...#4 The Romans created urban centers that looked and functioned much like our urban centers do today. Pick an example of an actual coliseum, arena, or civic center in your area. Describe its style and function as if it were a Roman building in a Roman city. Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia could be compared to the Roman basilicas. These buildings were large, served many functions, and demonstrated the practicality of the Romans. Philips Arena opened in 1999 and is one of the top multi-use facilities in the world. Its maximum capacity is 21,000 people. It serves as the home of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, Atlanta dream of the WNBA, and then easily transforms into an ice rink used by the Atlanta Thrashers. In addition to sports, many other types of events are held at Philips Arena, such as musicals, plays, concerts, comedy shows, and evangelistic events. I have attended all of these events and Philips Arena is a part of many of my childhood memories. If Philips Arena were a Roman basilica, it would serve many purposes. This is where people would go when they wanted to do inside group activities. When you enter you would be in a long hall with a large variety of shops and booths on each side of you. People would be buying and selling products and services. It would also be one of the city’s main meeting places. People would be standing in groups having conversations. As you walk through the hall with the shops, you would see doors every few feet on either side. These doors...
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...Palladio had a unique and detailed drawing style, coupled with an influence from Roman orders and architectural values which helped form his recognizable style. His style is one that closely follows classical concepts...
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...critical of Rome's, "limited principles of limitation, restraint, and orderly arrangement, and balance to its own urban and imperial existence, and it failed dismally to lay the foundations for the stable economy and equitable political system, with every group effectively represented, that would have made a better life for the great city possible. It's best efforts to establish a universal commonwealth succeeded only in achieving a balance of privileges and corruptions." He spoke about the distinction from the container and the contents where on the exterior Rome is depicted as a "marvel of formal dignity and masterful composure", and within, a city that promotes the devaluing of human life and filled with injustice. Rome in essence with it's feelings of grandeur was too big for it's britches. As Virgil expressed in the Aeneid "To Romans I set no boundary in space or time. I have granted them dominion and it has no end." With it's insatiable desire to conquest they failed to take into account the potential consequences of growth or plan how to adjust their own political and economic system to account for that growth. The more expansive they became, they found that it was also more difficult to rule over such a vast territory, and found itself faced with constant societal upheavals. The more control they gained, the more control they lost. 2) Although both the Roman forum and the Greek agora serve as public gathering places, they are used in different contexts. The forum acts...
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...Colosseum versus Coliseum Vanessa Wynn Humanities Professor Williams The Romans created urban centers that have some characteristics of our urban centers that are in our cities today. Many of architectural terms and skills that we use today began during the times of the Romans. The Romans took some features from the Greeks. Even though they felt that they far exceeded the Greeks, they had the wisdom to use the familiar Greek arch structure. The Colosseum is located in Rome, Italy. It began to be built in 72 AD. It was completed in 80 AD under Emperor Titus. Experts seem to think that the name came from the bronze statue of Nero (named Colossus Neronis) that was nearby. The Romans were the first to use concrete. This is a very strong building material. Its seating capacity was 55,000. This had to be a very large facility to be able to hold that many people. The seats were divided into tiers. Steep steps were used to go up the tiers. The best seats went to those who ranked high in society. It was used for entertainment purposes (such as gladiator combats, chariot races, animal hunts, executions and theater). The Hampton Coliseum is located in Hampton, VA. It was built in 1970. It consists of mainly concrete. The seating capacity is 13,800. One has to go up steep stairs to reach the various rows of seats. Your particular seat is determined by the price that you pay for a...
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...Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Rome, Italy, 306-313 The Romans developed a number of building types for public use with specialized functions. One of these building types was the basilica, which is a large assembly hall used for law courts. Not all basilicas had files of columns and timbered roofs. The basilica Nova, also knows as the Basilica of maxentius and Constantine had three great groin vaults over its central space with three barrel vaulted bays to each side. Structurally this organization allowed the semi circular barrel vaults and their support walls to provide lateral stability for the groin vaults. Finally the two apses terminated longitudinal and transverse axes. Pantheon, Rome, 118-128 CE Romans built temples largely on the basis of Greek and Etruscan precedents. The Romans did not build temples as isolated structures, but as axially approached buildings in an urban setting. The greatest circular plan Roman temple was the Pantheon. Its size, boldness, and technical accomplishments made the temple a memorable work. The pantheon was constructed during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. Hadrian is said to be the architect as well. The entrance is a really big portico with twenty Corinthian columns that originally supported roof trusses. This portico is awkwardly joined to the circular cella, a space 142 feet and six inches in diameter and 142 feet high. The bottom half of the cella is a cylinder on which rests a hemispherical dome, with a circular opening...
