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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I: In 6 cent. B.C. Rome increased
Roman Architecture dominance.
By: Ar. Chris Luna, uap  Carthage (under Hannibal Barca) was
defeated by Rome & it became a Roman
GENERAL INFLUENCES province.
 Hannibal Barca was known for his clever
Geographical war tactics & was considered to be ancient
Rome's nightmare & greatest enemy of all
The central and commanding position of Italy in time.
the Mediterranean enabled Rome to act as  A professional army gave rise to a
intermediary in spreading art & civilization over succession of military dictatorship led by
Europe, W. Asia & N. Africa. Julius Caesar.
 After Julius Caesar‘s assassination, he was
The methods adopted by Rome for extending succeeded by Gaius Octavius (his
her influence are through conquest not through nephew), the first ruler of the Roman
colonization. Empire.
 His reorganization of the Roman World into
an Empire gave him the title ―Imperator‖ &
―Augustus‖.
 The Augustan Age was regarded as a
Golden Age.
 Pax Romana was established in celebration
of Rome‘s recovery.

Geological

 Terra-cotta
 Brick
 Marble
 Tufa (soft volcanic stone)
 Peperino (hard limestone)

Roman Concrete

Pozzolana (volcanic earth) + Stone / Brick

rubble = Concrete was the favorite material

Climatic
N. Italy – temperate
C. Italy - genial & sunny
S. Italy - tropical
 Octavius was later succeeded by Hadrian
Historical & Social nd
whose reign was also regarded as the 2
Golden Age.
 In early times, Etruria, in west central Italy
 Constantine rose into power.
was occupied by the Etruscans.
Two of his acts were:
 Rome was under Etruscan domination.
1. He accepted christianity as a religion
equal to other religions

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 2. He chose Byzantium as the HQ of the Wedge -aggressive formation used to 'crack
empire & later inaugurated as open' enemy lines.
Constantinopolis.

Roman Battle Tactics

Cantabrian Circle - a group of horse archers or

mounted javelin throwers would form a single-
file rotating circle.

Skirmishing formation - is a widely-spaced line

giving enough room for the soldiers to move.

Testudo - legionaries became virtually

invulnerable to arrows or objects dropped from
defensive walls.

Repel Cavalry - front rank formed a tight wall of

shields with their pila protruding to form a line of
spearheads ahead of the wall.

Phalanx - first few ranks of soldiers would

project their spears out over the first rank of
shields.

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Orb - defensive formation in the shape of a ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
complete circle which could be taken by a unit
which had become detached from the army's True radiating arch
main body.

The tuscan order was a simpler version of the

Doric, has an unfluted shaft and a simplified
base, capital, and entablature.

Flanking – side attack.

Religious
Chief Roman Gods acquired similar attributes to
those of the Greeks.

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Atrium-type of house Etruscan Temple

Funeral cells and niches along the walls

Walled City of Falerii Novi

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Cloaca Maxima was one of the earliest sewage ETRUSCAN TOMB ARCHITECTURE
systems
Necropolis, Cerveteri is an ancient Etruscan
burial city.

Arch of Augustus, Perugia, Italy is the main

entrance to this historic city.

Underground Etruscan Tombs, Tarquinia

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Tomb Interiors ROMAN ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

Etruscan Tombs, Tarquinia are renowned for Methods of construction:

their vivid wall paintings. 1. Columnar & trabeated

2. Arcuated

3. Vaulted
EXAMPLES OF ETRUSCAN ARCHITECTURE

Temple of Jupiter, Capitolinus, Rome

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Architectural Comparison between Roman and
Greek:

Roman:
 The arch was supported on piers not on
columns
 The Romans employed the columns as
decorative features
 Roman buildings were of several storeys
 The architectural aims of the Romans were
essentially utilitarian Ionic
Greek:
 The arch was not used constructively
 The Greeks employed the columns as
constructive elements
 Greek buildings were of one-storey
 The Greeks took special regard to the
outward effects of buildings

The Composite Order was developed

combining the volutes of the ionic and the
acanthus of the Corinthian.
Corinthian

Roman:

Tuscan

The 5 Orders of Architecture

Greek:

Doric Composite

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Roman Wall Masonry Opus Testaceum – brick facing with pyramidal
ends.
Opus Quadratum – rectangular & square
blocks of stones in regular ashlar courses.

Opus Incertum – small rough stones with

pyramidal ends set irregularly in mortar.

Opus Mixtum – alternation of courses of bricks

& small squared stones

Opus Reticulatum – square stones set

diagonally, forming a net-like pattern.

