600 B. C.

Forum Romanum
Forum Romanum was the first forum ever
built. It was built on the Palatine hill, around
600 B.C. During the selection of locations for
the Forum, there were unpleasant marsh-
es in the hollow which led to a main drain-
age channel being built to drain the Forum.

The forum consists of basilicas, temples, curia

(senate house), comitium (public assembly),
tabularia (offices), saepta (voting precincts),
macella (market building), porticoes and horrea
(warehouse). The exact area of the Forum is in
between the Capitol and the Temple of Caesar.
However, during Caesar’s period, he decided to
move Curia away from Comitium. He was erect-
ing his own new Curia lulia and that is why he
took away the Senate’s house. Now, the Curia is
added to the corner of the Forum and it is part-
ly over the Comitium. The significant feature of
the Comitium, the Rostra, was also relocated at
the front of Tabularium. Through this arrange-
ment, Caesar had enclosed the open section by
making the Curia less important. After Caesar’s
death, Augustus continued his work. He built a
temple for Caesar at the other end of the forum
which was opposite of the Tabularium. The Fo-
rum became bipolar with the Temple of Caesar
dominating at the other end. As the result from
this act, the Forum was closed to form a square.
The square is merely framed by the buildings
that have their own functions. The buildings
do not surround the forum in uniform due to
their own unique shapes, heights and widths.
During the middle age, the forum is enclosed
by specific buildings, especially basilicas. Even
though the forum is almost rectangular, it is
slightly narrow towards the Temple of Caesar.
Other than that, Augustus placed three arch-
es at three different corners of the Forum.
The Arch of Augustus and another arch for
his grandchildren were on the both sides
of Temple of Caesar. The Arch of Tiberius
was placed right opposite of his own arch.

During 12 B.C. onwards, some older struc-

tures were burned down. They were either
rebuilt like the Basilica lulia, or replaced by
bigger, marble structures. Besides that, a
few emperors added extra features includ-
ing monument into the Forum. Domitian was
the first one to do it. He emphasized the cen-
ter of the Forum by placing his statue there.
Due to this, the bipolarity of the Forum is
weakened. However, the statue was being re-
moved after his death. A century and a half
later, Septimius Severus added his own arch
to the fourth corner which was near to the
Curia. Diocletian also built five memorial col-
umns erected above the Rostra to celebrate
twenty years of system tetrarchy. Once again,
the attention was being pulled towards the
Capitol, as it had been before the Tabularium
was built. The last monument installed was a
statue for Constantine the Great in 334 A.D.

