How to Study Architecture

CHAPTER IV

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE

In borrowing from the Hellenes, the Romans made little use of the Doric order. When it is used, as in the form of engaged columns in the Theatre of Marcellus, the height of the columns was increased in proportion to their diameters; the shafts were either smooth or channelled with semicircular, instead of the subtler, elliptic flutings, separated by narrow fillets; a base was added and modifications were made in the details of the capital. The architrave did not overhang the face of the column and was reduced in height; the triglyphs were used in the frieze only over the centre of the columns, even at the angles, while the cornice was lighter, with dentils sometimes taking the place of mutules. The Doric, in fact, did not appeal to the Roman taste for rich decoration, and, in so far as it was used, was degraded in style.

The same is true of the Roman adaptation of the Ionic order. Simpler and more commonplace curves replace the extreme refinement of the volutes and the fillet of the latter was carried invariably across the top of the echinus or cushion, while the ornamentation of the entablature was more profuse. The best use of this order is found in the upper story of the Theatre of Marcellus; the worst, on the eight remaining columns of the Temple of Saturn in the Forum Romanum.

The Corinthian order, of which no type sufficiently definite to constitute an order had been evolved by the Greeks, was fully worked out by the Romans, with the assistance of Greek artists, and became the favourite expression of their taste for richness. The shaft was either smooth, as in the early example of the Pantheon (B.C. 27), or fluted as in the great temple of Castor and Pollux; the heights in these two cases being respectively 9¾ and 10 diameters. A special base was designed, consisting of tori, scotia, and fillets, resting on a square plinth.

The inverted bell of the capital was surrounded by an upper and lower row of acanthus leaves, which differ from the Hellenic forms in being blunter at the tips. Above the rows of leaves projected the stalks, or “caulicolæ,” which terminated in spirals, both in the centre of each face and at the angles of the abacus. The four sides of the latter are concave and decorated in the centre with a rosette. In the more sumptuous examples further enrichment of ornament was added to the capital, while the capitals of the Temple of Castor and Pollux present a unique instance of the central spirals being interlaced.

The Corinthian architrave in Hellenic usage consisted, it will be remembered, of three bands, as in the Ionic order. The Romans frequently embellished the middle one with a version of the anthemion motive. They also added enrichments to the bed mould beneath the frieze. The latter was frequently carved with acanthus scrolls, grotesque figures, and ox-skulls, and garlands. The cornice was also enriched with carved ornament, of which the most characteristic were modillions or brackets, which appear to support the cornice.

The Composite order was an invention of the Romans and possibly suggested by the capitals of the Erechtheion in Athens, where the Ionic spirals appear above a necking carved with anthemion ornament. The capital of the Composite order consisted in the upper part of Ionic spirals, often richly decorated with foliage, and in the lower of two rows of acanthus leaves, as in the Corinthian order, which was followed also in the other details of the column and entablature.

The mouldings in Hellenic architecture are distinguished by the refinement of the contours, in Roman by the richness of carved ornament.

The anta, which appears in Greek temples at the corners of the cella walls was developed by the Romans into the pilaster. This was a square pier, projecting about one-sixth of its width from the wall; used either to divide up and decorate the wall surfaces, or to serve as a “respond” to a column. It was frequently fluted and corresponded with the column in its details.

Arch-Vaulting.—The Romans did not invent the arch, but generalised its use and elaborated it into vaulting, thus introducing into architecture an element of construction capable of endless application and lending itself not only to utility but also to variety and magnificence. In doing so they were assisted by their discovery of the use of concrete. By means of supports and sheathings of rough timber, temporarily erected, they were able to cast their arches or vaultings in any form and practically of any size. The concrete “set” quickly and the arch or vaulting thus became a solid mass, which exerted but little thrust and covered the space with the rigidity of a lid or cup.

Such method of construction lessened the tendency of the arch or vaulting to exert a lateral strain or thrust which occurs when the arch is composed of voussoirs or, similarly, separate blocks of stone or brick are used in the vault. It tended to concentrate the strain on the vertical supports. Yet the Romans, though concentration of strains was a chief principle of their building, took no chances in the matter of stability and also distributed the strains. For example, the nave vaulting of a basilica would be reinforced by aisle vaulting, which was carried on walls that were either at right angles or parallel to the nave. But owing to the method of concrete construction and to the facility with which it could be employed, the Romans were able to erect vaults over buildings of complex plan and spaces of great size.

