Rolando
Mr. Duffield/ Mr. Young
Eng.B/Lit.F /Ancient Civ. E
31 May, 2013
Architecture, one of the Legacies of Ancient Rome
Introduction
The Romans left us an incredible architectural legacy, not only with many standing
examples, but also with a style that has continued to influence us up to this day. The Romans
were highly known for their arches, domes, and pillars. Many of these building styles exist in
modern and recent architecture. Today you can see examples everywhere, from churches to
stadiums, and in important government buildings. The Romans also built forums (town
squares), temples, bath buildings (spas), and amphitheaters (stadium sized theaters).
Arches
Arches were known to symbolize strength because of the great weight they could hold.
In roman times, arches were built using a wooden frame to
shape the arch, depending on the arch, the shapes were
different. Stone bricks were placed around the frame where
as the key stone was placed in the exact center. At the end
they would remove the frame and fill the cavities with a mixture of gravel, sand, and stone
which was known as concrete or cement. They sometimes used arches as a bridge to connect
two pieces of land that were separated by ravines. They would also use them to support tall
buildings, like the Colosseum. The Romans adopted the arch from the Etruscans, which were
the previous inhabitants of central Italy. They mostly used the round Roman arch, but they
also ocationally used the pointy Lancent arch. Today, arches appear everywhere. One famous
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arch in the world is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. Alongside arches, domes also
became a prominent feature of Roman architecture.
Domes
It is said that the shape of the dome originally represented a hut, now built in stone.
Later the same shape was given to places of importance and particularly to mausoleums
(tombs) built in memory of famous dead people. The modern stone dome was invented by
Romans who used their expertise in arches and applied them to the construction of the dome
simply by building half arches in a circular shape, all meeting at the same central point. They
used domes to make very high and round ceilings. Historically people built circular dwellings,
usually with size demonstrating the importance of the owner. Many Slavic languages still use
the word “dom” to signify the home. Symbolically the circle is considered the perfect shape
with no beginning and no end. They mostly used the cupola type domes (round), but they
sometimes also used the octagonal type domes (eight flat roofs joined together). Today,
domes mostly appear in stadiums like the Super Dome and in governmental building like the
Capitol in Washington D.C. Later Romans started to replace the closed walls under domes
with open structures supported by columns.
Columns
Roman columns were often decorated with symbols and scenes of Roman battles.
Basic columns were usually made of wood or stone and
mortar. Columns with more decorative details were hand
crafted. Columns were usually made in parts and then put
on top of each other. Roman architects mainly used
columns for decoration. For construction support they
rather used walls, arches, and domes. The Romans adopted columns mainly from the Greeks,
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but they also adopted one column from the Etruscans, the Tuscan column which differed from
the Greek columns in that it had no grooves (see picture). The Romans changed the Greek
columns according to their own architectural rules, shapes, and proportions. In Roman
architecture, they had three different styles of columns originating from Greece: the Doric
style, the Ionic style, and the Corinthian style. The Doric style has a simple and plain capital.
The Ionic style is famous for its scrolls. The Corinthian style is very rich and has splendid
ornaments carved on the capital to resemble leaves and flowers. All three styles feature
grooves on the shaft. The Corinthian style was a Roman favorite because of its rich
architectural shape which was presenting wealth and power of the Roman Empire. Today you
can find columns in various places like, for example, the seventeen foot tall Lord Hill`s
Column in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Columns were also one of the main decorative
features of Roman temples.
Temples
The Romans built their temples to honor and worship their many gods. Passing by
their temples was often a daily event for many Roman citizens. The temples were usually
massive, could accommodate large crowds and were in general built alongside one of the
major roads. Temples were square, round, or octagonal. They had a deep porch called a
portico with high columns and a gabled roof. They also had a frontal staircase giving access to
a high platform called the podium from which priests normally spoke. New materials were
used in the construction of Roman Temples such as concrete with brick and stone. Walls were
painted in Fresco (painting on the wall) often depicting Roman life. The temples had many
statues representing different gods. The ancient Etruscans mirrored the Greek traditions
