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ROMAN ARCHITECTURE.

Origins (2nd Cent. A.D.), development, Greek influences, style, cultural philosophy, homes, temples, theaters.

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Architecture that was distinctively Roman did not begin to emerge until the first century BC and only reached full development at the time of Augustus one century later. Because Rome was formed from interactions with many different Italian groups and because the Roman Empire took in so much area and so many different peoples, Roman culture was not homogeneous. Nearly every aspect of its culture was heavily influenced by other Italians (particularly the Etruscans), Greeks, and peoples of the Near East and Europe. Pollitt divides the long developmental period of Roman art and architecture into three phases. The first two were the Etruscan phase (seventh and sixth centuries BC) and the Italic phase (which corresponded with the beginning of the Republic and occupied the next two centuries). The third period was the Greek phase "dating to the third and

ed., John Boardman, 217-295. For the most part the Romans were slowly making a choicebetween "two design options, the heritage of Greece and the conceit ofRome, [which] conjured fundamentally unique environments."[21] The onethey eventually chose, however, always included reminders of the Greek pastin the modified forms of Greek externals adapted to the new demands ofRoman interiors. Praeger, 1964.----------------------- NOTES [1]J. The first two were the Etruscan phase(seventh and sixth centuries BC) and the Italic phase (which correspondedwith the beginning of the Republic and occupied the next two centuries).The third period was the Greek phase "dating to the third and secondcenturies BC and coinciding with Rome's expansion into and domination ofthe Hellenistic world."[2] In architecture, the Greek influence continued throughout the firstcentury and was the model that was often invoked during the Augustan era,when Greek art offered "a language of forms" that reflected Augustus'vision of Rome "as a new Athens".[3] The last important revival of theGreek tradition occurred during the second century AD in the peaceful reignof Hadrian for whom the Greek style signified an age when "love of beautyand the pursuit of understanding were valued more highly than the strugglefor power."[4] Though mistaken beliefs about the Greek past, such as Hadrianprofessed, were radical idealizations, the Romans clung to the notion thatAthens had been an ideal civilization. 2 BC) at Nimes in France. [9]Wheeler, 13-14. But, while the Greeks were somewhat casually organized around anagora, or central meeting place and market, the Romans emphasized this axis"by placing public buildings such as the forum-basilica complex there."[7] For the Romans, the center of the town with its definite axis betweenthe religious and the civic centers, and an open space between them, wassymbolic of the nature of the state. Praeger, 1964), 13. [11]Ibid., 199. Rome adopted some Greek practices inlaying out cities, including a north-south and east-west axis at theircenters. [6]Ibid., 12, [7]Spiro Kostof, A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals, 2nded., revised by Greg Castillo (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)192. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1981.Wheeler, Mortimer. Where Greek homes opened out towardthe world at several points, the Romans emphasized an entrance that ledinto a space that was apart from the world. [19]Ward-Perkins, 44. The buildings wereprobably covered with awnings and, once again, the adaptation of Greekforms showed the Roman preoccupation with interiority with this "closed-inform, intensely focused on the stage."[17] Augustus boasted that he had "found Rome a city of brick and left ita city of marble."[18] The use of this uncommon material was made possibleby the opening of the Carrara quarries and Augustus imported marble workersfrom the only possible source -- Greece. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.Pollitt, J. [18]Quoted in J. BIBLIOGRAPHYKostof, Spiro. This temple was built in a common stylethat combined the ground plan of the Tuscan (actually Etruscan) style witha version of the Greek temple's exterior. This idea of bringing nature inside was also peculiar to the Romans.The Greeks saw nature as preceding them and the things they built "placedthemselves in [nature's] folds with reverence or, later, dramaticverve."[11] In the villas of wealthy Romans the peristyle was given backits function but placed at the entrance. New York: Frederick A. The Romans wished to refer to theglorious Greek past (and to their own ability to surpass it) while alsodeveloping an architectural iconography more suited to their own purposes.In turning from the exteriority of Greek architecture, as exemplified bythe openness of the Parthenon, the Romans looked inward and created themonolithic, centered interiors that came to characterize Romanarchitecture. Pollitt divides the long developmental period of Roman art andarchitecture into three phases. The curving Roman wallemphasized the enclosed, protected nature of the interior space. The choice of architecturalorder could also be important. The Romans built thetraditional semicircular stands and colonnaded front and back walls thatwere found in Hellenistic theaters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.Ward-Perkins, J. [17]Ibid., 262. By the time of Augustus, for instance, thepseudo-peripteral style was still employed at times, as in the MaisonCarrée (c. In temple construction, the first important building at Romewas Quintus Metellus' complex (c. Roman Imperial Architecture. [1 ]Kostof, 199. Yet even while they took anidealized view of Greek achievement and style, the Romans were eminentlypractical and were going about the task of surpassing Greece in practicalways. 2nd ed. Such adaptations and differences are just as prominent in religiousbuildings. [21]Kostof, 213. All during the first and second centuries the growth of Romanculture as a separate entity and the Romans' technical advances, especially"increasing exploitation of concrete and brickwork," were leading to a new,truly Roman style of architecture.