The vaultings were of three kinds:

1. The semicylindrical vault, called also the wagon-headed vault or barrel vault.

2. The cross or groined vault.

3. The dome or semidome.

The semicylindrical vault was a continuous arch spanning an oblong space, a corridor, and sometimes a curved passageway.

The cross or groined vault was used over square spaces, its weight being carried at the four angles. It was formed by the intersection at right-angles of two semicylindrical vaults. When employed over long apartments or corridors, the ceiling was divided into a series of square compartments or bays, each covered by a cross-vault. Since the vaulting in each case was carried upon the corner supports, these became piers, and the wall spaces in between them, being thus relieved of the pressure of the vaulting, could be utilised for the openings of doors and windows. Moreover, a square space could be subdivided into bays, rendering it possible to vault a large area with no interruption to the floor-space except that of the piers.

The dome was used for covering circular spaces, and when the space is small the covering is called a cupola or little cup. Semidomes were employed over recesses.

The finest existing example of a Roman dome is that of the Pantheon, which, however, affords an exception to the usual method of construction. For here, instead of being composed of concrete, thus forming a solid shell, the dome, so far as it has been examined, is found to be built of bricks, laid in almost horizontal courses.

It is to be noted that the so-called “pendentive” dome, supported by arches over a space, square in plan, is not found in strictly Roman buildings and was a development of the Byzantine architects.

The Romans also employed flat roofs and ceilings. In certain of the baths so much iron has been found amid the debris, that it is supposed the roofs were constructed with a framework of this material, fitted together with T joints. Otherwise the ceilings were made of crossed beams, dividing the space into coffers. The exterior of the roofs was covered with a sheathing of terra-cotta tiles or, as in the original roof of the Pantheon, of bronze gilded plates, which now are replaced by lead.

Vault and Wall Decoration.—Sheathing was also applied to the exterior and interior of the whole structure, forming, as it were, a garment of decoration. In the case of vaulting, the interior decoration was composed of stucco coffering; square, hexagonal, or octagonal panels, inclosed within raised framework that was arranged in a geometrical pattern. Sometimes the coffering was replaced by mosaics; which were of two kinds.

1. Opus tessellatum formed of tesseræ or cubes of marble or glass, arranged in patterned designs that often included figures.

2. Opus sectile, in which the tesseræ were cut into various shapes, to form the pattern, as in marquetrie. A rich kind, made of red and green porphyry, was distinguished as Opus Alexandrinum.

At other times the vaulting and walls were covered with hard plaster, wrought to a fine surface, which was polished and frequently embellished with mural painting.

The walls were also overlaid with slabs of coloured marble, in the selection and treatment of which the Romans took a notable pride.

Further, both the exterior and the interior walls were relieved with carved decoration, which took the form of pilasters, arches, mouldings, and panels, encrusted with arabesques. These and the other embellishments could be so easily applied to the concrete shell, that Roman decoration had a tendency to become profuse and over-elaborated. Whereas in Hellenic architecture every decorative detail was an intrinsic part of the structure, Roman decoration was something added after the structure was completed. It was, in effect, like clothing, fitted to the form of the body, and varying in design and sumptuousness according to the taste and purse of the wearer. Since architecture generally was an expression of pomp, pride, and power, it was inevitable that the richness of decoration should frequently run to extravagance.

To the lay-student, at least, the actual forms of Roman architecture are of less interest than the uses to which they were put. For the Roman genius was displayed in practicalness; in the resourcefulness with which it extended the scope of architecture to serve the necessities and ideals of life. Hence the temple-form has ceased to occupy the chief attention; the truly monumental character of Roman architecture is distributed over a variety of achievements of magnificence and utility.

Temple Plans.—The plan of the Roman temple was circular, polygonal, or rectangular; the last being the most usual type. The best preserved example is the so-called “Maison Carrée” at Nîmes in Provence, which was erected during the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). Its form is of the favourite kind: pseudo-peripteral, that is to say, the columns which surround the sides and end are not detached from but built into the walls of the cella. The portico has a deep projection, supported by ten detached columns. As usual in a Roman temple the stylobate is replaced by a podium, in this case about twelve feet high, which projects in front, enclosing the entrance steps. The columns are of the Corinthian order, 32 feet in height, supporting an entablature which measures 8 feet to the lower angles of the pediment. The frieze is bored with holes, in which it is supposed the letters of an inscription were fixed, and the cornice is richly decorated.

