What do you see as the features of Roman architecture? Roman construction methods

Roman construction methods: Walls. Method of constructing the main walls of Roman buildings. Composition of masonry mortar. Mortar vaults: Arrays and fastenings. Achur brick frame. Layout of vaults. The main types of mortar vaults. Vault supports. Wooden parts and small structural parts. Wooden structure: Roman rafters. Tightening trusses. Wooden floors of Ancient Rome. Rafters of the Pantheon. Bridge trusses. Use of metal for farms. Roof. Lightweight building structures. Division of labor on a Roman construction site. Exterior decoration of buildings and structures of Ancient Rome.

Considered architectural objects of Ancient Rome: Pantheon vault. Baths of Agrippa. Halls of the Baths of Diocletian and Caracalla. Amphitheater in Capua. Aqueduct to Freju. Amphitheater in Saintes. Aqueduct at Eleusis. Propylaea of ​​Appius. Basilica of Maxentius. Church of St. Petra. Basilica of Trajan. Basilica of Fano. Caesar's Bridge on the Rhine. Trajan's Bridge on the Danube. Tomb of the Julians in Saint-Rémy.

From Greek architecture, which is, as it were, a pure cult of the idea of ​​harmony and beauty, we move on to architecture that is essentially utilitarian in nature. Architecture turns among the Romans into a function of omnipotent power, for which the construction of public buildings is a means of strengthening this power. The Romans build in order to assimilate conquered nations, turning them into slaves. Greek architecture is evident in temples, Roman architecture in baths and amphitheaters.

The methods of construction indicate an organizational genius who has limitless resources and knows how to use them. The architecture of the Romans is the ability to organize the unlimited labor force placed at their disposal by conquest. The essence of their methods can be expressed in two words: these are techniques that do not require anything other than physical strength. The building body turns into an array of crushed stone and mortar, that is, into an erected monolith, or a type of artificial rock.

Such are the monuments of empire; but before achieving such deliberate simplicity, Roman architecture undergoes a series of changes corresponding to the influences acting on society as a whole: it is Etruscan during the period of the Etruscan civilization associated with the names of the ancient kings; relations with the Greek colonies in Lucania then leave an indelible Greek imprint on it forever. But she finally mastered her technical techniques only with the approach of the era of emperors and with her first direct contact with Asia. However, Rome is wary, even at that time, of giving its methods an official character and disseminating them in full in all countries absorbed by the empire; a government that grants provinces the right of free self-government and cities municipal autonomy would not impose its architecture where it did not even impose its civil laws.

Rome took extensive account of local traditions; we distinguish, therefore, in the uniformity of principles, which are, as it were, the seal of the central power, a number of schools with a clearly expressed character, that is, an art moved everywhere by the same spirit, but the methods of application of which retain in each country the imprint of local originality.

When studying Roman art, one should therefore first of all distinguish between the following eras: Etruscan and Greco-Etruscan; Having reached the era when the system of artificial monolithic structures, which is characteristic of the empire, is introduced into architecture, we will have to reckon with the general elements belonging to Roman art as a whole, and further with the local deviations that divide it into schools.

ROMAN CONSTRUCTION METHODS
WALLS

On figure 306 depicted method of constructing the main walls of Roman buildings. Masons lay alternating layers of crushed stone and mortar between two facings of brick or small material A, using mobile platforms placed on cross-beams made of unhewn logs as scaffolding.

To connect this crushed stone, brick leveling arrays up to 0.6 m in size are used on the side, as well as cross-beams of logs, cut flush with the wall and remaining in the masonry in the form of opening stones.

To avoid uneven settlements, which could cause the cladding to separate from the wall mass, the Romans sought to achieve a proportion of mortar in the cladding that was equivalent to its proportion in the backfill. They either used triangular bricks for cladding, which was cheaper than quadrangular ones and provided better bonding, or were content with slabs of building stone, which they laid in horizontal rows or obliquely at an angle of 45°, which Vitruvius greatly condemns.

The crushed stone laid into the thickness of the wall was never pre-mixed with the mortar. In other words, Roman masonry is not concrete; it is similar to the latter in composition and has almost the same hardness, but is completely different from it in the method of preparation.

Rice. 306 - 307

Temporary forms are never used for it, and agglomeration by compression was carried out only insofar as the lining itself was sufficiently stable to withstand the tensile forces resulting from compaction, that is, mainly in the two cases indicated in figure 307: when facing with stone B and if the facing (detail C) is laid out in the form of stepped walls.

Filling is carried out in both cases in the form of a real backfill made of alternating thick layers of mortar and crushed stone; the latter is impregnated with the solution due to increased compaction. We see in both cases the principle already indicated in relation to the laying of vaults with circles, namely, the desire for maximum expenditure on temporary ancillary devices. This rational prudence manifests itself again in mortar vaults and guides all the constructive techniques of the Romans.

