“PAX ROMANA”

Roman Architecture
Introduction
Began in a small way in 8th BC
Small prehistoric settlement into an
empire
Huge empire flourished over the
century bringing peace and prosperity
Basis of modern Western Civilization
Based only very loosely on Greek
architecture
 peopl
e
Practitioners of
Power and law
Upper class
patricians
General body of
citizens (Plebeians)
were kept out

Augustus in
Armor
Stages
1. Kingship 2. Republic 3. The
Empire
Kingship The Empire
(750BC-509BC) (31BC – AD 476)
Latines, Sarbins, Two great rival for
Etruscans power in Rome.
Pompey the Great
and Julius Ceasar
Republic
Both made
§ Aristocratic form of reputation in the
Government army with their high
ambitions
Headed by the
Roman character

Sense of ingrained
decipline- impeachable
honour
Patriotic responsibility
-served the state
Sense of importance of
the matter at hand
-austerity
 timeli
ne
§ 1. Republican Rome 3rd CBC – Senate and assembly
3rd , 2nd CBC – Latruscan Italian Architecture

§ 2. Republican Rome 63 CE – Pompei was damaged by

Earthquake and preserved under
volcanic ash
Death of Julius Caesar

§ 3. Augustus Pax Romana 2nd CBC – Augustus rose to power

Peace and prosperity 200 years
Etruscan and Greek Corinthian

§ 4. Flavians 69 – 79 CE– Emperor Vaspasian imperial

dynasty
64 CE - Destruction of city by fire

§ 5. Colosseum 70 CE – amphitheatre by Vaspasian

gift to the city
 Timeline
continued…
6. Trajan 98CE – Spanish soldier, emperor,
builder
Conservative
architecture

7. Hadrian 117 – 138 - Architectural trends – late

imperial
118-28 - Pantheon built by hadrian
609 CE – conservation of Pantheon
as a church by
Pope Boniface
architecture

§ Influenced from, and a continuation of Greek styles

§ Supremacy of space – control

§ Sophisticated Engineering skills

§ Most Formative element is the Arch – forceful and dynamic

§ Developed the vault system

Architectural ethics
§Architecture was an expression of Power for
the Romans

Government commissioned the construction of

§

civic buildings by the army

Had monopoly/control over natural construction

§

materials

Bricks were produced by state-owned

§

brickworks
Urban planning

Forum – equivalent to the Greek agora

Heart of old cities irregular rectangles/ not

aligned with points on the compass

Orthogonal planning

Military camp planning

Architectural elements

§ Arches
Bridges, Sewers, aquaducts,
tunnels

§ Barrel vaults – cross/grain

§ Semi Dome
§ Walls
Materials

Opus incertum (stones)

Opus reticulum (brick)

Opus tustaceum (blocks)

Building types

1. Domestic
a) Insulae b) Domys c) villas

2. Public buildings
a) Theatres b) Amphitheatres c) Stadium d) Baths
e) Aquaducts

3. Sacred buildings
a) Temples b) Churches
1. Domestic Architecture

a) Insulae
Apartment house
Island
Ie. Similar as in
being separate
islands
Multi – storey
buildings
the Plebs (lower &
middle classes) An insular from early 2nd
and Equites century A.D. in the Roman town
Ostia Antica
b) Domus
Latin term meaning
house/home
Town house –
domestic city house
Symmetrically well
balanced
occupied by the
wealthy and middle
class

Schematic of
the Domus
Atrium of a Pompeian Domus
c) Villas
Suburban country
house
Many wealthy live
primarily or
exclusively in their
villas
Wealthy Romans
escaped the summer
heat in their villas in
the hills round Rome
Were generally much
grander in scale and
Roman Villa
on larger land
Rustica
Located outside the
1. Public Architecture

a) Theatre
Earliest theatrical
performances were
dances accompanied by
music introduced by the
Etruscans around 300BC
Relatively small with a
stage and audience on Basic form of
the Theatre
one side

Based on Greek models

Theatre of Pompey

Earlier Roman
theatres were
temporary wooden
structures

Believed to be the
first Roman model for
a Theatre
A visual of Theatre of
Pompey
Built by Pompey the
Great
b) Amphitheatre
“amphi” means
“round” in Greek
Amphitheatres are
round enclosed
theaters
Often remarkably large
and audience all
around Basic
amphitheatre
Built for visual form
spectacle, rather than
sound
Has no Architectural
 Amphitheatre of
Flavia
Colosseum
The largest and the
most famous ancient
Roman amphitheatre
Emperor Vaspasian
started the
construction
Elliptical, 189m long
The colosseum:
and 156m wide
aerial view
Interior, 47m high
Is a 3 storey arcade
The Colosseum with its
evening flashes
c) Public Baths entrance Interi
Thermae baths were or
the biggest
contributions from
this time period

Included massives
complexes

Contained
- great public
swimming-baths
Bath of Caraccalla
A closer feel of the baths
3. Religious Architecture

a) Temples – the Pantheon

Built by Emperor
Hadrian
Replaced former
Agrippa temple
27BC
Significant Oculus
at the centre of the
dome
Originally
The Roman
dedicated to all the Pantheon
gods
Vitruvius & the Ten Books on
Architecture

De Architectura by
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
1 BC.
“The end is to build well.
Well buildings hath three
conditions;
firmness, commodity
and delight”
Vitruvius and Ten books of Architecture

Dedication to the Emperor; branches of knowledge that an architect must be acquainted with; the factors involved
in siting a town and designing its walls, including a rather odd extended explanation of the various winds.

II

A story about Dinocrates, architect to Alexander the Great, serves as prologue. Second prologue, on the origins of
architecture; but most of the book is about materials: bricks, sand, lime, pozzolan concrete; kinds of stone
and types of stone masonry; timber.

