X 004 Roman Architecture

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Roman Architecture

Main article: Roman Architecture

The Romans conquered the Greek cities in Italy around three hundred years BCE and muchof the Western world after that. The Roman problem of rulership involved the unity ofdisparity — from Spanish to Greek, Macedonian to Carthaginian — Roman rule hadextended itself across the breadth of the known world and the myriad pacified culturesforming this ecumene presented a new challenge for justice.

One way to look at the unity of Roman architecture is through a new-found realization oftheory derived from practice, and embodied spatially. Civically we find this happening in theRoman forum (sibling of the Greek agora), where public participation is increasinglyremoved from the concrete performance of rituals and represented in the decor of thearchitecture. Thus we finally see the beginnings of the contemporary public square in theForum Iulium, begun by Julius Caesar, where the buildings present themselves through theirfacades as representations within the space.

As the Romans chose representations of sanctity over actual sacred spaces to participate insociety, so the communicative nature of space was opened to human manipulation. None ofwhich would have been possible without the advances of Roman engineering andconstruction or the newly found marble quarries which were the spoils of war; inventionslike the arch and concrete gave a whole new form to Roman architecture, fluidly enclosingspace in taut domes and colonnades, clothing the grounds for imperial rulership and civicorder. This was also a response to the changing social climate which demanded newbuildings of increasing complexity — the coliseum, the residential block, bigger hospitalsand academies. General civil construction such as roads and bridges began to be built.

The Romans widely employed, and further developed, the arch, vault and dome (see theRoman Architectural Revolution), all of which were little used before, particularly inEurope.[1] Their innovative use of Roman concrete facilitated the building of the many publicbuildings of often unprecedented size throughout the empire. These include Romantemples, Roman baths, Roman bridges, Roman aqueducts, Roman harbours, triumphalarches, Roman amphitheatres, Roman circuses palaces, mausolea and in the late empirealso churches.

Roman domes permitted construction of vaulted ceilings and enabled huge covered publicspaces such as the public baths like Baths of Diocletian or the monumental Pantheon in thecity of Rome.

Art historians such as Gottfried Richter in the 1920s identified the Roman architecturalinnovation as being the Triumphal Arch and it is poignant to see how this symbol of poweron earth was transformed and utilized within the Christian basilicas when the RomanEmpire of the West was on its last legs: The arch was set before the altar to symbolize thetriumph of Christ and the after life. It is in their impressive aqueducts that we see the archtriumphant, especially in the many surviving examples, such as the Pont du Gard, the

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aqueduct at Segovia and the remains of the Aqueducts of Rome itself. Their survival istestimony to the durability of their materials and design.

Examples of key Roman architectural forms

Roman Temple: Maison Carrée, Nimes, France (contrast with Greek temple)

Triumphal Arch: Arch of Constantine, Rome

Arch: Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain

Dome: Interior of the Pantheon in Rome

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The Colosseum in Rome, Italy

Ancient Roman architecture adopted certain aspects of Ancient Greek architecture,creating a new architectural style. The Romans were indebted to their Etruscan neighborsand forefathers who supplied them with a wealth of knowledge essential for futurearchitectural solutions, such as hydraulics in the construction of arches. Later they absorbedGreek and Phoenician influence, apparent in many aspects closely related to architecture;for example, this can be seen in the introduction and use of the Triclinium in Roman villas asa place and manner of dining. Roman architecture flourished throughout the Empire duringthe Pax Romana.

Context

Factors such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans todiscover new architectural solutions of their own. The use of vaults and arches, togetherwith a sound knowledge of building materials, enabled them to achieve unprecedentedsuccesses in the construction of imposing structures for public use. Examples include theaqueducts of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, the basilicas andColosseum. They were reproduced at smaller scale in most important towns and cities in theEmpire. Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the town walls of Lugo inHispania Tarraconensis, or northern Spain. The Ancient Romans intended that publicbuildings should be made to impress, as well as perform a public function. The Romans didnot feel restricted by Greek aesthetic axioms alone in order to achieve theseobjectives.[citation needed] The Pantheon is an example of this, particularly in the version rebuiltby Hadrian, which remains perfectly preserved, and which over the centuries has served,particularly in the Western Hemisphere, as the inspiration for countless public buildings. Thesame emperor left his mark on the landscape of northern Britain when he built a wall tomark the limits of the empire, and after further conquests in Scotland, the Antonine wallwas built to replace Hadrian's Wall.

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The arch and the dome

Dome of the Pantheon, inner view

The Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain

Main articles: Roman aqueduct, Roman bridge, and List of Roman domes

The Roman use of the arch and their improvements in the use of concrete and bricksfacilitated the building of the many aqueducts throughout the empire, such as the Aqueductof Segovia and the eleven aqueducts in Rome itself, such as Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus.The same concepts produced numerous bridges, some of which are still in daily use, forexample at Mérida in Spain, and the Pont Julian and the bridge at Vaison-la-Romaine, bothin Provence, France.

The dome permitted construction of vaulted ceilings without crossbeams and provided largecovered public space such as public baths and basilicas. The Romans based much of theirarchitecture on the dome, such as Hadrian's Pantheon in the city of Rome, the Baths ofDiocletian and the Baths of Caracalla.

Art historians such as Gottfried Richter in the 1920s identified the Roman architecturalinnovation as being the Triumphal Arch. This symbol of power was transformed and utilisedwithin the Christian basilicas when the Roman Empire of the West was on its last legs: Thearch was set before the altar to symbolize the triumph of Christ and the afterlife. The arch isseen in aqueducts, especially in the many surviving examples, such as the Pont du Gard, the

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The Romans first adopted the arch from the Etruscans, and implemented it in their ownbuilding. An arch is a very strong shape as it transmits load evenly and is still commonly usedin architecture today.

Roman aqueductFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The multiple arches of the Pont du Gard in Roman Gaul (modern-day southern France). Its lowertiers carry a road across the river, and the upper tiers support an aqueduct conduit that carriedwater to Nimes in Roman times.

The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to bring water from distant sources into theircities and towns, supplying public baths, latrines, fountains and private households. Wastewater was removed by complex sewage systems and released into nearby bodies of water,keeping the towns clean and free from effluent. Some aqueducts also provided water formining operations and the milling of grain.

Aqueducts moved water through gravity alone, being constructed along a slight downwardgradient within conduits of stone, brick or concrete. Most were buried beneath the ground,and followed its contours; obstructing peaks were circumvented or, less often, tunnelledthrough. Where valleys or lowlands intervened, the conduit was carried on bridgework, orits contents fed into high-pressure lead, ceramic or stone pipes and siphoned across. Mostaqueduct systems included sedimentation tanks, sluices and distribution tanks to regulatethe supply at need.

