AR2222

History & Theory of Western

Architecture
Architectural Order(s) - Ancient Greece and Rome
Lecture 1
By the end of this lecture you should be able to:

‒ Understand the origins, ordering and cosmological framework of Ancient

Greek and Roman Architecture from prehistory to the 4th century AD

‒ Identify key Greek and Roman building types and orders

‒ Discuss the theoretical ideas that shape Greek and Roman architecture
Lecture Contents
Part One - Greece:
1. Architecture in Greek Prehistory (3000-700BC)
2. Architecture in Architecture in Classical Greece (700BC – 600AD)

Part Two – Rome:

3. Architecture in Ancient Rome (800BC – 27BC)
4. Vitruvius & Architecture in the 1st C. BC
5. Architecture in Classical Rome (27BC-393AD)
Dispersed but Connected City States
Common Greek Culture
Cross Cultural Flow of Ideas & Trade with
other Civilisations
 Archē: Beginning
Architecture in Greek Prehistory
Ancient Greece c.3000BC
Architecture begins with the Kosmoi
The Kosmoi, is alive, gives life, takes life
Kosmoi is all that moves by itself
Kosmoi is divine and wonderful
Kosmoi + Phusis: Nature, Life-Force, All that is.
Thauma: Overwhelming Wonder, Terrifying Awe.

Kosmoi-Logos explains the place of human beings within Thauma-Phusis

6
Ancient Greece c.3000BC
Pre-modern relationship to Phusis was Reverence.
How to Articulate/Express - Logos this Reverence?
Religion, Ritual and Muthoi maintain, establish and connect
Man’s range both extensive yet fragile.
Controlled by Moira: Destiny, Fate
Ancient Greece c.3000BC
‒ Appropriate Language – Decorum to
speak of Divine Phusis?
‒ Phusis understood and transmitted
through Muthoi
‒ Stories known as Mythology (Muthoi +
Logos) (see: Homer, Hesiod)
‒ Muthoi: Of the sacred, Beyond the
human, Extra-Ordinary, Thaumazein,
‒ Logos: Expression, Underlying Order of
things
‒ Ancient Greek Architecture comes
from the Decorum + Logos of Muthoi Roman Bust of Homer, 2nd c. AD,
Based on Greek Original
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
‒ King/Priests, Priests, Oracles & Secret
Initiates mediated with Phusis
‒ From here came the Order of society
(Hierarchy), structure of daily life
(Festivals), law & authority (Divinely
decreed)
‒ Gods (Xoanon) were hidden in elect
Households
‒ Xoanon or Phusis could strike (Moira) at
any time, one shrugged it off as thauma
and consulted the initiates
Xoanon: "Plank figure" of chalk, Early Cypriot III to
Middle Cypriot I, 1900-1800 9 BCE
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
Architecture Mediates between humans and Phusis
Architecture creates the space of ritual Chóros
Mimetic Chóros lets appear Techné the Order and will of the Demiurgos

Fragment of a Stone Door Frame with half rosettes,

10
Palace at Knossos, 1650-1600BC
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
Archē-Techné/Poíesis begins at the Minoan Palace of Knossos on Crete with
Dedalus