Roman Arches and Vaults

Concrete allowed the Romans to build vaults of
a magnitude never equaled until the production
th
of steel in the 19 century.
Concrete had the advantage over stone:
 can be accommodated to complicated plan
forms
 has greater cohesion
 economical
 easier to use than stone-cutting

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Arch Terminology Types of Roman Vaults

1. Semi-Circular or Barrel or Wagon-Headed

or Tunnel Vault – borne throughout its length
on the two parallel walls of a rectangular plan.

 Keystone – the top stone of the arch,

and the most important one, as without
this final stone the arch would fall apart 2. Cross Vault – formed of 2 semi-circular
not being able to transpose the forces in vaults of equal span.
a lateral direction.
 Extrados – the exterior curve line of the
arch.
 Intrados – the interior curve line of the
arch.
 Rise – the distance between the ground
and the highest point of the arch.
 Span – the distance between the two
sides of the arch.
 Voussoir Stone – wedge shaped stone
used to build the arch.

3. Semi-Dome – used over semi- circular

structures

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4. Hemispherical Dome – used over circular Opus Spicatum produced the herringbone or
structures chevron pattern.

Concrete vaults were often lightened by ecesses

or coffers (lacunaria) on the underside.

Marble Mosaic Patterns

Opus Vermiculatum (small pieces of tiles)
produced pictorial patterns
Buttress
A buttress is a 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.

Types of Roman Buttresses

1. Niche / Hemicycle – for retaining earth

Opus Sectile (cut work) produced geometrical

patterns.

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2. Spur Buttress – used where large openings Imperial Forums – consist of a series of
for doors and windows were needed. monumental public squares.

3. Pinnacle Buttress – placed on top of a spur

buttress to help by their weight drive the
oblique thrust more steeply down to earth

Forum Romanum – oldest & the most important

in the city.

Examples:

A. FORUM – the agora counterpart in Greek is a

central open space used as a meeting place,
market or political demonstrations.
Forum of Trajan was the largest of the forums,
built by Apollodorus of Damascus.

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This building, standing for more than 1,800 Temple of Vespasian
years was once a bustling business center. by Domitian

Temple of Vespasian is known for its ornate

entablature.
B. RECTANGULAR TEMPLES

 Roman temples are a mixture of Greek &

Etruscan types.
 The typical prostyle portico & podium were
Etruscan in type while they resembled the
Greek in many respects.
 No particular orientation of temples
compared to the Greek‘s facing east &
Etruscan‘s facing south.

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Temple of Venus & Rome was designed for Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek, Lebanon was
Hadrian by Apollodorus of Damascus. commenced by Antoninus Pius.

Temple of Mars Ultor, Rome was dedicated to

Mars by Augustus to avenge the death of
Caesar. Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek

C. CIRCULAR TEMPLES

Maison Carree, Nimes is the best preserved

Roman temple.

The Pantheon is the most perfectly preserved

ancient Roman temple

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 Temple of Vesta, Rome was the most sacred
shrine in the Imperial city & contained the holy
fire of Vesta.

Temple of Venus, Baalbek has a curved

inward entablature as its decorative feature.
The Rotunda was erected by Hadrian & the
Temple by Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus.

Oculus (Eye)
It is 30‘ ø & it‘s the largest dome built without
reinforcement.

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D. BASILICA – hall of justice & commercial
exchange. Their central position indicates the
importance of law & business in Old Rome.
The Basilica of Trajan (Basilica Ulpia), the
largest in Rome, was designed by Apollodorus.
It had no known religious function & was
dedicated to the administration of justice,
commerce and the presence of the emperor.
The Basilica of Trajan had a great central nave,
4 side aisles with clerestory windows & a space
divided by rows of columns and two semicircular
apse.
The columns and the walls were of precious
marbles; the 50 meter high roof was covered by
gilded bronze tiles.
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Basilica of Constantine & Maxentius has
immense groined vaults in 3 compartments.
E. THERMAE
Bathing has played an important role in the life
of the ancient Rome, as significant part of its
culture and its society.
Bathing represented a ―social‖ activity,
conducted mostly in the public baths called
thermae.
Thermaes were not just a place for bathing, but
the people there socialized, painted, read or
exercised.
THERMAE (Gk. thermos = hot)
 palatial public baths of Imperial Rome
 designed for luxurious bathing
 has a staff of attendants like manicurists,
barbers & shampooers
 has rooms for lecture and areas for athletic
sports
 Caldarium (Hot Bath or Sauna)

This was a very hot and steamy room. There

would be a bath of hot water sunk into the floor
and there was sometimes even a laconicum—a
hot, dry area for inducing sweating.