Rome's first aqueduct supplied a water-fountain sited at the city's cattle-market. By thethird century AD, the city had eleven aqueducts, sustaining a population of over a million ina water-extravagant economy; most of the water supplied the city's many public baths.

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Cities and municipalities throughout the Roman Empire emulated this model, and fundedaqueducts as objects of public interest and civic pride, "an expensive yet necessary luxury towhich all could, and did, aspire."[1]

Most Roman aqueducts proved reliable, and durable; some were maintained into the earlymodern era, and a few are still partly in use. Methods of aqueduct surveying andconstruction are noted by Vitruvius in his work De Architectura (1st century BC). The generalFrontinus gives more detail in his official report on the problems, uses and abuses ofImperial Rome's public water supply. Notable examples of aqueduct architecture include thesupporting piers of the Aqueduct of Segovia, and the aqueduct-fed cisterns ofConstantinople.

Background

"The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: theaqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains."

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities[2]

Before the development of aqueduct technology, Romans, like most of their contemporariesin the ancient world, relied on local water sources such as springs and streams,supplemented by groundwater from privately or publicly owned wells, and by seasonal rain-water drained from rooftops into storage jars and cisterns.[3] The reliance of ancientcommunities upon such water resources restricted their potential growth. Rome'saqueducts were not strictly Roman inventions – their engineers would have been familiarwith the water-management technologies of Rome's Etruscan neighbours and Greek allies –but they proved conspicuously successful. By the early Imperial era, the city's aqueductssupported a population of over a million, and an extravagant water supply for publicamenities had become a fundamental part of Roman life.[4]

Aqueducts in the city of Rome

See also: List of aqueducts in the city of Rome

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Rome's Porta Maggiore, formed by a supporting arch of the Aqua Claudia and Rome's highestelevated aqueduct, the Aqua Anio Novus.

Rome had several springs within its perimeter walls but its groundwater was notoriouslyunpalatable; water from the river Tiber was badly affected by pollution and waterbornediseases. The city's demand for water had probably long exceeded its local supplies by 312BC, when the city's first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, was commissioned by the censor AppiusClaudius Caecus. The Aqua Appia was one of two major public projects of the time; theother was a strategic road between Rome and Capua, the first leg of the so-called AppianWay. Both projects had significant strategic value, as the Third Samnite War had been underway for some thirty years by that point. The road allowed rapid troop movements; and bydesign or fortunate coincidence, most of the Aqua Appia ran within a buried conduit,relatively secure from attack. It was fed by a spring 16.4 km from Rome, and dropped 10metres over its length to discharge approximately 75,500 cubic metres of water each dayinto a fountain at Rome's cattle market, the Forum Boarium, one of the city's lowest-lyingpublic spaces.[5] A second aqueduct, the Old Anio, was commissioned some forty years later,funded by booty seized from Pyrrhus of Epirus. Its flow was more than twice that of theAqua Appia, and it entered the city on raised arches, supplying water to higher elevations ofthe city.[6]

By 145 BC, the city had again outgrown its combined supplies; an official commission foundthe aqueduct conduits decayed, and depleted by leakage and illegal tapping. The praetorQuintus Marcius Rex restored them, and introduced a third, "more wholesome" supply, theAqua Marcia, Rome's longest aqueduct and high enough to supply the Capitoline Hill. Theworks cost 180,000,000 sesterces, and took two years to complete.[7] As demand grew stillfurther, more aqueducts were built; the Aqua Tepula in 127 BC and the Aqua Julia in 33 BC.Aqueduct-building programmes reached a peak in the Imperial Era. Augustus' reign saw thebuilding of the Aqua Virgo, and the short Aqua Alsietina that supplied Trastevere's artificiallake with "positively unwholesome" water for staged sea-fights to entertain the populace;its overspill was fit only for irrigation. Another short Augustan aqueduct supplemented theAqua Marcia with water of "excellent quality".[8] The emperor Caligula added or began twoaqueducts completed by his successor Claudius; the 69 km (42.8 mile) Aqua Claudia, whichgave good quality water but failed on several occasions; and the Anio Novus, highest of allRome's aqueducts and one of the most reliable but prone to muddy, discoloured waters,particularly after rain, despite its use of settling tanks.[9] Most of Rome's water supply nowdrew on various springs in the valley and highlands of the Annio, to the East. A complexsystem of aqueduct junctions, tributary feeds and distribution tanks supplied every part ofthe city east of the Tiber. West of the Tiber, no aqueduct supplied potable water until theemperor Trajan built the Aqua Traiana, which brought water from aquifers around LakeBracciano.[10] By the late 3rd century AD, the city was supplied with water by 11 aqueducts.

Aqueducts in the Roman Empire

See also: List of aqueducts in the Roman Empire

Hundreds of similar aqueducts were built throughout the Roman Empire, although thesystems were not as extensive as those supplying Rome itself. Many of them have since

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collapsed or been destroyed, but a number of intact portions remain. Two notable survivingaqueducts are the Pont du Gard in France and the Aqueduct of Segovia in Spain.

Planning, surveying and construction

Sources and surveying

Springs were by far the most common sources for aqueduct water; most of Rome's supplycame from various springs in the Anio valley and its uplands. Some systems drew waterfrom purpose-built, dammed reservoirs, such as the two (still in use) that supplied theaqueduct at the provincial city of Emerita Augusta.[11] In Book 8 of his De Architectura,Vitruvius describes the need to ensure a constant supply, methods of prospecting, and testsfor potable water.

Various surveying tools were employed to plot the course of aqueducts across thelandscape. Horizontal levels were checked using a chorobates, a flatbedded wooden framefitted with a water level. Courses and angles could be plotted and checked using a groma, arelatively simple apparatus that was probably displaced by the more sophisticated dioptra,precursor of the modern theodolite.

Conduits and gradients

The water conduit of the Tarragona Aqueduct, Spain.