Another very interesting example at Nîmes is the so-called Temple of Diana, which probably was a nymphæum, or structure for flowers, statuary, and fountains, attached to some thermæ. The plan shows a central chamber, flanked by two passages; the exterior walls being devoid of columns. Meanwhile, the interior walls of the central chamber have a series of detached columns, supporting an entablature from which spring the curves of the barrel-vaulted ceiling. The outward thrust of the latter is offset by the continuous vaulting of the side-passages. It is probable, as we shall see, that this arrangement furnished a type for many of the Romanesque churches of Southern France.

Of the circular temples the best known examples are the Temple of Mater Matuta in Rome, the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, and the Pantheon. Nothing but a few fragments remain of the Temple of Vesta in the Forum Romanum. The first named, situated in the Forum Boarium, is peripteral, consisting of a cylindrical cella, 28 feet in diameter surrounded by a circular colonnade of 20 Corinthian columns, 34 feet 7 inches high; the whole standing on a podium raised 6 feet from the ground. In the case of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli the Corinthian columns, 18 in number, are 11 feet lower. “The reason for this difference,” writes Professor Banister-Fletcher, “is instructive. The Temple of Mater Matuta, placed in a low, flat situation, has columns of slender proportion in order to give it the required height; whereas the Tivoli example, placed on the edge of a rocky prominence and thus provided with a lofty basement, has columns of sturdier proportions.” A further difference is found in the foliage decoration of the capitals of the two temples; those of the Temple of Mater Matuta having pointed leaves of the Hellenic type of acanthus, while in the Temple of Tivoli the Roman type is adhered to.

The most famous circular example, as well as the most impressive of Roman temples to the modern mind, is the Pantheon. Investigation has proved that the circular part or Rotunda occupies the site of an earlier nymphæum, on the south side of which, in the reign of Augustus, B.C. 27, Agrippa erected a temple, consecrated to the Divinities of the Julian house under the name of Pantheum (“all-holy”). Hence the inscription on the frieze of the present portico: “M. Agrippa L. F. Cos. tertium fecit.” This temple, which, from Pliny’s account seems to have had a dome, was destroyed in the great fire in A.D. 80.

The present edifice was built by Hadrian, A.D. 120-124. The Rotunda occupies, as we have said, the site of an ancient nymphæum, the floor of which, however, was raised 8 feet. Agrippa’s portico was removed from the south to the north side and set up with a front of 8 columns instead of 10. There are 16 in all. The portico is supported by 16 Corinthian columns, each a granite monolith 42½ feet high, with marble Corinthian capitals. The tympanum was originally filled with bronze reliefs, representing a gigantomachia, or battle of the gods and giants.

The walls of the rotunda, which are of solid tufa concrete, faced with thin bricks, are nearly twenty feet thick. This mass was partly to support the dome and partly to admit of eight recesses, opening from the interior. One forms the entrance, while three of the others are semicircular in plan and the remaining four rectangular. The exterior walls, carried far above the spring of the dome, was veneered with porphyry and marble and enriched with Corinthian pilasters and sculptured ornament, a considerable part of which still exists.

Meanwhile, it is the interior of the building that presents the chief impressiveness. Here the walls, which originally were faced with precious Oriental marbles, extend to a height of only two stories, crowned by the vast dome, which in the interior has a height equal to its diameter—one hundred forty-two and one-half feet. It is embellished with coffers, which in order to assist the perspective effect are foreshortened, diminishing in width as they ascend. Thus the gaze is carried up with a sweep to the central aperture at the summit, an open circle twenty-seven feet in diameter, the sole source of light to the interior. “One great eye opening upon Heaven—by far the noblest conception for lighting a building to be found in Europe.” It is as if the soaring imagination of the architect could brook no limit to its vision and must incorporate with his vault the firmament itself. In this magnificent audacity men have seen a symbolic reference to the ancient worship of Jupiter, the god of gods, beneath the open vault of heaven. Meanwhile, the architect may have derived the idea from the old nymphæum with its court open to the sky. And of the two, some will prefer to believe the latter, seeing in it a beautiful illustration of how the artist can and sometimes will use the requirements of practical conditions as an inspiration to the creativeness of his own imagination.

From structures circular in plan, we may pass to those in which the plan had the form of an ellipse, or comprised as its chief feature portions of a circle. In the first class belong the amphitheatres and to the latter the various circuses and theatres.

The prototype of all these was the Hellenic Theatre, in the construction of which the architect took advantage of a sloping site.

