We have all heard the phrase “Roman was not built in a day”. Although the underlying meaning of this phrase is that time is needed to create something great, the choice of Roman as an analogy is still profound. Roman, as one of the greatest civilizations and empires in the ancient world, is built brick by brick, day by day and makes outstanding achievements in its architecture forms. At the beginning of the civilization, the traditional Roman architecture which implements a lot of ideas from Greeks and Etruscans is widely built in the city. For instance, columns and walls are continued to be used for structural purpose to support the celling. However, starting from the 3rd or 2nd century BD, the widespread use of concrete materials transforms the traditional Roman architecture into an innovative style. The most significant characteristic of the innovative style is the use of domes, arches and columns structure, which is different from the rectilinear architecture inherited from ancient Greeks and Etruscans. These structures not only are reflected on the construction of many influential buildings of ancient Rome, but also have great impact on a lot of important buildings built afterwards all over the world because of their flexibilities and capabilities.
Roman concrete, called opus caememticium in Latin, is a material with unique strength and flexibility which makes the construction of domes, arches and columns structure possible. The Roman concrete is different from the concrete we used in nowadays. According to Jones and Sidwell in their book “The World of Rome”, Roman concrete is “a mixture of lime, water and gritty substances, such as sand”. In fact, the most important material inside is “a volcanic silica material called pozzolana”, suggested by Strickland in his article “Roman Building Materials, Construction Methods, and Architecture: The Identity of an Empire”. This kind of volcanic ash makes the concrete with strong cohesion and duration and prevents it from saltwater corrosion. If there are cracks in Roman concrete, when the seawater gets into those cracks, the seawater will have chemical reaction with the lime, which will generate a third substance making the concrete even much stronger. As a result, the cracks in Roman concrete will not spread a lot and buildings built by Roman concrete are capable of standing in damp environment. Unlike stone which can only be shaped by cutting, the concrete is casted by wooden model. Once the carpentry builds wooden frames for walls or other structures with desired shape, the concrete can be poured inside the model and wait for it to dry and become harden in that shape. Then the wooden frames can be removed and reused later when the same shape is required. Consequently, Roman architects are able to construct a lot of innovative structures with different shapes by using concrete as the construction material. Unfortunately, the “secret recipe” of Roman concrete, particular the ratio of ingredients in the mixture, have already lost, but structures that are achieved because of the use of the concrete like domes, arches and columns are still preserved in modern world.
Roman concrete and its capability of being shaped by wooden models make Roman architects become the first one in the history of architecture who introduce the dome structure, which is a hollow hemisphere serving as the celling of the building. Before the ancient Roman period, all buildings are constructed in rectilinear shape. For instance, The Parthenon, which stands on the hill of the Acropolis at Athens, is a typical rectilinear temple in ancient Greek. According to Meisner in his article “The Parthenon and Phi, the Golden Ratio”, in order to make it visually pleasing, it was constructed with straight and parallel lines for its appearance. During the reign of the Roman Empire, the flexibility of the concrete encourages Roman architects to create the dome structure, which in fact can be regarded as a rotation of an arch in 360 degrees. The dome structure can be found in many traditional Roman building types like temples, palaces and baths. In fact, the dome structure is a good representation of the intelligence of Romans. In spite of taking advantage of the strength of the construction material, the construction of the dome structure also implements knowledge of forces in physics. As suggests in one of the articles of Penn Museum, the dome experiences internal compression, tension and gravity. And as these forces act against each other, the dome is then hold in place and will not be easily crashed. And during the construction process of the dome structure, Roman architects also learned a lot from problems they encounter and come up with better construction techniques. Considered the Panthoen as an example, it is the most preserved and influential temple of ancient Rome. It has a giant dome at a diameter of 143.5 feet and with a circular opening in the middle, named “The eye of the Pantheon, or oculus”. It is regarded as the largest unreinforced concrete dome all over the world. As Parker states in his article “The Pantheon – Rome – 126 AD”, in spite of the strong concrete used to construct the building, the “gradation process that was used so that the structure is heavier at the bottom and much lighter at the top” also contributes to the enduring of the dome. It is exactly a combination of the strength and flexibility of the concrete, the good implementation of the interaction of forces and the intelligent gradation process that make the dome of the Panthoen, even with some cracks when time goes by, stand without inner columns support and survive till now for more than 2000 years. Because of the intelligence embodied by the Roman dome structure, the dome structure is widely used in later times, particular in European countries and different types of dome structure derived from it, such as geodesic dome, onion dome and oval dome, are also invented by architects worldwide.
