Civil architecture of ancient Rome briefly. Construction of engineering structures in ancient Rome. History of architecture of ancient Rome

The Roman state goes through a difficult path of development. It first conquers Italy (V-III centuries BC), then Carthage (II century BC) and, finally, Greece (II century BC).

The architecture of Ancient Rome changed markedly throughout the existence of this mighty state.

Many features formed the basis of Roman art. The Etruscans were the forerunners of the Romans. In the middle of the first millennium, they already had their own culture. Etruscan temples are similar to Greek periptera, but the front facade is more emphasized in them: there is a platform with columns in front of the entrance, and a multi-stage staircase leads to it. When erecting gates, the Etruscans often used a semicircular arch, which the Greeks almost did not know. Their houses had a room in the center with an open square hole in the roof in the middle and walls black with soot. Apparently there was a hearth. This gave reason to call this room an atrium (from the word "ater" - "black").

Atrium - a room with a hole in the roof

In culture, the official state flow of a Hellenized society and popular tastes, dating back to the Italic past, collide.

In general, the Roman state is isolated, opposed to a private person. It was famous for its system of government and law.

The army was the basis of world power. The supreme power was concentrated in the hands of the commanders, who had little regard for the interests of the whole people and the state, and the cities were built on the model of camps.

According to the views of Vitruvius (the treatise was written 27-25 BC), architecture falls into two categories: construction and proportions (the ratios of the individual parts of the building serve as its basis). And the aesthetic beginning is only in the order, the columns attached to the structures.

In the era of Augustus (30 BC - 14 AD), such architectural monuments as the “square house” in Nimes (South France) or the temple of Fortune Virilis, belonging to the pseudo-peripter type, were built. The pseudoperipter is similar to the peripter, but the cella is set back slightly. The temple is placed on a high podium; a wide staircase leads to its entrance (this determines the similarity of the pseudoperipter with Etruscan temples). Only in the Roman temple are the classical forms of the order more strictly observed: fluted columns, Ionian capitals, entablature.

Maison Carré "Square House" in Nimes (France). 1st century BC e.

Temple of Fortune Virilis. 1st century BC e.

Types of housing for wealthy citizens

The originality of Roman architecture responded even more strongly in a new type of dwelling in the spirit of eclecticism: the Italian atrium and the Hellenistic peristyle. The richest Pompeian buildings, such as the houses of Pansa, the Faun, the Lorea Tiburtina, the Vettii, belong to this type. The peristyle served more as an ornament to a rich estate than as a place for the diverse life of its inhabitants, as it was in the houses of Greece.

Unlike the Greek dwelling, all the rooms were lined up in a strict order on the sides of its main axis.

Atrium

Peristyle of the House of the Vettii, seen from the great triclinium.

Portico and garden in the house of Lorea Tiburtina

House of the Faun (Villa of Publius Sulla). present tense

House of the Faun (Villa of Publius Sulla). That's the way it used to be

Villa Publius Sulla (House of the Faun). Inner garden with peristyle and Ionic order

Pompeian villas enchant with the high perfection of applied art. But there slips a lot of vanity and tasteless luxury: painting walls with copies of famous Greek paintings of the 4th century, imitation of Egyptian flat decorations, or, conversely, creating a deceptive impression of windows.

The era of August is characterized by stylization and eclecticism. The Altar of Peace in the forum belongs to the best monuments of this time. The difference in relief is immediately evident: the figures are placed in several planes, which makes them picturesque, but between the figures there is no sense of space, air, or light environment, as in Hellenistic reliefs.

Altar of Peace, built in honor of the Goddess of Peace. Indoor museum.

Relief of one of the walls of the altar

The classical current under Augustus was the main one, but not the only one. In the II century. BC. supporters of the Old Testament antiquity opposed the imitation of the Greeks.

Engineering structures. aqueducts

Among the Roman monuments there is a large section devoted to engineering structures. Thus, many elements of urban improvement appeared: the paved Appian Way, water supply, aqueduct.

Guard bridge at Nimes Pont du Gard

Pompeii. Italy

Rome

Lead plumbing

Forum

Art becomes in the hands of sovereigns a means of strengthening their authority. Hence the spectacular nature of architectural structures, the large scale of construction, the predilection for huge sizes. There was more shameless demagogy in Roman architecture than genuine humanism and a sense of beauty.

The most majestic type of building was the forum. Each emperor sought to perpetuate himself with such a structure.

The Emperor Trajan's forum reaches almost the size of the Athenian acropolis. But in their design, the acropolis and the forum are profoundly different. The stiff order, the predilection for strict symmetry is expressed on a huge scale.

Forum of Emperor Trajan. Italy

Roman builders operated not with volumes, like the builders of the Athenian acropolis, but with open interiors, within which small volumes stood out (columns and temples). This increased role of the interior characterizes the Roman forum as a stage of great historical significance in the development of world architecture.

Forum, in the center - the columns of the temple of Saturn, behind them the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus

The photo on the left shows the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, the largest building ever built in the forum in 312.

