Views of Rome, from top left clockwise: the Colosseum, the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II,

the Castel Sant'Angelo, an aerial view of the city's historic centre, the dome of St. Peter's
Basilica, theTrevi Fountain, the Piazza della Repubblica
Chapter–10
ROME & THE ROMAN EMPIRE to the barbarian invasions
STUDY METHODOLOGY

ARCHITE ETRUSC LATER

E x a m p l eIMPERIAL
s IMPERIAL
REPUBLICA ROMAN
CTURAL AN & ROMAN FROM
N & EARLY FROM ANTONINUS
CHARAC EARLY IMPERIAL TIBERIUS TO PIUS TO
CONSTANTINE
TER ROMAN ROMAN HADRIAN

●
ETRUSCAN &
●
SANCTUARIES ●
SANCTUARIES.
TEMPLES
●
TEMPLES
BASILICAS
FORUMS & TEMPLE ● ●

EARLY ROMAN & TEMPLE BLDGS. ●

FORUMS, BASILICAS ●
THERMAE
THEATRES ,AMPHI-
LATE BLDGS. BASILICAS & RELATED & RELATED
●
● ●

STRUCTURES THEATRES & CIRCUSES

REPUBLICAN & STRUCTURES
●
CEMETERIES & ●
BALNAE & THERMAE THERMAE
●
TRUMPHAL ARCHES,
EARLY IMPERIAL
●
COLUMNS &
TOMBS THEATRES
●
●
THEATRES COLONNADES
ROMAN ●
AMPHITHEATRES &
AMPHITHEATRES TOMBS
HOUSES ● ●
●
●
LATER IMPERIAL CIRCUSES PALACES, VILLAS &
TRUMPHAL ARCHES
●
●
TRUMPHAL ARCHES
BRIDGES
●

ROMAN
● GARDEN PAVILIONS
●
TOWN GATES & COLUMNS ●
DOMESTIC
●
ARCHITECTURE ●
DEFENCE ●
TOMBS ●
TOWN GATES ARCHITECTURE
IN THE HOUSES & VILLAS TOMBS
WALLS & AQUEDUCTS & BRIDGES
● ● ●

●
AQUEDUCTS & VILLAS & PALACES DEFENCE WALLS &
PROVINCES
● ●

GATEWAYS BRIDGES TOWN GATES

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER – ETRUSCAN & EARLY ROMAN

Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area
corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Latium. The ancient Romans
called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany,
which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region.

• upto 7th c. BC – no buildings of architectural

significance
• late Bronze Age & early Iron age dwellings had not
evolved beyond primitive huts
• temples – no more than sacred enclosures with simple
open-air altars.
• templum – space on ground/in sky for taking omens
• Rock-cut tomb at Cerveteri –early 7th c. –
-so-called tomb of thatched roof
- typical hut
- low walls of wattle & daub
- low benches of earth/rubble

768–264 BC
Extent of Etruscan civilization and
the twelve Etruscan League cities
Rock-cut tomb at Cerveteri –early 7th c
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER – ETRUSCAN & EARLY ROMAN

• 6th c. BC –
HOUSES - Under the influence of Greek/other traders, houses of Greek megaron type
appeared followed by larger houses with internal courts/atri, off which opened living rooms
for richer members of community
- Still built of timber & mud-brick, these houses cannot have had a long life but their
forms have been preserved in other rock-cut tombs in large Etruscan cemeteries built
outside their city walls.
- flat/sloping ceilings, sometimes coffered/elaborately carved
-carved doorframes, colored dados around walls
-Roof & ceiling beams given intermediate support in the larger tombs by
square/polygonal/circular (in plan) columns sometimes fluted & with a variety of
capitals including crudely cut Doric/Ionic
- Some of the later tombs have atria with sloping roofs inward to a central opening to
drain rain-water to a tank beneath
TEMPLES – show Greek influence- buildings within the enclosures to house the god/cult
image
- original name – Aedes or building
- limited resemblance to Greek temple – rectangular in plan, on podium, wide spreading
roof partly supported by outer columns.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER – ETRUSCAN & EARLY ROMAN

TEMPLES – contd…
Differences in plan arrangement and form: from book – 4 points