Vaults on solution

Arrays and fastenings.- As mentioned above, the vault is nothing more than an overhanging continuation of the straight wall supporting it. The rows of crushed stone and mortar, both in the vault itself and in the direct supports, are invariably laid horizontally. We never encounter layers here in a radial direction, as in stone masonry. The vault is a block-like mass with natural strata, in which a huge recess was carved. Masonry in concentric layers would have overcomplicated the work, which was often done by forced labor, and the Romans decisively rejected such a system.

The laying of such an array could only be done on a rigid support, incapable of deformation and apparently requiring great expense. The rigidity of the form itself was all the more necessary since the slightest deflection of the circle could cause a rupture, and, consequently, the death of the entire structure, since the strength of the massif was determined by its monolithic structure. A necessary condition for the construction of these vaults is the perfect integrity of their arch.

The merit of the Romans was their ability to reconcile the requirements of a rigid form with minimal expenditure on scaffolding. They achieved this using the following methods. Instead of erecting circles capable of supporting the entire weight of the huge mass that forms the vault, the latter is dissected into a strong frame and filling mass. The material for the frame is baked brick, which is lightweight and provides extraordinary resistance. The skeleton thus turns into a simple skeleton made of bricks or a kind of openwork vault. It exerts almost no pressure on the circles, which it replaces after its completion, in order to take on the load of the infill masses with which it merges as the structure is erected.

The openwork brick frame sometimes forms a continuous network on the inside of the cladding. It is usually reduced, based on economic considerations and the desire for greater lightness, to a series of openwork arches not connected to each other ( Figure 308, A). Individual arches are replaced frequently ( Figure 308, B) with a continuous fastening made of flat bricks, covering circles like a vaulted flooring. For this shell, very large brick samples are taken (0.45 m and even 0.6 m to the side), which are bound with gypsum, and the seams of the shell are reinforced with a second layer of brick slabs.

For very large spans, double brick decks are made. This kind of flooring forms a arch along a curve and is characterized by extraordinary strength. In Italy, especially in Rome, vaulted ceilings are still erected using such flat bricks. However, this lightweight structure would have seemed too fragile to the ancient Romans, and they used it only as a support for the cast mass during its construction.

Judging by the techniques of modern Roman masons, we can assume that the Romans built them directly without circles, according to the diagram on figure 309. The laying begins simultaneously from all four corners and is advanced gradually in a checkerboard pattern. Each brick is supported on both sides by the force of the mortar; Gradual shading and sequential numbering make it possible to trace these stages of masonry according to the diagram.

There is no doubt that the Romans used exactly this method for vaults of normal sizes. For very large spans, as for example in the Baths of Caracalla, very light circles most likely served as support for the fastenings of the flooring.

Above the spans of window openings, light unloading arches were made in the thickness of the wall, which, at first glance, could have been erected without circles, but the Romans would never have made this mistake, which deprives the unloading system of its significance. All unloading arches were erected in circles and subsequently filled with masonry. The Pantheon still preserves the vaulted flooring along which the arches were laid.

The main types of mortar vaults.- On figure 310 Two types of fastenings are indicated as applied to spherical and groin vaults. They are very complex in masonry, but they are erected using backfill almost as simply as a box vault; No wonder they are becoming more and more numerous as the system of monolithic buildings spreads.

The greatest vault left to us by the Romans, Pantheon vault, is a dome; in the so-called Baths of Agrippa there is a spherical niche on fastenings made of meridian arches (B); huge halls of the baths of Diocletian and Caracalla covered with cross vaults, some of which have diagonal fastenings (A), while others have fastenings made of brick laid flat (C).

The use of fasteners was the most effective means of simplifying the design; however, one should not think that it was widespread.

This solution to the problem certainly prevails only in Roman Campania. It is systematically applied in Rome and dominates only in the city itself and its environs. This system already disappears as it moves north beyond Verona and stops south of Naples. Amphitheater in Capua is, apparently, the southern limit of its distribution.

We would look in vain for this system in Gaul; The Gallo-Roman vaults of the Parisian baths are erected, like Roman vaults, in regular rows, but there is no fastening between the massif and the circles. The only equivalent of fastenings recognized in Gaul is a thin stone shell covering the circles and acting as a vaulted flooring Bath of Caracalla (aqueduct to Freju, amphitheater in Saintes etc.).

In Africa, vaults were often built from hollow pottery tubes; the latter can be laid due to their extraordinary lightness without auxiliary supports. These techniques would later be used by Byzantine architecture. In the eastern regions of the empire we finally find the Persian system of construction in vertical sections, which gained predominance in the Byzantine era.

