HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE II

UNIT 1
Early Iron Age Civilizations in Greece:
Minoan, Mycenaean and Classical Greek Minoan and Mycenaean: Palace at Knosos, the Lion Gate, the
appearance of the Megaron. Classical Greek: Developments in philosophy: Socrates, Aristotle, Plato;
science; literature; Greek City states;
Evolution of the Temple; the Orders; the Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Athena; Polis and
Acropolis.
EARLY IRON AGE CIVILIZATIONS IN GREECE

MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN CULTURES

• Minoan and Mycenaean communities developed on small islands in the Aegean Sea, on the
larger island of Crete, and on the mainland of Greece beginning around 2000 BC.

• The term Minoan, derived from the name of the legendary king Minos, is used to refer to the
society, presumed to have come from Asia Minor (now Turkey), that built up a scattering of
settlements on Crete—some twenty towns or small cities, each with its own palace, and a
population estimated at about 80,000 supported by agriculture and fishing.

• Some contact with the contemporary society of Egypt is assumed, although there is no clear
evidence of its influence.

MINOAN CIVILIZATION

• The Minoan civilization flourished in the middle bronze age on the Mediterranean island of
Crete from ca. 2000 BCE until ca.
 • 1500 BCE and, with their unique art and architecture, the Minoans made a significant
contribution to the development of western European civilization as it is known today.

Palace at Knossos
 • The palace contained residences, kitchens, storage rooms, bathrooms, ceremonial rooms,
workshops, and sanctuaries. There were sophisticated infrastructural installations, ventilation
systems, and groundwater conduits.

Mycenae and Tiryns

• The term mycenaean is used to identify the ruined palaces at mycenae and tiryns on the greek
mainland, which date to the late bronze age (1600–1250 b.C.E.).

• These were placed on high ground and planned with fortification walls for defense. Giant
rough- cut stones are laid up without mortar to form complex galleries and chambers, topped
in places with stones tilted inward, which meet to form a stone roofing.

• Enough stonework survives for plans to be reconstructed; they exhibit the same complex and
labyrinthine planning encountered in the cretan palaces.
Megaron

• The megaron was a large rectangular or square room, with a central hearth below a raised roof
with an opening through which the smoke could escape. The entrance was from a porch with
two columns, which, like the interior columns, tapered from a larger capital to a smaller base.

• Although the style of roof is unknown, the artist’s impression shows that it may have been
decorated with complex, abstract, painted patterns

Mycenae

• Just to the right of the Lion Gate is a large circular burial tholos, the so-called Treasury of
Atreus, which archaeologists found almost intact; it has six chambered tombs containing gold,
silver, and bronze burial treasures.

• Entrance to this circle was restricted to the elite. Unlike the Egyptian pharaohs, who were
placed in pyramids, and later in secret caves, the Mycenaean dead were displayed within the
city at a place where memory and narrative were most likely to converge.

• Later Greeks would call the gathering of people in commemorating places a choros. Homer
would emerge, long after the Mycenaean Age had waned, recounting the tales of Mycenaean
heroes, among them Agamemnon.
GREECE

• The Greeks call the country Hellas or Ellada (Greek: Ελλάς, Ελλάδα) and its official name is
Hellenic Republic. In English, however, the country is usually called Greece, which comes from
Latin Graecia (as used by the Romans) and literally means 'the land of the Greeks'.

• History of Hellenism, coined the term Hellenistic to refer to and define the period when Greek
culture spread in the non-Greek world after Alexander's conquest.
Greek Architecture: Background

• The history of the Ancient Greek civilization is divided into two eras, the Hellenic and the
Hellenistic

• The Hellenic period commenced circa 900 BC, (with substantial works of architecture appearing
from about 600 BC) and ended with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. During the
Hellenistic period, 323 BC - AD 30, Hellenic culture was spread widely, firstly throughout lands
conquered by Alexander, and then by the Roman Empire which absorbed much of Greek
culture.