After being introduced by ancient Roman architects, the dome structure becomes one of the popular architectural styles in a variety of later cultures. It is widely used especially in government buildings and religious buildings like churches, temples and monuments. For instance, some of most marvelous buildings all over the world use dome structure, such as Taj Mahal in India which has a lotus design on the top of the marble dome and United States Capitol in Washington D.C which in fact has two domes, the present one covering the old dome. One of the building with dome that was built under direct influence of ancient Roman dome is St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. It is known as the one of the most well-known Renaissance architectures and the largest basilica in the world. It was started building by Pope Julius II in 1506 and completed in 1615 under Paul V. And it is famous for its dome at 42 meter in diameter and with height of 136 meter from the base. It is in fact the highest dome all over the world, which can be easily seen in the skyline of Rome. Although the design for St. Peter’s Basilica changed over times, it was still inspired by the design of the Pantheon. The design of the architect named Bramante appointed by Pope Julius II is very similar to the design of the Pantheon. According to Lehmer in his article “Evolution of the Roman Dome”, the design “was where the Pantheon influence was first seen through the hemispherical shape and single shell design”. He also “included seven step rings around the base of the dome”, which is nearly the identical structure as the Pantheon. Not only inspired by the design of the Pantheon, architects also made some changes to the traditional Roman dome in order to serve a better functionality. Later on, Michelangelo was assigned as the architect for St. Peter’s Basilica in 1546 and he “recognized the thrust of a hemispherical dome is larger than that of an ovoid shaped dome and also that the single skin technique required much more material to achieve a dome as stiff as one using two skins”. So based on the design of Roman dome, he changed the dome into the ovoid shape and had the dome with double skin. As illustrated in the example of St. Peter’s Basilica, architects in later culture gain experience from the design of ancient Roman dome and make improvement. As a result, different styles of domes are derived with different emphasis and purposes and preserved in nowadays.
Although the arch is not invented by Roman architects, the arches created by Romans using concrete are able to support massive weight. In the period before the ancient Rome empire, arches were often used to support small structures like storerooms where the force of earth is able to support the structure, so the design of buildings in that period of time was sometimes constricted in scope and size. The structural advantages of arches are not fully understood until the ancient Roman period. In fact, arch is a sophisticated architectural form which also applies physical principles. According to the article “The Roman Arch: Definition, Construction & History”, the arch is capable of reducing pressure caused by weight due to its special shape. It can “direct pressure downwards and outwards, creating a strong passage underneath it that has the ability to support heavy structures”. What’s more, the most important part inside an arch is the last stone being placed on the very top of the arch during the construction process, which is called the keystone. Although the keystone itself is light, it is the central part that lock all parts of the arch in their own places and redirect forces in order to keep the arch stand firmly and withstand heavy weight with good performance. Because of the structural advantages of arch, Roman architects even develop it into other architectural forms. For example, arrangement of arches can form a celling of the building named vault and turning the arch around in 360 degrees can transform it into a dome. Because of the specialty of the arch structure, these vault and dome structure derived from the arch structure are also with great strength that enable them stay there firmly for more than 2,000 years.
However, the most important application of arches in Roman architecture is in bridge and aqueduct. As mentioned in Labate’s article “Roman Engineering”, Roman bridges “had arches consisting of individual arch stones (longer on one end than the other) called voussoirs, which efficiently distributed the bridges’ weight. Such arched structures made bridges stronger, and allowed for much longer bridge spans”. These bridges built with arch structure are capable of spanning a very long distance hold heavy load without falling down since the downward pressure generated by heavy load will be cancel out by the support forces from the ground. Concrete was also added by Roman builders during the construction of the bridge so that the structure of the bridge is even much rigid. For instance, the Alcántara bridge, which is made of stone and constructed over the Tagus River at Alcántara. Because of its arches at the diameter of 95 feet and its voussoirs each with weight of approximately tons, the Alcántara bridge still survive today. Similarly, the arch structure is implemented in Roman aqueduct, which is an architectural form constructed to provide cities with water for daily use. As suggested by Cartwright in his introduction of aqueduct, Roman aqueduct is revolutionized because of the arch structure as it “allowed for the construction of large-span structures which could ignore unfavorable land features and draw the water along the straightest possible route along a regular gradient”. The strength of the arch structure makes Roman aqueduct withstand the water pressure and make control of water flow, or even flood flow. Until today, these Roman style arches are still well preserved all over the world and appear in a lot of religious buildings, government buildings, modern bridges and aqueducts.
In spite of the basic structural usage of the arch structure, it is also widely used in monumental buildings at the ancient Roman period and in later cultures. During the reign of the Roman Empire, these Roman monumental buildings with arch structure, particular the triumphal arch, are always used to “commemorate military triumphs and other significant events such as the accession of a new emperor”, stating by Cartwright. In general, triumphal arches have one or more arched pathways and always constructed across the road. Although most of these triumphal arches, as one kind of distinctive architectural form at that time, did not survive when time pass by, they have a significant impact on later cultures in the history of architecture. A lot of rulers in later cultures were inspired by Roman triumphal arches and asked architects to erect triumphal arches for them. As a result, many Roman style triumphal arches were constructed worldwide such as the Wellington Arch in London and the Narva Triumphal Arch in Saint Petersburg. But undoubtedly the most renowned commemorative monuments in the world inspired by Roman style triumphal arches is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In 1804, Napoleon was crowned Emperor and he wanted to recreate Paris as a new Rome. As a result, several architectural works were constructed based on Roman architectural style and the Arc de Triomphe is one of them. The Arc de Triomphe was built by a French architect named Jean-François Chalgrin in 1806. His design of the Arc de Triomphe was inspired by the Arch of Titus, which is a Roman Triumphal Arch erected in 82 AD by Emperor Domitian in order to commemorates his died brother Titus. The general structure and design idea of the Arc de Triomphe is quite similar as the Arch of Titus except the Arc de Triomphe is much larger with height of 164 feet, width of 148 feet and depth of 72 feet. What’s more, Jean-François Chalgrin removed columns that were originally on the Arch of Titus in his design. Beside the similarity between the Arc de Triomphe and the Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe also resembles other Roman style triumphal arches. As suggested in the article “The Influence of Ancient War Monuments on Their Modern Equivalents Part I: Ancient Rome”, the Arc de Triomphe is more like the Arch of Septimius Severus, another Roman Triumphal Arch that was constructed in 203 CE in order to commemorates the Roman victories over the Parthians, in some aspects after close comparison. The relief on the Arch of Septimius Severus depicts some important battles like “the capture of Babylon and Ctesiphon” while on the relief of the Arc de Triomphe there are images of “the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars”. A lot of later architects in different cultures chose to borrow architectural style from Roman architecture in their own design because of the value of aesthetic that Roman architecture conveys on the one hand and the intelligence that is underlying the design of structure in Roman architecture based on knowledge of science on the other hand.
What’s more, although Roman columns imitate Greek columns to some extent, they still have their own specialties. When at the period of ancient Greek, Greek architects first develop “the order of architecture” with three different column styles: Doric column, Ionic column and Corinthian column. A Doric column is thicker comparing to an Ionic column or a Corinthian column and with a plain design. The Ionic style, written by Roman architect Vitruvius who is well-known for his book named De architectura as “an appropriate combination of the severity of the Doric and the delicacy of the Corinthian”, has scroll-shaped decorations on the top of the column. For a Corinthian column, on the top of the column there are always decorations that are carved in shape of leaves and flowers. The Corinthian style looks much fancier than the other two styles and is not used very frequently in normal buildings. When comes to the ancient Roman period, apart from the three column styles developed by Greeks that are still normally used, Roman architects also come up with two more order of classical architectures based on them: Tuscan column and composite column. A Tuscan column is quite similar as a Doric column since the design of the column is in fact very straightforward without a lot of ornaments on the column. However, a Tuscan column is less thick than a Doric column and the surface of a Tuscan column is often quite smooth. For example, the Tuscan style column is used in the colonnade at the Saint Peter’s Square, which is the square just in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. The composite style can be regarded as a combination of Greek Ionic column and Corinthian column. Like architects in nowadays, Roman architects with intelligence are able to learn from previous architectural forms and then make improvements. When these two styles are combined together, the rectangular capital of the Ionic column can be fit on the top of a round shaft appealingly with the strength of the Ionic column still remained. As a result, during the reign of the Roman Empire, there are in fact five different columns styles that are widely used.
Comparing to Greek architecture, Roman architecture favors Corinthian column and the Corinthian column is still widely used in architecture at present. Consider the Pantheon, the most influential Roman building in ancient Roman, as an example, it is a typical Roman building which uses Corinthian columns. According to Cartwright in his introduction of the Pantheon, the porch of the Pantheon “measures 33.1 x 13.6 m and presents a front colonnade of eight Corinthian columns 11.8 m high”. The Corinthian column was selected to be the front column for the temple due to the richness of the ornaments on the top of the column and the unspeakable elegance it added to the exterior of the building. In nowadays, there are a lot of buildings in United States, particular government buildings, inspired by Greek and Roman architecture and implement the Corinthian column. For example, columns of Corinthian style can be easily seen both outside and inside of building on Capitol Hill, such as the United State Capitol Building and the Supreme Court Building. On the first floor of the United State Capitol Building, there is a Hall of columns which is named by “the 28 fluted, white marble columns that line the corridor”. These 28 columns are exactly of Corinthian style while the architect of the Hall of columns makes change to the top ornaments of the columns by adding native American tobacco plants as well. Through adding American elements to the Corinthian style column, it not only preserves the elegance of Roman architecture but also adapts to the local culture in a better way. Meanwhile, Doric columns and Ionic columns are also implements in the interior and exterior of the United State Capital Building. And the Supreme Court Building, constructed with consist architectural style with buildings around, also contains “central temple-like pavilion fronted by a monumental portico with 16 Corinthian marble columns that support an elaborate entablature and pediment” at its entrance facing the United State Capital Building. The use of Corinthian style for buildings on Capitol Hill gives an impressive and recognizable appearance of those buildings and the implementation of ancient Greek and Roman architectural forms in the design of buildings effectively conveys the idea that “guided the nation’s founders as they framed their new republic”.
At present, the Roman architectural style in commonly implemented in a lot of buildings while it is more likely to be seen in government buildings, banks and monumental buildings. When walking in the city center of Washington D.C, for example, visitors can easily tell from those buildings that the Roman architectural style is utilized in the construction design, even they do not have a lot of sophisticated knowledge about Roman architecture. The reason why architects for these kinds of buildings choose to implement the Roman architectural style is that these buildings need a particularly rigid structure so that they can stand for a long time. In the interior of these buildings, especially the lower levels, there are always arches structure inspired by Roman arch structure. Because of the ability of the arch to distribute the pressure exerted by the celling upward and downward, columns of the building are able to simply support the whole weight of the celling with the arch structure above them. Additionally, these buildings are supposed to appear elegant and grand because of their functionalities, so sometimes the dome structure in Roman architecture, which always have magnificent interior ornaments and paintings and grandeur exterior appearance, is also added to these buildings. For example, a Greek-Italian artist named Constantino Brumidi painted the fresco entitled The Apotheosis of Washington in the interior of the dome in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. When visitors visit the United States Capitol Building, they can easily see the fresco that is painted to commemorate George Washington, the first president of United States through the large open space given by the dome structure. These buildings, by utilizing these magnificent Roman architectural elements, aim to stand over time and inherit the predominance and the solemnity of ancient Rome.
Last but not least, modern architects learn not only the architectural principles underlying the design of Roman architects, but also the attitude and idea of Roman architects. At the period of ancient Rome, the development of science and the transferring of information were in fact quite slow. However, with limit resources, knowledge and technologies, Roman architects were able to take advantage of architectural forms preserved from ancient Greeks and Etruscans period and came up with the innovative construction material concrete, which can be produced by mixing a variety of materials with specific ratio. And after the invention of concrete, they made use of the unique properties of the concrete and created a lot of new architectural structures with both structural functionalities and value of aesthetics such as the dome and arch structure. As Andrews suggested in his essay “10 Innovations That Built Ancient Rome”, Roman architects “were prodigious builders and expert civil engineers, and their thriving civilization produced advances in technology, culture and architecture that remained unequaled for centuries”. They had great imagination and were not afraid of experimenting their innovative ideas and revolutionizing the traditional style of architecture. By learning from this, modern architects are able to take advantages of the Roman architectural style and make improvement based on it. A lot of outstanding buildings built after the reign of the Roman Empire were constructed under the inspiration of Roman architectural forms and Roman architectural style have already been implemented in our daily building structures.
To sum up, the inspiration from ancient Greeks and Etruscans architectural forms and the invention of the concrete at the ancient Roman period encourage intelligent Roman architects to achieve the Roman dome, arch and column structure with both structural strength and value of aesthetics. These Roman dome, arch and column structure, considered as most influential and outstanding elements in Roman architecture, are implements by later architects in different culture all over the world and are even improved in order to avoid some shortcomings or better adapt to the local culture. The lasting contribution of Roman architecture gives us a sense of the inheritance of ideas and aesthetics in the world history of architecture. More and more architecture forms such as the Roman dome, arch and column structure over the long history should be carefully studied, analyzed and implemented properly in modern architecture design as all of them are valuable wealth our predecessors left behind.