Aqueduct at Eleusis, crossing underground part propylaea Appius, resembles Asian vaults in all its details; under the Roman walls enclosing the temple in Magnesia, there is a vault built in vertical sections without circles. This system has prevailed in Constantinople since the time of Constantine.

The sail vault is almost unknown to Rome. As the only timid attempt at such a code, one can point to the code in Baths of Caracalla. Its location shown in figure 311, indicates the extraordinary inexperience of the builders.

It does not have the geometric shape of a spherical triangle, but is a semblance of a monastery arch of a vault, spreading along a continuous concave plane with a vertical seam corresponding to the edge of the reentrant corner. This is only an isolated and very imperfect case of the use of sails and, in all likelihood, nothing more than an inept imitation of some eastern model.

In order to see the pronounced arch on the sails, you need to travel to the Roman East, where it appeared already in the 4th century. and is found both in the most ancient cisterns of Constantinople and in the basilica at Philadelphia. The vault on sails became the predominant element of architecture there during the era of the Byzantine Empire.

Vault SUPPORTS

A cast vault is, whatever the methods of its construction, an artificial monolith, and, as such, it cannot topple its supports without breaking. Theoretically, one can assume the presence of a vault that does not develop lateral thrust and is held in place, like a metal arch, solely by the action of elastic forces developing in its mass. But in fact, simultaneously with the compression that the masonry resists, lateral thrust inevitably arises, which it resists poorly.

Tensile forces are prevented ( figure 312) in that the vault slides between compression ailerons, which look like modern buttresses, but never protrude from the inner surface of the wall. They are a kind of internal support organs. Example on figure 312 borrowed from the design system of the great vaulted nave Basilica of Maxentius, completed under Constantine. Its central nave is covered with a cross vault on supports representing eperons E, connected in pairs by box vaults V. The wall closing the nave is depicted under the letter P. It encloses the buttresses and allows the use of the entire intermediate space S.

To destroy the thrust of the giant hemispherical Pantheon domes the drum that carries it serves ( figure 313). This drum is lightened, regardless of the voids in the mass itself, by deep niches communicating, as in space S in Figure 312, with the interior of the central room, of which they seem to be an appendage. Separate parts of buildings with more complex plans were grouped by the Romans with special care, so that the walls of one part served as supports for the adjacent vaults. They strictly strive to satisfy all the requirements of equilibrium, without resorting to the construction of inert masses that would only play the role of buttresses. The plan of the Baths of Caracalla, which will be given below, serves as a striking example of such a balanced arrangement of arrays of vaulted rooms. The idea is the same everywhere: calmly take on the implementation of grandiose plans through maximum savings on both support elements and auxiliary structures.

WOODEN PARTS AND SMALL CONSTRUCTION PARTS

Roman vaults were never protected by roofs; they were directly covered with tiles, which were given a slope to ensure the drainage of rainwater. The Romans did not see the point in placing a vault under the roof, which in itself is a ceiling; thus, Roman buildings are covered with either vaults or rafters.

Wooden structure

Rafters.- Roman rafters represent a significant advance over previous structural systems. The Greeks knew only rafters with the load transferred to the purlins, and we have already mentioned above what careful carpentry this system required and how difficult it made covering significant spans.

The Romans introduced tie-down trusses, in which the weight of the roof is converted into tensile forces by the rafters; puffs reduce the latter to zero. The French word "arbaletrier" (stretched bow), used to designate a rafter leg, perfectly expresses the character of the new system of construction; in the Greek rafters only vertical forces acted, whereas the new system works thanks to the purlin, which becomes a tightening like a bow.

The wooden floors of Ancient Rome have completely disappeared, but we have the opportunity to restore them according to the tradition of Christian Rome. The measurements of the ancient Church of St. Petra, founded by Constantine, and “St. Paul Outside the Walls”, built by Honorius. These ceilings, renewed truss by truss as they fell into disrepair, take us, like links in an unbroken chain, back to the times of the Roman Empire.

All farms correspond to one general and uniform system ( Figure 314, B); the roof rests on two rafter legs embedded in a tie, the latter being lightened in turn by a headstock in the middle, which is not a standing headstock, as in Greek architecture, but a real hanging headstock, as in modern rafters. The trusses are usually connected in pairs, so that the roof rests not on a number of evenly distributed individual trusses, but on a number of paired trusses. Each pair of rafters has one common headstock. The antiquity of this construction system is confirmed by the extant bronze rafters in the portico of the Pantheon, which dates back to the best times of the Roman Empire. Their common features are preserved in Serlio's sketches.

