC
ROMAN MOSAIC
• a piece of art created by assembling small pieces of colored glass,
ceramic, stone, or other materials into an image. Mosaics became a
very popular art form during the time of the Roman Empire, although
they were used in Italy both before and after this period. Roman
mosaics appeared on floors in houses as early as the 2nd century BCE.
Romans used mosaics to decorate floors and walls in homes and
temples. Roman mosaics, especially floor mosaics, are found all
across what was once the Roman Empire, which indicates how
popular the art form was back then.
TEMPLES
• Masion caree, Nimes
a “square house” is an ancient
Roman temple located in Nîmes in southern
France. Nîmes was founded as a Roman
colony (Colonia Nemausus) during the first
century B.C.E. The Maison Carrée is an
extremely well preserved ancient Roman
building and represents a nearly textbook
example of a Roman temple as described by
the architectural writer Vitruvius. It was
erected during the reign of Hadrian, and the
best preserved Roman temple in existence.
TEMPLE OF VESTA, ROME
• It was a circular peripteral with
eighteen columns surrounding a cella,
and resting on a podium 10 feet high.
Among the remains lately found are
some fragments of the columns
having fillets for fitting metal screens
between the shafts.
TEMPLE OF VESTA, TIVOLI
• Another circular peripteral example,
having a cella 24 feet in diameter,
surrounded by a peristyle of
eighteen Corinthian columns, 23 feet
6 inches high, resting on a podium.
CIRCUSES
• Circus Maxentius
- Also known as circus of Romulus,
was built by Maxentius in A.D. 311.
although only part of it now remains,
it is the most perfect example of a
roman circus existing. It consisted of
a long open circular-ended arena
with a “spina” along its axis.
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES
• ARCH OF TITUS
- Each side of the arch are semi- engaged columns of the
composite order, being the earliest known examples, the three quarter
columns occur at the angles.
• ARCH OF CONSTANTINE
- It was built in honour of Constantine’s victory over Maxentius, and is
one of the best proportioned examples.
VILLA
• HADRIAN’S VILLA
- near Tivoli , resembled a
palace in its extent, occupying an area
of about seven square miles. Besides
the imperial apartments it was
surrounded by terraces, peristyles,
palestra, theatres, a gymnasium and
the thermae.
DOMUS
• DOMUS AGUSTANA
the private residence of the Emperors. Two levels have
been necessary to adapt the whole complex to the profile of the hill.
On the side of the Circus Maximus, on the lower level, the façade
showed a curved line. On the picture, in the middle, you can see the
upper peristyle , that one could cross on a bridge.
PARTS
• ATRIUM - the formal entrance hall.
• PARISTYLE – a small garden often surrounded by a columned passage, the
model of the medieval cloister.
• COMPLUVIUM- The roof over atrium which was purposely slanted to drain
rain water into the impluvium pool. This was generally sloped inwards but
many designs have the roofs sloping the opposite direction away from the
centre opening.
• IMPLUVIUM - basically a drain pool, a shallow rectangular sunken portion of
the Atrium to gather rainwater, which drained into an underground cistern.
The impluvium was often lined with marble, and around which usually was a
floor of small mosaic.
• FAUCAS - These were similar in design and function of the vestibulum but
were found deeper into the domus. Separated by the length of another
room, entry to a different portion of the residence was accessed by these
passageways which would now be called halls or hallways.
• TRICILINIUM - The Roman dining room. The area had three couches,
klinai, on three sides of a low square table.
• CUBICULUM - Bedroom. The floor mosaics of the cubiculum often marked
out a rectangle where the bed should be placed.
• TABLINIUM - Between the atrium and the peristyle was the tablinum, an
office of sorts for the dominus, who would receive his clients for the
morning salutatio.
• House of Pansa
this mas be taken as a good type of domus or ordinary private
house. It was surrounded by streets on three sides, the garden occupying
the fourth, and besides the house proper, consisted of shops, bakeries, and
three smaller houses.
INSULAE
Many- storied tenement.
• Pompeii
a Graeco-roman city, the remains which have been excavated are
believed to differ but slightly from the later Greek dwellings.
A. Fresco painting - method of painting water-based pigments on freshly
applied plaster, usually on wall surfaces.
