Ancient Roman Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ancient Roman Architecture - Essay Example The Etruscans inspired the pedestal or podium below the early Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in 509 B.C. The true arch may or may nit have come to Rome from Etruria, but both peoples often used the corbel arch and both liked decorative terra cotta. The Punic wars I and II, during the third century B.C., brought Rome into contact with Greek culture of southern Italy and Sicily; and with the conquest of Corinth, in 146 B.C., Rome subjugated Greece itself. From the Hellenistic and later Greeks, the Romans adopted the orders of architecture but modified them. They added a base to the Doric column and lightened its proportions to eight lower diameters in height. They joined the volutes of the Ionic capital with straight lines instead of the delicate Greek curves. The Corinthians was their favorite order. To the three Greek orders they added the Tuscan, a simplified version of the Structurally, the most important innovation of the Roman was the arch, which they used widely although they had not invented it. Next to the post and lintel, arch construction is historically of greatest importance. An arch is made of wedge-shaped stones that are arranged with the small side of the wedge turned down toward the opening. When the stones have been put in place by means of scaffolding or centering, their shape keeps them from falling, just like in the aqueduct of Segovia. Each stone of the arch, by its weight, exerts constant pressure on the stones an each side of it and the arch is held in position only by an exact balancing of these pressures. If that balance is upset, the arch collapses. As an old Arabic proverb has it â€Å"An arch never sleeps (The World Book Encyclopedia, p.640).†