Influence of Greek and Roman Architecture

Roman architecture, like the rest of their art happened to reflect restless energy, practical character and the creator’s organizational mindset. Upon the expansion of Roman Empire to surround not just the Mediterranean regions but also broad Western Europe regions, Roman architects happened to struggle to accomplish two dominant aims: to exhibit the power and grandeur of Rome whereas also enhancing their citizens’ lives. To this end, Romans mastered several significant architectural techniques, comprising the arch, the vault and the dome, in addition to the utilization of concrete. Utilizing these methods, the Roman engineers designed some of the best public buildings, including basilicas, amphitheatres, temples, triumphal arches, public baths and monuments (Kaizer 32). Roman architects adopted a huge deal from Etruscan design and art, and had maximum respect for Greek sculpture and architecture. Among the best buildings designed by the Romans are like the Diocletian Baths (306 CE) and Arch of Constantine (312 CE). Greek Architects were adventurous in nature nd explored  variety of their styles in every aspect of their works. Some of the works in Greek architecture are varied in most aspects. They also tried to carry a specific message in their architecture.

The ancient Greek architecture concerned the buildings built on the Aegean Islands, Greece, and all through the Greek colonies within Turkey, Italy and Sicily, during the period of 900-27 BCE. Possibly, the best form of Greek architecture is most popular for the stone temples from C.600 onwards demonstrated by the Hera Temple I in Italy, Erechtheum, the Parthenon and Athena Nike temple, all from the Acropolis in Athens; and the Olympian Zeus temple at the base of the Acropolis. In addition to altars and temples, Greek designers who comprised of some of the best architects of the classical ancient times are also popular for designing their theatres from C.350 onwards, stadiums, monumental tombs and public squares demonstrated by the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (353 BCE) in Turkey (Nardo 23).  Most of these forms of architecture are available in the form of ruins which are located in theregions in question. Others are still in use in places like the stadium, the monumental tomb (mausoleum), the public monument, the bouleterion,the stoa along with the agora that it surrounds. Ancient Greek Architecture is usually very formalized in both structure and decoration.

Greek Architecture

The Romanesque architectural style was influenced by the Roman architecture with essential modernizing techniques. The architectural style was utilized during 800-1100 A.D. This style is regarded as the first significant architectural style which was developed following the Roman Empire’s collapse. It happened to be still related to Roman architecture due to the utilization of Roman arch and Roman barrel vault in the buildings from this era. The utilization of arches in the Roman architecture came from their utilization in Greek buildings. The style’s rounded structure produced an attractive style whereas also enhancing the structural design. The Roman columns established as being marvelous additions to architecture.

The Architects utilized different columns styles for specific buildings, from the fundamental Doric style to the complicated Corinthian type (Fazio 88). The two, in addition to arches, have been utilized since their moment of creation on some modern structures. The columns and arches utilized in Roman architecture enabled the buildings to extend into much broader structures because of the augmented level of support. The force and weight of the buildings no longer depended merely on the outer thin walls but rather distributed all through much thicker masses. This enabled even better developments of support to be formed founded on the specific design of the Roman features.

Five ordes of Greek architecture existed. These included the Composite, Tuscan, Corinthian, Ionic and Doric architecture. While all of them were influenced by Greek architects, the Corinthian, the ionic and Doric forms of architecture were created by Greek architects predominatly. The other two were only influenced through an advancement of other forms of architecture. An order in architecture could be defined as a  combination of an entablature and a particular style of column alone or long with its base. Wooden pillars were predominant in the Doric style of the architecture but eventually evolved to stone. It comprised of ta vertical fruted column shaft that had no base, and was thinner at the top. It also had a square abacus that comprised of a square abacus. Alternating metopes and triglyphys were carried by entablature. The genesis of the ionic entablature is around the mid 6the century in Asia Minor with a straighter column, a slimmer, a capital, a base and a scroll or a volute. The entablature in Ionic architecture often go long with  a frieze that contains a heavily carved sculpture. On he other hand, the Corinthian Architecture contained a column that was invented in Athens around the 5^th century and resembled the Ionic one but with a more decorative capital that has a stylized fern leaves or acanthus. These three orders are the basis over which most of the architecture that followed after them especially in Ancient Europe. They are very well represented even  in modern architecture.