• The architecture of Ancient Greece is the architecture produced by the Greek-speaking people
(Hellenic people) whose cultur flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the Aegean
Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st
century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC. Ancient
Greek architecture is best known from its temples, many of which are found throughout the
region, mostly as ruins but many substantially intact. The second important type of building that
survives all over the Hellenic world is the open-air theatre, with the earliest dating from around
350 BC. Other architectural forms that are still in evidence are the processional gateway
(propylon), the public square (agora) surrounded by storied colonnade (stoa), the town council
 building (bouleuterion), the public monument, the monumental tomb (mausoleum) and the
stadium.

• Ancient Greek architecture is distinguished by its highly formalized characteristics, both of

structure and decoration. This is particularly so in the case of temples where each building
appears to have been conceived as a sculptural entity within the landscape, most often raised
on high ground so that the elegance of its proportions and the effects of light on its surfaces
might be viewed from all angles

• Our word “architecture” comes from the Greek architecton, which means “master carpenter.”

• Early Greek architecture therefore employed wood, not stone. These early structures, as well
as those of mud-brick, have not survived.

Language and Literature

• The Greek alphabet is the writing system first appeared in the archaeological record during the
8th century BCE.

However this was not the first writing system that was used to write Greek

• The Greek alphabet was born when the Greeks adapted the Phoenician writing system.

Government

• The government in the ancient Greek world, across different city-states and over many
centuries, kept changing their political power from being ruled by a king, which is called a
monarchy. Being ruled by a group of people, called oligarchy. Finally, being ruled by many,
which is called a democracy. There was also the
time between 600 B.C. and 500

• B.C where some Greek city-states where ruled by

tyrants. Which is when as man steps up to rule
over others, but does not have a legal reason to
rule.

• Democracy is regarded as the Greeks' greatest

contribution to civilization, which took birth in
Athens in 460 BCE.

• There are two specifically political texts with the

same title, The Constitution of the Athenians, one
written by Aristotle or one of his pupils and the
other attributed (by some) to Xenophon.
Science

• Based upon observations, some ancient Greeks realized that it was possible to find regularities
and patterns hidden in nature and that those regularities were the key to unlocking the secrets
of the universe. It became evident that even nature had to obey certain rules and by knowing
those rules one could predict the behaviour of nature.

• Observation was eventually undervalued by the Greeks in favour of the deductive process,
where knowledge is built by means of pure thought. This method is key in mathematics and the
Greeks put such an emphasis on it that they falsely believed that deduction was the way to
obtain the highest knowledge.

• Thales of Miletus 624 BC – 546 BC

• At about 600 BCE first developed the idea that the world can be
explained without resorting to supernatural explanations.

• Empedocles 490 BC – 430 BC

• He taught an early form of evolution and survival of the fittest.

Philosophy

• Greek philosophers approached the big questions of life sometimes in a genuine scientific way,
sometimes in mystic ways, but always in an imaginative fashion.
• Greek Philosophy as an independent cultural genre began around 600 BCE, and its insights still
persist to our times.

Socrates 470 BC – 399 BC

He is known for his Dialogues and for founding his Academy north of
Athens, traditionally considered the first university in the western
world.

Plato 428 BC – 348 BC

Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects,

including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, religion and mathematics.
His lasting themes include Platonic love, His theory of forms launched
a unique perspective on abstract objects, and led to a school of
thought called Platonism.

Aristotle 624 BC – 546 BC

He was the first philosopher who developed a systematic study of logic

Although he repeatedly admitted the importance of induction, he
prioritized the use of deduction to build knowledge
Religion

THE Greeks used to worship many gods and goddesses. Some of the more prominent are:

1. Zeus – Chief of the gods and supreme ruler

2. Hera – Wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage

3. Apollo – The son of Zeus . The god who punishes, heals and helps. Also the god of song and
music, of the sun and founder of cities.

4. Hestia – Sacred fire

5. Heracles – Strength and power

6. Athena – Wisdom, power, peace and prosperity

7. Poseidon – Sea

8. Demeter – Earth and agriculture

9. Dionysus – Wine, feasting and revelry

10. Artemis – Hunting

11. Aphrodite – Beauty

12. Nike - Victory

13. Hermes – Messenger of the gods

Mythology

• Greek mythology, as in other ancient

cultures, was used as a means to explain
the environment in which humankind
lived, the natural phenomena they
witnessed and the passing of time
through the days, months, and seasons.

