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Wednesday 5 October 2016

Art History Week 12- Roman Art

Roman Art
-Ancient Roman architecture adopted many different aspects of Ancient Greek architecture, to creating a new architectural style.
-The Romans were known to employ Greek craftsmen and engineers to construct Roman buildings.
-Roman architecture flourished throughout the Empire during the Pax Romana.
-Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509BC.
-Roman architectural style continued to influence building in the former empire for many centuries, and it is called Romanesque architecture to reflect this dependence on basic Roman forms.
-Aqueducts of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla, the basilicas .
-They were reproduced at smaller scale in most important towns and cities in the Empire.
-Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the town walls of Lugo in Hispania Tarraconensis, or northern Spain.
-The Ancient Romans, public buildings should be made to impress, as perform a public function.
-The dome permitted construction of vaulted ceilings without crossbeams and provided large covered public space such as public baths and basilicas.
-The Romans based much of their architecture on the dome, such as Hadrian's Pantheon in the city of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla.
-Art historians such as Gottfried Richter in the 1920s identified the Roman architectural innovation as being the Triumphal Arch.
-This symbol of power was transformed and utilised within the Christian basilicas when the Roman Empire of the West was on its last legs.
-The Romans first adopted the arch from the Etruscans, and implemented it in their own building.
-An arch transmits load evenly and is still commonly used in architecture today.
-The Ancient Romans were responsible for significant developments in housing and public hygiene.
-For example their public and private baths and latrines, under-floor heating in the form of the hypocaust,  piped hot and cold water .
-Ancient Rome is had elaborated, massive and beautiful houses and buildings.
-These houses and buildings belonged to those in higher social status.
-The average house of a commoner or Plebe did not contain many luxuries.
-There were members of the upper class that attended to flash their wealth into their design.
-All Roman cities had at least one Thermae, a popular facility for public bathing, exercising and socializing.
-Exercise might include wrestling and weight-lifting  as swimming.
-Bathing was an important part of the Roman day, where some hours might be spent, at a very low cost subsidized by the government.
-Roman bath-houses were  provided for private villas, town houses and forts.
-They were normally supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or by aqueduct.
-Many lighthouses were built around the Mediterranean and the coasts of the empire.
- A smaller lighthouse at Dover, England also exists as a ruin about half the height of the original.
-The light would have been provided by a fire at the top of the structure.
-Tile covered concrete quickly supplanted marble as the primary building material.
-The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of purely decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall.
- In smaller-scale architecture, concrete's strength freed the floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-flowing environment.
-Although concrete had been used on a minor scale in Mesopotamia.
 -The first use of concrete by the Romans was in the town of Cosa sometime after 273 BCE.
- Ancient Roman concrete was a mixture of lime mortar, sand with stone rubble and stones.
-When the framework was removed, the new wall was very strong with a rough surface of bricks or stones.

-The wooden frames could be used more than once, allowing builders to work quickly and efficiently.
The Colosseum in Rome

Italy,Hadrian's Wall

The Roman Forum 




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