99. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE
THE ARCH AND DOME IN ROMAN BUILDINGS
In architecture the Romans achieved preëminence. The temples and other public works of Greece seem almost insignificant beside the stupendous edifices raised by Roman genius in every province of the empire. The ability of the Romans to build on so large a scale arose from their use of vaulted constructions. Knowledge of the round arch passed over from the Orient to the Etruscans and from them to the Romans. [33] At first the arch was employed mainly for gates, drainage sewers, aqueducts, and bridges. In imperial times this device was adopted to permit the construction of vast buildings with overarching domes. The principle of the dome has inspired some of the finest creations of ancient and modern architecture.
ROMAN USE OF CONCRETE AND RUBBLE
The Romans for many of their buildings made much use of concrete. Its chief ingredient was pozzolana, a sand found in great abundance near Rome and other sites. When mixed with lime, it formed a very strong cement. This material was poured in a fluid state into timber casings, where it quickly set and hardened. Small pieces of stone, called rubble, were also forced down into the cement to give it additional stability. Buildings of this sort were usually faced with brick, which in turn might be covered with thin slabs of marble, thus producing an attractive appearance.
TEMPLES
The triumphs of Roman architecture were not confined chiefly to sacred edifices. Roman temples, indeed, are mostly copies from the Greek. In comparison with their originals, they lack grace and refinement. There is less accuracy in the masonry fitting and far less careful attention to details of construction. A frequent departure from Greek models is found in the restriction of the rows of pillars to the front of the building, while the sides and rear are lined with "engaged" columns to give the idea of a colonnade. [34] More characteristically Roman are vaulted temples, such as the Pantheon, [35] where the circular dome is faced with a Greek portico.
BASILICAS
Roman basilicas, of which only the ruins are now in existence, were once found in every city. These were large, lofty buildings for the use of judges and merchants. The chief feature of a basilica was the spacious central hall flanked by a single or double row of columns, forming aisles and supporting the flat roof. At one end of the hall was a semicircular recess—the apse—where the judges held court. This arrangement of the interior bears a close resemblance to the plan of the early Christian church with its nave, choir (or chancel) and columned aisles. The Christians, in fact, seem to have taken the familiar basilicas as the models for their places of worship.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ULPIAN BASILICA
The hall measured 360 feet in length and 180 feet in width.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF THE ULPIAN BASILICA (RESTORATION)
Built by the Emperor Trajan in connection with his Forum at Rome.]
AQUEDUCTS
Perhaps the most imposing, and certainly among the most useful, of Roman structures were aqueducts. [36] There were sixty-eight in Italy and the provinces. No less than fourteen supplied the capital city with water. The aqueducts usually ran under the surface of the ground, as do our water pipes. They were carried on arches only across depressions and valleys. The Claudian aqueduct ran for thirty-six miles underground and for nine and a half miles on arches. Though these monuments were intended simply as engineering works, their heavy masses of rough masonry produce an inspiring sense of power.
[Illustration: A ROMAN AQUEDUCT The Pont du Gard near Nîmes (ancient Nemausus) in southern France. Built by the emperor Antoninus Pius. The bridge spans two hilltops nearly a thousand feet apart. It carries an aqueduct with three tiers of massive stone arches at a height of 160 feet above the stream. This is the finest and best preserved aqueduct in existence.]
THERMAE
The abundant water supply furnished by the aqueducts was connected with a system of great public baths, or thermae. [37] Scarcely a town or village throughout the empire lacked one or more such buildings. Those at Rome were constructed on a scale of magnificence of which we can form but a slight conception from the ruins now in existence. In addition to many elaborate arrangements for the bathers, the thermae included lounging and reading rooms, libraries, gymnasia, and even museums and galleries of art. The baths, indeed, were splendid clubhouses, open at little or no expense to every citizen of the metropolis.
[Illustration: THE COLOSSEUM]
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES AND COLUMNS
A very characteristic example of Roman building is found in the triumphal arches. [38] Their sides were adorned with bas-reliefs, which pictured the principal scenes of a successful campaign. Memorial structures, called columns of victory, [39] were also set up in Rome and other cities. Both arch and column have been frequently imitated by modern architects.
[Illustration: A ROMAN CAMEO
Portrait of a youth cut in sardonyx. Probably of the first century A.D.]
CIRCUSES, THEATERS, AND AMPHITHEATERS
The palaces of Roman emperors and nobles, together with their luxurious country houses, or villas, have all disappeared. A like fate has befallen the enormous circuses, such as the Circus Maximus [40] at Rome and the Hippodrome [41] at Constantinople. The Roman theaters that still survive reproduce, in most respects, the familiar outlines of the Greek structures. In the amphitheaters, where animal shows and gladiatorial combats were exhibited, we have a genuinely Roman invention. The gigantic edifice, called the Colosseum, in its way as truly typifies Roman architectural genius as the Parthenon represents at its best that of the Greeks.
ROMAN SCULPTURE
Roman sculpture owed much to Greek models. However, the portrait statues and bas-reliefs show originality and illustrate the tendency of the Romans toward realism in art. The sculptor tried to represent an historic person as he really looked or an historic event, for example, a battle or a triumphal procession, as it actually happened. The portrait statues of Roman emperors and the bas-reliefs from the arch of Titus impress us at once with a sense of their reality.
WALL PAINTINGS
Our knowledge of Roman painting is almost wholly confined to the wall paintings found at Rome, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. What has survived is apparently the work of ordinary craftsmen, who, if not Greeks, were deeply affected by the Greek spirit. Most of the scenes they depict are taken from classical mythology. The coloring is very rich; and the peculiar shade of red used is known to-day by the name of "Pompeian red." The practice of mural painting passed over from the Romans to European artists, who have employed it in the frescoes of medieval and modern churches.