Architecture of Rome Notes

By the time of Augustus, Rome had grown from a tiny settlement on the Tiber River to a metropolis at the center of an expanding empire.
Under the republic, Rome became the political capital of the Mediterranean and a symbol of Roman power and wealth.

The forum was an open area bordered by colonnades with shops, functioning as the chief meeting place of the town.
It was also the site of the city's primary religious and civic buildings, among them the Senate house, records office, and basilica.

The basilica was a roofed hall with a wide central area—the nave—flanked by side aisles, and it often had two or more stories.
In Roman times basilicas were the site of business transactions and legal proceedings.
Christianity took this and would turn it into their standard form of the Western church with an apse and altar at the end of the long nave.
The first basilicas were put up in the early 2nd century BC in Rome's own Forum.
The earliest well-preserved example of the basilicas (circa 120 BC) is found at Pompeii.

The chief temple of a Roman city, the capitolium, was generally located at one end of the forum.
The standard Roman temple was a blend of Etruscan and Greek elements:
- Rectangular in plan
- Gabled roof
- A deep porch with free-standing columns
- A frontal staircase giving access to its high plinth, or platform.

Roman temples were erected not only in the forum but throughout the city and in the countryside as well.
One of the most influential in later times was the type used for the Pantheon (AD 118-28) in Rome, consisting of a standard gable-roofed columnar porch with a domed cylindrical drum behind it.
The Pantheon in Rome is one of the most famous buildings in the world.
It was commissioned by Hadrian in 118 and completed in 128.
The dome of the rotunda behind the portico is $43.2$ m ( $142$ ft) in diameter.
The oculus (a round opening) at the top is $8.5$ m ( $28$ ft) in diameter and provides the only source of light for the interior.
Its interior was conceived as a single immense space illuminated by a single round opening, called an oculus.
The interior is decorated with colored marble and lined with pairs of columns and carved figures set into niches in the wall.

Roman theaters first appeared in the late Republic.
They were semicircular in plan and consisted of a tall stage building abutting a semicircular orchestra and tiered seating area.
Unlike Greek theaters, which were situated on natural slopes, Roman theaters were supported by their own framework of piers and vaults and thus could be constructed in the hearts of cities.

Means “double theater” were elliptical in plan with a central arena, where gladiatorial and animal combats took place.
Most well known is the Colosseum in Rome.
Amphitheaters were places where the Emperors of Rome could distract the population with entertainment.
The Colosseum held approximately 50,000 spectators.
- For reference, Yankee Stadium sits roughly 54,000.
- Citi Field sits 42,000.
- MSG holds 20,000.
- Metlife 82,000.

The Colosseum is best known for its multilevel system of vaults made of concrete.
It is called the Colosseum for a colossal statue of Nero that once stood nearby, but its real name is the Flavian Amphitheater.
Home to where gladiatorial and animal combats took place.

Among the other great public building projects of the Romans were aqueducts that brought water to the towns from mountain sources.
Cities had plumbing, providing private water for the rich and for public baths.
Poor neighborhoods shared a public water site.
The Romans needed a structure strong enough to hold all that water to move it from the mountains into the city.
The water was transported in concrete tunnels.
The tunnels were underground if possible.
When underground was not possible, massive works were constructed to maintain a specific grade. These structures are the more well-known visual of an aqueduct.
The water flowed in a tube on the top of the aqueduct called a water channel.
The arches supported the water channel.
Gravity made the water flow. Roman engineers had to construct the aqueduct so the water would flow.
The aqueduct was built to slope down at a $0.025$ meters per kilometer.

All of the roman architecture revolved around the strength of an arch.
An arch was constructed from each end up to the center piece, known as the keystone.
The keystone exerts a force on the adjacent stones so that this one stone at the top held the entire arch together. Thus, it is the key to the structure.