Parts of a Thermae

1. Main Building
 Tepidarium (warm bath)
 Caldarium (hot bath)
 Frigidarium (unheated bath)

Other amenities
 Sudatorium (dry sweating room) Tepidarium (Warm Bath or Steam)
 Apodyteria (dressing room)
 Unctuaria (oil room) The specialty of a tepidarium is the pleasant
 Palaestra (for physical exercise) feeling of constant radiant heat which directly
affects the human body from the walls and floor.
2. Xystus - open space for foot- racing

3. Outer ring of apartments – lecture rooms

& exedrae for poets & philosophers.

2 Frigidarium (Cold Bath) is a small or a large

unheated pool.
3

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Thermae Heating System A Hypocaust

A hypocaust is the central floor heating system

in a thermae.

Thermae of Caracalla can accommodate 1,600

bathers with its size & magnificence.

The floor was raised above the ground by pillars,

called pilae stacks (‗slippers‘).

Spaces were left inside the walls so that hot air

and smoke from the furnace would pass through
these enclosed areas and out of flues in the
roof, thereby heating but not polluting the interior
of the room.

Hot Air Ducts

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Thermae of Diocletian, Rome
It can accommodate 3,000 bathers, was the
grandest and the most sumptuous of the public
baths. It was begun by Diocletian and Maximian
about AD 302, and finished by Constantius and
Maximinus.
F. BALNEUM – small private baths in palaces
and houses.
Stabian Baths, Pompeii
The Stabian baths is the oldest bathhouse in
Pompeii.
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Forum Baths, Pompeii
The baths had a communal central heating plant
and were divided into 2 sections, for males and
for females.
The Caldarium in the Forum Baths.
The hole allows steam to escape from this hot
room.
The Western world owes its allegiance to the
plumbing engineers of the Old Roman Empire.
Terra-cotta Pipes The lower hole is a space for a "sponge on a
stick― to clean the lower part of the body.

Roman Latrines
It was the ancient Romans who introduced
latrines in public places.
Marble benches were pierced with holes for
wastes to pass through.

Sea Sponge on Stick

A shallow water channel in front of the seats

was furnished with sponges attached to sticks Latrines were designed with a deep channel
for patrons to wipe themselves. running around the four sides of a rectangular
space.

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G. THEATERS were adopted from the Greeks The component parts of concrete used were:
and restricted to a semi-circle. Roman theaters 1. Lava for foundation
were not hollowed out of a mountainside but 2. Tufa & brick for walls
were built up by means of concrete vaulting. 3. Pumice stone for vaults to reduce their
weight

Special Architectural features:

1. Massive piers which support the 3 tiers of
countless arcades
2. Decorative use of the classic orders
superimposed on the walls
3. Grand sweeping lines of the unbroken
entablature round the bldg.

The structural problems involved were

engineering in character because the Romans
built the gigantic edifice without scooping the
earth.

The Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) was

commenced by Vespasian & completed by
Domitian.

It can seat to a capacity of over 80,000.

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 The Colosseum was also used for mock naval
battles (naumachia). Water pipes were used for
flooding the arena.

A velarium is a canvas awning drawn over to

protect the audience from rain or sun.
H. CIRCUS – for horse and chariot-racing.

Spoliarium is a chamber beneath an arena,

where bodies of dead gladiators are dragged Carceres – stalls that held the contestants‘
and piled. chariots & horses.
Spina – dividing wall at the center.

Circus Maximus, Rome (Great Circus) is an

ancient hippodrome and mass entertainment
venue.

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I. TOMBS

5 Classes of Tombs

1. Coemeteria or Subterranean Vault –

contains both the columbaria & loculi.

Mausoleum of Hadrian (now the Castle of S.

Angelo)

3. Pyramidal Tombs – taken from Egyptian

Columbaria – niches that receive the ashes of
ideas
the dead.

Pyramid of Cestius, Rome

Loculi – recesses for corpses
4. Temple-shaped Tombs – have mortuary
2. Monumental Tombs - resemble Etruscan chapels with colonnaded portico &
tumuli with a conical crown of earth. sepulchral vault.

Mausoleum of Augustus Mausoleum of Diocletian

(now Cathedral of St. Domnius)

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5. Sculptured Memorials – cenotaphs or
monumental blocks in honor of persons
buried elsewhere.

