Culture Architecture
Origins Techniques and Innovations
Society City Planning / The Forum
Religion / Character Temples / Public Buildings
The Roman Republic (509 - 27 BCE) The Roman Empire (27 BCE - 1453 CE)
Laws of the
12 Tables
The Etruscans
The Christian Roman Empire
753 550 509 494 450 265 146 46-44 27 14 80 305 330 395 476 1453
Vitruvius writes De
architectura
Source:
http://www.softschools.com/timelines/roman_empire/timeline_9/
http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his101/web/t-roman.htm
ORIGINS
The Etruscans
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World
History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.105
Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/
Etruscan_civilization_map.png
Culture: Origins The Etruscans
Unfluted
columns
Podium
Narrow
staircase
Source: Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through The Ages: A Global History. 14th ed.
Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. p.165
Greek Temple: Temple of Theseus
Image Source: http://www.bible-history.com/ibh/images/fullsized/
plan_and_elevation_so_called_temple_of_theseus.jpg
Culture: Origins The Etruscans
Source: Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through The Ages: A Global History. 14th ed. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. p.165
Capitoline Wolf
(Etruscan Art, c. 500-480 BCE) Bronze
Image Source: http://antinousgaygod.blogspot.my/2012/06/capitoline-wolf-may-be-
much-newer-than.html
Source: Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through The Ages: A Global
History. 14th ed. Australia: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. p.173
ORIGINS
The Romans
4 Northern Hills
5
4. Esquiline
5. Viminal
6
6. Quirinal
3 7. Capitoline
7
1
Source: http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey02.html
Culture: Society The Romans
509 BCE - Romans overthrew the Senate keeps check
Senate
(group of 300 Patricians,
Consul lawmakers of Rome)
(highest position in the government)
Oversees the workings of the
Had the right to
governments and
assembly in the Forum
commander outside the city
of Rome As the republic aged,
the Assembly choose
2 consul members, but only 1
the Consuls
year term
Consuls were chosen
At times of crisis, one consul
Social Class
Assembly
Patricians from the Senate, not by
can be elevated to dictator the (Plebeians or common citizens)
(members of the upper class) the Senate
republic
Source: http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-political-structure-of-the-
roman-republic.html
Source: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/gods-and-goddesses-of-greek-and-roman-mythology.html
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Image Credit: By Asram at French Wikipedia - Own work. Originally from fr.wikipedia; description page is/was here., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1415896
Culture: Society The Roman Character
The Romans endeavored to achieve universality
and a clearly perceivable order in all of life, and
their unique achievement was to give form to this
civic order in the urban spaces they shaped a
form framed by clearly order ranks of axially
disposed and colonnaded buildings.
1. Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon
Editions, 1993. Print. p. 250
Image Credit: By Paul Vlaar - http://www.neep.net/photo/italy/
2. Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. show.php?3390, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.108
w/index.php?curid=173413
ARCHITECTURE
Techniques and Innovation
Source: "order".Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 01 May. 2016
<http://global.britannica.com/technology/order-architecture>.
Architecture: Techniques and Innovations The Arch
The arch, the vault and the dome became the
basis for structural system for the Romans, built
on a scale unimaginable with post-and-lintel
construction.
A true arch consists of voussoirs set in a
curved shape. A temporary formwork is needed
to support the voussoirs as they are laid, for the
arch will not stand on its own until all the
voussoirs, including the keystone are set in
place.
If the arch is continued along its longitudinal
axis, it produces a vault; if an arch is rotated on The Arch
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of
Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.109
Conventional stonecutting building technique was Concrete was widely used because
costly and required highly skilled stone-carvers.
The Romans developed a more expedient building Strength that span great lengths when
method by using a new material, hydraulic cement forming arches, vaults & domes
derived from a volcanic deposit discovered around Economical
Puteoli (todays Pozzuoli) and named pozzolana. Easy to work with
Fireproof
What the Romans discovered was that when Ability to set underwater for bridge and
pozzolana was mixed with lime, rubble, and water, harbor construction
the mixture reacts chemically and hardens to a
stone like consistency, even if under water.
The strength, durability, and economy of
concrete construction gave the Roman a versatile
material for large-scale building, and by the middle
of the first century CE, they were using it with
rapidly increasing architectural sophistication.1
1. Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of
Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.109-111
23 ft
Paving stones
3 ft
Sand and lime or sand and clay
Pebbles of gravels with mortar
Foundation of large stones and sand
Roman life was focused on the city. Cities became part of a federation of communities
with participants exercising self-rule rather than acting as subject peoples. The forum
was the focus of public life.
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.111-113
Forum of Pompeii
11
10
Temple of Fortuna Virilis, Rome (Roman Temple) Temple of Ares, Athens (Greek Temple)
Image Source: Fletcher, Banister. A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. Sixth edition, rewritten and enlarged. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1921.
Text Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Text Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.118
rotunda
cella
Not all Roman temples were rectangular. The The cylindrical cella wall is visually divided into 2
Pantheon was an example of a circular-plan stories, on which a hemispherical dome, with a
Roman temple. It was constructed during the circular opening (oculus) at the top. The interior of
reign of Hadrian. It was a temple to all gods. the dome is articulated with five tiers of diminishing
square coffers, designed with exaggerated
There are two parts to the temple, the portico and
perspective to enhance the sense of depth.
the rotunda, which is the cella. The portico is 8
columns wide and 3 columns deep. The columns
in the portico are of unfluted Corinthian order.
Text Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Text Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.118
Architecture: Temples The Pantheon
8 piers supporting
the barrel vault
and dome
Drum wall is
20ft thick
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed.
London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.121
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.124-5
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.124-5
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Maenianum Primum
Non-senatorial noble class, knights
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Ionic Columns
Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.124-5
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions,
1993. Print.
Architecture: Public Buildings Public Baths
In 1561, Michelangelo converted the
frigidarium into the Church of S. Maria
degli Angeli.
Interior of the Baths of Diocletian
Entrance Present day - conversion of the interior frigidarium to the Church of S. Maria deli Angeli
Image Source: http://www.jebondono.com/TouristInRome/RomeImages/IMG_3025-20121026.jpg
Image Source: http://projectsreview2010.aaschool.ac.uk/submission/uploaded_files/DIP-14/Cristina.Asenjo-01%20Diocletian%20Bath.jpg
Image Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/3223_-_Roma_-_Santa_Maria_degli_Angeli_-_Interno_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall'Orto_17-June-2007.jpg
Source: Source: Fazio, Michael W., Marian Moett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. A World History of Architecture. 3rd ed. London: Laurence King, 2013. Print. p.121-122
Roman buildings, like the more elemental Greek buildings that influenced them,
addressed not the mysteries of the hereafter but the problems and civic needs of
the present. Roman structures were visually and intellectually comprehensible,
composed of parts that had recognizable proportional relationships and clear
connections. Then having found a new and pliable material in concrete, Roman
architects discovered ways of shaping and playing with space, of molding light
and shadow discoveries that have repeatedly inspired architects ever since.
(Roth, 1993 p. 278)
Source: Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. New York, NY: Icon Editions, 1993. Print.
Overview Egyptians / Greeks / Romans
Building Materials
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/
2014/12/17/241ECF8600000578-2877547-image-
http://www.eartharchitecture.org/uploads/India_mud_brick.jpg http://www.allcountries.eu/PICTURE/greece/TheParthenon.jpg a-10_1418825400924.jpg
Building Purpose
Public buildings
Roman Ornate both exterior and interior, reflecting the pursuit
of pleasure
Style of Columns
Construction Details