• Myths were also intricately connected to

religion in the Greek world and explained
the origin and lives of the gods, where
humanity had come from and where it
 was going after death, and gave advice on the best way to lead a happy life.

• Finally, myths were used to re-tell historical events so that people could maintain contact with
their ancestors, the wars they fought, and the places they explored.

Sculpture

• Greek sculpture from 800 to 300 BCE took early inspiration from Egyptian and Near Eastern
monumental art, and over centuries evolved into a uniquely Greek vision of the art form. Greek
artists would reach a peak of artistic excellence which captured the human form in a way never
before seen and which was much copied.

• Greek sculptors were particularly concerned with proportion, poise, and the idealised
perfection of the human body, and their figures in stone and bronze.

• The Greeks used many different types of materials in their sculptures including stone, marble
and limestone as these were abundant in Greece. Other materials such as clay were also used
but due to their brittle nature very few have survived. Greek sculptures are very important as
the vast majority of them tell us a story about Gods, Heroes, Events, Mythical Creatures and
Greek culture in general. Many of the statues that have survived are actually of Roman origin.
Greek Architecture

• The architecture of Ancient Greece is the architecture produced by the Greek- speaking people
(Hellenic people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the
Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the
1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC.

• Ancient Greek architecture is best known from its temples, many of which are found
throughout the region, mostly as ruins but many substantially intact. The second important
type of building that survives all over the Hellenic world is the open-air theatre, with the
earliest dating from around 350 BC.

• Other architectural forms that are still in evidence are the processional gateway, the public
square (agora) surrounded by storied colonnade, the town council building, the public
monument, the mausoleum and the stadium.

Geography, Climate and Light

• The mainland and islands of Greece are rocky, with deeply indented coastline, and rugged
mountain ranges with few substantial forests. The most freely available building material is
stone. Limestone and marble were readily available and easily worked. This finely grained
material was a major contributing factor to precision of detail, both architectural and
sculptural, that adorned Ancient Greek architecture. Deposits of high quality potter's clay were
found throughout Greece and the Islands, with major deposits near Athens. It was used not
only for pottery vessels, but also roof tiles and architectural decoration.
 • The climate of Greece is maritime, with both the coldness of winter and the heat of summer
tempered by sea breezes. This led to a lifestyle where many activities took place outdoors.
Hence temples were placed on hilltops, their exteriors designed as a visual focus of gatherings
and processions, while theatres were often an enhancement of a naturally occurring sloping
site where people could sit, rather than a containing structure. Colonnades encircling buildings,
or surrounding courtyards provided shelter from the sun and from sudden winter storms.

• The light of Greece may be another important factor in the development of the particular
character of Ancient Greek architecture. The light is often extremely bright, with both the sky
and the sea vividly blue. In this characteristic environment, the Ancient Greek architects
constructed buildings that were marked by precision of detail. The gleaming marble surfaces
were smooth, curved, fluted, or ornately sculpted to reflect the sun, cast graded shadows and
change in colour with the ever-changing light of day.

The Greek Temple

• The Greek temple developed from the Aegean megaron, the main room of the palace—it was
thus the palace- house of a god, the only palace this largely democratic society required. No
wooden temples have survived, but their nature can be deduced from later stone temples.

• Greek temple design changed considerably in the middle of the 6th century BCE, as wood was
increasingly abandoned for stone.

• This may have been partially due to a desire for permanence, but it may also have been
spurred by the influence of Egyptian architecture, with which the increasingly came in contact.
• The most basic element of the temple was the colonnade. Though so common today that it
might seem to be a natural architectural form, it was actually a unique innovation of the
Greeks.