View over the Reconstructed Ruins of the Palace at

11
Knossos, Crete from c.2000BC
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
‒ Early buildings of Mud Brick, Brick, Stone
and/or Wood with Stone Foundations
‒ Temples either rectangular or rectilinear with
a semi-circular ‘Hairpin’ form
‒ Ancient Greeks inherited their architecture
from Minoan (Crete, 2600 to 1100 BC),
Mycenaean (Crete, Cycladies, 1600–1100
BC), Dorian (Greece, Crete, 5th C BC) & Ionian
(Turkey, 5th C BC) forms
‒ Porticos, columns and colonnades all added Plan of Complex at Thermos, Greece
1. Megaron A (16-12th C. BC)
after the 7th century BC 2. Megaron B (11th-9th C. BC)
3. Temple of Apollo Thermios (7th-6th C. BC)
4. Temple of Apollo Lyseios (Wolf) (7th-6th C. BC)
5. Temple of Artemis (7th-6th C. BC)
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
‒ Phusis and Gods Respected
at distance
‒ Communication through
initiates
‒ Honour and Ritual Chóros –
Dance, Theatre, Bathing
Procession, Sacrifices
‒ Early temples were narrow,
long, windowless rooms
called Naos or Cella to which
were later added Antae
(porches)
Geometric Temple of Hera Akraia,
13 BC
Perachora, Corinthia, Greece c.820
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
‒ Connection to sacred Tópos –
Place
‒ Shrines in Caves, sacred
groves & mountains (Phusis +
Thauma)
‒ Orientation to Gods through
landscape
‒ Sunrise (especially on
festival/founding day of god)
‒ Mountain (Zeus) or double
mountain (Zeus, Bull’s horns Temple of Apollo, Delphi, Greece (6th to 4th C. BC)
‒ Hēpato-Skōpia (examining
the liver)
Ancient Greece c.2000-700BC
‒ Trees – groves or individual trees
sacred
‒ Gods associated with particular trees
eg: Athena = Olive; Apollo = Laurel;
Zeus = Oak
‒ Timber embodies the God’s power
when crafted Techné into Xoanon or
Architecture
‒ Beginning of Architecture (Arche-
Tecton) and Orders is Timber

Greek Architecture begins in Timber and is translated

into Stone
Archētecton: The Space of Appearance
Architecture in Classical Greece
Classical Greece c.700-600BC Pteron/Eretma (Wings/Oars)

‒ Arche: beginning + Tecton: boat builder Naos/Naus (Shrine/Ship)

(Tiktein – to give birth, Tektein – to Pronaos
build and Techne – letting appear)
‒ Architecture has its origins in boat-
building, in the mast and sail, the
establishment of vertical and the Aetos (Eagle/Pediment/Prow)
horizontal, the meeting of earth and
sky/heavens, the gods and the mortals,
the setting up of the space of
appearance
Histia/Histon (Sails/Columns/Mast/Loom)
‒ Greek Temple form emerges by 7th C.
BC, a cosmologically attuned space for Temple of Apollo Thermios, Thermos, Greece (7th-
the Gods to appear 6th C. BC)
Classical Greece c.700-600BC
‒ The space for the Gods to appear must
appropriately Decorum house the gods,
ameliorate powerful Phusis and express
Thaumazein and reflect the order Taxis of
the Kosmoi
‒ To build is to Order
‒ Order is Cosmology
‒ Cosmology presents how all beings (Gods,
Humans, Phusis and Cosmos) are related –
the relationship is Hierarchical, Numerical,
Mathematical & Geometric
Athena Varvakeion, small Roman replica
of the Athena Parthenos by Phidias, 3rd
Century
18AD.
Classical Greece c.600BC
‒ Around the 6th Century the first Greek cities emerge: Miletus, Ionia and
Athena, trade and commerce become more important
‒ The Civic society of the Polis develops
‒ Trade needed accounting, currency, mathematics and laws – reasoned
systematic thought
‒ Trade needed Reason not Myth
‒ Reason = Philosophy (Philo + Sophia) = Mathematics (see Plato’s Timaeus)
‒ Mathematics governed Phusis and the Kosmoi – the gods used mathematics!
‒ Mathematics = Numbers + Geometry. This is the ORDER of all things.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Classical Greece c.600BC
‒ Mathematics shows us the unchanging reality
behind the physical (Kosmoi) world (Order)
‒ Mathematics shows us the pattern the gods
used to create the visible world (Demiurgoi/
God-Architect)
‒ Mathematics shows us the relationship
between the whole and the parts (Proportion,
Measurement)
‒ Mathematical Order is used to build
appropriately for the Gods (Entasis)