Most Roman aqueducts were flat-bottomed, arch-section conduits that ran 0.5 to 1 mbeneath the ground surface, with inspection-and-access covers at regular intervals.[12]

Conduits above ground level were usually slab-topped. Early conduits were ashlar-built butfrom around the late Republican era, brick-faced concrete was often used instead. Theconcrete they used for the conduits was usually waterproof. The volume of watertransported within depended on the catchment hydrology – rainfall, absorption, and runoff– the cross section of the conduit, and its gradient; most ran about two-thirds full. Theconduit's cross section was also determined by maintenance requirements; workmen mustbe able to enter and access the whole, with minimal disruption to its fabric.[13]

Vitruvius recommends a low gradient of not less than 1 in 4800 for the channel, presumablyto prevent damage to the structure. This value agrees well with the measured gradients of

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surviving masonry aqueducts. The gradient of the Pont du Gard is only 34 cm per km(3.4:10,000), descending only 17 m vertically in its entire length of 50 km (31 mi): it couldtransport up to 20,000 cubic metres a day. The gradients of temporary aqueducts used forhydraulic mining could be considerably greater, as at Dolaucothi in Wales (with a maximumgradient of about 1:700) and Las Medulas in northern Spain. Where sharp gradients wereunavoidable in permanent conduits, the channel could be stepped downwards, widened ordischarged into a receiving tank to disperse the flow of water and reduce its abrasiveforce.[14]

The combined conduit length of the aqueducts in the city of Rome is estimated between490 to a little over 500 miles, of which approximately 29 miles (47 km) were carried aboveground level, on masonry supports. They supplied around 1 million cubic metres (300million gallons) a day: a capacity 126% of the current water supply of the city of Bangalore,which has a population of 6 million. The longest Roman aqueduct system was that ofConstantinople (Mango 1995). "The known system is at least two and half times the lengthof the longest recorded Roman aqueducts at Carthage and Cologne, but perhaps moresignificantly it represents one of the most outstanding surveying achievements of any pre-industrial society". Perhaps the second longest, the Zaghouan Aqueduct is 57.5 miles(92.5 km) in length. It was built in the 2nd century to supply Carthage (in modern Tunisia).

Bridgework and siphons

The arches of an elevated section of the Roman provincial Aqueduct of Segovia, in modern Spain.

Conduits could be supported across valleys or hollows on arches of masonry, brick orconcrete. The Pont du Gard, one of the most impressive surviving examples of a massivemasonry multiple-piered conduit, also served as a road-bridge. Where particularly deep orlengthy depressions had to be crossed, inverted siphons could be used instead; here, theconduit terminated in a header tank which fed the water into pipes. These crossed thevalley at lower level, supported by a low "venter" bridge, rose to a receiving tank at aslightly lower elevation and discharged into another conduit; the overall gradient wasmaintained. Siphon pipes were usually made of soldered lead, sometimes reinforced byconcrete encasements or stone sleeves. Less often, the pipes themselves were stone orceramic, jointed as male-female and sealed with lead.[15] Vitruvius describes theconstruction of siphons and the problems of blockage, blow-outs and venting at their lowest

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levels, where the pressures were greatest. Nonetheless, siphons were versatile and effectiveif well-built and well-maintained. A horizonal section of high-pressure siphon tubing in theAqueduct of the Gier was ramped up on bridgework to clear a navigable river, using ninelead pipes in parallel, cased in concrete.[16][17] Modern hydraulic engineers use similartechniques to enable sewers and water pipes to cross depressions.

Inspection, maintenance and regulation

Catchment basin of the aqueduct of Metz, France. The single arched cover protects two channels;either one could be closed off, allowing repair to the other without complete loss of supply

Roman aqueducts required a comprehensive system of regular maintenance, to repairaccidental breaches, to clear the conduits of gravel and other loose debris, and to removechannel-narrowing accretions of calcium carbonate in systems fed by hard water sources.Inspection and access points were provided at regular intervals on the standard, buriedconduits. Syphons that used hard-water supplies would have presented particularmaintenance problems, due to the narrow diameter of their pipes; but lead, ceramic andstone pipes were made in fairly short lengths whose damaged or blocked sections could bereplaced or cleared. Some had sealed openings that might have been used as rodding eyes,possibly using a pull-through device. Little is known of the day to day business of aqueductmaintenance teams. Theirs was probably a demanding and never-ending routine,punctuated by occasional emergencies. Full closure of any aqueduct for servicing wouldhave been a rare event, kept as brief as possible, with repairs preferably made when waterdemand was lowest, which was presumably at night.[18]

Some form of registry was probably kept of licensed, fee-paying private users, and the boreof pipe that led water from the public supply to their private property – the wider the pipe,the greater the flow and the greater the fee. Tampering and fraud to avoid or reducepayment were commonplace; methods included the fitting of unlicensed outlets, additionaloutlets, and the illegal widening of lead pipes; any of which might involve the bribery orconnivance of unscrupulous aqueduct officials or workers. Official lead pipes carriedinscriptions with information on the pipe's manufacturer, its fitter, and probably on itssubscriber and their entitlement.[19]

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Uses

Rome's first aqueduct discharged at very low pressure and at a more-or-less constant rate inthe city's main trading centre and cattle-market, probably into a low-level, cascaded seriesof troughs or basins; the upper for household use, the lower for watering livestock. MostRomans would have filled buckets and storage jars at the basins, and carried the water totheir apartments; the better off would have sent slaves to perform the same task. Theoutlet's elevation was too low to offer any city household or building a direct supply; theoverflow drained into Rome's main sewer, and from there into the Tiber. At this time, Romehad no public baths. The first were probably built in the next century, based on precursorsin neighbouring Campania; a limited number of private baths and small, street-corner publicbaths would have had a private water supply, but once aqueduct water was brought to thecity's higher elevations, large and well-appointed public baths could be sited throughout thecity, and water could be delivered to public fountains at high pressure. Public baths andfountains became distinctive features of Roman civilisation, and the baths in particularbecame important social centres.[20][21]

Industrial

Rock-cut aqueduct feeding water to the mining site at Las Medulas

Some aqueducts supplied water to industrial sites, usually via an open channel cut into theground, clay lined or wood-shuttered to reduce water loss. Most such leats were designedto operate at the steep gradients that could deliver the high water volumes needed inmining operations. Water was used in hydraulic mining to strip the overburden and exposethe ore by hushing, to fracture and wash away metal-bearing rock already heated andweakened by fire-setting, and to power water-wheel driven stamps and trip-hammers thatcrushed ore for processing. Evidence of such leats and machines has been found atDolaucothi in south-west Wales.[22][23]

Mining sites such as Dolaucothi and Las Medulas in northwest Spain show multipleaqueducts that fed water from local rivers to the mine head. The channels may havedeteriorated rapidly, or become redundant as the nearby ore was exhausted. Las Medulasshows at least seven such leats, and Dolaucothi at least five. At Dolaucothi, the miners usedholding reservoirs as well as hushing tanks, and sluice gates to control flow, as well as drop

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chutes for diversion of water supplies. The palimpsest of such channels allows the miningsequence to be inferred.

Map of the gold mine at Dolaucothi, showing its aqueducts

A number of other sites fed by several aqueducts have not yet been thoroughly explored orexcavated, such as those at Longovicium near Lanchester south of Hadrian's wall, in whichthe water supplies may have been used to power trip-hammers for forging iron.

At Barbegal in Roman Gaul, a reservoir fed an aqueduct that drove a cascaded series of 15or 16 overshot water mills, grinding flour for the Arles region. Similar arrangements, thoughon a lesser scale, have been found in Caesarea, Venafrum and Roman-era Athens. Rome'sAqua Traiana drove a flour-mill at the Janiculum, west of the Tiber. A mill in the basement ofthe Baths of Caracalla was driven by aqueduct overspill; this was but one of many city millsdriven by aqueduct water, with or without official permission. A law of the 5th centuryforbade the illicit use of aqueduct water for milling.[24]

Decline in use

A portion of the Eifel aqueduct, Germany, built in 80 AD. Its channel is narrowed by an accretion ofcalcium carbonate, accumulated through lack of maintenance.