• A pteron, means “wing” or “fin,”. It perhaps refers to early awnings placed against buildings.
But it also indicates that the Greeks saw the building as a dynamic location—as something that
literally catches the wind and hears the voices of the gods. The pteron also evoked the idea of a
grove of trees, especially because columns were originally made of wooden trunks.
The following terms describe the type of colonnade surrounding the naos of a Greek temple:

• Peripteral: one row of columns

• Dipteral: two rows of columns

• Tripteral: three rows of columns

• Pseudodipteral: suggesting a dipteral colonnade, but without the

inner colonnade

Greek Temple : Evolution

The following terms refer to the number of columns on the entrance front of a Greek temple:

• Henostyle: one column

• Distyle: two columns

• Tristyle: three columns

• Tetrastyle: four columns

• Pentastyle: five columns

• Hexastyle: six columns

• Heptastyle: seven columns

• Octastyle: eight columns

• Enneastyle: nine columns

• Decastyle: ten columns

• The architecture of Ancient

Greece is of a trabeated or "post
and lintel" form, i.e. it is
composed of upright posts
supporting horizontal lintels.
Although the existent buildings
of the era are constructed in
stone, it is clear that the origin of
the style lies in simple wooden
structures, with vertical posts
supporting beams which carried
a ridged roof.

• The posts and beams divided the walls into regular compartments which could be left as
openings, or filled with sun dried bricks, lathes or straw and covered with clay daub or plaster.
Alternately, the spaces might be filled with rubble.
Greek Temple: Vocabulary

• Proportions

• The ideal of proportion that was used by Ancient Greek architects in designing temples was not
a simple mathematical progression using a square module. The math involved a more complex
geometrical progression, the so- called Golden mean. The ratio is similar to that of the growth
patterns of many spiral forms that occur in nature such as rams' horns, nautilus shells, fern
fronds, and vine tendrils and which were a source of decorative motifs employed by Ancient
Greek architects as particularly in evidence in the volutes of capitals of the Ionic and Corinthian
Orders.
• Optical illusion

• The determining factor in the mathematics of any notable work of architecture was its ultimate
appearance. The architects calculated for perspective, for the optical illusions that make edges
of objects appear concave and for the fact that columns that are viewed against the sky look
different from those adjacent that are viewed against a shadowed wall. Because of these
factors, the architects adjusted the plans so that the major lines of any significant building are
rarely straight. The most obvious adjustment is to the profile of columns, which narrow from
base to top. However, the narrowing is not regular, but gently curved so that each columns
appears to have a slight swelling in the middle.

• Stylistically, Ancient Greek architecture is divided into three “orders”:

1. the Doric Order,

2. the Ionic Order and

3. the Corinthian Order,

• The names reflect their origins. While the three orders are most easily recognizable by their
capitals, the orders also governed the form, proportions, details and relationships of the
columns, entablature, and the pediment. The different orders were applied to the whole range
of buildings and monuments.

• The Doric Order developed on mainland Greece and spread to Italy. It was firmly established
and well-defined in its characteristics by the time of the building of the Temple of Hera at
Olympia, c. 600 BC.
• The Ionic order co-existed with the Doric, being favoured by the Greek cites of Ionia, in Asia
Minor and the Aegean Islands. The early Ionic temples of Asia Minor were particularly
ambitious in scale, such as the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

• The Corinthian Order was a highly decorative variant not developed until the Hellenistic period
and retaining many characteristics of the Ionic. It was popularized by the Romans.
Greek Temple: Parthenon

• Type : Greek Temple

• Architectural style : Classical

• Location: Athens,

• Construction: 432 BC- 447 BC

• Height: 13.72 m (45.0 ft)

• Size: 69.5 by 30.9 m (228 by 101 ft)

• Other dimensions: Cella: 29.8 by 19.2 m (98 by 63 ft)

 • The single greatest building constructed during the Greek Classical period. Built as a temple to
worship Athena who was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. The architects of the
Parthenon intended the brilliant white marble to be the ultimate expression of Athens
grandeur. Even in ruins, it crowns the Acropolis. The Parthenon remained relatively intact until
1687 when it was severely damaged in an explosion.

• The Parthenon is a Doric Temple, named because of the style/order of column used in its
construction. The Parthenon’s form grew out of other, earlier Greek temples.

• A Doric temple has 8 columns on each end and 17 along each side.

• The Parthenon is 60 meters in length, 30 meters wide and 18 meters in height.

Cella: “The inner, main chamber of a temple. Greek term: Naos. This chamber containing the image of
the god was the principal part of the temple. Generally the cella received its light through the open
door alone, but sometimes there was also an opening in the roof or possibly windows on either side of
the door.”

