Roman architecture was responsible for developing many different building styles and techniques and the creation of various new ones. Ancient Rome expanded quickly from a small town (founded in 753bc) situated on the Tiber River, to an empire with one fifth of the world’s population under its control. This displayed the strength that they possessed, and the control of many different cultures led to the acquisition of a range of typologies. The result of the architectural influence of other nations (mainly the Greeks and the Etruscans) led to many great masterpieces of art and building design. The Romans took many pre-existing ideals and developed them into new technologies and ways of living; architecture is just one of these developments. …show more content…
The Greeks started building corbelled arches and creating arch shaped voussoirs. These worked well, however, they did not discover the strength or span the distances that the Romans were able to. The widest known Greek archway spans only 7.35m, whereas the Romans built many great triumphal arches to emphasise their power in victory. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio wrote about the qualities a successful arch should entail, these were: “utility, strength and aesthetics” (Vitruvius, M., 1914). He wanted them to be built according to anthropometrics; symmetry and proportions of the human body. The full potential of the arch was reached when the Romans discovered the impressive compressive strength of the arch, meaning that they could span greater distances and create great heights using these new found qualities. Some of the most notable uses of the arch can be seen through Aqueducts, vast interiors and in, potentially, the most famous arched building; the Roman Colosseum.
The Roman Colosseum is a four story tall amphitheatre which was able to seat up to 50,000 spectators. The first three stories contained stone benches and the top gallery was created with wooden bleachers for women, children and people of lower classes. In this instance, the Roman use of the arch was a major transformation from its prior use by the Greeks, allowing them to create visually stunning and solidly constructed masterpieces. This was
The arch is one of the most incredible feats or roman architecture. Arches we're useful becuase they were able to hold more weight and they used less materials to create. One famous arch in roman history is the Arch of Constantine. It is the largest standing roman arch. The Romans didn't just stop once they created the arch. This creation also sparked the idea of the dome. To create a dome its basically putting a bunch of arches together. We see domes and arches in many official buildings today. For example, the Capitol building in Washington
The history of their architecture runs virtually in step with the history of their empire to an extent. As the Empire expanded so did the architecture, and as Romans became more magnificent their architecture followed. Roman architecture began as a form of worship. The first Roman architects were the ancient priests and dwellers who made areas of sacrifice and worship for their gods. At first, their homes were simple huts but as they grew smarter and more aware of their surroundings, making the building more complex than ever. So, like many arts, Roman architecture’s roots are embedded in the worshiping paid in religion. The Romans were, of course, not the first to practice many of their building philosophies. However, they built like no other society before them. Their methods showed and proved, efficiency and sophistication to construct a whole new look. With the rise of the Romans and the everlasting hail of Caesar after Caesar and Emperor after Emperor, Roman architecture expanded and influenced building over the world. Unlike the Empire, though, Roman design did not die at the hands of the Germanic’s, or rather at the hands of self-destruction; it continued to expand and play a part in every major style throughout history. Even through its empire’s own defeat, architecture has stood as an everlasting symbol of what Rome once was, and what the rest of the world is today. , Roman architecture cannot be looked at as a small period or cultural event, for it lives on today through the
Many centuries before the birth of Christ, the city of Rome grew, prospered, and developed into a thriving Republic. As in most cultures, Rome's buildings became more elaborate and impressive. They developed fantastic building technologies and ideas. The feats of Roman engineers were groundbreaking, and many structures built by this culture still stand today. With knowledge borrowed from the Greeks, Rome made impressive architectural achievements, these were namely major attributes of buildings, colossal structures, and a legacy that would influence later buildings (Cornell and Matthews 11).
The Romans had a structural and functional archetype for their buildings, such as fora, temples, basilica, etc. Buildings of the same type, however, varied within the archetype due to several factors. One such factor was the political climate at the time of commission and the objective of the ruler commissioning the building, as exemplified by the differences in the imperial residences of Augustus, who wanted to be as discrete about his imperial status as possible, and Nero, who wanted to show his power and philhellenism, as well as the differences between the amphitheater of Pompeii, which was relatively small and built to please the masses, and the Colosseum (or Flavian Amphitheater), a gigantic arena built partly as a form of damnatio memoriae.
With Etruscan influence, the Romans began building with enthusiasm, combining columns, arches and various styles of vaults into their homes, temples and Colosseum. Although the Romans impact on architecture spread throughout Europe and the United States, nothing is as magnificent as the Romans development of concrete and its use for constructing walls, theaters and those beautifully graceful bridges.