The Romans, on the other hand, with their general use of arch and vaulting, were independent of natural assistance and usually built their circuses and amphitheatres and theatres in the open.

Circus.—The Roman circus was an adaptation of the Hellenic Stadium, which, however, was used chiefly for athletic games, while the Circus was employed for horse and chariot races. The oldest was the Circus Maximus, situated between the Palatine and Aventine; but the one of which most remains have been preserved is the Circus Maxentius, near the tomb of Cæcilia Metella on the Appian Way. Its plan presents a long rectangle terminating at one end in a semicircle. Surrounding this were tiers of marble seats, supported by raking vaults and an external wall of concrete. At the square end were situated the Carceres or stables and down the centre of the rectangle ran a spina or barricade, with a meta or post at each end to mark the turning points. “To graze the meta” was a Roman saying for the taking of great chances. The course was seven times round and on the top of the spina were oval objects, one of which was removed on the completion of each lap of the race.

Amphitheatre.—The most magnificent of the amphitheatres was the Flavian, known since the eighth century as the Colosseum, probably from the colossal statue of Nero which once adorned it. Its plan is elliptical, the main axis being about 615 feet and the shorter about 510 feet; while the arena, which is oval, is 281 feet long by 177 feet wide. The number of spectators that it could accommodate has usually been stated as 87,000; but the calculation is now said to have been based on a misapprehension of the records and has been corrected to 45,000 seats and standing room for 5000.

The exterior comprises four stories. The three lower are composed of arches supported by intermediate piers which are ornamented with columns, respectively, of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. The fourth story, which, when the amphitheatre was completed in A.D. 82, appears to have been of wood, presents a wall adorned with Corinthian pilasters. Between these, projecting from the cornice, were corbels, pierced to hold the poles that sustained the velarium or awning. The imposing character of the exterior is due not only to the structure’s immense size, but to the difference in unity secured by the application of the three orders, and to the magnificently sweeping lines of the entablatures.

The interior shows the arena surrounded by a smooth wall, above which the seats rise in concentric tiers to the height of two stories. Here they are bounded by a wall, through which are entrances to the seats while it also acted as a parapet to the upper gallery. The fourth story formed a continuous peristyle. The whole area for spectators was called the cavea.

The place of honour was the circle nearest to the arena, called the podium, in which sat the Emperor, senators, principal magistrates, Vestal Virgins, and the provider or “Editor” of the show. In the amphitheatre at Nîmes seats in the podium were also assigned to the various guilds, whose names are still inscribed upon the seats with the number of places reserved for each.

The principle of construction adopted in the Colosseum, as may be seen from the plan, is that of wedge-shaped piers, radiating from the arena to the exterior. These were connected by vaults which ran downward toward the centre and also in concentric rings, forming passageways to all parts of the cavea. The system is one of concrete vaulting resting on piers of the same material, the latter being reinforced by tufa where the pressure was greater and in the parts of greatest strain by blocks of travertine, four feet thick, sheathed with brick work. “The supports have been calculated at one-sixth of the whole area of the building.”

Theatre.—The form of the Roman theatre grew directly out of that of the Hellenic, but was modified to suit the change which had come over the character of drama. The religious origin of the Hellenic drama had been completely left behind. There was no longer any pretence of a chorus; accordingly the circular space of the orchestra, which had been used by it, was now filled with seats, reserved for persons of distinction. It became, in fact, that part of the auditorium which we still distinguish as the orchestra seats.

Already, in later Hellenic drama, the action of the principal players, which originally had been confined to the orchestra, had extended more and more to the slightly raised platform in front of the proskenion. It was therefore but another step to limit the action to the platform, which, now that the orchestra was filled with spectators, was raised higher from the floor, and, to accommodate the players, was made broader. The separation of the actors from the audience was complete.

The proscenium now became a background, built up to represent a façade of several stories, embellished with pilasters and engaged arches and with niches holding statues. The remains of such a permanent “scene” are found in the Theatre of Orange, in Southern France, where what we now call the stage is 203 feet wide and 45 feet deep, framed in at the ends by return walls at right angles to the proscenium. Near the top of the walls are two tiers of corbel stones, pierced to receive flag-staffs that supported the velarium.

Baths.—Public baths, thermæ, were as necessary a feature of Roman cities as the amphitheatre. Rich citizens, like Mæcenas and Agrippa, set the fashion of building them, and it was followed by emperors seeking to ingratiate themselves with the populace. For the charge for admission was only a quarter of an as—about one quarter of a cent or half a farthing; and even this was waived by certain emperors.