Pronaos: “In the Greek temple, the porch, portico, or entrance-hall to the temple proper or cella.”

Opisthodomos: The Parthenon had a double cella with a pronaos and opisthodomos (“a porch at the
rear of the cella which often served as a rear entrance.”)

The cella on the west was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, from which the whole building got the name
Parthenon. It’s likely that the western cella was used as a treasury. Its doors were probably reinforced
with bronze bars.
Greek Architecture: Typology

Acropolis

• The majority of the religious buildings were concentrated in the Acropolis, or fortified city built
on a mountain near the city. (This is Athens’ Acropolis)
Greek Architecture: Typology

Stoa:

• A long narrow hall with an open colonnade that was used as exhibition room. is a covered
walkway or portico, commonly for public use. Early stoas were open at the entrance with
columns, usually of the Doric order, lining the side of the building; they created a safe,
enveloping, protective atmosphere.

Agora:

• The agora was a central public

space in ancient Greek city-states.
The literal meaning of the word is
"gathering place" or "assembly".
The agora was the center of the
athletic, artistic, spiritual and
political life of the city. The
Ancient Agora of Athens was the
best-known example.
Theatre:

– It was used for meeting and dramatic performances

– There were built on a hill

– They have perfect acoustic due to their location

– There were small theatres for reading poetry, they were called odeon.
LEGACY AND RELEVANCE OF GREEK CIVILIZATION

• The Olympics, the massive international sports competition that serves as one of ancient
Greece’s most visible legacies, dates from 776 BC.

• Invention of Democracy, instituted in 507 BC. And the emergence of City-state.

• Invention of alphabets. This alphabetic legacy is made clear through the use of the first two
Greek letters, alpha and beta, in the formation of the word “alphabet.”

• Ancient Greek theater and development of the notion of literary forms such as tragedy,
comedy and satire.

• The legacy of Architecture as an art form, rather than merely a utilitarian science and the
development of three orders.

• The affect of the ancient Greek’s achievement in sculpture is apparent in later artists'
employment of classical proportions. The rediscovery of Greek sculpture throughout the 16th
and 17th centuries inspired.

• Renaissance artists in their own depictions of the human form.

• The Greek love of reason and logic influenced the development of Western knowledge in fields
of Science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and philosophy.

• Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle were also scientists who observed and studied
the known world, the earth, seas, and mountains here below, and the solar system, planetary
motion, and astral phenomena.

• Archimedes developed Archimedes‘ principle, explanation of levers and invention of compound

pulley. He also invented Odometer.

• Plato invented water alarm clock

• Aristotle gave the idea of earth being a globe. He also classified animals and if often referred to
as father of zoology.

• Hippocrates was referred as the father of western medicine in recognition of his lasting
contributions to the field of medicine and as the founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine.
The most famous of his supposed contributions is the Hippocratic Oath.

• Temples with their various orders and arrangements of columns have provided the most
tangible architectural legacy from the Greek world, and it is perhaps ironic that the
architecture of Greek religious buildings has been so widely adopted in the modern world for
such secular buildings as court houses and government buildings.
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE II
UNIT 2
Early Iron Age Civilizations in Rome:
Political, social, philosophical and military developments.
Structural and Engineering Achievements: the arch, Vault and the dome; Developments of the orders;
Temples: Pantheon; Arenas: Colloseum; Thermae: Caracalla; Aqueducts; the forum and the basilica
EARLY IRON AGE CIVILIZATIONS IN ROME

ROMAN EMPIRE IN 117 AD

The Roman Empire, at its height (c. 117 CE), was the most extensive political and social structure in

western civilization. By 285 CE the empire had grown too vast to be ruled from the central
government at Rome and so was divided by Emperor Diocletian into a Western and an Eastern
Empire. The Roman Empire began when Augustus Caesar became the first emperor of Rome (31 BCE)
and ended, in the west, when the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the
Germanic King Odoacer (476 CE). In the east, it continued as the Byzantine Empire until the death of
Constantine XI and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 CE.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

The language of the romans was Latin, which was the source of roman unity and tradition. Latin was
the language of the law courts in the west and of the military throughout the empire, but was not
imposed officially on peoples brought under roman rule. This policy contrasts with that of Alexander
the great, who aimed to impose Greek throughout his empire as the official language. Romans who
received an elite education studied Greek as a literary language, and most men of the governing classes
could speak Greek. The Julio- Claudian emperors encouraged high standards of correct Latin (latinitas),
a linguistic movement identified in modern terms as Classical Latin, and favored Latin for conducting
official business.