Greek and Roman Entasis of Columns

allows Appropriate Order to Appear
 Classical Greece c.600BC

Greek cities (polis) were founded with a sacred fire in the public hearth (hestia koine)
in the Agora, this was the centre from which the city was woven (continually) through
ritual and appearance by the participation of the people
Greek cities
were usually
port cities,
linking port and
acropolis
through the
geometric
configuration
the city which
harmoniously
mirrored the
cosmos in its
ordered layout
and architecture
 Architect follows pattern of Gods:
Classical Greece c.600BC Order, Proportion, Measurement
(Taxis, Analogia, Eurythmia)
Classical Greece c.600BC
‒ Architectural Orders
mirror cosmological
order
‒ Decorum – appropriate
arrangement
‒ Eurythmia –
appropriate
distribution/measure
‒ Architecture as
cosmological boat for
humans to approach
Gods
Acropolis:
ἄκρον (akron, highest point, extremity") + πόλις (polis, city)

Parthenon:
παρθενών (Parthenon, temple of virgin goddess)
parthénos (παρθένος, maiden, girl, virgin, unmarried woman) + Naos (temple)

The Acropolis in Athens c.5th Century BC 25

Classical Greece c.400BC
‒ Approach
‒ Separation
between secular
and sacred
‒ Ritual
Processional
routes
‒ Above and
overlooking city
‒ Architecture to
worship Athena

The Acropolis, Athens Site Plan from 5th C. BC to 1st C. BC.

Classical Greece c.400BC

The Acropolis, Athens 5th C. BC to 1st C. BC.

