Ancient Rome

Romans were obsessed by notions of

personal hygiene. They brought water into the heart of their cities and built sewers to remove waste. Their aqueducts and public baths are great wonders; their scale remains daunting. The baths of Caracalla and Diocletian are architectural wonders of the very highest order.

The Pantheon

Built 118 - 28A.D, is a giant domed temple deep in the beating heart of Rome, was designed possibly by the emperor Hadrian. It is a impressive concrete construction but it cannot be described as beautiful, this is because to Romans, architecture was a much more practical affair than it was for the Greeks.

In 64 AD a law was passed

Flats had to be built with fireproof concrete floors and walls.

Influences

Romans adopted Greek and to an extent Etruscan architecture. The Etruscans were the masters of center Italy.

Plastic construction

Romans became masters of the plastic construction - concrete - a malleable, plastic material, enabled them to built freely and in a massive scale. C

Examples of structural engineering

The Colosseum - stadium, and the racetracks like the Circus Maximus are also reminder of how emperors kept their population happy, and thus, controlled with their famous policy of "bread and circuses".

Concrete

The Romans used concrete for the first time, mixing volcanic soil with lime, and interspersing it with another material, often broken tiles.

The Romans made great use of the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, adding two of their own: Tuscan and Composite.

The Tuscan order is a modified Doric from the Etruscans. The Composite is a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian.

Pantheon fact

The diameter of the Pantheon's floor plan is equal to the height of its dome. The portico incorporates elements from an earlier temple building. The original Pantheon building was dedicated to the gods of the then-known planets (seven). It represents the high point of Roman design and structural engineering. It epitomizes the difference between Greek and Roman ways of building.

Imperial Palaces

The greatest and most influential was Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli. With pavilions, libraries, baths and pleasurable follies spread through more than 2 miles of gardens. Was a sophisticated art of landscape architecture.

Merchant, professional, and military families tended to live in city houses grouped around two courtyards.

These presented an anonymous face to the street - entrances were often set between shops. The way these houses were planned has been handed down to us in the design of courtyard housing in European city centers ever since.

Concrete allowed them to build without the need of columns

They often used the columns as a decorative element in temples, baths, and arenas. Eventually they made flat or half columns that were part of the wall; these we call pilasters, and they have been a feature of Classical architecture ever since.

The Romans were great builders of

Victory monuments and these formed the basis of most major victory monuments since the Renaissance.

The Basilica

Was the main covered public meeting place and was used for many functions: law court, trading room, and meeting hall. Their design was based on that of the imperial baths and the grandest was the Basilica of Constantine. Would have resembled either a Renaissance cathedral or a cathedral-like railway terminal. The Roman basilica was the basis of the first major Christian churches. The Basilica of Constantine at Trier in Germany is the link between the architecture of ancient Rome and of Byzantium and the Romanesque architecture. Constantine was the emperor who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity in AD 313.

The baths

Were opulent structures built on a Herculean scale, lavishly finished in rich marbles and set about with statues, fountains, and gardens. The main building of the Caracalla stood behind the walls of a massive leisure complex complete with stadium, gymnasium, library, and lecture halls.

Hadrian and Trajan

Were two of the greatest emperor-architects. Hadrian left us the Pantheon, his villa at Tivoli, his massive cylindrical tomb in Rome - Castel San Angelo - and the Pons Aelius that still crosses the Tiber to give access to his tomb. Trajan was a successful and much traveled soldier. His most enduring monument: Trajan's Column in Rome - Erected in 112 AD, 112ft. celebrated Trajan's victories in the Dacian Wars. Outside, a continuous frieze depicting episodes in the Dacian campaign followed the spiral of the interior stairs. The superb architectural lettering used for inscriptions on the base of Trajan's column are the basis of modern typography.

Finest surviving Roman Temples aside of the Pantheon

is the Maison Carree at Nimes in South France. And the most impressive ruins are to be found in modern-day Turkey, Libya, Tunisia, and Syria.

Romans were best at

making cities. The most popular meeting places in ancient Rome were the baths, circuses, stadium, the forum, and the basilica.

The Pantheon's eye in the centre of the roof

served to carry off smoke from a central altar and symbolized the sun in the heavens.

The Romans

were the toughies of the ancient world; practical, hard-working, soldiering people. They provided roads, running water by aqueducts, public baths, lavatories, sewers, and public transportation. They built blocks of flats - originally made of timber and mud bricks, later of concrete - rising up to 8 floors high.