Pantheon rafters had a curved purlin that served as a tightening (A). Moreover, the only way to interpret Vitruvius's instructions regarding long-span trusses is to regard these trusses as consisting of two rafter legs ( capreoli), which are embedded in a puff ( transtrum).

Only combinations based on the use of puffs made it possible to cover the huge spans of Roman buildings, reaching, for example, Trajan's Basilica 75 feet, and in Basilica of Fano- 60 feet.

It should be noted that inclined connections are used extremely rarely. The rafters of the Pantheon are barely broken into triangles, in the churches of St. Peter and "St. Paul outside the walls" there are no belts or trusses under the ridge. One feels that the Romans had not yet freed themselves from the influence of the Greeks, for whom wooden floors were nothing more than a masonry system transferred to wood.

Roman builders took the greatest care in preventing fires. The gaps between the rafters of the Church of St. Paul outside the walls" ( Figure 314, C) are filled not with easily flammable lathing, but with a flooring of large bricks on which tiles are laid. To prevent the fire from spreading from one slope to another, a stone wall C was erected along the ridge, serving as a diaphragm.

Similar precautions were also taken at the theater in Orange: the walls there rise above the roof and can, if necessary, stop the spread of fire (Figure 292).

Finally, we find in Syria examples of roofing along the rafters, where the roof is interrupted at certain intervals by tympanums on the arches, replacing the rafters and serving as an obstacle to the spread of fire ( figure 315).

Bridge trusses.- We must mention among the wooden structures of the Romans two bridges: Caesar's Bridge on the Rhine And Trajan's Bridge on the Danube. Rhine Bridge was built from beams on rows of inclined piles. The advantage of this system was that the beams “were pressed more tightly against the piles the stronger the current.” The assembly system was of great interest to researchers.

Farms Trajan's Bridge known to us from models and bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column. It was an arch bridge; three concentric arches were pulled together by suspended contractions. On figure 316 shown in dotted lines are parts that appear to need to be added to the schematic diagram in Trajan's Column.

The Danube Bridge thus restored resembles in all respects the triple arch trusses preserved in the monuments of India. Apollodorus, the builder of this bridge, was from Damascus, which lies on the way to India. Did he have any information regarding this type of Asian construction?

Use of metal for farms.- We have already pointed out the use of walls and the use of bricks as lathing as a way to fight fires. An expensive means to completely eliminate the danger from fire, which the Romans did not stop at, was to replace wood with metal. The rafters of the most important buildings, such as the Basilica Ulpia or the portico of the Pantheon, are made of bronze. The trusses of the Pantheon do not deviate in terms of design from a wooden structure, but the cross-section of the parts is quite consistent with the use of metal; they are box-shaped ( see section S in Figure 314) and are made of three bronze sheets connected by bolts.

It can apparently be considered established that the large hall of the cold baths in the Baths of Caracalla also had a roof terrace lying on iron T-beams. Thus, the Romans were ahead of us in terms of rational profiling of metal parts.

Roof.- The roof was usually made of tiles or marble according to Greek models. In addition, the Romans sometimes used flake copper ( Pantheon) or lead (the temple at Puy de Dome), and finally, we meet on various sculptural monuments, such as Tomb of the Julians in Saint-Rémy, images of tiles in the form of fish scales, like those with which the Greeks covered their round buildings and which, undoubtedly, had on the inside a type like modern flat tiles.

LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTIONS

Roman architecture is not limited to the great works of official architecture. We are too willing to pay attention only to the latter, and yet, along with the majestic official architecture that amazes us, private architecture also existed in full, which deserves at least a brief mention.

Before the time of Vitruvius, the walls of Roman houses were built exclusively from raw brick, broken clay or wood. While monolithic masonry was used for public buildings, for private buildings they were still content with traditional walls made of dried clay or rather rough masonry made of poorly hewn stone coated with lime mortar. The masonry of building stones with lime mortar, which became widespread in the Middle Ages, thus comes from the private architecture of the Romans.

We find in Pompeian houses not the concrete vaults common to large buildings, but ceilings laid out in a circular arc, which increases their stability. We see from the image on figure 317 that the frame of the building is made of reeds, the spaces between which are filled with reed weaving, plastered on the inside.

The Romans also knew double walls, which provided excellent protection against dampness and excessive temperature fluctuations; an example of these is Hadrian's Villa and various buildings adjacent to the earthen mounds.

DIVISION OF LABOR ON ROMAN CONSTRUCTION

Let us summarize the monumental architecture of the Romans. If their characteristic spirit of economy is manifested in the details of constructive techniques, then their organizational genius shines through in the general distribution of labor: the methodical distribution of responsibilities has never reached such a level.