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...The Ionic portico at the front served as an indicator of its Greek style. The “simplicity and grandeur” of the villa was architecturally Greek, rather than Roman (Forssman 7). The influence of Greek architecture derived from Venice’s ties to Greece. At the time, Venice dominated the Eastern Mediterranean, and as a result was more tied to Greece than to Rome. This displayed as the Greek architectural style of simple Ionic porticos and columns made up the majority of the building (Forssman 8). Humanist trends of the time influenced the mimicry of classical Greek structure in the building. However, despite the architectural roots being Greek, much of the structure of the villa derived from the villas of ancient...
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...development of Roman concrete is of uncertain origin, but it’s one of the biggest reasons that Rome managed to build such massive structures and maintain such a massive empire, especially considering its use in long-lasting seaports and population-maintaining aqueducts. It was cheap, easily moldable, strong, portable, easily made, and could be used for mortar in addition to being used purely as a building material. Indeed, there are ports made of Roman concrete have been standing for over two thousand years (Yegül, n.d.). Add to this Roman arches, those large, vaulted things that utilized the strength of concrete and the ingenuity pioneered by the Sumerians to dissipate force out and across the curve of an arch, and the Romans were set to define...
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...Architecture in Rome Ancient Roman architecture took certain architectural aspects from different areas to create a unique and highly admired form of architecture. However, they were not able to do this overnight. In fact, for the first few centuries after it was founded, the people of Rome resided in very basic huts with no outstanding architectural merit. According to oxford dictionary a hut is “a dwelling of ruder and meaner construction and (usually) smaller than a house.” It was under the rule of the Etruscans that they developed more complex structures that served specific purposes, such as a temple dedicated to a god. The Etruscans themselves borrowed many aspects of their architectural designs from Ancient Greece and expanded upon it. One may notice that the time that Rome began its first step into architectural greatness was around 509 BC, when it became Republican Rome. “With the expulsion of the Etruscan kings Rome was free to shape her own destinies” (Sear 14). Since Rome was finally free from the constraints of its conquerors it now had the liberty to create whatever they wished in whatever manner they preferred. Though evidence of Greek influence could still be found, Rome began to develop a style of their own; however, once Rome conquered nations across the Mediterranean Sea it incorporated many of the building designs which were reflected in the buildings of their capital. Imperial Rome is seen as both the lowest and highest point in Rome’s history. During...
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...¬ The Pantheon is one of the most celebrated buildings in architecture history. It has left its stamp upon architecture more than any other building (MacDonald, 1976). It served as the source of inspiration for countless other centralized schemes all over the globe. Constructed between 118 and 125 CE under the government of the emperor Hadrian. It is located in the Campus Martius district of ancient Rome. The writing of Ammianius Marcellinus a Roman soldier and historian from the mid-4th century describes the Pantheon as a building perceived to be “a self-contained district” (PI, 2010). Dio Cassius a Roman consul and noted historian from the early-3rd century reports that the Pantheon was a temple devoted to numerous gods and its name is attributed to the manner in which its elevated dome is similar to description of the heavens. Though he seems to have mixed up the Hadrianic Pantheon with an older temple which was previously located on the same site and constructed by Marcus Agrippa a Roman statesman, general and architect. Dio's description remains appropriate (PI, 2010). The Pantheon is made up of two major components, a columnar door which supports a pediment, and a domed rotunda —linked together by a rectangular transitional block (PI, 2010). The of the Pantheon’s threshold, a pedimented, trabeated temple front is a good example of how the Romans extend customary ideas by mitigating radical innovation with archaic features that express prestige and power (C, 2010)...
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...he earned the praise of the painter Annibale Carracci and the patronage of Pope Paul V and soon established himself as a wholly independent sculptor. He was strongly influenced by his close study of the antique Greek and Roman marbles in the Vatican, and he also had an intimate knowledge of High Renaissance painting of the early 16th century. His study of Michelangelo is revealed in the St. Sebastian (c. 1617), carved for Maffeo Cardinal Barberini, who was later Pope Urban VIII and Bernini’s greatest patron. A major figure in the world of architecture, he was the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture. As one scholar has commented, 'What Shakespeare is to drama, Bernini may be to sculpture: the first pan-European sculptor whose name is instantaneously identifiable with a particular manner and vision, and whose influence was inordinately powerful...' In addition, he was a painter (mostly small canvases in oil) and a man of the theater: he wrote, directed and acted in plays (mostly Carnival satires), also designing stage sets and theatrical machinery, as well as a wide variety of decorative art objects including lamps, tables, mirrors, and even coaches. As architect and city planner, he designed both secular buildings and churches and chapels, as well as massive works...
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...Han China emerged as an empire in 206 BCE, and many years later a new central power known as the Roman Empire arose in western Europe in 207 BCE. The imperial Han and the Roman empires are one of the most influential empires to ever exist, so influential that they are often thought of as the building blocks of many governments today. Both empires had both similar and different traits and characteristics that contributed to their success and failure. As the empires faced more threats they began to start wars, which eventually lead to their expansion. Also, both Han China and Rome were both well organized bureaucracies, but only Han China was founded on a major school of thought or central idea. There was no Roman equivalent of Confucianism,...