III

Some comments on the chance nature of fame in the arts serve as a rather irrelevant prologue: it seems clear
Vitruvius felt he had to have one. The book then proceeds to temples, setting forth some basic definitions,
then describing a canon for the construction of temples of the Ionic order.

IV

Corinthian and Doric temples; temple doors and altars; the Tuscan order, which Vitruvius seems to find primitive.

In which the author warns you that architecture is highly technical, then proves it in spades in his exposition of civil
public spaces: the forum, the basilica, the theatre and its porticos, the palaestra and the baths; harbors.
Vitruvius takes particular delight in the acoustics of the theatre about which he seems to know much, much
more than he has allowed himself to tell us for fear of boring us: it's a pity.

VI

Prologue: poor but honest makes a good architect. A second sort of prologue on the diversity of mankind from
climate to climate, easing into the topic of private houses: their construction should depend on the climate
as well. Layout of the Roman house and the Greek house; considerations of weather, function of the rooms,
social position of the owner.

VII
 Book 1 Landscape Architecture

he education of the
rchitect

he fundamental
rinciples of architecture

he departments of
rchitecture

he site of a city

he city walls
Roman Arles,
France.
he directions of streets;
Principles of urban
design
Prospect and Refuge
Polis: a relationship of town and country
Community and Privacy
Street and block
Role of central place and public buildings

Practical engineering
solutions to City and
Urban designs.

Gridiron layouts, main

cross roads, secondary
streets were typical urban
features.

Cardo and Decumanus

are two perpendicular
roads that runs through
the city. Timgad, North
Africa
Pompei, Italy.
Ancient
Rome.
 Book 2 -
Materials
The origin of the dwelling house
On the primordial substance according to the physicists
Brick
Sand
Lime
Pozzolana
Stone
Methods of building walls
Timber
 Pozzolana
Book
§ 2 Materials is a fine, sandy
volcanic ash
- originally dug in Pozzuoli, Italy,
near

§ Vitruvius speaks of 4 types of

pozzolana.
§ It is found in all the volcanic
areas of Italy in various colours:
- black,
- white,
- grey
- red.

§ Pozzolano Cement is still used.

 Book 3 Temples (Part 1)
On symmetry in temples and in the human
body
Classification of temples
The proportions of intercolumniations and of
columns
The foundations and substructures of temples
Proportions of the base, capitals, and
entablature in the Ionic order

Leonardo is clearly illustrating Vitruvius De Architectura

3.1.3 which reads:
The navel is naturally placed in the centre of the
human body, and, if in a man lying with his face
upward, and his hands and feet extended, from his
navel as the centre, a circle be described, it will
touch his fingers and toes. It is not alone by a circle,
that the human body is thus circumscribed, as may
be seen by placing it within a square. For
measuring from the feet to the crown of the head,
and then across the arms fully extended, we find
the latter measure equal to the former; so that lines
at right angles to each other, enclosing the figure,
will form a square.
Classification of
temples

Greek image
Etruscan and Tuscan
Republican
Tivoli
Augustan
Imperial
Book 4 Temples
(Part 2)
The origins of the three orders,
and the proportions
corinthian capital
of the

The ornaments of the orders

Proportions of doric temples
The cella and pronaos
How the temple should face
The doorways of temples
Tuscan temples
Circular temples and other
varieties

1 = porch, the steps and front entrance of the temple

2 = stylobate, the base
3 = column
4 = capital, the very top portion of a column
5 = arcatrave
6 = frieze, the bas reliefs inside the pediment
7 = pediment
The Tuscan
temple
 Book 5 Public places: 
forum, basicila, theatres, walks,
palaestra, harbours
The forum and basilica
The treasury, prison, and senate house
The theatre: its site, foundations, and
acoustics
Harmonics
Sounding vessels in the theatre
Plan of the theatre
Greek theatres
Acoustics of the site of a theatre
Colonnades and walks
Baths
The palaestra
Harbours, breakwaters, and shipyards
 Book 6 Private houses

On climate as
determining the style of
the house

Symmetry, and
modifications in it to suit
the site

Proportions of the
principal rooms

The proper exposures of

the different rooms
Book 7 Finishes and
colours
Floors
The slaking of lime for stuccco
Vaultings and stucco work
On stucco work in damp places, and on the decoration of dining
rooms
The decadence of fresco painting
Marble for use in stucco
Natural colours
Artificial colours Black, Blue, Burnt ochre
White lead, verdigris, and artificial sandarac
Purple
Substitutes for purple, yellow ochre, malachite green, and indigo
 Book 8
Water
How to find water

Rainwater

Various properties of
different waters

Tests of good water

Levelling and levelling

instruments

Aqueducts, wells, and

cisterns
 Book 9 Sundials and clocks
The zodiac and the planets

The phases of the moon

The course of the sun

through the twelve signs

Tee northern constellations

The southern constellations

Astrology and weather

prognostics

Sundials and water clocks

Book 10 Mechanical
engineering
Machines and implements
Hoisting machines
The elements of motion
Engines for raising water
Water wheels and water mills
The water screw
The pump of Ctesibius
The water organ
The hodometer
Catapults or scorpiones
Ballistae
The stringing and tuning of catapults
 conclusion
§ Unlike the Greeks who gave the world great ideas/theories of
proportion ,
Romans left great inventions and sophisticated legal systems

§ The Romans laid the foundations for many social and cultural
aspects of the modern day society

§ The Roman style was more predominantly seen in public

dwellings and social gathering areas such as basilicas and forums
- Pantheon is an exception

§ Roman buildings are generally beautiful both on the outside and

inside

§ Perfected many of the Greeks’ Architecture and also found

ingenous other methods
end