For each type of work there was a special workshop of workers with certain qualifications and traditions, and a careful study of large architectural monuments convinces us of a systematic division of labor between these work shifts, which had delimited special purpose. So, for example, we see at the head of the walls Colosseum (Colosseum) that the rows of ashlar are not connected to the masonry that fills them. The connection between these two types of construction, although desirable from the point of view of stability, would make the work of the masons dependent on the stonemasons; communication is therefore sacrificed to the obvious advantage of a precise division of labor.

This system receives especially vivid expression when decorating the body of buildings: There is an extremely small number of structures, such as the Pantheon, in which columns were installed simultaneously with the construction of walls; Usually the decorative parts were prepared during the laying of the walls and installed later, which gave a great advantage in terms of speed of construction.

The Greeks finish buildings by finishing the architectural parts themselves; among the Romans this is only a superficial covering. The Romans first erect a building, then use brackets to hang marble on the walls or cover them with a layer of plaster. This method is inevitable in architecture, where the structure of the massif is not amenable to artistic treatment, but it had the most tragic consequences from a purely artistic point of view.

The habit of the Romans to consider separately the decoration and construction of buildings inevitably led to the fact that they began to consider these factors completely independent of each other. Decoration gradually became an arbitrary decoration, and the division of labor, which had rendered such valuable services in relation to the regular progress of work, seems to hastened, like no other cause, the decline of Roman art, by perverting its forms.

EXTERIOR

In their contemptuous indifference to everything that had nothing to do with world dominion, the Romans seemed to deliberately strive to renounce their rights to originality in architecture; They themselves present their architecture to us as a simple borrowing from Greece or as a luxury item, and they treated the works of this art as fashionable trinkets.

In fact, the Romans, especially during the Republic, had a completely original and great architecture. It was distinguished by its own imprint of grandeur, or, in the words of Vitruvius, “significance,” the influence of which even the Athenians experienced when they summoned an architect from Rome to build a temple in honor of Olympian Zeus.

Elements of Roman decorative art, like the entire civilization of the Romans, have a dual origin: they are associated with both Etruria and Greece. Roman architecture as a whole is a mixed art; it combines forms derived from the Etruscan dome with the ornamental details of the Greek architrave; Etruria gave the Romans the arch, Greece - the warrants.

Auguste Choisy. History of architecture. Auguste Choisy. Histoire De L'Architecture

Roman engineering structures

The pinnacle of Roman construction activity included engineering structures. The largest structures are the network of roads, which covered the entire territory of the empire. The Roman Appian Way is the oldest, preserved and still used transport artery not only of Rome, but of the whole world. It was built in the 4th-3rd centuries BC. The army of Spartacus approached Rome along it in the late 70s of the 1st century BC, and a little later along its sides his soldiers, captured by the Romans, were crucified on crosses.

A special place in the improvement of cities, the growth of which required more and more water, was occupied by water pipelines And aqueducts. From the hilly surroundings, water flowed into the city reservoirs through stone canals plastered with hydraulic mortar, which were supported by arched structures in low-lying areas and at the intersections of rivers or ravines.

In the II century. BC Rome alone had nine large aqueducts, which provided 1,350 water sources, 15 fountains, dozens of public baths and 11 luxuriously equipped baths. The total length of the conduits supplying Rome with water was about 430 km. By the second half of the 2nd century. BC e. includes the creation arched aqueducts- Roman engineering structures for water supply - including Aqueduct of Marcius in Rome (144 BC). The covered water canal passed through ravines and rivers, over roads with the help of bridge structures, which sometimes had huge size. They were a system of high stone pylons and arches, with a great depth of the gorge, placed in several rows on top of each other (the famous Pont du Garde aqueduct near the city of Nimes in France). Its gate is Porta Maggiore- are an example of a combination of rustication, which became widespread from the middle of the 1st century AD, with profiling of the details of porticos. The city's largest fountains (including the famous Trevi Fountain) use tap water Aqua Virgo, built in the 1st century BC. e., under Emperor Augustus. Fragments of the grandiose have survived to this day. Aqueduct of Claudius(38-52 AD).

The high level of skill of Roman builders, not only technically, but also architecturally and artistically, is manifested in the aqueduct bridge in the city of Nimea in France (2nd century AD), crossing the river. Guard, 275 m long. It consists of three tiers of arched abutments with a total height of 49 m. The span of the largest arch is enormous for that time - 24.5 m. The abutments and arches are dry-built from precisely hewn stones. The arcade is distinguished by its simplicity of form and harmony of relationships, clarity of tectonics, large scale, and expressive texture. The monumental and exquisite beauty of the composition is achieved exclusively with the help of constructive forms.