building large temples to honor their Gods and this was in turn mirrored by the Romans.
Today many churches have some resemblance to roman temples like the modern day St. Peter
in Rome. Similar in style to round temples were amphitheaters.
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Amphitheaters
The idea to build an amphitheater came from gladiatorial fights. The original
amphitheaters were made of wood and date to around 300 B.C. At some point there were so
many gladiatorial fights that people got tired of putting up these wooden amphitheaters and
taking them down again. They then decided to make permanent amphitheaters out of stone, all
oval or round in shape with many upward rising seat rows. Larger towns began to build
permanent amphitheaters out of limestone and marble. The first stone amphitheater was built
in Pompeii called “The amphitheater of Pompeii”, but the biggest and most famous Roman
amphitheater was to be the Colosseum, because of its size and location right in the center of
the Roman Empire. Built in 70 AD by the Roman emperor Vespasian, the Colosseum took
around 10 years to construct, using stone and concrete, the latter known as one of the most
famous Roman inventions. The most important architectural features of the Colosseum are the
arches which support the many floors of the amphitheater that needed to accommodate
thousands of people. Today many sports use the concept of the Roman amphitheater, with the
best known probably being soccer stadiums like the National Stadium of San Jose, Costa
Rica. Amphitheaters were often part of a larger area called the forum or central square.
Forums
All ancient cities had and still have central gathering places called forums. Usually a
forum had a rectangular shape. In Pompeii there still exists a
forum with a triangular shape which is an exceptionally rare
example. The forum had a stone pavement, and on its sides,
there
were
fancy
buildings
like
temples,
libraries,
government buildings, basilicas, and shops. Many of them
included a platform where people could stand above the crowd and make speeches. The forum
was the center of urban life. People met there for political and commercial reasons making
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the forum also the centre for their social life. That is where they would meet their friends, find
out about the news, and even to go to school. The wealthiest and most famous forums have
been made in the Caesars time and named by them like the forum Augustus, Vespasian, Titus,
and Trojan. The composition of the Roman city has been developed on the base of the urban
and Etruscan city which had two main streets crossed over each other dividing the city into
four main squares. Today we have town squares in almost every city like the Red Square in
Moscow, Russia. Very close to the forum would usually be a Roman bath, an essential part of
Roman life.
Bath Buildings
The Romans were the first to create bath buildings. The Greeks and the Etruscans just
had small baths attached to their house as we do today. Public baths were something like our
community centers today, or like a health club. Roman baths were made to be really
impressive, beautiful buildings. They had high, vaulted ceilings, and the walls were decorated
with marble and frescos while the floors had complicated mosaics. They had swimming pools
fed by aqueducts, as well as different tubs. Normally a cold water tub (Frigidarium), a warm
water tub (Tepidarium), and a hot water tub (Caldarium). They also had a room for sweating
(Lakonikum), today called sauna. Thermal baths also included the rooms with exercise
equipment, and often gardens, libraries, and theaters as well. Some of them had temples, like
the Mithraeum in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. Similarly community centers, required
paying a small fee to get in, but they sometimes also had free days. The biggest Roman
thermal bath is the Diocletian thermal bath in Rome. Later one part was changed into a big
Church, another as a museum, and the biggest part was demolished in the middle ages. Both
the Diocletian thermal bath and the Caracalla thermal bath were the biggest achievements in
Roman architecture and construction. Today we have spas all over the world as far as, for
example, the Raffles Spa in Praslin Island, Seychelles.
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Conclusion
It`s clear that Roman architecture had a enormous impact over the last two thousand
years of architectural progress. In this sense Roman building style should not make us forget
Roman building technique, in particular the invention of mortar and cement changed building
possibilities forever. Additionally the long life of Roman construction is impressive, for
example some Roman water systems are still used to this day. Roman architecture has been
copied and repeated countless times and remains a symbol of elegance in any construction.
There is no doubt that it will remain a very important point of architectural reference for
centuries to come.

Simple: Yellow

Compound: Red

Complex: Green

Compound-Complex: Turquoise
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