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With the fall of the Roman Empire, some aqueducts were deliberately cut by enemies butmany more fell into disuse through lack of organized maintenance. Their failure had animpact on the population of cities; Rome's declined from its high of over 1 million in theImperial era to as low as 30,000 in the medieval era. Observations made by Pedro Tafur, aSpanish visitor in 1436, reveal misunderstandings of the very nature of the Romanaqueducts:

Through the middle of the city runs a river, which the Romans brought there with greatlabour and set in their midst, and this is the Tiber. They made a new bed for the river, so it issaid, of lead, and channels at one and the other end of the city for its entrances and exits,both for watering horses and for other services convenient to the people, and anyoneentering it at any other spot would be drowned.[25]

During the Renaissance, the standing remains of the city's massive masonry aqueductsinspired architects, engineers and their patrons; Pope Nicholas V renovated the mainchannels of the Roman Aqua Virgo in 1453.[26] Many aqueducts in Rome's former empirewere kept in good repair. The 15th century rebuilding of aqueduct at Segovia in Spain showsadvances on the Pont du Gard by using fewer arches of greater height, and so greatereconomy in its use of the raw materials. The skill in building aqueducts was not lost,especially of the smaller, more modest channels used to supply water wheels. Most suchmills in Britain were developed in the medieval period for bread production, and usedsimilar methods as that developed by the Romans with leats tapping local rivers andstreams.

Roman bridgeFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


For a list of known Roman bridges, see List of Roman bridges. For the railway station in Wales, seeRoman Bridge railway station.

The Alcántara Bridge, Spain, a masterpiece of ancient bridge building

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Roman bridges, built by ancient Romans, were the first large and lasting bridges built.[1]

Roman bridges were built with stone and had the arch as its basic structure. (see archbridge). Most utilized concrete as well, which the Romans were the first to use for bridges.

TypologyKnown Roman bridges[2]

Country Number

[show]Europe 800

[show]Asia 74

[show]Africa 57

Pons Fabricius in Rome, Italy

Roman pontoon bridge across the lower Danube

As with the vault and the dome the Romans were the first to fully realize the potential ofarches for bridge construction.[3]

A list of Roman bridges compiled by the engineer Colin O'Connor features 330 Roman stonebridges for traffic, 34 Roman timber bridges and 54 Roman aqueduct bridges, a substantialpart still standing and even used to carry vehicles.[4] A more complete survey by the Italianscholar Vittorio Galliazzo found 931 Roman bridges, mostly of stone, in as many as 26different countries (including former Yugoslavia; see right table).[5]

Roman arch bridges were usually semicircular, although a few were segmental (such asAlconétar Bridge). A segmental arch is an arch that is less than a semicircle.[6] Theadvantages of the segmental arch bridge were that it allowed great amounts of flood waterto pass under it, which would prevent the bridge from being swept away during floods andthe bridge itself could be more lightweight. Generally, Roman bridges featured wedge-shaped primary arch stones (voussoirs) of the same in size and shape. The Romans builtboth single spans and lengthy multiple arch aqueducts, such as the Pont du Gard andSegovia Aqueduct. Their bridges featured from an early time onwards flood openings in the

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Country Number

[show]Europe 800

[show]Asia 74

[show]Africa 57






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Country Number

[show]Europe 800

[show]Asia 74

[show]Africa 57






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piers, e.g. in the Pons Fabricius in Rome (62 BC), one of the world's oldest major bridges stillstanding. Roman engineers were the first and until the industrial revolution the only ones toconstruct bridges with concrete, which they called Opus caementicium. The outside wasusually covered with brick or ashlar, as in the Alcántara bridge.

The Romans also introduced segmental arch bridges into bridge construction. The 330 mlong Limyra Bridge in southwestern Turkey features 26 segmental arches with an averagespan-to-rise ratio of 5.3:1,[7] giving the bridge an unusually flat profile unsurpassed for morethan a millennium. Trajan's bridge over the Danube featured open-spandrel segmentalarches made of wood (standing on 40 m high concrete piers). This was to be the longestarch bridge for a thousand years both in terms of overall and individual span length, whilethe longest extant Roman bridge is the 790 m long Puente Romano at Mérida.

The late Roman Karamagara Bridge in Cappadocia may represent the earliest survivingbridge featuring a pointed arch.[8]

Arch shapes

Early Roman arch bridges, influenced by the ancient notion of the ideal form of the circle,often describe a full circle, with the stone arch continuing underground. A typical example isthe Pons Fabricius in Rome. Later, Roman masonry bridges rested mostly on semi-circulararches, or, to a lesser extent, on segmental arches.[9][10] For the later design, which shows anearly, local concentration in north-eastern Italy, but can be found scattered throughout thewhole empire, the Limyra Bridge, the Alconétar Bridge and the Ponte San Lorenzo are primeexamples. In addition, a number of other arch form make rare appearances, in some casesof which later deformations cannot be ruled out though. The late antique KaramagaraBridge represents an early example for the use of pointed arches.

Typical characteristics

Many are more than 5 meters wide Most of them slope slightly Many have rustic work The stonework has alternating stretcher and header courses ; i.e. one layer of rectangular

stones is laid lengthwise, and the next layer has the ends facing outwards Stones linked with dovetail joints or metal bars Indents in the stones for gripping tools to hold onto

(Source Traianus - An endeavour to identify Roman Bridges built in former Hispania)

ExamplesFor outstanding achievements of Roman bridge building, see List of ancient architecturalrecords.

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Pont-Saint-Martin Bridge, Italy

Built in 142 BC, the Pons Aemilius, later named Ponte Rotto (broken bridge) is the oldestRoman stone bridge in Rome, Italy.

The biggest Roman bridge was Trajan's bridge over the lower Danube, constructed byApollodorus of Damascus, which remained for over a millennium the longest bridge to havebeen built both in terms of overall and span length. They were most of the time at least 2meters above the body of water.

An example of temporary military bridge construction are the two Caesar's Rhine bridges.