Temple of Jupi-
ter Capitolinus
(reconstruc-
tion) - 509 B.C.
 In ancient Rome, the Temple of Jupiter Cap-
REPUBLICAN itolinus is important and it is located on the
Capitoline Hill. The first Temple of Jupiter is
300 B. C. - from the later Roman times and it was built on
September 13 on 509 B.C. The Capitoline Tri-
200 B. C. ad considered it sacred as it consist of Jupiter,
Juno and Minerva. The original Temple mea-
sured almost 60 m x 60 m (197 feet square) and
was considered the most important religious
temple of the whole of Rome. This temple
was rebuilt, but Quintus Lutatius Catulus was
given the honour of dedicating the new struc-
ture in 69 B.C. The new temple was built using
the same plan and the same foundations, but
with more expensive materials for the super-
structure. However, it was completed during
the late 60 B.C. The third and fourth building
was built during A.D. and no longer consid-
ered as prehistory of the Roman architecture.
Temple of Saturn - 498 B.C.
Erected in 498 B.C., the Temple of Saturn
was and still is the oldest sacred place in
Rome, after the Temples of Vesta and Jupiter.
First style (200—60 B.C.)
The First Style of Roman art was
mostly an exploration of simulat-
ing marble of various colours and
types on painted plaster. In order
to replicate masonry, artists of the
late republican period drew upon ex-
amples of painting and architecture
from the early Hellenistic period.
During the Roman colonization of
Pompeii, the First Style of Roman
art suffered a decline. This led to the
trans-formation of an Italic town with
Greek influences into a Roman city.
Development of hard setting mor-
tar or Mortar of Pozzolana (300 B.C.)
It is made of volcanic sand (Pozzolana), lime and
water. This could reduce reliance on the dead
weight of massive blocks. Due to its water resis-
tant property, it can be set in a very damp envi-
ronment. Mortar is used for waterproof facings.
At the end of this century (Hellenistic Period),
they discovered the lime which led to the use
of lime in the manufacture of mortar to bond
rubble masonry. Thereby, mortar had replaced
clay and achieved its role as permanent glue. It
enables the use of concrete masonry in enor-
mous constructions. Mortar also allows the
developments and constructions of vaults.
Mid of 2 B.C.,
primitive con-
crete was the
further devel-
opment of mor-
tar. Primitive
concrete is the
product of mix-
ing mortar with
light rubble. Concrete was first used in the town
of Cosa. Construction is easier and cheaper with
primitive concrete. In the construction of arch
and vault, concrete is poured over temporary
timber mould (centering). This inven-
tion, concrete, drove the radical ad-
vancement of the conception of form.
At the late 2 B.C., concrete facing had become
more regularized, eventually; it consisted of
square and pyramid shaped blocks of tough set
in a diagonal grid pattern, opus reticulatum. The
choice to use opus reticula-tum is due to the desire
Aqua Appia, 312 B.C. express a connection
of Rome’s power base.
Aqua Appia was built in 312 B.C. during the
Roman republic, by Appius Claudius Cae- 241 B.C., Falerii Novi is
cus who also built the famous Via Appia. a new city built by the
Aqua Appia is located in Italy and was build Romans using Etrus-
to satisfy the need of water supply in Forum can engineering. The
Boarium in Campus Martius. It is the oldest arch of the entrance
aqueduct in ancient Rome. The length of Aqua was the definite mark-
Appia is approximately 10 miles (16 km) and er in the early history
7 miles (11 km). It begins underground from of the voussoirs arch.
its source then continues on on arches for 3
miles (4.8 km) to its terminus in the Forum
Boarium in Campus Martius. When describing
how low it travels, Aqua Appia has the lowest
level travel point among all of the aqueducts.
It stretches 8 miles to the Sabine Hills which
is outside of Rome. To provide protection
to Appia from attackers during the Samnite
Wars that was occuring during construction,
most of the length of the aqueduct was built
underground, which was necessary because
of the heights of its source and destination.
This aqueducts structure has similar struc-
tures as the Greek and Egyptian aqueducts.
 House of Menander - 300 B.C.

The House of Menander is located in

Pompeii, Italy. An unknown architect con-
structed it in the late 1st century BC. Due to
the villa’s impressive size and intricate struc-
ture, as well as the numerous decorative
touches such as frescoes, it has been con-
cluded that an affluent person owned the
house when Vesuvius erupted. It is referred as
The House of Menander because of the well-
preserved fresco of the ancient Greek Dra-
matist Menander in a niche in the peristyle.

190 B. C. - Temple of Castor and

Pollux (rebuilt) - 117 B.C.

100 B. C. The temple of Castor

and Pollux is an ancient
structure in the Roman
Forum, Rome, central
Italy. It was built in re-
membrance of victory
at the battle of Lake
Regillus (495 BC). The
octostyle temple was peripteral, with
eight Corinthian columns at the short
sides and eleven on the long sides.
 House of the Faun - 100 B.C.

The House of the Faun is known for the Al-

exander Mosaic, depicting the Battle of Issus
in 333 BC between Alexander the Great and
Darius III of Persia. The House of the Faun is
nearly 3,000 square meters, and occupies an
entire city block, or insula. The House of the
Faun had tabernae, or storefront shops, and a
highly sophisticated building plan, which de-
tails the many rooms. The entrance of House
of Faun decorated by the Latin message ―
HAVE, a greet-ing both for meeting and parting.