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...Roman Construction Roman Construction Roman architecture and art is reflected on a very basic character; it was very dangerous and powerful and was control by the mindset of its creators. As the Iron Clad started to move forward it took over the Mediterranean region as well as Western Europe, the architects struggle to achieve two very important aims: to let other states know how powerful they were while also improving the life of their fellow citizens. Their architectural techniques where very skillful, which included the arch, the dome, and also the vault, and not forget they also invented concrete, by using skillful techniques and methods, engineers designed and built some of the most beautiful public buildings in our history of architecture. These building also included temples, amphitheaters, basilicas, triumphal arches, monuments, and last but not least the citizen’s bath houses. To further discuss the ideals of the Pax Romana and while all the building and planning is going on. They still provided law and order. They also designed and built aqueducts, drainage systems, and bridges, as well as vast amount of roads, while planners developed a series of urban blueprints base on the where their army camps was located. With that information it helps create new towns from scratch. Romans also had help from Etruscan art and design; they look upon the Greeks as their equal and huge respect for their Greek sculptures and architecture. They also learned from the Egyptians...
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...attributes: 1.the reproduction of the site (seen in Flatiron Building). 2. The introduction of a tower (Metropolitan Life Building). 3. The occupancy of the whole block (the Madison Square Garden). All the three form of building have their own drawbacks: the multiplication lacks meaning, the tower has meaning but its intention of isolation is compromised by the its location, which is just a small plot in one single block, and the sole occupancy of the whole block, like the Madison Square Garden cannot make enough money to support itself. But when the three ally with each other, the tower lends meaning to the multiplication, the multiplication pays for the metaphors on the ground floor, and the conquest of the block assures the tower isolation as sole occupant of its land. This is the combination of three types of building. And this combination is supposed to be capable of accommodating different functions, making the whole as a self-contained universe. An application and exemplification of Rossi’s typology. The combination of the three thus becomes an “automonument” which establishes its monumentality out of its sheer volume rather than any conventional symbolism. But there is a controversy between its monumentality and its mission to accommodate living, which is anti-monumental. Architectural Lobotomy: The separation of exterior and interior. Two different architecture inside and outside the building (eg. Murray’s Roman Garden). The fantastic inside (using the most modern technology...
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...10-10:50AM Chapter 11- Mediterranean Society: The Roman Phase The Romans created a centralized government, legal system and means of bureaucracy starting with the Etruscans that dominated Italy from the 8th to 5th century B.C.E. The Roman republic had elected representatives and a general republic constitutions of two consuls: civil and military. Consuls were elected by an assembly, dominated by the patricians (civilians). The senate usually advised the consuls and ratified major decisions. Both senate and consul represented the interests of these patricians. However, the Roman empire shifted from a Republic government to an empire shortly after their republican reign because of imperial expansion and domestic problems. Many military commanders recruited rural and poor civilians who also happened to be intensely loyal to their commanders and the civil war cause. Furthermore, the expansion of the republic prompted Rome to become a preeminent power in the East and West Mediterranean. This led up to the Conflict with Carthage and Hellenistic realms. Fortunately, the Roman empire still had a successful expansion. The Roman empire had a very stoic, disciplined and trained legion of men. Roman empire also featured a good agricultural economy which was capable of feeding a large population; this allowed the Roman population to grow. Generally, the Roman government was lenient and flexible and very tolerant of different beliefs and cultures. Roman leaders even made citizens out of some conquered...
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...The Rise of Papacy The rise of the papacy came at a time when the Roman Empire collapsed and there was chaos as it related to the bishops who held office in Rome and what religion would be at the forefront of the representation of the west or east of Rome since its demise. The term “papacy” (papatus), meant to distinguish the Roman bishop’s office from all bishoprics (episcopatus), and The Head of the Roman Catholic Church the pope is considered the successor of Peter and the vicar of Christ (Elwell, p. 888). The “pope” is a terms of endearment which means “father” and this was the title of the most important and influential bishops in the early church. The church at Rome nevertheless enjoyed and wanted to preserve the original apostolic faith and the prominence, and they as bishops also owned its apostolic “founders” and to its political setting, and this led to the inspiration of these bishops to exercise greater leadership in Rome and abroad (Elwell, p. 888). Most emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople, challenged the bishops and their beliefs by saying that the church in Rome is new and improved but that they are still believe in the old Roman church. The popes or bishops were not moved by their words and they knew that they were not living up to the apostolic ways of the founding fathers who came before them and that their primacy was derived from Peter and not from their political setting which in turn made their claim to fame to be truly based upon the “apostolic”(Elwell...
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