Roman Architecture

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Baths of Caracalla

In the provinces of the Roman Empire, people were also building forums, temples, bath buildings, amphitheaters and apartment blocks, though generally on a smaller scale than those at Rome. There are many well-preserved Roman cities around the Roman Empire: in Italy, there’s Pompeii and Ostia and Cosa. Going eastward around the Mediterranean, there are well-preserved Roman towns in Turkey at Ampurias, in Israel at Caesarea, in Libya at Lepcis Magna, in Tunisia at Bulla Regia, Dougga, and Maktar, in Morocco at Volubilis, and in Spain at Italica and Empurias.

After Hadrian, with no more money coming in from conquest, the Romans had to cut back a bit on their building programs. Still, the emperor Caracalla built a great bath building in Rome in the early 200’s AD, and in the late 200’s the emperor Diocletian built another. In the early 300’s AD, the emperor Maxentius built a great imperial palace outside the walls of Rome, and a basilica in the Roman Forum. Constantine built a triumphal arch, and a series of Christian churches, and then transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople (Istanbul) where he, and his successors, built many more churches, circuses, and palaces.

Want some good general books about Roman architecture? Check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

City : A Story of Roman Planning and Construction, by David Macaulay (1983). For kids - brilliant!

A Coloring Book of Ancient Rome, from Bellerophon Books (1988). For kids.

Roman Architecture, by Frank Sear (1983). The standard college textbook.

The Architecture of the Roman Empire: An Introductory Study, by William MacDonald (1982). Actually not so introductory, but it's got great illustrations that really make the building techniques clear.

Roman Imperial Architecture, by J. B. Ward-Perkins (1992). A more detailed textbook, and harder going.

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