[5] In the centuries between the Parthenon (447-432 BC) in Athens and thePantheon (AD 118-128) in Rome the slow transformation of architecture fromGreek to Roman has been characterized as a matter of turning architecture"outside-in".[6] The differences in the Greek and Roman world-views arereflected in their respective approaches to architecture and city-planning. It had become a coherent whole that found its politicalexpression in a centralized empire. A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals. [3]Ibid., 226. J. Here the earliestexamples can be found of the Roman "feeling for inwardness" as well as forthe highly regimented composition that distinguishes Roman layouts fromeven the most formal of Greek or Hellenistic designs.[1 ] Roman houses,for example, were constructed as rectangles with rigid central axes andwhen the Greek peristyles were added to the houses they were merely addedonto the axes and, instead of being paved, they became the back kitchengardens. Revised by Greg Castillo. [5]Mortimer Wheeler, Roman Art and Architecture (New York: FrederickA. [14]Ibid., 255. [12]Ibid., 2 1. [8]Ibid., 192. Architecture that was distinctively Roman did not begin to emergeuntil the first century BC and only reached full development at the time ofAugustus one century later.[1] Because Rome was formed from interactionswith many different Italian groups and because the Roman Empire took in somuch area and so many different peoples, Roman culture was not homogeneous. [16]Ibid., 262. The domestic architectureuncovered at the buried city of Pompeii, which was always a crossroadsbetween Greek and Roman influences, offers some of the clearest examples ofthe differences between Roman and Greek architecture. [2 ]Pollitt, 224-225. Its relationship with natureconcerned only the nature it could contain. Here, however, the Ionic order hasbeen replaced by the flowery Corinthian order, which was symbolicallyimportant to Augustus as a reference to the flowering of Roman civilizationthat was taking place during his reign.[15] Another interesting area in which Roman form derived directly fromthe Greek was the construction of theaters. Butthe resemblance is only superficially continued on the sides and back ofthe temple where the Romans attached the columns of the peristyle to thewalls of the cella and created a mere visual analog to the Greekoriginals.[14] The choice of architectural order and other architectural details wasimportant to the Romans. B. Under Rome, politically and intellectually, the civilized world was nolonger a mere collection of city-states and disconnected culturalphenomena. Only with such beliefs could theRomans formulate the plans whereby they were to revive and surpass theprevious heights achieved by humanity. They could, thereby, have buildings that were centered,reflecting the centralized nature of the empire, and which, by maintainingat least the decorative aspects of Greek design, also referred to theidealized past.[9] Most aspects of Greek architectural tradition underwent considerablechanges in being adapted by the Romans. The undramatic flat wall ofGreek homes was a mere architectural fact. [2]Ibid., 219. The combination of Augustus' loveof Greek culture and the use of Greek craftsmen led to "the rapidhellenization of the established Republican traditions of architecturalornament."[19] Since 15 BC, the Romans had also been developing the use of vaultedspaces and arcades in practical buildings like warehouses and thesebuildings hinted at the possibilities of more general uses "to create newarchitectural rhythms and above all a new world of interior architecturalspace."[2 ] These spaces were still arrayed on the outside with thehellenistic decorative elements which gave the vaulted buildings anillusionistic quality of lightness. Nearly every aspect of its culture was heavily influenced by otherItalians (particularly the Etruscans), Greeks, and peoples of the Near Eastand Europe. [13]Pollitt, 222. Pollitt, "Rome: The Republic and Early Empire," in The OxfordHistory of Classical Art, ed., John Boardman (Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1993), 217. [15]Ibid., 226. This typical Roman building islike a Greek peripteral temple in possessing a deep porch and podia. "Rome: The Republic and Early Empire." In The Oxford History of Classical Art. [4]Ibid., 229. J. And where the Greekstraditionally ended the flow of space through the house in a flat wall, theRomans ended it with "a terminal curve."[12] These are only a few examplesof the adaptive use of Greek elements in domestic architecture, but theytypify Roman architectural concerns. 148) which included temples of Juno andJupiter and was built by the Greek architect Hermodorus of Salamis.Hermodorus may also have been the first architect to introduce "athoroughgoing use of the Greek architectural orders" at Rome.[13] Thetemples of Quintus Metellus might have resembled the style of the Temple ofFortuna Virilis (125 BC) at Rome. But, later, the Romans, being freed ofthe need to build on a hillside by the "new technology of arches andconcrete vaults," began to develop a unique style of their own.[16] Theycreated cylindrical buildings with a curving wall of arches that featured avariety of entrances and a back wall behind the stage. In maintaining the rough appearance of aperistyle building, for example, they paid homage to Greek style, eventhough they had no use for the peristyle form. B. Roman Art and Architecture. Ward-Perkins, Roman Imperial Architecture(Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1981), 21. Though even the Pantheon of Hadrian,the highest achievement of Roman vaulted architecture, had its facade ofGreek elements, this was largely the result of a temporary revival of Greektraditions. In their colonies abroad, the Romans'"repertory of institutional architecture," played a major role in their"civilizing mission and [was] a sure means of establishing Romanvisibility."[8] The selection of architectural styles for public buildingswas, therefore, extremely important.

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