90 B. C. - Temple of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestri-

na (Perspective reconstruction) - 80 B.C.

50 B. C. Palestrina (ancient Praeneste) is an old

city and comune (municipality) with a
population
of about
18,000, in
Lazio, c. 35
km east of
Rome. prae-
n e st i n a e ) .
Tabularium, Forum Romanum (78 B.C.)
The construction of Tabularium was by Sulla,
then Caesar and his successor, Augustus. Tab-
ularium is the only republican building which
survived through wars. The uses of Tabularium
in the Forum had further developed the shape
of the forum in a whole new level because it
made the forum more orderly. The structure
has three storeys. On the second storey, there
are eleven open arches that escalated from a
large base. The large base consists of several
small windows that provide sunlight to the low-
er corridor. The tower that is located on top of
the building was added around 1300. Besides
that, Michelangelo demolished the upper sto-
rey and replace it with Palazzo del Senatore.
78 B.C. - The passage behind the facade is di-
vided into 11 individual vaults, each of which
rests on four arches. The first groined vaults
known in Roman Architecture are found here.
80 B.C. - Romans came up with new standards of
concrete construction and concrete has greater
spatial diversity. Later developments of Roman
buildings were depended on molded concrete.
Second style (80— 20 B.C.)
During the Second Style, architectural
forms were imitated by fresco artists
purely by illustrative means. Artists of
this period used flat plaster. Projections
and recessions were illustrated using
shading and perspective. This method
allows pictures to seem real like the pic-
ture of a which table can be made to
seem like it is projected out from the wall.

Forum Caesar, Foro di Cesara (46 B.C.)

This Forum was the first forum ever built among

the imperial forums. It was an extension of the
Roman Forum because it is located right beside
it. The forum was incomplete because Julius
Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. Thus, Caesar’s
successor, Augustus Caesar continued his work.

Despite other forums, Forum Caesar was

a meeting place used for dealings and
 noblest activities. From 4th century onwards,
this forum was used as Basilica Argentaria.
It was a specialized market that sells items
made out of bronze and silver. After a few
decades, it was used as a school instead.

The long rectangular piazza had columnar por-

ticos on both sides with two individual naves.
On the other hand, there is only one nave
portico for the entrance to the presence of
Chalcidicum. There were a series of tabernae,
shops under the lateral porticos. The shops
of different sizes were arranged in wedge
shape in the Campidoglio facing Clivo Argen-
tario. Clivo Argentario is a street that con-
nected the Roman Forum to the Campidoglio.

The site of Temple of Venus Genetriz, which

is at the end of the piazza, was the signifi-
cant element to the architectural complex.
This fundamental arrangement is compatible
with the ideology of Hellenistic sanctuaries.
The temple contains eight columns in the
front and nine on both sides. The back of the
temple is contradicting with the other three
sides of the temple because no columns exist.
27 BC—14 AD
The Romans elaborate arch into monumen-
tal isolation. Triumphal arches became the
symbol of Empire. Augustus made triumphal
arch became an established convention and a
char-acteristic feature of the imperial scene.

50 B. C. - Temple of Fortuna Virilis - 40 B.C.

It is an ancient building in Rome, Italy. It is the

20 B. C. main temple
dedicated to
the god Por-
tunus in the
city. It is in the
ionic order.
 Temple of Third style 20 BC—20 AD
Apollo Sosia-
nus (34 - 20 B.C.) This period of art style coincides with
the reign of Emperor Augustus. The
The Temple of Third Style rejects illustrating illu-
Apollo Sosianus sions for sur-face ornamentation. The
(was known as the paintings contain elaborate architec-
Apollinar and the tural with a single mono-chrome back-
temple of Apollo ground. Small figural and landscape
Medicus) is a Ro- scenes are usually depicted in the mid-
man temple dedi- dle. Although they are in the mid-dle,
cated to Apollo in they are just part of the overall decora-
Rome, Italy. tive scheme and not the main element.

Mausoleum of Augustus - 28 B. C.