Left: The Acropolis, Reconstructed View. Right: Plan of Parthenon. Both from 5th C. BC to 1st C. BC.
Classical Greece c.400BC
‒ Athena taught humans
how to weave, how to set
up the right angle of the
loom, the cloth and
architecture and to
weave the city
‒ Yearly procession through
city, and clothed in a new
woven peplos, celebrated
with dance and sacrificial
feast at the new moon,
ritual rewove the city
The Propylaea, Athens from 5th C. BC to 1st C. BC.
Classical Greece c.400BC
Architecture restated
continually the rituals and
events, reinforcing the
connection between humans
and gods, between
site/landscape and heavens,
between the horizontal realm
of humankind and the vertical
connection of the gods,
architecture functioned as
chorā, the place of continual
becoming
The Parthenon, Athens from 4th C. BC
‒ Greek Naos
(Temples)
Naos/Naus
(Shrine/Ship) are
categorised by the
arrangement and
number of columns
‒ Pteral Naos
(Pteron/Eretma
(Wings/Oars))
temples have wings
of columns on two
sides, ends, or
appear to have
Greek Building Types: Naos: Parthenon, Athens, from 5th C BC. Stoa: Reconstructed Stoa of Attalos, 2nd C. BC.
Amphitheatre: Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus, 4th C. BC. Ekklesiasterion of Messene, Peloponnese, 4th C. BC. Gymnasia
of Delphi, 3rd C. BC. Oikia, Olynthus, 4th C. BC.
‒ Order,
Measurement,
Proportion from
Column to Oikia to
Street to Polis
‒ Kosmoi Mirrored
and Rewoven
‒ Oikia/Polis as Chorā
 Romulus & Remus:
Architecture in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome 800-300BC
‒ Roman Empire concurrent
with Greece for 1000 years
‒ High points: Classical Greek
480-323BC and Hellenistic
Period (3 Kingdoms) 323-31BC
‒ Extensive and influential
Roman Empire 27BC-393AD
‒ By 31BC most of Greece in
Roman Empire
‒ Split in 285AD into Eastern
(Constantinople) and Western
(Rome) Roman Empires (with
At its extent in 117AD, the Roman Empire extended
Greece in East) from West Asia to Spain and North Africa to Britain
Ancient Rome 800-300BC
‒ Roman writing, measurement, gods,
currency, philosophy, literature,
administration, education, art
(sculpture, painting) and architecture
(temples especially) all have Greek
origins
‒ Rome is situated in a region of cultural
confluence: Etruscan, Italian (Latin)
and Greek - via trade and settlement
‒ Rome begins as a city state before Bronze Diagram of a Sheep’s Liver, Piacenza, Italy,
Etruscan, c.100BC
becoming a dominant influence locally
and then over a large part of the world
Ancient Rome 750BC
‒ Rome, like ancient Greek cities (See
Athens), begins with mythology:
Romulus and Remus
‒ They are descendants of both godly
and worldly power – the earthly
princess Rhea Sylvia and the God
Mars (of War and Agriculture,
Military)
‒ Mars is the Pater of Rome, military
power gives peace (Pax Romana) and
settlement gives rise to civil society
The Capitoline Wolf, Bronze, Feeding Romulus and
Remus, Date Disputed, Between 5th C BC and 15th C AD.
Ancient Rome 750BC
‒ Site of twin’s abandonment and suckling
by wolf becomes Lupercal (Lupa/She Wolf)
–centre of power in Rome: Imperial Palace
on Palatine Hill, one of seven hills of Rome
‒ Rome’s site selected by Augury –
auspicious signs seen by Romulus – wall,
birds, moat, murder/sacrifice of Remus,
favour of Gods
‒ The rituals ensured appropriate founding
and setting out of city – to ensure Gods
blessed the site and that its founding was
on a solid foundation (spiritually)
Ancient Rome 750-27BC
‒ Romulus as Architect of Rome draws a
circle in the earth and marks its centre
and boundaries, from here the city is
measured out
‒ Draws literally on the earth: Geo-metria
‒ Geo-metria (geometry) refers to
measuring, tracing, carving, etching on to
earth, or to a material. It is the technique
of transferring measure to a body
‒ Geometria draws the Kosmoi onto the
Earth
“How the augur drew the diagram, what
position he occupied in relation to it (is not
clear). Sometimes he drew by gesturing with
his staff in the air…other times he certainly
seems to have drawn it on the ground…a
starry circle representing the sky which is
quartered…The purpose of drawing the
diagrams was to set the general order of the
sky in the particular place, with the augur at
the heart of it. This was accomplished when
the great temple of the sky was first
condensed into ideal form of the augur’s
diagram, and then projected on to the tract of
land before him by the ritual formula.”
- Joseph Rykwert
 Ancient Rome 750-27BC