Romanesque Architecture

The moment Rome took on importance culturally and politically meaning once adjoining Etruria had been conquered and Carthage successfully confronted the spirit which dominates the arts to be that of the celebrator and conqueror (Kaizer 65). Architecture, for example, becomes subjugated not by temples only, but by the trading place or forum, public meeting-hall or basilica, the sports arenas, the baths, circuses and theaters, most of which were constructed in the colossal size, and then ornamented lavishly.

It appears incredible that the Etruscan abilities in architecture which were so advanced during the time of Rome domination should have disappeared rather quickly after the Roman conquering of Italy. However, the influence of Greek, originating from colonial cities of Greek in the south and from the particular Greek world from eastern Mediterranean, quickly became dominant.

With architecture, the Romans adopted some significant techniques from Etruscans prior to the Greek influence. This comprised of the vault and arch that were intended to carry Roman architecture into a development straight away from the ancient Greek’s one, who favored post-and lintel building techniques to domes and arches. Therefore was laid the specific foundation of the architecture wherein the Italic individuals were to exceed the Hellenes type of structural architecture. The vaulting techniques utilized by the Romans happened to be the simple geometric types like the segmental vault and the groin vault. The vault surfaces happened to be typically enclosed with tiles or stucco. A good example of the Roman vaulting is Maxentius in Rome and the Basilica of Constantine.

A natural development that is also seen in current buildings of the vault happened to be the dome that allowed the construction of the roofing and vaulted ceilings of huge public spaces like the basilicas and public baths. The Romans depended heavily on domes for most of their architecture like Hadrian’s Pantheon (Kaizer 71).  Characteristic of the Roman architectural design happened to be the construction of complicated dome forms to suit the multi-lobed ground plans. Mastery by the Roman engineers and architects of the arch, dome and vault further improved by their concrete development aided them to unravel the initial problem of the monumental architecture that is to bridge the space. Roofing great areas meant carrying weighty materials across spaces unfeasible to cross with the Greeks’ plain post and lintel system.

With the Greek architecture, we had two types of architecture, the Ionic order and Doric order. With the Ionic architecture, the bases are used to support the columns that have more upright flutes than the ones of Doric order. The most significant feature of Ionic order that is still utilized currently is the frieze that is normally carved with a relief sculpture structured in continuous patterns across the building. The Doric order happens to be popular with buildings on Greek’s mainland where there were numerous Greek colonies. Ionic order is more common among the Greeks in Turkey and the Greek islands (Nardo 48).

Roman architecture happens to have had a huge influence on the building constructions of the West. If the Greek architects established key design templates, the Roman architects established fundamental engineering models. Thanks to their skill of the arch, dome and vault, they set the pace for most forms of monumental architecture. The Roman’s example was succeeded closely in the Byzantine art, in the medieval Russian architecture like the onion domes of St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, with Renaissance architecture seen in Florence Cathedral with the likes of the Fillippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) among others, and the Baroque architecture seen in St Paul’s Cathedral, and also influenced Neoclassical architecture across the world. In modern buildings, the Pantheon located in Paris, and the American Capitol Building in Washington, DC happen to be just among the world-famous structures influenced by the Roman architecture. Additionally, Roman bridges, roads and aqueducts became the Prototypes for later engineers and architects across the world.

