College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 1996 - Dell Upton - September 24
NB: all sites are in Italy unless noted. Names in brackets are modern names of sites.
I. WHO WERE THE ROMANS? Roman origins. Settlement at site of Rome since ca. 1500-1400 BCE; an Iron Age village of 8C BCE on Palatine Hill. Traditional stories of the founding of Rome: founded by Bronze Age refugees of the Trojan War led by Aeneas; or, founded April 21, 753 BCE by twins Romulus and Remus. Early Rome: note Arx (citadel; Capitoline Hill), Palatine Hill, Forum Romanum.
Images of the Romans: civic-minded urban dwellers or militaristic imperialists.
II. ROMAN ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS. Cultural conservatism of the Romans: mos maiorum.
Etruria. The Etruscans as cultural forebears of the Romans: possibly a group of outsiders who settle between the Tiber and the Arno in the 8C BCE, bringing Hellenistic culture. Characteristic monuments: chambered tombs, under artificial tumuli or cut into rocky hillsides, laid out like houses and containing grave goods and urns of cremated dead. Ex.: Tomb of the Reliefs, Caere [Cerveteri], 3C BCE.
The Etruscan Temple: low, squarish wood or mud-brick temple on high podium, with axial approach, deep pronaos/colonnaded porch, terracotta ornaments. The Tuscan order. The Tuscan temple in Rome: Capitolium, Rome, 509 BCE, often rebuilt. Note: Tuscan plan.
The Roman Temple: Tuscan and Greek elements. Exs.: Maison Carrŧe, Nemausus [Nēmes, France], ca. 1-10 CE; Temple of Fortuna Virilis, Rome, 2C BCE.
Stability and Innovation. Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Praeneste [Palestrina], ca. 80 BCE? Note: unification of traditional sacred sites, terraced dynamic plan, concrete structure.
Roman Structure. Stone building in tufa, travertine, and marble. Roman concrete, known from 3C BCE, refined and in common use by ca. 200 BCE. Opus incertum, opus reticulatum, and brick facing (opus testaceum). Roman engineering: Pont du Gard (aqueduct), vic. Nēmes, France, 1C BCE. Toward a new Roman space: Porticus Aemilia, Rome, ca. 193 BCE, rebuilt 174 BCE: a warehouse (horreum).
III. ROMAN SPACE. The Roman architectural revolution. The Pantheon, Rome, 118-28 CE, built for the emperor Hadrian. Domed concrete structure. Note: forecourt and portico; plan with niches; coffered dome; wall structure with drying niches and relieving arches; oculus; use.
KEY DATES: Roman Republic: 509 BCE-43 BCE; Rome becomes undisputed ruler of Italy: ca. 220-167 BCE; Rome becomes undisputed ruler of Mediterranean world: 31 BCE; Roman Empire: 43 BCE-476 CE (West), -1453 CE (East).
EMPERORS MENTIONED IN THIS WEEK'S AND NEXT WEEK'S LECTURES: Augustus (r. 34 BCE-14 CE); Nero (r. 54-68 CE); Vespasian (r. 69-79 CE); Trajan (r. 98-117 CE); Hadrian (r. 117-38 CE); Constantine (r. 306-337 CE)