Post on 18-Mar-2016
description
February 18, 2011-
Vol. I No. I
Some of the
greatest
buildings made!
Which materials
were used.
Coliseums,
roads, & more!
Pantheon 1
Page 8 – See the types of
Roman columns & more!
5
Go to page
11 to learn
more about
coliseums!
Page 6 Roman Architecture
Page 8 Columns & Arches
Page 9 Domes & Bridges
Page 11 Roman Colosseum
Page 13 Roman Houses
Page 15 The Roads of the Romans
Page 17 Aqueducts
Roman Architecture
The art and science
of designing and making
buildings and other structures
is known as architecture. The
architecture known today is
more inclined to a modern
style, but architecture can date
back to thousands of years
before Christ, like the New
Stone Age. During this period,
based on data, is when
architecture began. Although it
arose during the New Stone
Age, architecture advanced
during one of the greatest, if
not the best, empires of all
time, the Roman Empire. It is
during this empire, where
architecture took
a big leap from post and
lintel, structure consisting of
vertical beams supporting a
horizontal beam, to arch and
columns. Also, Romans
invented other great
architectural structures like
aqueducts, bridges,
amphitheaters, etc, that benefit
people around the world up
until today.
A fascinating legacy from one of the greatest empires
known in history
6
The Romans were thefirst people to treatarchitecture as aminister to thenumberless needs of agreat nation.
The columns and arches
are two of the many
great architectural
inventions from the
Romans. The difference
is that these two
structures were able to
construct bigger temples
and buildings than ever
before.
Three types of columns
arose: the Doric, the
Ionic, and the Cornithian.
The Doric style is the
most simple one. It has
plain features that did not
attract attention, but did
serve to hold up
enormous and heavy
buildings. The Ionic style
where more ornamented,
having decorations in the
base and the top, and
increased the awe power
of the building that it was
used with. Lastly, the
Cornithian style was the
best columns. It had fine
and specific details and
its size attracted more
than the other two.
The roman arches were
used to glorify and
support buildings; they
were made from cement;
and they allowed
Romans to expand
buildings. Thanks to this
great invention, another
roman structure was
born, the dome and it
was used to decorate
other inventions likeaqueducts and bridges.
8
A dome is a structuralelement that shows theupper half of a sphere. TheRomans used this toshape large interior spacesof public buildings andtemples. The Pantheon isan example of a building inRome with a dome.
Bridges were alsoarchitectural methods thatthe Romans advanced.Roman bridges were thefirst large and lastingbridges built. They weremade by stone and hadarches as a basicstructure.
9
Inner view of the dome in the
Pantheon.
Pons Aemilius- oldest Roman
stone bridge.
When Emperor Vespasian took power
in Rome, he used his share of gold
gained after the First Jewish Revolt to
pay for the construction of a new
amphitheater. Since there was a new
way of building in concrete, the
amphitheatre was able to be built
quickly and cheaply. It was named as
the Flavian Amphitheater, now known
as the Colosseum, and this new
building, made Vespasian very
popular in Rome.
This coliseum was found in the heart
of Rome and was a place where a lot
of people could sit and watch for
entertainment. The entertainment was
mostly people killing animals, or
people killing each other. It was built
of concrete, marble, and limestone.
There were no less than 76 numbered
entrances and 4 additional entrances
reserved for the Emperor, guests and
the gladiators.
The Colosseum was designed for
easy crowd dispersal; the entire
audience could exit the building in five
minutes. The interior was divided into
three parts: the arena, the podium,
and the cavea. A wooden floor
covered subterranean chambers
where the gladiators and animals
were kept waiting to perform.
The audience, upon entering, climbed
sloping ramps to their seats,
according to gender and social class.
Obviously, the higher one's social
status, the better their seating
arrangement would be.
A lot of the seats were made of
marble and people have stolen them
away over the years and burned them
in limekilns to make mortar
and cement. The floor has also been
taken away, so one can see the
rooms in the basement where the
Romans kept the animals and the
equipment.
The games played
in the Colosseum are believedto have taken the lives ofabout 500,000 people and overa million wild animals.
The Roman houses wererelatively modest andsimple buildings beforethe conquest of the East,when the city becamewealthier. Many housesof immense size werethen built, adorned withcolumns, paintings,statues, and expensiveworks of art.