The Romans were masters at building bridges. Some of them, although in ruins, have survived to this day, for example Trajan's Bridge across the Danube at the Iron Gate. It was designed by the Greek architect Apollodorus. The bridge built by Apollodorus across the Danube was soon dismantled by the Romans themselves to prevent surprise attacks on the territory where the “Roman peace” reigned, supported not so much by armed force as by urban settlements in which the majority of the male population were retired legionnaires.

The length of the bridge exceeded 1 km, which is twice as long as the Charles Bridge in Prague. It rose on 20 stone pylons 44 m high. A hundred years ago, when the level of the Danube dropped to a minimum, 16 powerful foundations under the pylons of this bridge were exposed - evidence of the enormous art and technical skill of its creators, which has existed for almost 2000 years.

Some of the best examples of Roman architecture also include Trajan's bridge in Alcantra in Spain (98-106 AD) (9, vol. 2, pp. 457-463, 608-618; 10, pp. 248-251; 11, pp. 39-40; 16, pp. 53-56).

Wooden structure of Trajan's Bridge.

September 29, 2018

Rome is one of the oldest cities in the world and many centuries ago it was largest center social and political life. Religion occupied a special place in the life of the ancient Romans. The first temples dedicated to the pagan Gods began to be built back in the royal period, around the 6th century BC. These most ancient temples of Rome have survived to this day - their ruins can still be seen in Rome today. Let's get to know them.

The ruins of the ancient temple of Vesta, dedicated to the Roman goddess of the family hearth, are located in the oldest part of the Eternal City, in the Roman Forum. Presumably the temple appeared in the 6th-5th centuries BC. The structure, round in plan, was surrounded on the outside by a colonnade. The Holy Fire was constantly burning in the temple, which was maintained by the priestesses of the goddess Vesta - the Vestals, and inside there was a cache that kept sacred relics.

Contemporaries can see only three fifteen-meter columns, an altar, and also the source of Juturna, the water of which was considered healing.

One of the most ancient religious buildings of Ancient Rome, which was lucky enough to survive to this day, is the Temple of Saturn. Its ruins can be seen in the Roman Forum. Saturn, the God of earth and fertility, was especially revered by the Romans in ancient times; temples were erected to him and new cities were named after him. According to legend, in ancient times Italy was called the Land of Saturn.

The Temple of Saturn was built at the foot of Capitol Hill in the second half of the 5th century BC. During its history, the building burned down during fires more than once, but it was restored. Today, only a few columns of the portico and part of the foundation have survived. On the frieze you can see the inscription in Latin:

SENATUS POPULUSQUE ROMANUS INCENDIO CONSUMPTUM RESTITUIT

Which in translation sounds like: “ The Senate and people of Rome restored what was destroyed by fire».

During the Republican period, the treasury was located under the temple, where not only the Roman treasury was kept, but also important state documents.

The Temple of Portuna is one of the few ancient buildings that has managed to survive to this day. In ancient Roman mythology, Portunus was considered the god of doors, keys and livestock, the guardian of entrances and exits. The temple is located in the Forum Boar. In Republican times, there was a small port and market here, where there was a lively trade in livestock.

The first temple of Portunus appeared in the 3rd century BC, but the structure that can be seen today dates back to the 1st century BC. From the previous structure, only part of the foundation was preserved, found during excavations.

The temple is the oldest surviving marble structure in Rome. It was built around 120 BC. in the Forum Boar, near the Temple of Portunus. Dedicated to the hero of ancient Greek mythology, the deified Hercules, whose cult spread through the Greek colonists to Italy.

The legendary ancient Roman commander and statesman Gaius Julius Caesar was the second in history, after the founder of Rome Romulus, to be deified by a Roman. Just two years after Caesar's brutal assassination, starting in 42 B.C. The construction of a temple in his honor began. Unfortunately, only a small part of it has survived to this day, but the ruins that can be seen today in its place give a good idea of ​​how impressive in size this building was more than two thousand years ago.

Three tall columns and part of the podium are all that have survived from the temple of Venus the Progenitor in the Forum of Caesar. It was built back in 46 BC. at the direction of the great Julius Caesar in gratitude to Venus, fertility, beauty and love, for help in the victory over Pompey. The cult of Venus had special significance in the life of the ancient Romans, who considered her their patroness.

The surviving ruins of the temple are located in the Fori Imperiali, or Fori imperiali, in the center of the Forum Augustus, commissioned by the first Roman emperor in 2 AD. It was a majestic structure, richly decorated with white marble, sculptures of kings and great Roman generals, sacred statues of gods and mythological figures.

In 79 AD, a temple was erected in the Roman Forum in honor of the two deified Flavian emperors - Vespasian and his son Titus. From the majestic temple, only a few columns remain, as well as some bas-reliefs, which today are kept in museums.