The principal Thermæ in Rome were those of Agrippa, Nero, Titus, Domitian, Commodus, Caracalla, Diocletian, and Constantine. Many of them assumed immense proportions; the ground plan of the Baths of Caracalla, for example, occupying a square quarter of a mile. Besides the actual bathing conveniences, which included hot water baths, vapor baths, cooling chambers and plunges, there were rooms for ball-playing, gymnasiums, colonnades, libraries, theatres, and open courts with shade trees.

From two of the sides of the Baths of Caracalla projected long exhedras, or semi-circular recesses, furnished with benches, which are supposed to have been the meeting places for the discussion of philosophy and poetry. In fact, the great thermæ were the clubs of the period; the resort of all classes, offering cleanliness to the poor, luxury to the rich, and healthful exercise and opportunity of cultured intercourse between those who desired it. And the highest skill was represented in making the walls of the various chambers and reservoirs impervious to moisture, in conducting and heating the water, and in providing flues for hot air.

Basilica.—Equally characteristic of Roman life were the Basilicas. These structures seem to have been intended at first to relieve the congestion of business in the various fora and to afford quiet as well as protection from the weather, for the transaction of business. The earliest in Rome was erected B.C. 184 by Porcius Cato; hence called the Basilica Porcia. Then followed the Basilica Fulvia, Basilica Æmilia, and Basilica Julia, the last being the largest of the five which existed during the reign of Augustus. In A.D. 112, Trajan built the great Basilica Ulpia in connection with his forum, and some two hundred years later was erected the vaulted Basilica of Maxentius or Constantine on the Via Sacra. In all there came to be some twenty basilicas in Rome alone.

One great interest of the basilica halls consists in the fact that from them were derived the plan and form of the early Christian churches. It has been conjectured that the plan of a basilica was derived from that of a Greek temple, the cella walls being replaced by ranges of columns, opening into the peristyle where in turn the columns were replaced by side walls. The colonnades thus became aisles to the central nave; the vestibule being retained at one end and later to be called a narthex, while at the opposite end an apse projected. Here in the Roman basilica were the seats of the quæstor and his assessors, occupied in early Christian basilica churches by the bishop and presbyters.

The interiors of the Roman basilicas present two types of treatment. In the Basilica of Constantine, for example, the nave columns were attached to great piers which supported groined vaults, the thrust of which was sustained by walls at right angles to the piers. These walls divided each aisle into three bays, corresponding to the three bays of the nave, and over each aisle-bay was a barrel-vault, which, being at right angles to the nave, served as extra support to the nave-vaults. Light was admitted through windows in the side walls of the aisles and also through windows in the upper part of the nave, above the aisle vaults.

On the other hand, in the interior of the Basilica Ulpia a range of columns, supporting an entablature, took the place of the piers on each side of the nave. On the entablature rested another range of columns, surmounted by another entablature, above which walls, pierced with windows, were carried up to carry the flat, coffered ceiling. Both tiers of nave columns opened into the aisle, which correspondingly had two stories, the upper crowned with a flat ceiling.

Arches, Columns of Victory.—The magnificence of Rome and other cities was further displayed in the Triumphal Arches and Columns of Victory erected in honour of emperors and conquerors. The arch was of two types: the single arch and the three-arched. A famous example of the former is the Arch of Titus, which commemorated the capture of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. Examples of the three-arched type are those of Septimus Severus, and of Constantine in Rome, and the Arch at Orange. The façades were adorned with columns of the Corinthian or Composite orders, partially or wholly detached, supporting a broken entablature—one, in which the uniformity of projection is interrupted by a projection over each capital. Above it is a top-story, known as the attic. The soffit of the arch was richly coffered and the wall spaces embellished with low-reliefs, representing incidents of triumph, while the attic bore upon its face an inscription and was surmounted by statues or a four-horse triumphal chariot (quadriga).

The most famous of all the pillars of victory is Trajan’s Column, erected in connection with his Basilica. It is a column of the Roman Doric order, mounted upon a lofty pedestal, the height over all being 147 feet. The shaft, 12 feet in diameter at the base, encloses a spiral staircase of marble, while its exterior is decorated with a spiral band, 800 feet long and 3½ feet wide, carved with reliefs, representing incidents in Trajan’s victorious campaigns against the Dacians. It stood originally in a court of the Basilica Ulpia, from the several galleries of which the sculpture could be viewed. The statue of Trajan which originally adorned the summit of the pillar has been replaced by a bronze statue of St. Peter.

