The architecture of the Roman world, which took the Greek orders and joined them to the arch, the vault, the dome and concrete, making possible interior spaces and engineering works Greece never attempted: the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the great baths, aqueducts and basilicas. Roman building set the structural vocabulary Europe drew on for the next fifteen centuries. Its own tradition begins with the founding of the Roman Republic in 509 BC and runs to about the 4th century AD, after which building in the former Roman world is reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture.
Facts
Disputed
PeriodCentury-level approximation only, no exact year is given: sources place the close around the 4th century AD, after which building in the former Roman world is reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture. The tradition's own beginning, 509 BC, the founding of the Roman Republic, is carried in the entity's prose description rather than forced into a start-year column. Origin RegionItaly and the Roman Empire 1 Roman Architecture
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Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Roman builders were the first to exploit concrete structurally at scale, which is what let them span and vault spaces the trabeated Greek system could not.
Source Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of ArchitectureBanister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition)
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Groin Vault (Wikipedia)
Influenced
Byzantine building practice grew directly out of late Roman construction, keeping Roman concrete and brick technique while developing the dome-on-pendentive system further.
Source Wikipedia
The Carolingian Renaissance consciously revived Roman basilica and centralized-plan forms.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
A deliberate revival, guided by surviving monuments and the text of Vitruvius.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Influenced By
Rome took the Greek orders and joined them to its own structural inventions.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
The arch, the raised temple podium and hydraulic engineering passed from Etruscan to Roman builders.
Notable Examples
Trajans court architect, working on the Pantheon, Trajans Forum, Trajans Column and Trajans Bridge, squarely within the Roman architectural tradition.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Source Horace's Villa (Wikipedia)
Source Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy Villas (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Pompeii
Source Pompejanum (Wikipedia)
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Italy, originated there.
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/art/Western-architecture/Roman-and-early-Christian, Republic and empire passage
Modern knowledge of Roman architecture derives primarily from extant remains scattered throughout the area of the empire.
- Notable Examples: Colosseum
- Notable Examples: The Pantheon
- Influenced By: Classical Greek Architecture
- Influenced: Renaissance Architecture
- Influenced: Neoclassical Architecture
- Associated With: Arch
- Associated With: Concrete
View the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundationen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_architecture, lead paragraph
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.
- Influenced: Byzantine Architecture
View the Source Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996Associated With: Concrete, General history, Roman construction chapter, on concrete
Wikipedia: Pompeii
WikipediaNotable Examples: Pompeii, History section, opening sentenceQuote, Notable Examples: Pompeii, History section, opening sentence
Although best known for its Roman remains visible today, dating from AD 79, it was built upon a substantial city dating from much earlier times.
View the Source Pompejanum (Wikipedia)
Notable Examples: Pompejanum, infobox architectural_style field: RomanView the Source Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy Villas (Wikipedia)
Notable Examples: Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy Villas, Wikipedia categoriesQuote, Notable Examples: Pliny's Comedy and Tragedy Villas, Wikipedia categories
Category:Roman villas in Italy
View the Source Horace's Villa (Wikipedia)
Notable Examples: Horace's Villa, Wikipedia categoriesQuote, Notable Examples: Horace's Villa, Wikipedia categories
Category:Roman villas in Italy
View the Source Groin Vault (Wikipedia)
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