POTTERY

Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes.

Fired clay or terracotta was also widely employed in the Roman period for architectural purposes, as
structural bricks and tiles, and occasionally as architectural decoration, and for the manufacture of
small statuettes and lamps.

COINS

Roman coins were first produced in the late 4th century BCE in Italy and continued to be minted for
another eight centuries across the empire. Denominations and values more or less constantly changed
but certain types such as the sestertii and denarii would persist and come to rank amongst the most
famous coins in history.

A coin depicting Roman general and statesman Gnaeus

Pompeius Magnus, Pompey the Great. The reverse side shows Neptune. (c. 40 BCE).

DECORATIVE ART

Decorative arts for luxury consumers included fine pottery, silver and bronze vessels and implements,
and glassware.
Roman Architecture

 Ancient Roman architecture developed different aspects of Ancient Greek architecture and
newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make a new architectural style.
 Its use of new materials, particularly concrete, was a very important feature.
 Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC
to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine
architecture.
 Roman architectural style continued to influence building in the former empire for many
centuries, and the style used in Western Europe beginning about 600AD is called Romanesque
architecture to reflect this dependence on basic Roman forms.

 Typology and Type of Buildings

 The Ancient Romans were responsible for significant developments in housing and public
hygiene, for example their public and private baths and latrines, under-floor heating in the form
of the hypocaust, mica glazing, and piped hot and cold water.

 They were making buildings such as Apartment blocks, Warehouses, public latrines, and
amphitheaters to improve the living standards of people residing in towns and cities across the
empire.
Influences and Background

Factors such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans to discover
new architectural solutions of their own.

The use of vaults and arches, together with a sound knowledge of building materials, enabled them to
achieve unprecedented successes in the construction of imposing structures for public use.
Examples include the aqueducts of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, the
basilicas and Colosseum.

These were reproduced at smaller scale in most important towns and cities in the Empire. The Ancient
Romans intended that public buildings should be made to impress, as well as perform a public function.
The Romans did not feel restricted by Greek aesthetic axioms (rules) alone in achieving these
objectives.

The Romans absorbed Greek Architectural influence both directly by using Greek Architects and
craftsmen in the early Roman Republic years.
Elements of space making

The Roman use of the arch and their improvements in the use of concrete and bricks along with the use
of features such as domes, vaults, and arches facilitated liberation of shapes from the dictates of the
traditional materials of stone.
Materials

Tile covered concrete quickly supplanted marble

as the primary building material, and more daring
buildings soon followed, with great pillars
supporting broad arches and domes rather than
dense lines of columns suspending flat architraves.

The freedom of concrete also inspired the

colonnade screen, a row of purely decorative
columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-
scale architecture, concrete's strength freed the
floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-
flowing environment.
The Orders

Tuscan Order

Has been described as "the solidest and least ornate”.

Tuscan order was an older primitive Italic architectural form,

predating the Greek Doric and Ionic.

In its simplicity, The Tuscan order is seen as similar to the Doric

order, and yet in its overall proportions and intercolumniation,
it follows the ratios of the Ionic order.

This strong order was considered most appropriate in military

architecture and in docks and warehouses when they were
dignified by architectural treatment.

Composite Order

The composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of

the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the
Corinthian order. The composite order volutes are larger,
however, and the composite order also has the moulding with
egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes. The column
of the composite order is 1:10 proportion.

Until the Renaissance, the composite was not ranked as a

separate order. Instead it was considered as a late Roman form
of the Corinthian order. The Arch of Titus, in the forum in
Rome, built in 82 AD, is considered the first example of a
composite order.