Large river bridging

Roman engineers built stone arch or stone pillar bridges over all major rivers of theirImperium, save two: the Euphrates which lay at the frontier to the rival Iranian empires, andthe Nile, the longest river in the world, which was 'bridged' as late as 1902 by the British OldAswan Dam.[11]

The largest rivers to be spanned by solid bridges by the Romans were the Danube and theRhine, the two largest European rivers west of the Eurasian Steppe. The lower Danube wascrossed by least two (Trajan's Bridge, Constantine's Bridge) and the middle and lower Rhineby four different bridges (Roman Bridge at Mainz, Caesar's Rhine bridges, Roman Bridge atKoblenz, Roman Bridge at Cologne). For rivers with strong currents and to allow swift armymovements, pontoon bridges were also routinely employed.[12] Going from the distinct lackof records of pre-modern solid bridges spanning larger rivers,[13] the Roman feat appears tobe unsurpassed anywhere in the world until well into the 19th century.

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Housing

Insula in Ostia AnticaMain article: Insula (building)

The Ancient Romans were responsible for significant developments in housing and publichygiene, for example their public and private baths and latrines, under-floor heating in theform of the hypocaust, mica glazing (examples in Ostia Antica), and piped hot and coldwater (examples in Pompeii and Ostia).

Multi-story apartment blocks called insulae catered to a range of residential needs. Thecheapest and darkest rooms were at the bottom; the lightest and most desirable at the top.Windows were mostly small, facing the street, with iron security bars. Insulae were oftendangerous, unhealthy, and prone to fires because of overcrowding and haphazard cookingarrangements. There are examples in the Roman port town of Ostia, that date back to thereign of Trajan. External walls were in "Opus Reticulatum" and interiors in "Opus Incertum",which would then be plastered and sometimes painted.

To brighten up the small dark rooms, tenants able to afford a degree of luxury paintedcolourful murals on the walls. Examples have been found of jungle scenes with wild animalsand exotic plants. Imitation windows (trompe l'oeil) were sometimes painted to make therooms seem less confined.

In Roman architecture, an insula (Latin for "island," plural insulae) was a kind of apartmentbuilding that housed most of the urban citizen population of ancient Rome, includingordinary people of lower- or middle-class status (the plebs) and all but the wealthiest fromthe upper-middle class (the equites). The traditional elite and the very wealthy lived indomus, large single-family residences, but the two kinds of housing were intermingled in thecity and not segregated into separate neighborhoods.[1] The ground-level floor of the insulawas used for tabernae, shops and businesses, with the living space upstairs. Like modernapartment buildings, an insula might have a name, usually referring to the owner of thebuilding.[2]

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Contents

1 Construction 2 Regulation and administration 3 References 4 External links

ConstructionThis section requires expansion. (September 2010)

An insula dating from the early 2nd century A.D. in the Roman port town of Ostia Antica

Strabo notes that insulae, like domus, had running water and sanitation. But this kind ofhousing was sometimes constructed at minimal expense for speculative purposes, resultingin insulae of poor construction. They were built in timber, mud brick, and later primitiveconcrete, and were prone to fire and collapse, as described by Juvenal, whose satiricpurpose in writing should be taken into account. Among his many business interests,Marcus Licinius Crassus speculated in real estate and owned numerous insulae in the city.When one collapsed from poor construction, Cicero purportedly stated that Crassus washappy that he could charge higher rents for a new building than the collapsed one.[3]

Living quarters were typically smallest in the building's uppermost floors, with the largestand most expensive apartments being located on the bottom floors. The insulae could be upto six or seven storeys high, and despite height restrictions in the Imperial era, a fewreached eight or nine storeys.[4] The notably large Insula Felicles or Felicula was located nearthe Flaminian Circus in Regio IX; the early Christian writer Tertullian condemns the hubris ofmultiple-story buildings by comparing the Felicles to the towering homes of the gods.[5] Asingle insula could accommodate over 40 people in only 3,600 sq ft (330 m2); however, theentire structure usually had about 6 to 7 apartments, each had about 1000 sq ft[citation needed]

Because of safety issues and extra flights of stairs, the uppermost floors were the leastdesirable, and thus the cheapest to rent. Often those floors were without heating, runningwater or lavatories, which meant their occupants had to use Rome's extensive system of

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public restrooms (latrinae). Despite prohibitions, residents would sometimes dump trashand human excrement out the windows and into the surrounding streets and alleys.

Regulation and administrationThis section requires expansion. (September 2010)

Because of the dangers of fire, and collapse, the height of the insulae were restricted byAugustus to 70 Roman feet called the pes (20.7 m), and again by Emperor Nero down to 60Roman feet (17.75 m) after the Great Fire of Rome. According to the 4th-centuryregionaries, there were about 42,000–46,000 insulae in the city, as compared to about1,790 domus in the late 3rd century. Data on the number of insulae and to a lesser extentdomus are used for classical demography. The city's population in the late 3rd century isthought to have fluctuated between 700,000–800,000, down from more than 1 million,based also on figures for the amount of grain to feed the population in Rome andsurrounding areas.

Common building typesMain articles: Thermae, Roman temple, Amphitheatre, List of Roman amphitheatres, Roman theatre(structure), Roman Forum, and Forum (Roman)

All Roman cities had at least one Thermae, a popular facility for public bathing, exercisingand socializing. Exercise might include wrestling and weight-lifting, as well as swimming.Bathing was an important part of the Roman day, where some hours might be spent, at avery low cost subsidized by the government. Wealthier Romans were often accompanied byone or more slaves, who performed any required tasks such as fetching refreshment,guarding valuables, providing towels, and at the end of the session, applying olive oil to theirmasters' body which was then scraped off with a strigil, a scraper made of wood or bone.Romans didn't wash with soap and water as we do now.

Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas, town houses and forts. They werenormally supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or by aqueduct. The designof thermae is discussed by Vitruvius in De Architectura.

The Baths of Caracalla, in 2009

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Roman theatre of Aspendos,Turkey

Roman architecture was often at its most beautiful and impressive when adapted to theneeds of Roman religion. The Pantheon in Rome has survived structurally intact because ithas been continuously used for worship since it was built, over 2000 years ago. Although itsinteriors were altered when worship changed from paganism to Christianity, it is the finestand largest example of a dome built in antiquity still surviving.

Some of the most impressive secular buildings are the amphitheatres, over 220 beingknown and many of which are well preserved, such as that at Arles, as well as its progenitor,the Colosseum in Rome. They were used for gladiatorial contests, public displays, publicmeetings and bullfights, the tradition of which still survives in Spain.

Every city had a forum of varying size. In addition to its standard function as a marketplace,a forum was a gathering place of great social significance, and often the scene of diverseactivities, including political discussions and debates, rendezvous, meetings, etc. The bestknown example is probably in Rome, Italy.[1] and is the site of the earliest forum of theempire.

Panoramic view of the Forum Trajanum with the Trajan's Column on the far left.

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Tower of Hercules

Many lighthouses were built around the Mediterranean and the coasts of the empire,including the Tower of Hercules at A Coruña in northern Spain, a structure which survives tothis day. A smaller lighthouse at Dover, England also exists as a ruin about half the height ofthe original. The light would have been provided by a fire at the top of the structure.