Greek architecture is famous for the Ionic and Doric temples with the best example being Athen’s pathenon. The Pathenon was constructed in mid-5^th by the  for housing the enormous Athen statue and also to advertise he glory of Athen’s architecture. It is still available in the acropolis of the city. Other examples are the temple of Zeus which is located is Olympia the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus which was highly regarded in the ancient world. The Artemis Temple is one of the world’s seven wonders. There is also the Temple of Poseidon which is located at Sounion and is plaed on two cliffs which face the Aegean. This temple is illustrative of the fact that Greek architecture was not just intended to meet their function but lso be decorative from boh the inside and the outside and be seen from a distance.The statues th housed met o tony this function but a decorative function as well. Every effort was made to ensure that architectural buildings were located strategically and that sophisticated geometry was used. Architects lso employed optical tricks in order to make their architectural forms more appealing. A good example was the tickening of corner columns and bottom parts of columns. Columns would also be made to lean lightly inwards to create an impression hat it as in absolute harmony from  distance. These impressions and refinements are indicators that the Greek architecture was both  symbolic and important in Greek architecture.

With few exceptions, the Greek architectural structures were similar. Most of them were peripteral and rectangular comprised of rows and columns. The few exceptions that existed were those of Erechtheion in Athens which ws made unique by its Caryatid olums that were more innovative in nature. Another exception were the temples of Cyclades which were Doric but comprised of columns at the front alone and had a bigger width than length. They were comparable to the Ionia which differed from the norm as well based on their double colonnade. The Greek universal style comprised of rectangular peristyle surrounding an innr chamber cella or chamber. The roof as elevated in the middle to create  slope of approximately 15⁰. The roof was created from beams made from wood and rafters developed from intersecting marble tiles or terracotta. He doors were mae fom cypress r elm ood with decrations made from bosses and metallic medalions.

            Architectural sculptures were arranged in many temples with the intention o teling a narrative. Sculptures were found I pediments, friezes and metopes in the high relief and in the round and were highly decorated to retell the tales of Greek mythology and history.

There is an indication that most of temples were hectic in the creation of stable foundations that were capable of carrying large structures. Water drainage along with the use of bases that were continuous allowed the buildings to be created in creative positions regardless of the terrain and made it possible for them withstand the conditions of absolute weather nd earthquakes.

            St. Basil Cathedral in Moscow

The influence of Greek’s architectural design happens to lie in its aesthetic value in that it formed lots of stunning buildings. The beauty originated not just from the nobility and grandeur of their architectural columns, rather from their ornamental characteristics. The fluting of the columns, for example, affords vibration and grace to the otherwise impassive shafts however, the channels reinforce instead of cutting across the support lines. A frieze is usually lifted above the architrave that is kept unadorned, protecting crossbar strength (Schultz 110). The specific transitional members, moldings and capitals, agreeably alleviate the profile angles with no loss of firmness. The supports are usually cushioned, but with no excessive softening. The level of greatness is that these achievements might be seen by disparity in Roman architecture when the Romans picked up the Greek features and utilized them thoughtlessly and grandiosely, vulgarizing the specific ornamental features. Yet, Greek ornament and style of architecture ended up being an overwhelming favorite among later ages all the way down to the 20^th century.

The 18^th century architects in North America and Europe happened to rediscover the Greek design work with the adoption of Neoclassical architecture which can be seen in the Pantheon, in Paris (1737), Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-80), the iconic Brandenburg Gate, Berlin (1732-1808), Capitol Building in America, Washington DC, (1792-1827), the Baltimore Basilica (1806-1821) and the Walhalla, Regensburg, (1830-1842). During the 19^th century architecture, the Greek Orders happened to be resurrected in the United States and Europe throughout the Revival movement in Greek. Even the modern Art Nouveau architects such as Victor Horta (1861-1947) happened to borrow from the historic Greek designs. For extended periods of time, America and Western Europe accepted the idea that artistic practice of the machine age has to be founded upon research of the classic “Orders.”

Capitol Building in Washington DC

On the other hand, the majority of the temples also contained other structures that imitated their structures. Temple gates and other structures like the small gates that sheltered dedications that mainly from specific regions mainly borrowed from the architectural elements of the hosting temples. A good example of this scenario is the Athenian Treasury at Delphi.

