ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Of the early architecture of Rome and the other Latin cities comparatively little is known. With the conquest of Carthage, Greece. and Egypt the Romans became acquainted with the arts of those countries, and began to endeavor to use them for the embellishment of the imperial city. Besides, Rome under the empire was the capital of the world, and attracted artists from every country. The result was that the architecture of Rome became a mixed style. It was all imported, and partook of the character of the importers. The great interest of Roman architecture is, that it is a mixture and amalgamation of all ancient styles, and the skarting-point for all modern styles. It is thus the connecting link between accient and modern art; the whole history of Roman architecture being that of a transition, slow but steady, from the external architecture of the Greeks to the internal architecture of the Christians. ' Rome borrowed from Greece the oblong peristylar temple, with its horizontal construc tion and decoration, and the various " orders." See COLUMN", GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE. From the Tuscans, probably, were derived the circular form of temple and the circular arch, which became leading features in the development of the future Roman style.
The orders imported from Greece were the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian (q.v.). These were all used in Rome, but with some modifications; the Doric, for example, being never used as in Greece, but without fluting, and with the capital and entablature altered, and a base added, so as to make the style more similar to the others, with which it was often associated. The Ionic had the volutes turned out angularwise, so as to present a similar face in each direction. The favorite " order" of the Romans, however, was the Corinthian. It was invented in Greece, but more fully developed in Rome, where it suited the desire which existed fier richness and luxuriance in architecture. Many tine examples of this style exist in Rome (as the pantheon, Jupiter Stator, etc.), and in the provinces (as the maison (plank at Nemes, Banthee, etc.), the capitals, wher ever found, being designed in endless variety. The composite order was an invention of the Romans, and is sometimes called the Roman order. It is a combination of the Ionic
and Corinthian. All these orders were used by the Romans, but in a manner peculiar to themselves; they combined with the Greek orders the arch. They placed the columns at wide intervals, and set them on pedestals, to give them and the entablature a proper proportion; while behind the columns they placed square piers, and from them threw arches which supported the wall. This was the favorite Roman style, and may he seen in all their important works (amphitheaters, arches, baths, etc.). They piled one order above another, marking each story with the entablature. As the style proceeded. vault ing and arching became snore common, especially hi internal construction, but the hori zontal ornamentation was never entirely abandoned. Arches of this construction were thrown from pillar to pillar behind the entablature, and gradually the pier was omitted, and the arch openly thrown front pillar to pillar, the architrave bent round it, and the cornice continued horizontally above.
The buildings executed by the Romans are very varied in their character, but the same style was used for 'temples, baths, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, tombs, etc. The earliest temples of which remains now exist are those of Jupiter Stator in the Forum, Jupiter Touans, and Mars Ultor, all of the Augustan epoch, and each with only three columns left. These are supposed to have been nearly peripieral, and it is worthy of notice that time cells are all large, and one of them has an apse.
One of the most interesting temples of Rome is the pantheon. The portico is of the age of Augustus, but the rotunda is probably considerably later The dome of the interior is a splendid example of the progress of Roman architecture in developing the use of the arch, and transferring time decoration from the exterior to the interior. The former is in this case totally sacrificed to the latter; but the interior has not yet been surpassed for boldness of construction or simplicity and bublimity of effect. Other examples of circular temples, on a small scale, are found at Tivoli and in Rome, both dedicated to Vesta.