Ancient Roman temples

are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significantsource for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part ofancient Roman religion. The main room (cella) housed the cult image of the deity to whomthe temple was dedicated, and often a small altar for incense or libations. Behind the cellawas a room or rooms used by temple attendants for storage of equipment and offerings.

The English word "temple" derives from Latin templum, which was originally not thebuilding itself, but a sacred space surveyed and plotted ritually. The Roman architectVitruvius always uses the word templum to refer to the sacred precinct, and not to thebuilding. The more common Latin words for a temple or shrine were aedes, delubrum, andfanum (in this article, the English word "temple" refers to any of these buildings, and theLatin templum to the sacred precinct).

Public religious ceremonies took place outdoors, and not within the temple building. Someceremonies were processions that started at, visited, or ended with a temple or shrine,where a ritual object might be stored and brought out for use, or where an offering wouldbe deposited. Sacrifices, chiefly of animals, would take place at an open-air altar within thetemplum.

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Tower of Hercules






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Tower of Hercules






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Origins and development

The Roman temple architecture style was derived from the Etruscan model, an indigenousItalian race which was at its peak in the seventh century BC. In turn, the Etruscans hadadopted other styles into their temples, of which Greek architecture was the main influence.Therefore Roman temples were distinct but also based on both Etruscan and Greek plans.[1]

Roman temples emphasised the front of the building, which consisted of a portico withcolumns, a pronaos. This departs from the Greek model of having equal emphasis all aroundthe temple, where it could be viewed and approached from all directions.

Caesareum

A caesareum was a temple devoted to Imperial cult. Caesarea were located throughout theRoman Empire. In the city of Rome, a caesareum was located within the religious precinct ofthe Arval Brothers. In 1570, it was documented as still containing nine statues of Romanemperors in architectural niches. These are all lost, but the base for the statue of MarcusAurelius survives, and altogether the inscriptions of seven of the nine are recorded involume 6 of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.[2]

One of the most prominent of the caesarea was the Caesareum of Alexandria, located onthe harbor. During the 4th century, after the Empire had come under Christian rule, it wasconverted to a church.[3]

ThermaeFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


For other uses, see Thermae (disambiguation).

"Roman baths" redirects here. For other uses, see Roman Baths (disambiguation).

This article is about buildings used for Roman recreation and cleaning. For the activity in general, seeAncient Roman bathing.

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Roman public baths in Bath, England. The entire structure above the level of the pillar bases is a laterreconstruction.

In ancient Rome, Thermae (from Greek thermos, "hot") and balnea (Greek βαλανείον,balaneion) were facilities for bathing. Thermae usually refers to the large imperial bathcomplexes, while balneae were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in greatnumbers throughout Rome.[1]

Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centres not onlyfor bathing, but socializing. Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas, townhouses, and forts. They were supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or morenormally, by an aqueduct. The water could be heated by a log fire before being channelledinto the hot bathing rooms. The design of baths is discussed by

Terminology

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Terminology

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Terminology

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Mosaic bath sign from Sabratha, Libya, showing bathing sandals, three strigils, and the sloganSALVOM LAVISSE, "A bath is good for you"[2]

Thermae, balneae, balineae, balneum and balineum may all translated as "bath" or "baths",though Latin sources may distinguish among these terms.

Balneum or balineum, derived from the Greek βαλανείον[3] signifies, in its primary sense, abath or bathing-vessel, such as most persons of any consequence amongst the Romanspossessed in their own houses,[4] and hence the chamber which contained the bath,[5] whichis also the proper translation of the word balnearium. The diminutive balneolum is adoptedby Seneca[6] to designate the bathroom of Scipio, in the villa at Liternum, and is expresslyused to characterise the modesty of republican manners as compared with the luxury of hisown times. But when the baths of private individuals became more sumptuous, andcomprised many rooms, instead of the one small chamber described by Seneca, the pluralbalnea or balinea was adopted, which still, in correct language, had reference only to thebaths of private persons. Thus Cicero terms the baths at the villa of his brother Quintus[7]

balnearia. Balneae and balineae, which according to Varro[8] have no singular number, werethe public baths. But this accuracy of diction is neglected by many of the subsequentwriters, and particularly by the poets, amongst whom balnea is not uncommonly used in theplural number to signify the public baths, since the word balneae could not be introduced ina hexameter verse. Pliny also, in the same sentence, makes use of the neuter plural balneafor public, and of balneum for a private bath.[9]

Thermae (which comes from the Greek adjective thermos, hot) meant properly warmsprings, or baths of warm water; but came to be applied to those magnificent edifices whichgrew up under the empire, in place of the simple balneae of the republic, and whichcomprised within their range of buildings all the appurtenances belonging to the Greekgymnasia, as well as a regular establishment appropriated for bathing.[10] Writers, however,use these terms without distinction. Thus the baths erected by Claudius Etruscus, thefreedman of the Emperor Claudius, are styled by Statius[11] balnea, and by Martial[12] Etruscithermulae. In an epigram by Martial[13]—subice balneum thermis—the terms are not appliedto the whole building, but to two different chambers in the same edifice.

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Building layout

Plan of the Old Baths at Pompeii

A public bath was built around three principal rooms: the caldarium (hot bath), thetepidarium (warm bath) and the frigidarium (cold bath). Some thermae also featured steambaths: the sudatorium, a moist steam bath, and the laconicum, a dry steam bath much like amodern sauna.

By way of illustration, this article will describe the layout of Pompeii's Old Baths adjoiningthe forum, which are among some of the best-preserved Roman baths. The references areto the floor plan pictured to the right.[14]

The whole building comprises a double set of baths, one for men and the other for women.It has six different entrances from the street, one of which (b) gives admission to the smallerwomen's set only. Five other entrances lead to the men's department, of which two (c andc2), communicate directly with the furnaces, and the other three (a3, a2, a) with thebathing apartments.

Atrium

Passing through the principal entrance, a, which is removed from the street by a narrowfootway surrounding the building and after descending three steps, the bather finds a smallchamber on his left (x) which contained a water closet (latrina), and proceeds into a covered

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Building layout





Atrium


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Building layout





Atrium


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portico (g, g), which ran round three sides of an open court (atrium, A). These togetherformed the vestibule of the baths (vestibulum balnearum),[15] in which the servants waited.

Use of the atrium

This atrium was the exercise ground for the young men, or perhaps served as a promenadefor visitors to the baths. Within this court the keeper of the baths (balneator), who exactedthe quadrans paid by each visitor, was also stationed. The room f, which runs back from theportico, might have been appropriated to him; but most probably it was an oecus or exedra,for the convenience of the better classes while awaiting the return of their acquaintancesfrom the interior. In this court, advertisements for the theatre, or other announcements ofgeneral interest, were posted up, one of which, announcing a gladiatorial show, stillremains. At the sides of the entrance were seats (scholae).