The temple of all gods - the Pantheon - is located on the Rotunda Square, or Piazza della Rotonda, in historical center Rome. This structure was built by order of Emperor Hadrian in 126 AD. e. To this day it remains a functioning temple. The Pantheon is a unique example of ancient Roman architecture; its design features indicate great achievements in the field of ancient engineering.

Many outstanding personalities of the past are buried in the Pantheon, including the Italian kings Umberto I and Vittorio Emanuele II, Queen Margaret of Savoy, as well as famous painters and architects of the Renaissance Raphael Santi, Baldassare Peruzzi and others.

According to historians, the most majestic religious structure of Ancient Rome was a temple erected in honor of the goddesses Venus and Roma, patroness of the Eternal City. It was consecrated in 135 AD. e., during the reign of Hadrian. The architect of this monumental structure was the emperor himself.

The ruins that can be seen today near the Colosseum give an idea of ​​the size of the ancient structure. The pedestal on which the temple was erected is 145 meters long and 100 meters wide.

Modern Rome is not just a city with a long, centuries-old history, it is a real museum under open air, the exhibits of which surprisingly find a place among modern buildings. One such example is the Temple of Hadrian, located in Stone Square (Piazza di Pietra). Part of the ancient Roman structure turned out to be built into a 17th-century building designed by Carlo Fontana.

The temple to the glory of the deified Emperor Hadrian was erected by his adopted son and successor Antoninus Pius in 141-145 AD.

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is one of the few well-preserved pre-Christian temples in the Forum. By order of Emperor Antoninus Pius, who was essentially a deeply religious man, a temple was erected in the Roman Forum around the middle of the 2nd century in honor of his late wife Faustina. When the emperor died, an eagle was released into the sky at the farewell ceremony, which symbolized the deification of Antonin. On the frieze of the portico you can see the Latin inscription:

DIVO ANTONINO ET DIVAE FAUSTINAE EX S(enatus) C(onsulto)

which translated from Latin sounds like: “ Divine Antoninus and Divine Faustina by decision of the Senate».

One of the largest buildings located in the Roman Forum is the basilica dedicated to the emperors Maxentius and Constantine. The height of the vaults of the basilica, built in 312, was 39 meters, and the area of ​​just one nave exceeded four thousand square meters.

The most ancient temples of Rome that have survived to this day

September 25, 2018

One of the most popular tourist routes among a great many travelers is a visit to the Eternal City - majestic, with a centuries-old history and a huge cultural heritage. The architecture of Ancient Rome amazes with its monumentality, surprises with its age and simply delights. Thanks to the work of hundreds of thousands of people of various professions, today for us ancient Rome is not just illustrations in a history textbook, but a whole unknown world.

Aqueducts

Another important component of the architecture of Ancient Rome and a vital element, without which the development of the city would have been impossible, is the water supply system. The conduits, impressive in size, based on the same arch, are still in operation.

Similar architectural monuments of Ancient Rome can also include the Eliev Bridge, better known as the “Ponte Sant’Angelo”, located opposite the castle of the same name. This crossing of the Tiber, first built under Emperor Hadrian, was completely reconstructed only during the Renaissance.

Ponte Mulvio is another ancient bridge in Rome that has survived to this day. In ancient times it was located outside the city. The streets of Flaminia, Cassia and Clodia led to it - the main thoroughfares connecting northern cities Empire with its center.

Triumphal arches

Many rulers of Rome, who fought for the expansion and power of the Empire, did not hesitate to erect monumental triumphal arches in honor of their own merits. In ancient Rome, such buildings glorified the emperor as a commander and defender of the homeland, perpetuated the memory of his grandiose victories and conquests, and served as symbols of military power and political dominance.

Triumphal arches, demonstrating the engineering and technical progress and artistic tastes of the Romans, were installed throughout the Empire: from Germany and Spain to North Africa and Asia Minor. In Rome itself you can see several monuments of glory that have survived to this day, which are still in excellent condition today.

The construction of a number of large engineering structures dates back to this period, including the large port in Ostia. In 102, to control Dacca, Trajan built a large stone bridge with concrete supports across the Danube. Of course, it was not he who built, but his master builders, among whom Apollodorus from Damascus stood out. He was probably one of the most educated and talented engineers of the Roman Empire, since in addition to the bridge he built a number of large and structurally complex structures, such as the Trajan Forum, the circus and the baths in Rome, named after the emperor. He is credited with the construction of one of the most beautiful and outstanding structures in world architecture - the concrete Pantheon in Rome.

Construction continued even more intensively during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138). Adrian took part in the construction not only as an organizer, but also as an architect and civil engineer. He spent most of his life traveling around the empire. Hadrian visited all the Roman provinces, was a great admirer of Greek culture, and admired the skill of Egyptian artists.