A special pillar of imperial times was the Rostral Column, erected in commemoration of a naval victory and decorated with the bronze beaks or prows taken from the enemy’s ships.

Palaces.—Augustus set the example of building himself a palace, choosing the Palatine Hill, to which successive emperors, particularly Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and Septimus Severus, made additions of increasing splendour. Nothing remains but ruins, which, however, show that the principal apartments were as follows: the Tablinum or throne-room; Basilica, or hall of justice; Peristylium or rectangular garden-court, enclosed with colonnades; Triclinium, or Banquet Hall; Lararium or domestic temple for the household gods and the Nymphæum.

A remarkable example is the Palace of Diocletian at Spalato, Dalmatia, built A.D. 300. The plan, rectangular in shape and covering an area of 4½ acres, about the same, in fact, as that of the Escoriál in Spain, seems to have been laid out on the lines of a Roman camp. A square tower occupies each of the corners, while three of the sides were pierced with entrances, flanked by octagonal towers, which were distinguished as the “golden,” the “iron,” and the “bronze” gateways. From these extended colonnaded roads which met in the centre, thus dividing the area into two northern sections, probably used by the principal officers of the household and the guests, and a large southern portion reserved for the imperial palace, and two temples. One of these was dedicated to Æsculapius; the other, circular in plan, to Jupiter.

The architecture was of a somewhat debased character, but offers certain interesting features of transition to the later style of the Romanesque. Thus, in the northern gateway an entablature is not employed, and the arches rest directly on the capitals of the columns.

Domestic Buildings.—The domestic architecture comprised three forms: the domus, or city residence of the well-to-do; the insula, or city tenement house, and the rich man’s country house or villa.

The last term comprises the house and its accompaniments of beautifully laid-out grounds and gardens. On a colossal scale of magnificence was the Villa of Hadrian erected at Tivoli, where the whole area amounted to seven square miles. It included, besides the usual palace apartments, a gymnasium, thermæ and theatre, disposed amid terraced gardens, peristyles, ornamental water-basins, and fountains.

Some idea in miniature of the luxurious villa of the Romans is to be gained from the various villas excavated in the summer resort of Pompeii, such as the House of Pansa and the House of Vetius. It comprised a rectangle bounded on three sides by narrow streets and on the fourth by the garden. The lower story contained shops, opening on to the streets, as in the case of many modern hotels. The principal entrance to the house itself was a portico through which the visitor passed into an oecus or reception room. On the right of this were the quarters of the kitchen and on the left was the triclinium or dining-room for use in cold weather. The reception-room led into a peristyle court open to the sky, with covered colonnades that afforded protection from the sun, while the rain was caught in an impluvium or central cistern. On one side of the court extended a row of cubicula or sleeping apartments, another row of which lined one side of the atrium. This also was an open court, furnished with an impluvium, and protected from the weather on its sides by the extended eaves of the adjacent roofs. The atrium was the public reception place in which the owner of the house interviewed his clients and transacted business. Accordingly it had a separate entrance from the street.

The walls of the principal apartments were decorated with paintings, many of which involved architectural features; the floors were laid with mosaics and the timber ceilings were probably painted and gilded, their roofs being constructed of terra-cotta. The blocks of dwellings, called insulæ, seem to have anticipated our modern apartment and tenement houses, for they were carried up through many stories and housed numerous families. It is probable that they involved few conveniences, as we understand them to-day; the important necessity of water, for instance, being met by public fountains, which supplied drinking water, and by the public baths that made provision for cleanliness and health.

Bridges, Aqueducts.—Among the great public works achieved by the Romans were roads, aqueducts, and bridges; and, although these were, strictly speaking, engineering masterpieces, the use of the arch in the last two brings them within the scope of architectural grandeur. The visible signs, and indeed the symbol of Roman civilisation, were the roads which pushed their way forward to the limits of the Empire, as far as possible with a directness that swerved aside from no obstacle, and with a solidity of foundation that in many parts of the world survives to-day. And a corresponding solidity allied with the dignity of simplicity of design characterised the bridges. The best preserved in Italy is the five-arched Bridge of Rimini, while impressive examples are found in the favoured province of Spain; at Cordova, for instance, and Toledo.