The houses had sevenprincipal parts. Thevestibulum was a courtsurrounded by the houseon three sides, and openon the fourth to thestreet. The ostium wasthe modern front hallway.From it a door openedinto the atrium, whichwas a large room with anopening in the center ofits roof, through whichthe rain-water wascarried into a cisternplaced in the floor underthe opening. To the rightand left of the atriumwere side rooms calledthe alae, and thetablinum was a balconyattached to it. Thepassages from the atriumto the interior of thehouse were calledfauces. The peristylium,towards which these
passages ran, was anopen court surroundedby columns, decoratedwith flowers and shrubs.
The floors were coveredwith stone, marble, ormosaics. The walls werelined with marble slabs,or frescoed, while theceilings were either bare,exposing the beams, or,in the finer houses,covered with ivory, gold,and frescoes.
The main rooms werelighted from above; theside rooms received theirlight from these, and notthrough windows lookinginto the street. Thewindows of rooms inupper floors were notsupplied with glass untilthe time of the Empire.They were merelyopenings in the wall,covered with lattice-work.To heat a room, portablestoves were generallyused, in which charcoalwas burned. There wereno chimneys, and thesmoke passed outthrough the windows orthe openings in the roofs.The wealthiest Romansused heated water
supplies from naturalsprings or through thesewer system.
The rooms of the wealthywere furnished with greatsplendor. The walls weredecorated with scenesfrom Greek mythology,landscapes, etc.
In the vestibules werefine sculptures, costlymarble walls, and doorsornamented with gold,silver, and rare shells.There were expensiverugs from the East, andeverything that could beobtained likely to add tothe attractiveness of theroom. Candles wereused in early times, butlater the wealthy usedlamps, which were madeof terra-cotta or bronze.
The common classeslived in apartment likebuildings called theinsula. These buildingscovered an entire cityblock, with residentialhomes in the interior andcommercial shops,restaurants, markets orvarious organized clubsaround the street sides.
13
The road system of the AncientRomans was one of the greatestengineering accomplishments ofits time. It has over 50,000 milesof roads covered with flat stonesor bricks, also known as pavedroads. It was originally built tofacilitate the movement of troopsthroughout the empire. The roadswere used for trade, as were thewaterways surrounding andconnecting parts of the RomanEmpire to itself and the rest of theknown world.
Romans built over 53,000 miles(85,000 kilometers) of roads toconnect every part of theirempire.
The roads were mostly built bythe army and were all done byhand. The system of roadsconnected together everyprovince in the empire. TheRomans had a saying "All roadslead to Rome."
The roads were first examined tokeep them straight, were dugthree feet down and twenty-threefeet across. It was then filled witha large mixture of small stonesand sand for the foundation. Alayer of smaller gravel wasplaced down and leveled. Thesides were lined with blocks andhand-carved stones. Stones wereoften pentagonal in shape (fivesided) and fitted together to makethe top layer of the road. Theroads were higher level from thecenter, so rainwater would drainoff into at the sides of the roads.Stone mile markers would beplaced along the roads to lettravelers know how far is to thenext city or inn.
Rome was famous for its system of roads
15
One of the greatest achievements in theancient world is the great advancedRoman waterway system known as theAqueducts. The running water, indoorplumbing and sewer system carryingaway disease from the population withinthe Empire wasn't great or better incapability until very modern times. TheAqueducts, stand as a testament toRomans while being the most visible andglorious piece of the ancient watersystem. Some of these ancientstructures are still used today.
The aqueducts were built from acombination of stone, brick and thespecial volcanic cement pozzuolana.Even though now a day the aqueductsremains can be seen, during those daysthey were hidden underground.Channels were dug below the surface,and carried water where it was possibleand convenient.
The aqueducts were built only to carrythe flow of waters in areas wheredigging, burrowing, or surface gradeshad problems, such as valleys. Acontinuous flow was maintained by theentire system that depended on somegradients and the use of gravity. Theengineering at this time was remarkable.It would have been impossible tomaintain the flow of water at propergrades, without the aqueducts.
When water reached Rome it flowed intoenormous cisterns maintained on thehighest ground. These large cisternsheld water for the entire city and wereconnected to a vast network of leadpipes.
Maintenance of the water system was acontinuous task, and the Romansassigned a Curator Aquarum to takecare of it. Eleven separate aqueductssupplied the city of Rome and were builtover a span of 500 years. The first, theAqua Appia, was built in conjunction withthe great southern road the Via Appia in312 BC. In the waning days of thewestern empire, invading Germanictribes cut the supply of water into Romeand only the Aqua Virgo, which rancompletely underground, continued todeliver water. During the middle ages, acouple of the lines were restored, but fullaccess to running water wasn't re-established until the Renaissance. At theheight of the ancient city's population,the water system was capable ofdelivering up to 1 cubic meter of waterper person in the city, more than what iscommonly available in most cities today.