Diagram of a Roman Groma –

- The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the Ancient World, Joseph Rykwert, 1964 Surveying Instrument
Ancient Rome 750-27BC
‒ Establishing centre and periphery, walls and
gates, the grid of streets laid out, important sites
built: temples, baths, agora, aqueducts, theatres
and amphitheatres
‒ All these operations relied on geometry and
mathematics/number – which were cosmological
rather than instrumental –harmony with the
Gods using the Gods own cosmological order
‒ Sphere = Planets/Demi-gods/Human
head/Soul/Orbits; Cube = Humankind/Earth;
Elemental Shapes = Fire, Water, Air, Earth
Elemental Platonic Solids as described
in the Timaeus, Plato, c.360BC
 Vitruvius:
Architecture in the 1st Century BC
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
‒ Everything is made of geometry and
ordered by number - Proportions are
numerical relationships
‒ This is Roman Architecture: Geometrical
Order is Cosmological Order
‒ This is the basis for Roman Architectural
Theory as discussed by Vitruvius
‒ Marcus Vitruvius Pollio c.90BC – c.20BC,
Roman Military Engineer and Architect,
Wrote De Architectura at the end of the 1st
C. BC, Text dedicated to Emperor Caesar
Augustus (63BC-14AD, r.27BC-14AD)
Statue of Caesar Augustus, The Augustus of
Prima Porta, 1st Century AD, Roman
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
‒ De Architectura is earliest writing on architecture, influential for architects
until 18th C. AD
‒ Key reference text for Renaissance and Classical Revival architects
‒ Vitruvius’ text describes training and work of an architect over Ten Books
(10) and is broad and comprehensive
‒ Vitruvius aimed at a COMPLETE system for architecture
‒ For Vitruvius Architecture is a combination of Theory and Practice
‒ Vitruvius’ Architectural Education included: Literature, Drawing, Geometry,
Optics, Arithmetic, History, Philosophy, Music, Medicine, Law and
Astronomy (Astrology)
‒ All are necessary and complement each other– he compares this
knowledge to a body where each part has its own function and is connected
to the rest
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
The Ten Books:
Book One : Education of an Architect, Site studies
Book Two : Origin of the Dwelling House, On materials
Book Three : Concerning the Temples and their proportions
Book Four : On the Origin of Orders and their Classification
Book Five : On Public Houses (e.g. Treasury, Theatre, Basilica and Baths)
Book Six : On Private Housing and determining their Style
Book Seven : Building Materials
Book Eight : On Water
Book Nine : Astrology and Sun-Dials
Book Ten : Machines
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
Education of Architect:
‒ Literary: to record work
‒ Drawing: to represent the appearance of work
‒ Geometry: lines, use of Compass, preparation of drawings on site aligned
correctly – angles, horizontals, verticals
‒ Optics: to enable “light to be drawn correctly from well-defined areas of the
sky”
‒ Arithmetic: calculate cost of buildings, apply measurement & laws of
geometry:
‒ ‘It is true that it is by arithmetic that the total cost of buildings is calculated
and measurements are computed, but difficult questions involving
symmetry are solved by means of geometrical theories and methods.’
- Vitruvius
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
‒ Symmetry is related to proportion and
ratios, not bilateral symmetry
‒ Proportion ἁναλογἱα (analogia – according
to logos expression, underlying order of
things) is the correspondence between
individual parts of a work and of the parts to
the whole
‒ Each individual part has a fixed
proportional, harmoniously fitted
relationship with other parts
‒ The resulting effect is symmetry/harmonia
‒ The key model for this relationship is the
microcosmos, the human body Leonardo da Vinci’s version of the
Vitruvian Man, c.1490.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
‒ Human body as microcosmos
mirroring through geometry and
proportion the macrocosmos
‒ Geometry and proportion order the
kosmoi and human body
‒ Geometric figures: Square and circle
made by the body
‒ Navel is centre – generative geometry
‒ Everything is ordered and perfect
‒ In using geometry the architect
follows the pattern of the Gods

Illustration of the Vitruvian Man from Cesare

Cesariano’s Translation of Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
‒ History: appropriate use of ornament and orders, ability to explain
meaning
‒ Philosophy: character: flexible, fair and trustworthy, study of laws of
nature
‒ Music: understand harmonic relationships, mathematical theory,
adjustment and tuning machines, attune sound in theatres
‒ Medicine: know climate, healthy or infected sites, water, build healthy
buildings
‒ Law: legal regulations for construction, party walls, eaves, sewers,
windows, water pipes, prevent legal disputes, draw up contracts with
employer and contractor
‒ Astronomy: cardinal directions, principles governing sky, equinoxes,
solstices, courses of stars, sundials
Vitruvius’ Origins of
Architecture

Illustration of the Origins of Architecture from Cesare

Cesariano’s Translation of Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
Vitruvius: Origins of Architecture
The men of old were born like the wild
beasts, in woods, caves, and groves, and
lived on savage fare.
As time went on, the thickly crowded
trees in a certain place, tossed by storms
and winds (which caused them to) rub
their branches against one another, (this
causing it to) catch fire, and so the
inhabitants of the place were put to
flight, being terrified by the furious
flame.
Illustration of the Origins of Architecture from Cesare
Cesariano’s Translation of Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
Vitruvius: Origins of Architecture
After it subsided, they drew near, and
observing that they were very comfortable
standing before the warm fire, they put on
logs and, while thus keeping it alive,
brought up other people to it, showing
them by signs how much comfort they got
from it.