The Romans were lavish users of water, for purposes of luxury as well as necessity. They understood the simple hydraulic law that water will rise in pipes to its own original level and applied the system in their buildings. But since pipes of lead and bronze were costly and none too durable, they dispensed as far as possible with their use, conveying the water in lofty aqueducts, with a fall, as Vitruvius recommended, of 6 inches in 100 feet, so that the water was delivered from a height at the spot it was needed. The channel, constructed of concrete, lined with cement, was conducted upon a series of concrete arches, faced with brick; the arches being of immense height and sometimes in several tiers. The Anio Novus, constructed A.D. 38, was sixty-two miles in length and entered Rome on arches carried over the Aqua Claudia, which was erected at the same time and is still one of the water supplies of Rome. The finest existing example, however, is the so-called Pont-du-Gard, near Nîmes, which forms part of an aqueduct twenty-five miles long. For a distance of about 900 feet it is composed of three tiers of arches, crossing the valley 180 feet above the River Gard.

In conclusion, the genius of the Roman architect consisted in his faculty of organisation, which enabled him to take the principles of Hellenic architecture and apply them to a great variety of requirements. What his architecture lost in refinement, it more than gained in flexibility and resourcefulness, while creating for itself a distinction of structural grandeur. It refertilised the Hellenic which had threatened to become a barren style and produced a style that not only was richly competent to serve the needs of its own time, but has proved capable of being further developed to new needs. It involved principles that had their influence on Romanesque and consequently on Gothic architecture, became the source from which Renaissance architecture was evolved, and, even in our own day, are still capable of new and active service.

BOOK IV

POST-CLASSIC PERIOD

CHAPTER I

EARLY CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION

Its growth was further facilitated by the proselytising zeal of its adherents. Christianity spread not only throughout the Roman Empire in Europe, but also fastened upon Asia Minor and North Africa, taking firm root especially in Egypt, the intellectual centre of the Empire, and extending even to the Germanic tribes which were to become the conquerors of Rome.

Its power, moreover, was strengthened by its organisation. In the beginning each congregation had been independent. It had its officers, deacons, who cared for its poor; elders or presbyters, who, as the council of the church, looked after its interests; and its overseer, episcopus, or bishop, the chief of the presbyters. In course of time, as the church of a given city sent out branches to neighbouring towns and rural districts, the bishop of the parent community came to have authority over a group of congregations. In time the bishops of a province learned to look for guidance to the highest religious officer of the provincial capital, who acquired the high importance of a “Metropolitan.” And above him in dignity were the “Patriarchs” of such cities as Antioch and Alexandria, while the Bishop of Rome was acquiring the greatest influence. “In brief, the government of the Church was becoming a monarchy.” (Botsford.)

Constantine, recognising the advantage of allying himself with such an organisation, issued in 313 the Edict of Milan, which placed all religions on an equal footing. Furthermore, to set at rest the dissensions which were threatening to disrupt the organisation of the Church, he summoned a council of the representatives of all the great branches of the Church to meet in Nicæa, to decide upon a creed which should be acceptable to all.

For with the growth of the Church, Christianity had become encumbered with doctrines that hardened into dogmas, and by this time a controversy was raging over the rival dogmas upheld by two officers of the Church in Egypt, Athanasius and Arius. Both held that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but Arius maintained that He had proceeded from the Father and was therefore second to the latter, while Athanasius proclaimed the absolute equality of the Father and the Son. The Council of Nicæa pronounced the latter doctrine to be orthodox and branded the Arian as heresy. The Nicene Creed, in which the orthodox was embodied, was accepted in the West, but in the East, the Arian dogma continued to be held.

Apart, however, from its bearing on this question, the Council of Nicæa was an event of profound importance. This first Œcumenical Council, or Council representative of the whole Christian world, not only was an object lesson of the widespread power of the Church, but also exalted the clergy to a high position of spiritual authority amid the temporal distractions of the time.

Constantine, upon his deathbed, accepted the Christian faith. Some fifty years later Theodosius made Christianity the sole religion of the state and the pagan temples were closed.

By degrees the spiritual power of the Church was reinforced by the temporal. The beginning of this change is sometimes dated from the act of the Frankish king, Pepin, to whom the Pope appealed to stem the attack of the Lombards, then pushing south from their possessions in Northern Italy and threatening Rome. Pepin drove them back and handed over a considerable slice of territory to the Pope, to swell the so-called “Patrimony of St. Peter.” The latter, from this time on, became a source of increasing wealth, which enabled the Popes to maintain armies and play the part of princes in the world of politics.