PARTS OF ARCH
• Voussoirs – Blocks; Each voussoir must be precisely cut so that it presses
firmly against the surface of neighbouring blocks and conducts loads
uniformly.
• Springer – an architectural term for the lowest voussoir on each side of
an arch. Since it is the bottom-most element of the arch, it is where the
arch support terminates at the responds.
• Keystone – The central voussoir. The point from which the arch rises
from its vertical supports is known as the spring, or springing line.
• Spandrel – space between two arches or between an arch and a
rectangular enclosure.
• Pier – an upright support for a structure or superstructure such as an
arch or bridge. Sections of structural walls between openings can
function as piers.
ROMAN MOULDINGS
ROMAN MOULDINGS
• Fillet – small, flat band separating two surfaces, or between the flutes of a
column.
• Cavetto - a concave moulding with a regular curved profile that is part of a
circle, widely used in architecture as well as furniture, picture frames,
metalwork and other decorative arts.
• Scotia - it is similar to the cavetto but has a deeper concavity partially
receding beyond the face of the general surface that it ornaments.
• Ovolo - a convex molding forming or approximating in section a quarter of
a circle or ellipse.
• Astragal – semi –circular molding attached to one of a pair of doors to
cover the gap where they meet.
• Cyma reversa – it is also called ogee. a projecting molding, consists essentially of
a cavetto above an ovolo, forming in profile one continuous double curve, often
used as a crowning member, in which case it is sometimes known as a cymatium.
• Dentils - one of a series of closely spaced, rectangular blocks that form a
molding. Dentil molding usually projects below the cornice, along the roof line of
a building.
• Corona - the term applied to the upper projecting part of a cornice, between the
crowning moulding or cyma and the lower edge or soffit of the projection, its
principal purpose is to shed rain water beyond the face of the wall.
• Hawk beak – its molding is essentially similar to the cyma reversa, except that
the upper convexity is separated from the lower concavity by a sharp edge.
• Torus – convex, semi- circular molding, larger than an astragal, often at the base
of a column, which may be enriched with leaves or plaiting.
Templum
• a consecrated area rather than an edifice. It was defined by the
augurs as a suitable spot for taking the auguries, divination based on
the observation of the flight of birds. Such an area was normally
rectangular in shape and aligned with the four cardinal points.
 Cloaca Maxima
• ancient Roman sewer, one of the oldest
monuments in the Roman Forum.
• an open channel constructed in the 6th
century bc by lining an existing stream bed
with stone, it was enclosed, beginning in
the 3rd century bc, with a stone barrel
(semicircular) vault. Its primary function
was to carry off storm water from the
Forum district to the Tiber, but in Imperial
times large public baths and latrines were
connected to it. Much of its original
masonry has been replaced by concrete.
 Large theatre pompeii
• The theatre was the place where performances of comedies and tragedies
were held. It included a semi-circular cavea from which led the series of
steps divided into sections on which the spectators sat.
 Theatre of Marcellus, Rome
• The theatre of Marcellus was the largest and most important theatre in
Rome and completed in the late 1st century BCE during the reign of
Augustus. The architecture of the theatre would become a standard feature
of theatres across the empire and influence the façades of such iconic
buildings as the Colosseum.
Tomb of Caecilia Metella, Rome
• It has a podium 100 feet square,
supporting a circular mass 94 feet in
diameter, probably surmounted by a
conical roof. The tomb-chamber was
in the interior, and the whole was
faced with travertine and crowned by
an entablature, the frieze of which is
carved with ox-skulls and festoons.
Rostral Column
• A type of memorial which, in the time
of the emperors, was numerous, were
erected to celebrate naval victories.
Rostra, or prows of ships captured
after a naval victory, were used in
their ornamentations, and a recital of
the deeds which led to their erection
was carved upon them.
Column of Trajan, Rome

• Was erected in connection with his

basilica and stood in an open court
with galleries around at different
levels, from which the bas-reliefs on
its shaft could be viewed.
Diocletian Palace
• Formed a greater part of part of the
medieval town of spalato, and has
thus been called a city in the house.
It may be described as a royal
country house, or better, perhaps,
as a chateau by the sea.