The stoa was another structure common to several temple complexes from the seventh century BCE forwards. This was an extended, slender row of columns backed by a noticeable wall and roofed. typically placed at right-angles to form an indoor open house, stoas were used for all manner of functions like meeting places and storage. The agora or market place of the many Ancient Greek cities would be composed of an oversized open sq. encircled by a stoa. One uncommon stoa is that of the Sicilian colony of Selinus. This was created between 580 and 570 BCE and was a trapezoid in form. additional apparently, the close outlets all gift constant façade despite being differing types of buildings. this can be proof that there was some kind of centrally controlled designing authority that ensured harmony of design in necessary public places. Certainly, throughout the fifth century BCE there have been skilled city planners, the foremost celebrated of that was Hippodamos WHO is commonly attributable with designing the Piraeus and Rhodes. apparently, there’s fairly often a correspondence between discipline changes in cities and changes in political regime. One final perform of the stoa in principle times was within the gymnasium and palaistra complexes, notably at the good sanctuaries of Olympia, Delphi, and Nemea. These stoas were wont to produce an indoor house for workout and supply a observe space for such field events as the javelin and discus.

Temples, treasuries, and stoas then, with their varied orders and arrangements of columns have provided the foremost tangible bailiwick bequest from the Greek world, and it’s maybe ironic that the design of Greek spiritual} buildings has been therefore wide adopted within the present time for such secular buildings as court homes and government buildings.
Another distinctive Greek contribution to world culture was the amphitheatre. The oldest sure archeological proof of theatres dates from the late sixth century BCE however we have a tendency to could assume that Greeks gathered in such as public places abundant earlier. Indeed, Bronze Age Minoan sites like Phaistos had massive stepped-courts that ar thought to possess been used for spectacles like spiritual processions and bull-leaping sports. Then from the late sixth century BCE we’ve got an oblong theatre-like structure from Thorikos in district that had a temple dedicated to Dionysos at one finish. this might recommend it absolutely was used throughout Dionyistic festivals, at that dramas were typically given. However, it absolutely was from the fifth century BCE that the Greek amphitheatre took on its recognizable and most powerful kind. This was associate degree outside and around semi-circular arrangement of rising rows of seats (theotron) that provided wonderful acoustics. The stage or orchestra was conjointly semi-circular and backed by a screen or skene, which might become additional and additional monumental within the following centuries. Monumental arches typically provided the entrances (paradoi) on either facet of the stage.

Examples abound throughout the Greek world and lots of theatres have survived remarkably well. one amongst the foremost celebrated is that the theatre of Greek deity Eleutherius on the southern slope of Athens’ bastion wherever the nice plays of dramatist, Euripedes, Aeschylus, and playwright were initial performed. one amongst the biggest is that the theatre of Argos that had a capability for twenty,000 spectators, and each of} the simplest preserved is that the theatre of Epidaurus that continues every summer to host major dramatic performances. Theatres were used not just for the presentation of plays, however conjointly hosted poetry recitals and musical competitions.

In conclusion then, one might say that ancient Roman and Greek architecture has offered not only a majority of the main features of contemporary western architecture, but it happens to have also given this world truly outstanding buildings that have accurately managed to last through time and continue to influence admiration.

Works Cited

Fazio, Michael W, Marian Moffett, Lawrence Wodehouse, and Michael W. Fazio. A World History of Architecture. N.p., 2013. Print.

Kaizer, Ted. The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Print.

Nardo, Don. Ancient Greek Art and Architecture. Detroit: Lucent Books, an imprint of Gale Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

Schultz, Peter, and Ralf. Hoff. Structure, Image, Ornament: Architectural Sculpture in the Greek World : Proceedings of an International Conference Held at the American School of Classical Studies, 27-28 November 2004. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2009. Print.