The first Roman Emperor built a monu-

mental family tomb at Campus Martius.

JULIAN - CLAUDIAN 14 B.C. - Pont du Gard, was the high-

est bridge which carried water across the
Gard river
DYNASTY to Nimes,
southern
20 B. C. - France.

10 B. C.
Maison Carree - 16 B.C.

Maison Carree was built by Agripa who later

died in 12 B.C., it was later dedicated to his
two sons who both died at a very young age.
This structure is now located in Nimes, France.

Theatre of Marcellus (13 B.C. - 11 B.C.)

The Theatre of Marcellus was built by Emperor

Augustus in 13 B.C. It was the largest theatre
in ancient Rome. It was dedicated in 13 B.C.
and named Theatrum Marcelli in the mem-
ory of Marcellus, the son of Augustus’ sister.
10 B. C. - Market in Leptis Magna
- 8 B.C.

1 B. C. This was the type of a

Roman food market in
North Africa, Libya. The
market was contained
in a walled rectangular
courtyard that was raised
above the street level.

Necropolis of Cerveteri (7 - 6 B.C.)

It is situated close to the coast north of Rome

and is a veritable city of the dead (area known
as the Banditaccia necropolis). Vaguely remi-
niscent of ancient Egyptian burials that you will
walk around an ancient city, the housing being
made up of a huge number of burial mounds.
 Temple of Hera II - 3 B.C.

The Temple of Hera II, sometimes called

the Temple of Neptune or the Temple of
Poseidon, is an archaic Doric tem-
ple in the ancient city of Paestum.

Temple of Fortu-
na Virilis - 2 B.C.

The temple stood

by the Portus Ti-
berinus in Roman
times. The tem-
ple was dedicated
to the god Por-
tumnus, protec-
tor of harbors
and sea trade.

THE BEGINNING OF THE Fired brick became one of the prin-

cipal materials for facing concrete.
Fired brick are used for roof tiles and deco-
ROMAN EMPIRE ration of Romans borrowed from Etruscans.

1 A. D. -
15 A. D.
 20 A. D. - Pantheon was built in 27 A.D.

50 A. D.

The son-in-law of Emperor Augustus, Marcus

Agrippa, was responsible for many of the struc-
tures that were made public, which included
over-seeing the Pantheon during its construction
period. Apollodorus, who was assumed to be
the architect of the structure, acted as the over-
seer of the construction of public works during
the Trajan’s later years and during the Hadri-
an’s time of power, along with Marcus Agrip-
pa. He was also the architect of Trajan’s Bath.
Fourth style (20—79 AD)
Compared to previous styles, the
Fourth Style is less disciplined. It re-
tains the ar-chitectural details of the
Third Style while using panoramic
vistas. The colours used are warm.

FLAVIAN DYNASTY Colosseum - 79 BC

70 A. D. - The construction of Flavian Amphithe-

ater began by Vespasian, inaugurat-
ed by Titus and completed by Domitian.
80 A. D. Initially called the the Flavian Amphitheatre,
the given name “Colosseum” was taken from
the Latin word ‘colosseus’ which means co-
lossal, refering to a gigantic statue of the Em-
peror Nero, measuring 100 to 120 Roman feet
(37 m) high, which had once occupied the lo-
cation of the Colosseum in Ancient Rome.
The history of the Roman Colosseum dates hun-
dreds of years before it was actually built when the
tastes of Roman citizens craved the excitement
and blood lust of the gladiatorial games. Their
desire for this form of entertainment goes all the
way back to 264B.C. when the first recorded Ro-
man gladiato-rial combats took place in Rome.

The terror of the deaths of Christian martyrs

in the Colosseum, the gladiator fights and the
killing of thousands of exotic ani-mals, and
craving for this type of entertainment in An-
cient Rome’ finally ended in the 6th century.