For their time period, The Romans were highly sophisticated people with technology and ideologies that had never before been seen. The ingeniousness and beauty of Roman architecture has not been lost on us in the 2000 years since it was built. Even today, we as conscious and aware people marvel at the superiority of Roman builder , and at the sheer scale of many of their projects. It is because of these dominant engineering skills and
The Romans adopted the Greek Classical Style for their architecture. This is mainly because the Romans were not expecting the extensive expansion that took place during this time period. Therefore, their architecture was less artistic and more practical in nature. Even though they did not create their own style, they did take the Classical style and modified certain aspects of it becoming what is known as Roman architecture. One of the largest structures in Rome is the Colosseum. The Colosseum opened in 80 CE under the Emperor Titus and stands in the center of Rome. This amphitheater covers six acres of land, has a circumference of 527 meters, a height of 48 ½ meters and seats around 50,000 individuals. The amount of people the Colosseum accommodated exhibits the massive Roman population. The Colosseum consisted of three floor levels above the arena floor. The first level is made with Doric columns, the second uses Ionic columns, and the third level contains of Corinthian columns. Each level was designed to seat a specific social class. The different levels emphasized the strict class system of the Empire. At the roof level, there was material that would be stretched over the arena, by pulleys, to provide shade. There were corridors and rooms that were hidden under the floor that were used to lift up the gladiators and animals to the arena floor. The exterior of the Colosseum was covered with white marble. The architecture of this structure is still used today, for
The integrity of the construction of the structure was imperative because the size of the audience attending the venue. Therefore, In order to construct and assure the integrity of the vaulted seating area around the entirety of the Colosseum, workers used mortar and small stones while simultaneously crafting the vaults to rest upon the walls in order to carry the vast majority of the weight of the stone structure. New found ingenuity led to many of the architectural capabilities developed through the construction of the Colosseum. In addition to being a project of showmanship of Roman architecture, the project served as learning experience and benchmark upon which to place future projects. Ultimately, this allowed the Colosseum to become an engineering feat and ultimately establish Rome as a locale for exciting blood filled entertainment.
Between 70-80 CE, the Flavian Amphitheater, more commonly known as the Colosseum, was intricately designed and built with a variety of orders and vaults, a revolutionary architectural formation, and the ability to seat thousands of spectators. The Flavian Amphitheater, standing at 159 feet tall, was constructed into an oval shape, a formation procured from the idea of connecting two freestanding theaters together, that measured 615×510 feet. All entertainment events took place on a sand-covered floor in the amphitheater referred to as the arena, the Latin word for sand, measuring a vast 280×175 feet. Due to its immense size, the Flavian Amphitheater could easily hold up to 55,000 spectators that could comfortably access all three of its levels
The romans borrowed the idea of the arch from the Greeks but put their own spin on it. The romans used the Greeks “three orders of architecture, Doric, Ionic, and Corintian, which was based on different columns and added something
In ancient Rome, architecture and engineering were highly regarded. It contributed much to Rome’s development, power, as well as the longevity of such an immense and substantial empire. Architecture displayed an immense amount of workmanship as well as innovation. This is seen through Rome engineers as they created the concept of concrete, constructed the famous Roman aqueducts, and the luxurious Roman baths. Roman’s were clearly superior engineers compared to their competitors because Roman engineers developed new and innovative concepts that were never introduced before, therefore contributing to the success of the Roman Empire.
The Colosseum, also known as the flavian amphitheater was built of travertine stone from the quarries of Albulae. The massive stone blocks that made up a good portion of the seating, arena, and the massive stone columns that supported the magnificent structure were moved to Rome on a road constructed specifically for that purpose. The seating consisted of 45,000 seats, arranged in an oval surrounding the arena. It also had 5,000 standing places for the Roman public. It had 80 arched entrances all around the arena, with 4 of them being non-accessible to the public at the minor and major axises. The entrances at the major axis provided direct access to the arena. The minor axis entrances provided access to the special seating boxes for the emperor, empress and other very important people. “ It measured 527 meters in circumference and its diameters were 189 and 156 meters, with the height of the structure being 48 meters high. “ (romancolosseum.org) The seating nearest to the arena was reserved for very important Romans like the emperor the vestal virgins and priests. The emperor sat in the north end of the arena and the
The Romans are famous for many things. One thing is their adaptation and development of architecture from other civilization. From the Etruscans and early tribes the Romans got most of their basic architectural skills. From the Greeks some components of Roman architecture were adapted from the Greeks. The heart of Roman architecture was the Roman forum, which was being constructed under the rule of Octavian Caesar. Eventually the Roman architecture went into a stage in which all the buildings looked like the Greek buildings.
The arches of the Coloseum allowed great ventilation, stability, and passageways to keep the crowd comfortable all day. The most amazing construction had nothing to do with the show. The Romans had actually constructed a roof for the Coloseum. The roof was like a retractable sail covering most of the audience during the current event.
As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” however long it took to build the capital, the days, months, years, centuries of work can be viewed as a long lasting landmark which paved the way for new and challenging architecture to come (How Roman architecture influenced modern architecture [sa]). According to Tony Rook (2013: [sp] ch.2) the typical Roman temple shows the Etruscan tradition combined with the Greek one. Although some of their premature concepts were acquired from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, Roman architects transformed the body of architecture for all time to come, offering buildings and structures that has never been before, along the side of public buildings and infrastructure that could be used by