In his declining years, he ordered the construction of a country villa with concrete walls in the city of Tibur, near Rome, and there to reproduce in miniature everything that had so impressed him during his travels. In 132, Adrian began to build a grandiose mausoleum for himself and a bridge to it, spanning the Tiber. The construction of these structures was completed in 139. The construction activity of Hadrian's immediate successors was not so brisk. Among the most significant buildings are the temple in honor of the wife of Emperor Antoninus Pius and the column named after Marcus Aurelius.

During the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211), there was some revival of construction activity. According to his contemporary Lempidarius, “...He restored the buildings of former sovereigns and erected many of them himself, including baths named after himself. I also carried out what is called Alexandrova water...

He was the first to introduce the Alexander method of finishing with two types of marble. In the Forum of Trajan, he erected statues of great people, moving them from everywhere... He restored the bridges built by Trajan in almost all places, and in some he built them again...” In 203, to commemorate the victories over the Parthians and Arabs in Rome is being built on a powerful concrete foundation is the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, 23 m high and 25 m wide. The architecture of this period is distinguished by a wealth of decorative decoration, giving the buildings a ceremonial appearance.

Under Emperor Caracalla (211-217), the most grandiose and beautiful baths in the history of the city were built in Rome, where concrete was used as the main building material. The entire complex of buildings occupied 16 hectares and was completed in a little over four years.

If previously there were large financial expenses caused by wars, road construction, community service, hunger and plague epidemics were covered by war trophies, tribute from conquered peoples or money from the sale of prisoners and confiscated lands, but now, at the beginning of the 3rd century, such possibilities are sharply reduced.

Rome at that time, like many cities of its provinces, still retained its external splendor, but the decline, rooted in the very structure of the Roman Empire, was already clearly visible. Pirates began to threaten maritime trade again, and land roads became unsafe due to increased incidents of robbery. A period of extreme economic disintegration ensued; Cities were depopulated, fields were empty, as there were not enough workers, and there was a deepening of typical forms of subsistence farming.

In the second half of the 3rd century, after the onslaught of barbarians on the Roman borders intensified, intensive construction of fortresses and walls began throughout the vast empire. Thus, from the first days of his reign, Aurelian began to fortify Rome with powerful walls, the construction of which was completed in 282.

The measures and numerous decrees of Diocletian, and later Constantine, aimed at normalizing the economic life of the country, were crowned with success. The external danger to the Roman state was temporarily eliminated, order was strengthened, and peace was ensured. One of the main methods of state policy was the “militarization” of the entire state, including the civilian part of the population. Taking the large eastern monarchies as a model, the emperors created a socio-economic system in which every citizen was considered to be in the service of the state only. No one had the right to leave the social category or craft organization in which he was located. No one could evade the activity for which he was destined from the day of his birth. Previously free colleges that united people by profession have now turned into compulsory corporations. Most artisans received cash, and more often in kind, benefits from the state, but for this they had to come to terms with the fact that their freedom was now sharply limited.

In this situation, capital construction is growing and expanding. The amphitheater in Verona, built in 290, dates back to the reign of Diocletian - a building reminiscent in type and size of the Colosseum in Rome. In 305, the huge concrete baths of Diocletian were built. They accommodated 3,200 people at a time and were the largest structure of this type created in the entire history of Roman construction.

Under Constantine, who continued the traditions of Diocletian in the field of public administration, on May 11, 330, the solemn consecration of the new capital of the Roman Empire took place, which was named Constantinople. It quickly began to be built up, decorated with magnificent buildings and works of art transported from Rome and Greece.

By the 4th century. The Roman Empire is entering the last and final stage of its development. A system of so-called natural-closed serf relations is gradually taking shape. Trade in the country is declining, almost all types of government payments are being naturalized. The appearance of cities is changing. They now take the form of fortresses, bounded by powerful walls and towers. Estates turn into independent political and economic units, and their owner becomes a sovereign, with an army of slaves and colons. The Empire of Rome was disintegrating before our eyes. At the end of the 4th century. a new socio-political crisis arises. At the same time, the pressure of barbarians on the borders of the state is increasing. Huge masses of Huns, Alans and Goths moved from the Caspian steppes to the West. On August 24, 410, the eternal city fell.

Thus, as a result of the aggressive policy of Ancient Rome, its enrichment through wars, the construction of large engineering structures, luxurious mansions, palaces, temples, residential and public buildings developed. In turn, this required a new strong, durable and relatively cheap material, which was concrete. However, gold and slaves alone were not enough to carry out large concrete construction projects. Well-established labor organization, engineering knowledge and construction equipment were required.