A Text-Book of the History of Architecture / Seventh Edition, revised

by A. D. F. Hamlin

FIG. 51.—TEMPLE FORTUNA VIRILIS. PLAN.

GREEK STYLE. The victories of Marcellus at Syracuse, 212 B.C., Fabius Maximus at Tarentum (209 B.C.), Flaminius (196 B.C.), Mummius (146 B.C.), Sulla (86 B.C.), and others in the various Greek provinces, steadily increased the vogue of Greek architecture and the number of Greek artists in Rome. The temples of the last two centuries B.C., and some of earlier date, though still Etruscan in plan, were in many cases strongly Greek in the character of their details. A few have remained to our time in tolerable preservation. The temple of Fortuna Virilis (really of Fors Fortuna), of the second century (?) B.C., is a tetrastyle prostyle pseudoperipteral temple with a high podium or base, a typical Etruscan cella, and a deep porch, now walled up, but thoroughly Greek in the elegant details of its Ionic order (Fig. 51). Two circular temples, both called erroneously Temples of Vesta, one at Rome near the Cloaca Maxima, the other at Tivoli, belong among the monuments of Greek style. The first was probably dedicated to Hercules, the second probably to the Sibyls; the latter being much the better preserved of the two. Both were surrounded by peristyles of eighteen Corinthian columns, and probably covered by domical roofs with gilded bronze tiles. The Corinthian order appears here complete with its modillion cornice, but the crispness of the detail and the fineness of the execution are Greek and not Roman. These temples date from about 72 B.C., though the one at Rome was probably rebuilt in the first century A.D. (Fig. 52).

FIG. 52.—CIRCULAR TEMPLE. TIVOLI.

IMPERIAL ARCHITECTURE; AUGUSTAN AGE. Even in the temples of Greek style Roman conceptions of plan and composition are dominant. The Greek architect was not free to reproduce textually Greek designs or details, however strongly he might impress with the Greek character whatever he touched. The demands of imperial splendor and the building of great edifices of varied form and complex structure, like the thermæ and amphitheatres, called for new adaptations and combinations of planning and engineering. The reign of Augustus (27 B.C.-14 A.D.) inaugurated the imperial epoch, but many works erected before and after his reign properly belong to the Augustan age by right of style. In general, we find in the works of this period the happiest combination of Greek refinement with Roman splendor. It was in this period that Rome first assumed the aspect of an opulent and splendid metropolis, though the way had been prepared for this by the regularization and adornment of the Roman Forum and the erection of many temples, basilicas, fora, arches, and theatres during the generation preceding the accession of Augustus. His reign saw the inception or completion of the portico of Octavia, the Augustan forum, the Septa Julia, the first Pantheon, the adjoining Thermæ of Agrippa, the theatre of Marcellus, the first of the imperial palaces on the Palatine, and a long list of temples, including those of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), of Mars Ultor, of Jupiter Tonans on the Capitol, and others in the provinces; besides colonnades, statues, arches, and other embellishments almost without number.

LATER IMPERIAL WORKS. With the successors of Augustus splendor increased to almost fabulous limits, as, for instance, in the vast extent and the prodigality of ivory and gold in the famous Golden House of Nero. After the great fire in Rome, presumably kindled by the agents of this emperor, a more regular and monumental system of street-planning and building was introduced, and the first municipal building-law was decreed by him. To the reign of Vespasian (68–79 A.D.) we owe the rebuilding in Roman style and with the Corinthian order of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, the Baths of Titus, and the beginning of the Flavian amphitheatre or Colosseum. The two last-named edifices both stood on the site of Nero’s Golden House, of which the greater part was demolished to make way for them. During the last years of the first century the arch of Titus was erected, the Colosseum finished, amphitheatres built at Verona, Pola, Reggio, Tusculum, Nîmes (France), Constantine (Algiers), Pompeii and Herculanum (these last two cities and Stabiæ rebuilt after the earthquake of 63 A.D.), and arches, bridges, and temples erected all over the Roman world.

The first part of the second century was distinguished by the splendid architectural achievements of the reign of Hadrian (117–138 A.D.) in Rome and the provinces, especially Athens. Nearly all his works were marked by great dignity of conception as well as beauty of detail. During the latter part of the century a very interesting series of buildings were erected in the Hauran (Syria), in which Greek and Arab workmen under Roman direction produced examples of vigorous stone architecture of a mingled Roman and Syrian character.

The most-remarkable thermæ of Rome belong to the third century—those of Caracalla (211–217 A.D.) and of Diocletian (284–305 A.D.)—their ruins to-day ranking among the most imposing remains of antiquity. In Syria the temples of the Sun at Baalbec and Palmyra (273 A.D., under Aurelian), and the great palace of Diocletian at Spalato, in Dalmatia (300 A.D.), are still the wonder of the few travellers who reach those distant spots.

While during the third and fourth centuries there was a marked decline in purity and refinement of detail, many of the later works of the period display a remarkable freedom and originality in conception. But these works are really not Roman, they are foreign, that is, provincial products; and the transfer of the capital to Byzantium revealed the increasing degree in which Rome was coming to look to the East for her strength and her art.