Meanwhile, the temporal power of the Western Church, centred in the Papacy, had been helped by Constantine’s removal of the capital of the Empire to Constantinople. Two circumstances contributed to the change. By this time the Senate had lost even the semblance of authority, and the real source of government was in the consent of the armies. Secondly, the frontiers chiefly threatened were the eastern ones. Constantine accordingly selected as the site of a Nova Roma, the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. It, too, had its seven hills, occupying a promontory between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmora, a spot defended, as well as beautified, by nature and already an important gateway of commerce, both by sea and land, between Europe and the East. Constantine planned the new city of Constantinople on extensive lines and set an example of magnificent building that was continued by his successors; so that Constantinople continued for a thousand years to be the Eastern bulwark of European civilisation, until it was conquered by the Moslems in 1453.

Among the results of this change of the capital was, firstly, that the Empire gradually separated into East and West; secondly, that Constantinople became the centre of culture, and, as darkness settled down upon the West, the almost sole refuge of learning and the arts. In the beginning Roman architects directed the character of the new city, but even then the artisans who executed the work were either Byzantines or Greeks, attracted to the new city from various parts of Hellas and Asia Minor. In consequence architecture and the other arts gradually became impressed with a new character, which, for convenience’ sake, is styled Byzantine. It represents, in the case of architecture, a mixture of Roman, Greek, and Oriental; and involved, as we shall see, the treatment of old principles in a new spirit of invention.

The change was encouraged by the contact of Byzantium with Eastern and African civilisation. For as the Western Empire declined in power, the Eastern grew; extending its sway in Asia, where it came into conflict with the Parthians and Persians, and along the northern littoral of Africa. The Metropolitan Bishop of Byzantium became to the Eastern Churches what the Metropolitan Bishop of Rome was to the Western; and exercised a spiritual headship over the Coptic Church in Alexandria, the Syrian Church in Antioch, the Nestorian Church in Ctesiphon, and the Armenian in Asia. Over this widely spread area religious art flourished, coloured in each locality by racial influences, all of which influences in a measure reacted upon the capital city of Byzantium.

Meanwhile, in the West, the Church was labouring to reorganise a settled condition of society by assisting the consolidation of authority. A case in point is the welding of the Frankish tribes into some semblance of a nation. By 486 they had found a great leader in Clovis, who led them across the Rhine, conquered the Romans at Soissons, and proceeded to extend his sway over Gaul. To consolidate his power he married Clotilda, a princess of the Burgundian Goths, and accepted her faith of Christianity. It chanced that she professed the orthodox belief, unlike the majority of the Burgundians and the other German tribes at this time in Gaul, who were Arians. Consequently the Roman Church threw the weight of its influence on the side of Clovis and helped him to found a monarchy in France that endured under the title of Merovingian, so called from Merovech, the grandfather of Clovis.

In time the vigour of the Merovingian kings declined, until the actual power was wielded by the steward of the royal household, the Mayor of the Palace. Gradually this office became hereditary in a dynasty of rulers known as Carolingian or Charles Dynasty. The first great Charles was Mayor Charles, surnamed Martel or the Hammer; the last, Charlemagne, or Charles the Great. The former derived his name from the crushing blows he inflicted upon his enemies, particularly the Saracens, the followers of Mohammed, who by this time (732) had replaced the Vandals along the north coast of Africa, conquered the Visigoths in Spain, and were threatening France. Charles met them at Poictiers or Tours, and in a complete victory saved Christianity to Europe.

Charles remained simply Mayor; but the title of King was assumed by his son, Pepin, who was first elected by the Franks and then anointed by the Church, thus ascending the throne with the consent of the Pope. We have already noted how he repaid the debt. He was succeeded by his son Charlemagne, whose dream was to found an empire upon the ruins of the Roman. It was fulfilled to the point that he extended Frankish sway over Germany, as far as the Elbe, and into Italy. In the last named country he conquered the Lombards and signalised the completeness of the conquest by assuming the iron crown of Lombardy. On Christmas Day, A.D. 800, as he was kneeling at prayer in the Church of St. Peter in Rome, Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor of the Romans.

It was the aim of Charlemagne to establish his government on Roman lines, to which end he reintroduced Roman laws and methods of civilisation and ordained that Latin should be the official language. The city selected as his capital was Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle.