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UNIT 3

ANCIENT ROMAN ARCHITECTURE

I. Read the text and translate it in the written form.

Roman architecture continued the legacy left by the earlier architects

of the Greek world, and the Roman respect for this tradition and their par-
ticular reverence for the established architectural orders, especially the Co-
rinthian, is evident in many of their large public buildings. However, the

Romans were also great innovators and they quickly adopted new con-
struction techniques, used new materials, and uniquely combined existing
techniques with creative design to produce a whole range of new architec-
tural structures such as the basilica, triumphal arch, monumental

aqueduct, amphitheater, granary building, and residential housing block.
Many of these innovations were a response to the changing practical needs

of Roman society, and these projects were all backed by a state apparatus
which funded, organized, and spread them around the Roman world, guar-
anteeing their permanence so that many of these great edifices survive to
the present day.

Roman architects continued to follow the guidelines established by the
classical orders the Greeks had first shaped: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
The Corinthian was particularly favored and many Roman buildings, even

into Late Antiquity, would have a particularly Greek look to them. The
Romans did, however, add their own ideas and their version of the Corin-
thian capital became much more decorative, as did the cornice - see, for
example, the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome (203 CE). The Romans

also created the composite capital which mixed the volute of the Ionic or-
der with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian. The Tuscan column was
another adaptation of a traditional idea which was a form of Doric column

but with a smaller capital, more slender shaft without flutes, and a
moulded base. The Tuscan column (as it came to be known in the Renais-
sance period) was especially used in domestic architecture such as
peristyles and verandahs. The Romans also favored monolithic columns

rather than the Greek approach of using several drums stacked on top of
each other.

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