Apodyterium and frigidarium

A passage (e) leads into the apodyterium (B), a room for undressing in which all visitors musthave met before entering the baths proper. Here, the bathers removed their clothing, whichwas taken in charge by slaves known as capsarii, notorious in ancient times for theirdishonesty.[16] The apodyterium was a spacious chamber, with stone seats along two sidesof the wall (h, h). Holes are still visible on the walls, and probably mark the places where thepegs for the bathers' clothes were set. The chamber was lighted by a glass window, and hadsix doors. One of these led to the tepidarium (D) and another to the frigidarium (C), with itscold plunge-bath (referred to as loutron, natatio, natatorium, piscina, baptisterium orputeus; the terms "natatio" and "natatorium" suggest that some of those baths were alsoswimming pools). The bath in this chamber is of white marble, approached by two marblesteps.

The 1898 edition of Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities provided illustrationsenvisioning the rooms of the Old Baths:

Apodyterium

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Use of the atrium





Apodyterium

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Use of the atrium





Apodyterium

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Frigidarium

Tepidarium

Tepidarium

From the frigidarium the bather who wished to go through the warm bath and sweatingprocess entered the tepidarium (D). It did not contain water either at Pompeii or at thebaths of Hippias, but was merely heated with warm air of an agreeable temperature, inorder to prepare the body for the great heat of the vapour and warm baths, and, uponreturning, to prevent a too-sudden transition to the open air. In the baths at Pompeii thischamber also served as an apodyterium for those who took the warm bath. The wallsfeature a number of separate compartments or recesses for receiving the garments whentaken off. The compartments are divided from each other by figures of the kind calledAtlantes or Telamones, which project from the walls and support a rich cornice above them.

Three bronze benches were also found in the room, which was heated as well by itscontiguity to the hypocaust of the adjoining chamber, as by a brazier of bronze (foculus), inwhich the charcoal ashes were still remaining when the excavation was made. Sitting andperspiring beside such a brazier was called ad flammam sudare.[17]

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Frigidarium

Tepidarium

Tepidarium



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Frigidarium

Tepidarium

Tepidarium



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The caldarium of the Old Baths

The tepidarium is generally the most highly ornamented room in baths. It was merely aroom to sit in and be anointed in. In the Old Baths at Pompeii the floor is mosaic, the archedceiling adorned with stucco and painting on a coloured ground, the walls red.

Anointing was performed by slaves called unctores and aliptae. It sometimes took placebefore going to the hot bath, and sometimes after the cold bath, before putting on theclothes, in order to check the perspiration.[18] Some baths had a special room (destrictariumor unctorium) for this purpose.

Caldarium

Main article: Caldarium

From the tepidarium a door opened into the caldarium (E), whose mosaic floor was directlyabove the furnace or hypocaust. Its walls also were hollow, forming a great flue filled withheated air. At one end was a round basin (labrum), and at the other a quadrangularbathingplace (puelos, alveus, solium, calida piscina), approached from the platform (schola)by steps. The labrum held cold water, for pouring upon the bather's head before he left theroom. These basins are of marble in the Old Baths, but we hear of alvei of solid silver.[19]

Because of the great heat of the room, the caldarium was but slightly ornamented.

Laconicum

The Old Baths have no laconicum, which was a chamber still hotter than the caldarium, andused simply as a sweating-room, having no bath. It was said to have been introduced atRome by Agrippa[disambiguation needed][20] and was also called sudatorium and assa[disambiguation

needed].

Service areas

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Caldarium




Laconicum


needed].

Service areas

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Caldarium




Laconicum


needed].

Service areas

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A three-tiered water boiler (miliarium)

The apodyterium has a passage (q) communicating with the mouth of the furnace (r), calledpraefurnium or propigneum; and, passing down that passage, we reach the chamber M, intowhich the praefurnium projects, and which is entered from the street at c. It was assigned tothe fornacatores, or persons in charge of the fires. Of its two staircases, one leads to theroof of the baths, and one to the boilers containing the water.

There were three boilers, one of which (caldarium vas) held the hot water; a second, thetepid (tepidarium); and the third, the cold (frigidarium). The warm water was turned intothe warm bath by a pipe through the wall, marked on the plan. Underneath the hotchamber was set the circular furnace d, of more than 7 ft. in diameter, which heated thewater and poured hot air into the hollow cells of the hypocaustum. It passed from thefurnace under the first and last of the caldrons by two flues, which are marked on the plan.The boiler containing hot water was placed immediately over the furnace; and, as the waterwas drawn out from there, it was supplied from the next, the tepidarium, which was raiseda little higher and stood a little way off from the furnace. It was already considerably heatedfrom its contiguity to the furnace and the hypocaust below it, so that it supplied thedeficiency of the former without materially diminishing its temperature; and the vacuum inthis last was again filled up from the farthest removed, which contained the cold waterreceived directly from the square reservoir seen behind them. The boilers themselves nolonger remain, but the impressions which they have left in the mortar in which they wereimbedded are clearly visible, and enable us to determine their respective positions anddimensions. Such coppers or boilers appear to have been called miliaria, from theirsimilarity of shape to a milestone.[21]

Behind the boilers, another corridor leads into the court or atrium (K) appropriated to theservants of the bath.

Women's bath

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Women's bath

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Women's bath

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The adjoining, smaller set of baths were assigned to the women. The entrance is by the doorb, which conducts into a small vestibule (m) and from there into the apodyterium (H),which, like the one in the men's bath, has a seat (pulvinus, gradus) on either side built upagainst the wall. This opens upon a cold bath (J), answering to the natatio of the men's set,but of much smaller dimensions. There are four steps on the inside to descend into it.

Opposite to the door of entrance into the apodyterium is another doorway which leads tothe tepidarium (G), which also communicates with the thermal chamber (F), on one side ofwhich is a warm bath in a square recess, and at the farther extremity the labrum. The floorof this chamber is suspended, and its walls perforated for flues, like the corresponding onein the men's baths. The tepidarium in the women's baths had no brazier, but it had ahanging or suspended floor.

Purpose

Ruins of the enormous Baths of Caracalla, completed in 216 on a 25 hectare (33 acre) site

The baths often included, aside from the three main rooms listed above, a palaestra, oroutdoor gymnasium where men would engage in various ball games and exercises. There,among other things, weights were lifted and the discus thrown. Men would oil themselves(as soap was still a luxury good and thus not widely available), shower,[citation needed] andremove the excess with a strigil (cf. the well known Apoxyomenus of Lysippus from theVatican Museum). Often wealthy bathers would bring a capsarius, a slave that carried hismaster's towels, oils, and strigils to the baths and then watched over them once in thebaths, as thieves and pickpockets were known to frequent the baths.