The composite order, due to its delicate appearance, was

deemed by the Renaissance to be suitable for the building of
churches dedicated to The Virgin Mary or other female saints.

The Roman Urban Villa

After 2nd Century BC private houses became ever more luxurious. Colonnaded gardens, inspired by
Egyptian architecture, were added behind the
house. Plinths and libraries were installed, as well as fountains, summer dining rooms and even private
baths.

Windows became bigger, and walls were ornamented with illusionistic pictures. In Pompeii, some
families bought out their neighbors to increase their living space and create a grand house.

The Social Structure of the Roman House

The Roman house was more than just a place to live. It played an important role in Roman societal
rituals.

In the Roman world, individuals were frequently bound to others in a patron-client relationship
whereby a wealthier, better educated, and more powerful patronus protected the interests of a cliens,
sometimes large numbers of them. The standing of a man in Roman society often was measured by
clientele size. To be seen in public accompanied by a crowd of clients was a badge of honour.

In this system, a plebeian (a member of the social class that included small farmers, merchants, and
freed slaves) might be bound to a patrician; regardless of rank, all clients were obligated to support
their patron in political campaigns and to perform specific services on request, and to call on and salute
the patron at the patron’s home.
Insulae

In Roman architecture,
an insula was a kind of
apartment building
that housed most of
the urban citizen
population of ancient
Rome, including
ordinary people of
lower- or middle-class
status and all but the
wealthiest from the
upper- middle class.

The traditional elite

and the very wealthy
lived in a domus, a
large single- family
residence, but the two
kinds of housing were
intermingled in the city
and not segregated
into separate
neighbourhoods.

The ground-level floor of the insula was used for taberna, shops and businesses, with the living space
upstairs. Like modern apartment buildings, an insula might have a name, usually referring to the
owner of the building.
Mosaics

MOSAIC ART

As well as geometric patterns and designs, Roman mosaics frequently depicted divine characters or
mythological scenes
Architecture and Design features

Elements of space making

The mosaic is a decoration made of colourful chips of stone

inserted into cement. This tiling method took the empire by
storm in the late first century and the second century.

A hypocaust was an ancient Roman system of underfloor

heating, used to heat houses with hot air. The hypocaust
was an invention which improved the hygiene and living
conditions of citizens, and was a forerunner of modern
central heating.

To a large extent, the types and styles of ancient Roman

furniture followed those of their Classical and Hellenistic
Greek predecessors. Because of this it is difficult to
differentiate Roman forms from earlier Hellenistic ones in
many cases.

Knowledge of Roman furniture is derived mainly from

depictions in frescoes and representations in sculpture,
along with actual pieces of furniture, fragments, and fittings,
several of which were preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

SCULPTURE

Early Roman art was influenced by the art

of Greece and that of the

neighboring Etruscans.

The strengths of Roman sculpture are in

portraiture, where they were less
concerned with the ideal than the Greeks
or Ancient Egyptians, and produced very
characterful works, and in narrative relief
scenes.
Rome

Forum of Augustus

Apart from the efforts in the old forum, Augustus decided to lay out a brand new forum (10–2 BCE),
which was located to the east of the Forum of Caesar and along the city wall to the west. Since it was in
a thickly settled area, houses had to be purchased and cleared away.

One entered the forum from the south side, on axis with the temple, which was placed at the far end of
the forum. It seems Augustus was not able to purchase all the land he needed, even though the area
behind the forum was one of the poorer sections of town. A large wall was erected behind the building,
to serve both as a firewall and to shield against the squalor on the other side. To resolve the irregularity
of the site,

the architect added porticoes to conceal back entrances to the right and left of the temple.
The northern portico ends in a square room that contained a colossal statue of Augustus. The temple
was dedicated to Mars the Avenger (Mars Ultor) in accordance with a vow made by Augustus before
the Battle of Philippi (42 BCE) in which Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar, were killed.
There are eight Corinthian columns in front and along the flanks.