The Colosseum comprises three stories of

arcades and a blind attic story that reach a
height of 50 meters. Each story consists of
80 arches. Embedded columns punctuate
the fa-cade: the first story is in Tuscan style,
the second in ionic, and the third Corinthian.
The architecture of the Roman Co-losseum
illustrates their use of one of the Romans
most fa-mous inventions, which is concrete.

The Colosseum took less than 10 years to build

which is a remarkable achievement for the ex-
cellent engineers and their famous engineering
 by the flavian emperors and its dedication
in 80 A.D., that provincial architects had
an example that could be universally imi-
tated. The amphitheatre at Thysdrus was
an imitation of the colosseum at Rome.

Pantheon was burned down

and rebuilt in 80 A.D.

Fire burn down the Forum Caesar in 80 A.D.

ANTONINE Forum Trajan - 112 AD

DYNASTY The construction work for Forum Trajan start-

107 A. D. - ed in 107 A.D. The Forum and the Basilica Ul-

pia was completed after 5 years of construc-
tion. The complex area is approximately 300
113 A. D. x 180 m while the uncovered area is 120 x 90
m. The Basilica Ulpia had used up around 180
x 60 m area. The Trajan Forum was used as an
area for representation for public ceremonies.
It was situated at the slopes of Quirinale hills.

Compared to other Imperial forums, Forum

Trajan has a more confusing foundation. The
piazza is enclosed by Basilica Ulpia. At the
back of the piazza, there is the Trajan Col-
umn. The Trajan Column rose in between the
two Libraries. The temple that is dedicated to
Divo Trajan was believed to be at the com-
plex. There was a curved arch passageway,
which is one type of arch of triumph at the
entrance of the piazza. Trajan’s statue was
placed at the center of the piazza and it was
bordered by porticos with decorated attics.

The facade of the basilica also had an attic or-

namented with Daci statue. These sculptural
decorations of Daci were transmitted mes-
sages of imperial propaganda of Trajan him-
self. The Trajan Column was also bordered
by porticos opposite of the Library’s façade.
It is made out of giant marble blocks. There
was a spiral staircase in the column which
leads to the top. On the column shaft, there
was a long embellishment surround it, leav-
ing the fluting under the Doric capital visible.

Trajan’s Market (112 - 113 A.D.)

The contruction started around 94 till 95 A.D.

under Domitian. This can be proved by the
date that is imprinted on the bricks used. The
height of Tower of Militia is 42.50 m.

The market consists of six levels that are con-

nected by steep staircase. There are three levels
in the upper area and another three levels in the
lower area. In the upper area, there is the Great
Hall and the Central Body which sits in between
Via Biberatica and the back area. Meanwhile,
in the lower area, there is the Great and Small
Semicycle going down toward the Forum floor.

The Trajan’s Market uses refined bricks that

are covered by cement nucleus. There were
various types of vaults used in this structure.
They also make full use of the foundation. For
example, the Great Hall has an empty rectan-
gular space which is covered with six cross–
vaults. The vaults relieve the mass onto the
surrounding. The air flow and sunlight are al-
lowed to enter the building through the sys-
tem of corridors on the first and second levels.

Trajan reconstructed the Temple of Venus Ge-

netrix in the year 113. He also constructed an-
other semicircular series of columns that is fac-
ing the south-east angle. It could be the largest
that was ever constructed in the ancient world.
This series of columns gave access to a large public
lavatory. Other than that, he added a new struc-
ture that consists of pillars with double naves and
two wings along the border of the Campidoglio.
The Public Lavatories is a semicircular brick
structure that had a slack stone foundation
under the pavement with small brick pillars insert-
ed for drainage. Meanwhile, the exterior could be
covered with a ring barrel vault. The center part
was uncovered to allow light and air comes in.
114 A. D. - In 118 AD, Emperor Hadrian commis-
sioned for the Pantheon to be rebuilt
different way that would last longer.
150 A. D. The reconstruction of Pantheon was completed
in 126 AD. The main themes for this Pantheon
are celestial and terrestrial. The initial function
of the Pantheon was to astound the Roman
populance. The Pantheon represents the home
of the Gods. The Oculus was used in the design
of this building. The absences of windows were
rather important because it offers an astonish-
ing sense of drama. It acts as a monarchy re-
moved from everyday reality. Other than that.