The changing room was known as the apodyterium (Greek apodyterion, apo + duo "to takeoff" here of clothing).

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Purpose




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Purpose




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Cultural significance

In many ways, baths were the ancient Roman equivalent of community centres. Because thebathing process took so long, conversation was necessary. Many Romans would use thebaths as a place to invite their friends to dinner parties, and many politicians would go tothe baths to convince fellow Romans to join their causes. The thermae had many attributesin addition to the baths. There were libraries, rooms for poetry readings, and places to buyand eat food. The modern equivalent would be a combination of a library, art gallery, mall,restaurant, gym, and spa.[22]

Baths were a site for important sculpture; among the well-known pieces recovered from theBaths of Caracalla are the Farnese Bull and Farnese Hercules and over life-size early 3rdcentury patriotic figures somewhat reminiscent of Soviet Social Realist works (now in theMuseo di Capodimonte, Naples).

The Romans believed that good health came from bathing, eating, massages, and exercise.The baths, therefore, had all of these things in abundance. Since some citizens would bebathing multiple times a week, Roman society was surprisingly clean. [23]

When asked by a foreigner why he bathed once a day, a Roman emperor is said to havereplied "Because I do not have the time to bathe twice a day."[24]

Emperors often built baths to gain favour for themselves and to create a lasting monumentof their generosity. If a rich Roman wished to gain the favour of the people, he mightarrange for a free admission day in his name. For example, a senator hoping to become aTribune might pay all admission fees at a particular bath on his birthday to become wellknown to the people of the area.

Location

Virtual historical reconstruction of the Roman Baths in Weißenburg, Germany, using data from laserscan technology

Baths sprung up all over the empire. Where natural hot springs existed (as in Bath, England,Băile Herculane, Romania or Serdica, Bulgaria) thermae were built around them.Alternatively, a system of hypocausta (Greek hypocauston < hypo "below" + kaio "to burn")were utilised to heat the piped water from a furnace (praefurnium).

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Location



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Location



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Remains of Roman public bathsMain article: List of remains of Roman public baths

A number of Roman public baths survive, either as ruins or in varying degrees ofconservation. Among the more notable are the Roman baths of Bath in England as well asthe Baths of Caracalla, of Diocletian, of Titus, of Trajan in Rome and the baths of Varna.[25]

Probably the most complete are various public and private baths in Pompeii and nearbysites.

Materials

Frigidarium of Baths of Diocletian, today Santa Maria degli Angeli

Tile covered concrete quickly supplanted marble as the primary building material and moredaring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes ratherthan dense lines of columns suspending flat architraves. The freedom of concrete alsoinspired the colonnade screen, a row of purely decorative columns in front of a load-bearingwall. In smaller-scale architecture, concrete's strength freed the floor plan from rectangularcells to a more free-flowing environment. Most of these developments are described byVitruvius writing in the first century AD in his work De Architectura.

Although concrete had been used on a minor scale in Mesopotamia, Roman architectsperfected Roman concrete and used it in buildings where it could stand on its own andsupport a great deal of weight. The first use of concrete by the Romans was in the town ofCosa sometime after 273 BCE. Ancient Roman concrete was a mixture of lime mortar, sandwith stone rubble, pozzolana, water, and stones, and stronger than previously-usedconcrete. The ancient builders placed these ingredients in wooden frames where ithardened and bonded to a facing of stones or (more frequently) bricks.

When the framework was removed, the new wall was very strong with a rough surface ofbricks or stones. This surface could be smoothed and faced with an attractive stucco or thinpanels of marble or other coloured stones called revetment. Concrete construction provedto be more flexible and less costly than building solid stone buildings. The materials werereadily available and not difficult to transport. The wooden frames could be used more thanonce, allowing builders to work quickly and efficiently.

On return from campaigns in Greece, the general Sulla returned with what is probably themost well-known element of the early imperial period: the mosaic, a decoration of colourful

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Materials






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chips of stone inset into cement. This tiling method took the empire by storm in the late firstcentury and the second century and in the Roman home joined the well known mural indecorating floors, walls, and grottoes in geometric and pictorial designs.

Though most would consider concrete the Roman contribution most relevant to the modernworld, the Empire's style of architecture can still be seen throughout Europe and NorthAmerica in the arches and domes of many governmental and religious buildings.

Modern influence

During the Baroque and the Renaissance periods, Roman and Greek architectural stylesagain became fashionable, not least in Italy, but all over Europe.

Today we still see those influences all around us, in banks, government buildings, greathouses, even small houses, perhaps in the form of a porch with Doric columns and apediment, or in a fireplace or a mosaic shower floor copied from an original in Pompeii orHerculaneum. The mighty pillars, domes and arches of Rome echo in the New World too,where in Washington DC not only do we see the Capitol Building, the White House and theLincoln Memorial, but there exists a Senate and the same (in name) Republican andDemocrat parties, who ran the Roman Empire. All across the US the seats of regionalgovernment were normally built in the grand traditions of Rome, with vast flights of stonesteps sweeping up to towering pillared porticoes, with huge domes gilded or decoratedinside with the same or similar themes that were popular in Rome.

In wealthy provincial parts of the US such as the great plantations of 18th and 19th centuryLouisiana, there too are the pillars and porticoes, the symmetrical facades with theirpilasters, the domes and statuary that would have seemed familiar to Caesar and Augustus.

In Britain, a similar enthusiasm has seen the construction of thousands of neo-Classicalbuildings over the last five centuries, both civic and domestic, and many of the grandestcountry houses and mansions are purely Classical in style, an obvious example beingBuckingham Palace.

List of buildings, features and types of buildings

Northern aisle of the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome

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Modern influence







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Modern influence







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The Roman Forum

Gardens in Conimbriga, Portugal

Hadrian's Wall

Public architecture

Amphitheatre Basilica Circus (building) Forum (Roman) Insulae Temple (Roman) Roman theatre

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The Roman Forum


Hadrian's Wall

Public architecture


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The Roman Forum


Hadrian's Wall

Public architecture


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Thermae Triumphal arch

Public buildings

List of Roman amphitheatres Baths of Trajan Baths of Diocletian Baths of Caracalla Colosseum Trajan's Column, in Rome Circus Maximus, in Rome Curia Hostilia (Senate House), in Rome Domus Aurea (former building) Roman Forum Pantheon Tower of Hercules Tropaeum Traiani Hadrian's Villa

Private architecture

Roman gardens Alyscamps, a necropolis in Arles, France Domus Catacombs of Rome Roman villa

Civil engineering

Roman engineering Roman aqueduct Roman bridge Roman lighthouse Roman road Roman watermill

Military engineering

Antonine Wall, in Scotland Hadrian's Wall Limes Germanicus

Architectural elements

Hypocaust Mosaics Roman brick Roman roofs Roman spiral stairs

Documents

X 004 Roman Architecture