Illustration of the Origins of Architecture from

Cesare Cesariano’s Translation of Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
Vitruvius: Origins of Architecture
In that gathering of men, at a time when
utterance of sound was purely individual, from
daily habits they fixed upon articulate words just
as these had happened to come; then, from
indicating by name, things in common use, the
result was that in this chance way they began to
talk, and thus originated conversation with one
another. Therefore it was the discovery of fire
that originally gave rise to the coming together
of men, to the deliberative assembly, and to
social intercourse. Illustration of the Origins of Architecture
from Cesare Cesariano’s Translation of
Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
Vitruvius: Origins of Architecture
And so, as they kept coming together
in greater numbers into one place,
finding themselves naturally gifted
beyond the other animals in not being
obliged to walk with faces to the
ground, but upright and gazing upon
the splendour of the starry
firmament…

Illustration of the Origins of Architecture

from Cesare Cesariano’s Translation of
Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
Vitruvius: Origins of Architecture
…and also in being able to do with
ease whatever they chose with
their hands and fingers, they began
in that first assembly to construct
shelters. Some made them of green
boughs…next, by observing the
shelters of others and adding new
details to their own inceptions,
they constructed better and better
kinds of huts as time went on.
Illustration of the Origins of Architecture from Cesare
Cesariano’s Translation of Vitruvius, 1521.
Ancient Rome 1st C. BC
‒ Vitruvius’ origin story outlines the theory and practice of architecture
‒ Establishing the philosophical basis for architecture as the right angle
meeting the horizontal of earth connecting the starry firmament with
human society and culture via mimetic geometry
‒ Archē-Techné/Poíesis – craft-creation, connects and reweaves Kosmoi
‒ Mimetic Chóros, the weaving dance of building, lets appear Techné-
Poíesis through the Chorā (Space of Becoming) of Architecture and the
Architect’s use of Taxis (Order), Analogia (Proportion), Eurythmia
(Distribution/Measurement) in the Decorum (Appropriate) way the will of
the Demiurgos and the order of the Kosmoi
 Archē-Techné/Poíesis:
Architecture in Classical Rome
Ancient Rome 750-27BC
‒ Official founding of Rome c.750BC by mortal-god-king-priest-hero Romulus
‒ By 509BC, Rome a Republic, with a governing council not a Monarchy
‒ Around 4th C BC Rome starts to expand and conquer
‒ By mid 2nd C BC, Greece under Roman control
‒ By 1st C BC Rome the centre of a large empire, socially and economically
‒ Empire brought stability, prosperity, technical and artistic developments
and wide trade network
‒ Trade and stability integrated diverse cultures into the Empire
‒ Roman Empire never cohesive singular culture, remained culturally diverse
and local practices and gods retained and incorporated
‒ Military and administrative organisation created and maintained Pax
Romana
Roman
building
types,
construction
methods,
materials,
architectural
orders and
city planning
gave a visual
unity to the
cities across
the Roman
Empire
Map of Rome showing the Palatine Hill, Approx 1st to 3rd centuries AD
 ‒ Buildings such as Baths, Basilicas,
Amphitheatres, Monuments such
as statues of the Emperor and
Triumphal Arches, Aqueducts,
Roman Building Types Bridges had a similar appearance
across the Empire
Classical Rome 27BC- ‒ Many of these were developed
from Greek architecture,
393AD particularly Temples and public
buildings
‒ Romans added new architectural
elements such as the arch, apse,
dome, semi-dome and vault
Roman Building Types: Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Rome, 308-312AD. Baths of Caracalla, Rome, 212-217AD.
Amphitheatre: Colosseum, Rome, 70-80AD. Theatre, Bosra, Syria, 2nd C. AD. Aqueduct Pont du Gard, Roman Gaul
((Nemausus (Nîmes) France), 1st C. AD.
Roman Building Types: Domus, House of the Vettii, Pompeii, 62AD. Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, 1st C AD.
Triumphal Arch, Arch of Constantine, Rome, 312-315AD. Forum of Vepasian, Rome, 71-75AD. Temple: Maison Carrée,
Nimes, c.2 AD
Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Roman Forum, 308-312AD
Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Basilica’s were public
buildings used for business,
political and legal matters
‒ Usually located on the
Forum
‒ Entered through centre of
long side
‒ Apse end for statue of
Emperor
‒ Use of vaults, arches,
porticoes

Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Roman Forum, 308-312AD

 Entrance

Natatio
(pool)

Palaestra Frigidarium Palaestra

(Courtyard) (Cold) (Courtyard)

Caldarium
(Hot)

Gardens Gardens

Baths of Trajan, Rome, 104-109AD

Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Baths a social and cultural practice
‒ In all Roman cities
‒ Used by all classes of Romans
‒ Emulation of Greek practices
‒ Place for exercise, meeting, business
cleanliness, leisure, education, dining,
libraries, music and theatre
‒ Separate men’s and women’s bathing
‒ Progression of temperatures from cold
to hot water baths
‒ Fed by aqueduct water, with waste
water from baths used to clean sewers
and drains of city
Baths of Caracalla, Rome, 212-217AD
Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Amphi (two)
theatros
(theatre):
central arena
or stage and
cavea or seats
‒ Amphitheatres
for public
spectacles:
gladiator
fights, battle
simulations
‒ Oval plan Amphitheatre at Pompeii, Pompeii, Italy, c.70AD
Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Theatres based on Greek theatres
‒ Semi-circular plan
‒ Central stage or Scaenae with permanent
architectural background
‒ Public entertainment, plays, speeches, music

Theatre, Bosra, Syria, 2nd C. AD.

Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Aqueducts allowed public toilets, baths, fountains and sewerage systems
‒ Transported water from source to city centre as far as 100km
‒ Arch structure optimised use of materials and strength
‒ Precise construction to ensure continual flow, volume and pressure

Pont du Gard, Roman Gaul ((Nemausus (Nîmes) France), 1st C. AD

 Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Domus/House urban
dwelling of upper
classes
‒ Generally with atrium
and peristyle
courtyard
‒ Fresco, mosaic and
marble inlay
decoration

House of the Vettii, Pompeii, 62AD

 House of the Vettii, Pompeii, 62AD

Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, 1st C. AD

Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Villas outside city walls
‒ Generally larger, more ornate
and spatially more complex than
Domus
‒ Often with estate that income
from agriculture
‒ Some permanent residences,
some country retreats from city
life
‒ Villa as local centres of power,
economic and social

Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, 1st C. AD

 Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Triumphal Arch
celebrates victory and
praises emperor
‒ Architecture and
images as imperial
propaganda
‒ Images selected
connect emperor to
historical ‘good
emperor's’
‒ Shows emperor as
victorious and pious
Arch of Constantine, Rome, 315AD
 Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Several Forum’s in Rome, central to public life
‒ Primarily marketplaces, in large Roman towns and on major roads

Forum Romanum, Rome, 1st C. BC-3rd C. AD

 Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Temples follow
Greek
precedents
architecturally
and functionally
‒ Restating and
affirming the
connection
between
humans and
the Gods
Pantheon, Rome, First built 27BC-
14AD, rebuilt 113-125AD
 Greco-Roman building types,
architectural elements and the
practice of architecture as a
Roman Architectural cosmological bridge became the
foundation for architecture
Elements & Materials throughout the lands of the Roman
Empire for the centuries after the
end of the Roman Empire
Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Arches allowed Romans to span greater
distances (approx. 6m versus 45m) than the
lintel of Greek architecture
‒ Arches use small individual units of brick or
stone to span long distances
‒ Romans used arches for buildings,
infrastructure and monuments
‒ Large buildings such as bath houses and the
colosseum rely on arches for their strength
and support as well as architectural order
‒ Romans adapted arches from Etruscans