Tomb of Noveleia Tyche, Pompeii

J. TRIUMPHAL ARCHES – erected to emperors

& generals commemorating victorious
campaigns. Arch of Trajan

Arch of Constantine

Arch of Titus

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K. ROSTRAL COLUMNS were erected to M. TOWN GATEWAYS & ARCHWAYS
celebrate naval victories; decorated with prows
of ships and figures. 3 Types of Town Gateways
1. Forming part of the protective wall circuit

Porte de Mars, Reims, France

2. Ornamental portals to forums and markets

L. PILLARS OF VICTORY- columns erected to

record triumphs. Portico of Octavia, Rome

3. At main street intersections

Arch of Caracalla, Tebessa, N. Africa

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N. PALACES

Palaces of the Emperors, Palatine Hill

The word palace comes from Palatine Hill,

where a group of magnificent palaces were built
by emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula,
Domitian and Severus

Section of a ―Domus‖

Palace of Diocletian, Split, Croatia

O. ROMAN HOUSES

1. Domus (Private House)

The Roman Domus was the home of the
wealthy & the middle class.
The Etruscan Atrium House and the traditional
Greek Peristyle House are combined to make a
modern Roman Domus.
This is a formal dining room called "triclinium".
The name "triclinium" is derived from Greek
words, "tri-" (three) and "kilned" (couch). There
are 3 couches on 3 sides of a low square table.
The master of the house and the guests hold a
feast lying on these couches. This was a formal
style in ancient Rome.

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2. Villa (Country House) is the summer house
of the wealthy Romans.

Types of Roman Villa

A. Villa Rustica was a glorified farmhouse with
barns, orchards & vineyards for the owner of
the estate.

It consisted of the following:

a. the urbana (main house)
b. agricultural center
c. the rusticana (farm area)

Insulas were usually rectangular planned

around an open courtyard

B. Villa Urbana was a pleasure retreat with

formal gardens adorned with fountains and
sculptures.

Roman Insula

The insula was 6-8 storeys, cheaply-made with

brick-faced concrete. They are fire traps with no
running water.

Most of Rome's dwellings were ill-supplied with

Hadrian’s Villa was a
complex of over 30 buildings.
3. Insula (Apartment Blocks)
The Romans were the first civilization to
utilize flats and apartments. Insulas are
houses for the lower classes.
heat, light, and water. The sanitary
arrangements, if judged by modern standards,
were inadequate.
The typical Roman must have lived almost
entirely outside of his tenement house, in the
streets, shops, latrines, baths, and arenas of the
city. The domicile must have served principally
as a place to sleep and store possessions.

The floor at the ground level was used for

shops, with the living space on the higher
floors.

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 Opus Signinum – a special mixture of ground
terra cotta and lime used for the lining of water
channels, aqueducts and reservoirs.

Pont-du-Gard, Nimes, France was listed in the

UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
A chamberpot is being dumped on the street
below or emptied into vats that were kept under
Q. BRIDGES (Pons) are simple, solid &
the stairs.
practical in construction & designed to offer a
well-calculated resistance to the rush of water

Pons Milvius, Rome was built by Marcus

A chamberpot is being dumped on the street Aemilius Scaurus, has semicircular arches over
massive piers with protecting "starlings" or
P. AQUEDUCTS are water channels or water cut-waters and extra arches above them to
bridges constructed to convey water. allow the flood waters to pass through.

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R. ROADS The first roads were set for 2 Types of Fountains
commercial exchanges, military transfers & a 1. Lacus is a fountain with a large basin of
more rapid conquest of other new countries. water.

The Appian Way has a total length of more than

563 km (350mi). It used to be known as the
―Regina Viarum,‖ the queen of all roads.

The Appian Way has the best preserved

section of the Roman landscape in ancient
2. Salientes is a spouting jet fountain.
times. It has been designated part of a regional
park and recognized as a prime example of a
Greenway. It was designed for human and
animal-powered traffic.

The Appian Way stones, closely fitting polygonal

blocks of basalt, sit on top of layers of small
rocks or stones cemented with lime. Paved with
huge lava blocks in a bed of crushed stone
cemented with lime, the roadway was about 15
feet (4.6 m) wide enough to allow two chariots to
pass.

S. FOUNTAINS existed mainly in courts &

gardens of private houses.

NOTHING FOLLOWS

Topic Sources and References:

 History of Architecture 20 edition Sir
th

Banister Fletcher, Architectural Press, 1996.

 Roman Architecture PowerPoint Arch.
Ma. Vicenta Sanchez, UST College of
Architecture
 Various internet articles related to the topic

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