Roman Architecture

The Doric Order has almost invariably a base moulding prob ably taken from the Etruscan Doric or Tuscan column. Examples of Roman Doric are to be found in the Tabularium (78 B.c.) and in the lowest order of the Colosseum (A.D. 79) where it is used in conjunction with the arch. The temple of Hercules at Cori (c. 8o B.c.) is the only known Roman Doric temple.

The Ionic Order is used to a limited extent in temples and public buildings, though the number of isolated capitals found suggests that it had a certain vogue in private houses. The Romans seldom used the canted angle volute though in the temple of Saturn the capitals have four canted volutes. Other examples of this Order are the temple of Fortuna Virilis, the second orders of the theatre of Marcellus and the Colosseum, Trajan's forum at Rome and various buildings at Pompeii.

The Corinthian Order was by far the most popular with the Roman builder. It attracted by its richness and by the ease with which it could be used in any position owing to the identity of the four faces of the capital. The columns removed (by Sulla) from the temple of Zeus Olympios at Athens became the model, but the whole Order shows a progressive elaboration in detail with an elimination of plain surfaces combined with inferior work manship. Examples of this Order are the temples of Mars Ultor and of Castor and Pollux (the latter one of the most beautiful examples in Roman architecture) in Rome, the temple of Vesta at Tivoli, Agrippa's portico to the Pantheon, etc.

The Composite capital is really a Corinthian capital with the tendril at the corner replaced by an Ionic volute. Alternatively it may be regarded as a four-voluted Ionic capital enriched with an acanthus necking. Examples of this capital are to be found on the triumphal arches of Titus and Septimius Severus, the baths of Diocletian, etc.

While the Romans did not abandon the original structural use of the column, its employment as a purely decorative feature be came common. It was used in conjunction with the arch; and the skilful combination of these two opposing elements not only exerted a great influence on subsequent architecture but remains the great contribution of Rome to the history of architectural design. The Roman architects themselves never abandoned the traditional idea of supremacy of the Order but its use in the simpler manner of the Greek façade was insufficient to meet the demands of Roman buildings. With the help of the arch the

spacing of columns was no longer governed by the load to be carried. This opened up new possibilities in design, and all over Italy and the provinces we see the monumental use of column and arch for triumphal arches from the time of Augustus to that of Constantine, as well as in such buildings as the baths of Cara calla and Diocletian, and the basilica of Maxentius. This naturally led to the development of new details in the shape of pedestals, niches, keystones, etc. Eventually we find arcaded walls without piers, the arch being taken direct on to the column and the en tablature run over the arch as an archivolt. Examples of this are in the great Propylaea at Baalbek and in the palace of Diocle tian at Spalato.

For buildings of more than one storey the Romans regularly used the Orders above one another. There were four storeys on the Colosseum and seven (we are told) on the Septizonium of Septimius Severus on the Palatine.

Temples and Basilicas.

The Roman temples differed in many important respects from those of the Greeks. For the compara tively low stylobate with its three steps all round, the Romans substituted a high platform or podium with a flight of steps on the entrance façade. Again while Greek temples are isolated from other buildings and almost always face east and west, those of the Romans usually face the forum or are placed at the end of a street to close a vista, and are turned to all points of the compass, their orientation being governed by their relation to other build ings. This results in an increased emphasis on the entrance façade with an increased depth to the portico. The cella is wider and the colonnade which surrounds the Greek temple is often reduced to a row of engaged columns or pilasters along the cella walls except on the entrance front. In some cases the cella was vaulted in concrete and might have an apsidal end, e.g., the so called baths of Diana at Nimes and especially the double temple of Venus in Rome. The best preserved example of a Roman temple now existing is that known as the Maison Carree at Nimes. In Rome the most important temples of which remains exist are those of Fortuna Virilis, Mars Ultor, Castor and Pollux, Concord and Antoninus and Faustina. Besides these there are in Italy the temple of Minerva at Assisi and the temples at Pompeii, and in Syria the temples of Bacchus at Baalbek and of the Sun at Pal myra, etc.