The escalated curve on the floor is one

of the clever features of the Pantheon.
Due to this unique design, drain rainwater
flows towards the border of an open-air space
because there are gaps for drainage beneath
the oculus. Despite that, the curve encour-
ages dispersion and evaporation. Thus, the
floors dry very fast even after a thunderstorm.

Meanwhile, the design principles for Pan-

theon are geometry and structured. The
volumetric proportions of the Panthe-
on had reduced to a hemisphere, a cylin-
der of the same height and a double cube.
They used geometry shapes for the initial
design of this building. Be-sides that, the en-
trance, apse and 6 exedrae punched into the
depths of the drum. There are 8 major area
of support for the building. In the center of
each area, there are half-moon chambers
grow towards the exteriors. These empty
spaces save amounts of weight without di-
minishing the buttressing action of the wall.
The loads are trans-ferred through a series
of solid bricks. This helps the vaults which
take up the entire thickness of the structure.

The building, Pantheon includes a Cupola, ro-

tunda, a dome, oculus, squares of floors, col-
umns and portico. The diameter of Cupola is
150 feets while the diameter of Oculus is 30.14
feet which is around 8.92m., and for the main
interior columns is 3.73 feet, approximately
1.105m. The Rotunda is 150 feet next to the
Oculus. It is not a per-fect hemisphere, but in-
stead it is a segment of the implied sphere that
cut off by the floor. As for the dome, it is di-
vided into 28 coffers 5 rows. When the height
of the dome increases, lighter weight concrete
was used. And so, various concrete with differ-
ent aggregates was used. Other than concrete,
travertine, brick and tufa were used as well.
 SEVERAN 217 A.D. - Much of the Colosseum was
destroyed after being struck by lightning.
DYNASTY
193 A. D. - 222 AD
opened
- the Colosseum is re-
after some restoration.

235 A. D.
CRISIS OF THE Aqua Alexandrina was constructed in 226
A.D. by Frontinus. Aqua Alexandrina is also lo-
THIRD CENTURY cated in Italy. Alexandrina was established for

235 A.D. the sole purpose of Severus’ remodelling of the

Thermae Neronianae in the Campus Martius

- 284 A.D. built by Alexander Severus (208 A.D. - 235A.D.)

in the same year. It was the last aqueducts in
the ancient Rome. The sources of Alexandrina’s
was the marshy basin of the Pantano springs,
which it is one mile south of Via Prenestina’s
14th mile, at the foot of the hill of Sassobello.

Alexandrina headed due west, almost paral-

leling the Via Pre-nestina, instead of making it
headed to the south that the other aqueducts
followed to Rome. The length of Alexandrina
was 14 miles (23 km) and 4 miles (6.4 km) un-
derground from its source, then on arches for
10 miles (16 km) to its terminus at the baths
of Alexander Severus in Campus Martius.
Roman Empire split into
Western and Eastern
Roman Empire
(285 AD)

CONSTANITIAN
DYNASTY
285 A. D. - 319
first
AD
St.
Completion
Peter’s
of the
Basilica.
364 A. D. Constantine was the first Christian Ro-
man emperor. He built a church on Vati-
can Hill, right atop of St. Peter’s burial
site. He began construction of the site in
319. The building featured a centralized
floor plan with four arms of equal length.

EASTERN EMPIRE
364 A.D. - 408—410 AD

The Visigoths take control of Rome, bad-

475 AD ly damaging the Colosseum during their
conquest and occupation of the city.
 364 A.D. - 484 or 508 A.D.

475 A.D. A massive earthquake, known as abomi-

nandus, hits Rome and devastates the
Colosseum. Officials rebuild it enough
to hold a small crown for games.

Fall of the Roman

Empire of the West
500 A.D. Pantheon
into a
had
church in
converted
609 A.D.

- 650 A.D.