The Temple of Peace, also known as the Forum of Vespasian (Latin: Forum Vespasiani), was built in Rome in 71 AD. e.

Tabularium building (state archive) in the forum, 78 BC e. - the earliest of the structures that have survived to this day, in which the system of Roman cell architecture was applied, combining two opposite design principles - a beam and a vaulted structure.

urban layout

Roman cities, like Ostia in Italy or Timgrad (in Africa), resemble military camps in the strict correctness of their plan. Straight streets are bordered by rows of columns that accompany any movement in the city. The streets end with huge triumphal arches. Living in such a city meant always feeling like a soldier, being able to mobilize.

Timgrad is an ancient Roman city in North Africa, located on the territory of modern Algeria. 100 AD e.

triumphal arches

Triumphal arches were a new type of Roman architecture. One of the best is the Arch of Titus. Arches were erected in order to serve as a memory of victories among generations. In the construction of this arch, there are two types of order: one implied - on which rests a semicircular arch, separated from it by a cornice; another order, marked by mighty semi-columns, is placed on a high podium and gives the whole architecture the character of pompous solemnity. Both orders permeate each other; the cornice of the first merges with the cornices of the niches. For the first time in the history of architecture, a building is composed of the relationship of two systems.

The predilection of the Romans for the impression of heaviness and strength is reflected in the arch of Titus in the huge entablature and attic. The sharp shadows from the eaves add tension and strength to the architectural forms.

amphitheaters

The amphitheaters served as an arena for entertaining and spectacular spectacles for a crowded crowd: performances of gladiators, fisticuffs. Unlike the Greek theaters, they did not give high artistic impressions. For example, the building of the Colosseum, which had 80 exits and this allowed the audience to quickly fill the rows and exit just as quickly. Inside, the Colosseum makes an irresistible impression with its clarity and simplicity of forms. From the outside it was decorated with statues. The whole Colosseum expressed restraint, at the same time with impressiveness. For the sake of this, its three open tiers are crowned with a fourth, more massive, dissected only by flat pilasters.

The Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre) today. Year of construction -80 AD e.

The original appearance of the Colosseum

Colosseum inside

In the construction of the Pantheon, all the centuries-old experience of Roman construction was used: its double walls with a rubble mass inside, unloading arches, a dome with a diameter and height of 42 m. Architecture had never known such a huge artistically designed space before. The special strength of the Pantheon lies in the simplicity and integrity of its architectural compositions. It does not have a complex gradation of scale, an increase in features that give increased expressiveness.

Thermae

The needs of urban life were created in the middle of the 1st century. AD a new type of buildings - baths. These buildings responded to various needs: from the culture of the body to the need for mental food, reflection in solitude. Outside, the terms had an unremarkable appearance. The main thing in them is. With a large variety of plan forms, the builders subordinated them to symmetry. The walls were faced with marble - red, pink, purple or pale green.

Ruins of the Baths of Emperor Caracalla (Antonin's Baths). III century (212-217 years)

Roman art completes the history of ancient art.

temples

In ancient Rome, architecture was the leading art. Unlike Greece, where the main temple was, in Roman architecture the main place was occupied by structures that embodied the ideas of the power of the Roman state, and later the emperor: forums, triumphal arches, amphitheaters. The Roman theater, unlike the Greek one, is a separate building, for the first time a stage is being built in it. One of the pinnacles of Roman architecture is the amphitheater Colosseum, which accommodated 50,000 spectators, it was intended for gladiator fights.

Yet the Romans built temples out of respect for the gods. In the cella of the Roman temple, as in the Greek temple, there was a statue of the god. The Romans preferred the more elegant Ionic and Corinthian orders, as well as the composite order, which combines elements of the Ionic and Corinthian orders, to the strict Doric style. Along the facades, except for the main one, there were no free-standing columns - the walls were smooth or decorated with semi-columns and pilasters (a pilaster is a flat vertical rectangular ledge on a wall or pillar, repeating all parts and proportions of an order column, but, unlike it, usually devoid of entasis).

Some small Roman temples, such as the Maison Carré at Nîmes, are excellently preserved due to their solid barrel-vaulted construction. The interior is not big temples was extremely simple: a room with smooth walls and a coffered ceiling, in the center stood a statue of the god to whom the temple was dedicated.

The interiors of large temples, now in ruins, are much more complex. So, for example, in the temple of Venus and Roma in Rome (135 AD) there were two halls; along the side walls there were rows of columns, between which there were decorative niches; in each hall there was an apse covered with a semi-dome, in all likelihood, statues of the gods were placed in it.