Colosseum, Rome, 70-80AD

Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Domes are a collection of arches sharing same
centre
‒ Gravity holds domes together while outward
thrust is contained by walls or buttresses
‒ Pantheon dome has an oculus, open to sky and
aligning sunlight with niches around drum
‒ Pantheon dome is almost as wide as high,
forming a sphere
‒ Pantheon dome uses progressively thinner and
lighter concrete towards the top of the dome by
changing the aggregate
‒ Coffering also lightens weight of the dome
Pantheon, Rome, First built 27BC-14AD, rebuilt 113-125AD
 Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Vaults are extended arches
‒ Romans adopted vaults from the Etruscans
‒ Romans built vaults of stone, masonry and
concrete
‒ Vaults allowed large spans and were used
for baths, amphitheatres and basilicas
‒ Romans used barrel and groin vaults
‒ Groin vaults are cross vaults and are
usually seen with rectangular or square
plans
‒ Vaults are stable and require no buttresses

Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Rome, 308-312AD

 Classical Rome 27BC-393AD
‒ Roman concrete was made of lime, sand, water and pozzolana
‒ Roman concrete was extremely strong due to the pozzolana, much stronger
than Greek-Turkish, Roman and Mesopotamian mortars and plasters

Pantheon, Rome, First built

27BC-14AD, rebuilt 113-
125AD
Concluding Thoughts
‒ Greco-Roman culture forms one of the foundations for the idea of the west
‒ The classical orders along with the column, arch, vault and dome would
form the basic elements for western architecture for the next two millennia
‒ The concept of order and the idea of architecture mirroring an ordered,
geometrical, numerical cosmos would continue to shape western
architecture in various ways into the Renaissance
‒ The place of architecture as a bridge connecting humans and the gods would
continue to the Renaissance
‒ Architecture continued to be the right-angle: the meeting of the horizontal
of earth with the vertical of the starry firmament
‒ Architecture allowed human society and culture to meet with the order of
the Gods through mimetic geometry
Concluding Thoughts
‒ Greco-Roman architectural theory existed alongside vernacular traditions
and was adapted into vernacular forms and materials
‒ The adoption of Greco-Roman architecture was never complete or exclusive
and many variants developed within the Roman empire
‒ Architects always attuned the building appropriately to the site: Archē-
Techné/Poíesis – craft-creation, connects and reweaves Kosmoi
‒ Mimetic Chóros, the weaving dance of building, lets appear Techné-Poíesis
through the Chorā (Space of Becoming) of Architecture and the Architect’s
use of Taxis (Order), Analogia (Proportion), Eurythmia
(Distribution/Measurement) in the Decorum (Appropriate) way the will of
the Demiurgos and the order of the Kosmoi
Further Viewing
Parthenon (Acropolis)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWDflkBZC6U

Ancient Greece in 18 Minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFRxmi4uCGo

The Classical Orders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRJkzXl4a4

Ancient Rome in 20 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ZXl-V4qwY

The Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZQJgqBcyw4

Unearthed: The Pantheon ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAsJ29FBIUE

Further Reading
Kagis McEwen, Indra. Socrates Ancestor: An Essay on Architectural Beginnings, MIT Press, Boston,
1993

Kagis McEwen, Indra. Vitruvius: Writing the Body of Architecture. MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003

Kruft, Hanno-Walter. A History of Architectural Theory from Vitruvius to the Present. Princeton
Architectural Press, New York, 1994

Pérez Gómez, Alberto. Timely Meditations: Selected Essays on Architecture, Vol. 1, Right Angle
International, Montreal, 2016

Rykwert, Joseph, The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy and the
Ancient World, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1976.

Vitruvius, On Architecture, Translated by Richard Schofield, Penguin Books, London, 2009.