The plan is nearly square, measuring 38 by 40 meters. Omitting two rows of columns created space for
a generous entrance. Inside the temple, in the apse, elevated five steps above the floor, were statues of
Mars, Venus, and the deified Julius Caesar. Forming a cross-axis are two large semi- circular recess or
plinths. Their purpose was to hold statues that tell the narrative of Romulus and Aeneas, the great men
of Rome’s founding. The Augustan Empire was depicted as the culmination of this history, with
Augustus himself presiding over this portrait gallery in the form of a bronze statue on a pedestal in the
middle of the forum.

Apart from the religious ceremonies that took place here, the forum became the starting point for
magistrates departing for the provinces and the repository of the triumphal banners. It was also the
place for senate meetings when reports of military successes were expected.
Colosseum

Colosseum has been one of Rome’s landmarks since the day it was dedicated. Vespasian’s decision to
build the Flavian Amphitheatre, as it was known at the time, was very shrewd. The site chosen was the
artificial lake on the grounds of Nero’s Palace, which was drained for the purpose. Vespasian reclaimed
for the public the land Nero had confiscated for his private pleasure and provided the masses with the
largest arena for gladiatorial combats and other lavish spectacles that had ever been constructed.

The Colosseum takes its name, however, not from its size—it could hold more than 50,000 spectators.

Romans flocked to amphitheatres all over the Empire to see two main kinds of spectacles: gladiatorial
combats and animal hunts.

Gladiators were professional fighters, usually slaves who

had been purchased to train in gladiatorial schools as Hand-to-hand combatants. Their owners, seeking
to turn a profit, rented them out for performances. Beginning with Domitian, however, all gladiators
who competed in the Colosseum were state-owned to ensure that they could not be used as a private
army to overthrow the government.

Although every gladiator faced death every time he entered the arena, some had long careers and
achieved considerable fame. Others, for example, criminals or captured enemies, were sent into the
amphitheatre without any training and without defensive weapons. Those “games” were a form of
capital punishment coupled with entertainment for the masses.
Forum of Trajan

1) Temple of Trajan,

2) Column of Trajan,

3) library,

4) Basilica Ulpia,

5) forum,

6) Equestrian statue of Trajan.

Pantheon

Rome’s temple to all gods.

Work began on the third Pantheon soon after Hadrian became emperor and was probably
completed by 125.

Hadrian nonetheless declined to affix his own name to the building, preferring to honour
Agrippa by retaining the temple’s original dedication on the facade

M.AGRIPPA. L.F.COS.TERTIVM.FECIT (Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time,
built it).
 The Pantheon is not only one of the best-preserved buildings of antiquity but also one of the
most influential designs in architectural history. It reveals the full potential of concrete, both
as a building material and as a means for shaping architectural space.

Below the dome, much of the original marble veneer of the walls, niches, and floor has survived
Visitors to the Pantheon can get a sense, as almost nowhere else, of how magnificent the interiors of
Roman concrete buildings could be.

But despite the luxurious skin of the Pantheon’s interior, the sense experienced on first entering the
structure is not the weight of the enclosing walls but the space they enclose.

The Pantheon’s interior is a single unified, self- sufficient whole, uninterrupted by supporting solids.

It encloses visitors without imprisoning them, opening through the oculus to the drifting clouds, the
blue sky, the sun, and the gods. In this space, the architect used light not merely to illuminate the
darkness but to create drama and underscore the interior shape’s symbolism.

On a sunny day, the light that passes through the oculus forms a circular beam, a disk of light that
moves across the coffered dome in the course of the day as the sun moves across the sky itself
escaping from the noise and torrid heat of a Roman summer day into the Pantheon’s cool, calm, and
mystical immensity is an experience almost impossible to describe verbally.
Extremely hard and durable basalt was employed in the mix for the foundations. The recipe was
gradually modified until, at the top of the dome, featherweight pumice replaced stones to lighten the
load. The dome’s thickness also decreases as it nears the 30-foot-diameter oculus, the only light
source for the interior.

The dome’s weight was lessened, without weakening its structure, through the use of coffers, which
had been employed long before. The coffers further reduced the dome’s mass and provided a
handsome pattern of squares within the vast circle.

Renaissance drawings suggest that each coffer once had a glistening gilded- bronze rosette at its
centre, enhancing the dome’s symbolism as the starry heavens.