The most famous Roman temple is the grandiose and, fortunately, perfectly preserved temple of all the gods. Pantheon(c. 118-128 AD) This is a 43.5 m diameter rotunda topped with a dome. The portico with a pediment is supported by eight columns of the Corinthian order. Two additional rows of columns, four columns each, flank a magnificent bronze portal (not only original doors, but even door hinges have been preserved). The walls, 6.3 m thick, are dissected by deep niches with Corinthian columns, where statues of the gods once stood. The total height of the temple is equal to its diameter, while the height of the lower part of the chi-lindron corresponds to the height of the dome. Inside the temple, the walls are divided into two tiers - the lower one with Corinthian columns and pilasters, and the upper one with false windows. There are five rows of caissons on the dome, decreasing towards the center of the dome. The only light source is a round window in the center of the dome (oculus). The dome is made of concrete, its thickness at the oculus is 1.5 m, it increases towards the base. This is necessary for the correct distribution of gravity and thrust. The walls are made of brick and concrete, inside and outside are lined with stone. The grand dome space, the richness of the interior decoration, the bewitching play of the sun's rays - penetrating through the round window, they are reflected from the shiny surface of the marble floor - and an unusual acoustic effect make the Pantheon one of the most interesting monuments of ancient architecture.

As the Roman Empire expanded, Roman buildings became more complex and intricate. Roman places of worship, such as the temples at Baalbek, Lebanon, and Pergamon, Turkey, featured elaborate and ornate interiors. So, inside the temple of Venus in Baalbek is another temple of a smaller size.

Secular buildings

The Roman basilica is the main type in the civil architecture of Rome, which had a huge impact on the architecture of subsequent eras. Court sessions were held in the basilica, the participants of which gathered in the central nave (the nave is an elongated room, part of the interior, limited on one or both longitudinal sides by a row of columns or pillars, so called because of its resemblance to the hull of a ship); the judge sat on a dais in the apse at the end of the building. The side naves, separated by an arcade, communicated with the central nave. The side naves had a height less than the height of the central nave, which made it possible to make huge windows. The stone walls of the basilica supported a wooden roof.

As you know, the Romans inherited a lot from the Greeks. However, the love of luxury has become a defining dominant in their interiors. It was the Romans who developed the system of types of residential buildings that we still use today. This is a city palace, or simply a house (domus), then - a multi-apartment and multi-storey city residential building, which had the name "insula", and, finally, a country villa. All those original interiors that we can see today thanks to excavations in Pompeii demonstrate one type of Roman dwelling - "domus". Their luxury seems incredible even by today's standards. The Pompeii mentioned above became a storehouse of knowledge about the life of ancient culture.

Volcanic ash formed during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. e., kept the city intact for many centuries. There were many more magnificent, well-maintained houses here than, for example, in the cities of the Middle Ages and even the Renaissance. The streets are decorated with fountains and other skillfully designed reservoirs with springs: water poured either from the gaping mouth of an animal, or, for example, from an overturned vessel with a rooster sitting on it.

The houses are mostly one-story, rarely two-story and resemble small fortresses, as they face the street with deaf, windowless walls. Through the entrance portico, the visitor entered a short corridor leading directly to the atrium - the main room in the house. At the entrance to it there were home altars with images of gods and masks of ancestors. The atrium was illuminated through a hole in the roof, into which rainwater flowed, filling a shallow impluvium (pool) in the center of the room. Four columns stood at the corners of the pool, supporting the roof. The family gathered in the atrium, guests were received here. Small cubicles (bedrooms) also came out here. Directly behind the atrium was a room called the tablinum. Over time, from a niche intended for a matrimonial bed, it evolved into the front office of the owner. The tablinum contained a library of papyri and manuscripts, as well as the family's archives. On the sides of the tablinum were triclinums (tables).

In rich houses there was also a peristyle - a courtyard with an internal colonnade, where they arranged gardens with ponds and statues. Moreover, summer triclinums, extending into the peristyle, and winter triclinums, communicating with the owner's office (tablinum), differed. Peristyle, as in Greek houses, was the pride of the owners, a place of comfort and silence. It was decorated with sculpture (busts, statues, herms with portraits of philosophers), fountains, flower beds, mosaics on walls or floors.

Like the Greeks, the Romans were popular with wall paintings that created the illusion of expanding the interior space for cramped rooms. The technology of Roman wall painting was quite complex and busy. It is assumed that after applying a multi-layer primer, which contained marble crushed into powder, the painting was done using a combination of pigments prepared on wax and egg. Then there was polishing with wool, after which Punic wax melted with vegetable oil was applied with a silk brush. Following this, hot ink-nut coals were brought to the walls and the surface was again smoothed and polished with a clean cloth.

In the Roman atrium there was a hearth dedicated to the goddess Vesta, the guardian of the house. Busts of ancestors were often placed in niches - for demonstration to guests who were received here, in the atrium. Rich houses could have several atriums and several peristyles. There were also baths in the house with pools of hot (caldarium) and cold (frigidarium) water. There was a central heating system, which was carried out for a fee to the city treasury, and, of course, the famous Roman plumbing.

While the Mediterranean climate hardly required additional heating other than charcoal braziers, the inhabitants of the areas north of Rome needed protection from the winter cold. Even further north, where Hadrian's Wall, which was considered the border of the Roman Empire, passed in Britain, the Romans built houses (villas) that give us the opportunity to study the then existing heating system. The stone floor was raised above the ground to a small height with the help of supports made of bricks or stones. Under the floor was a chimney connected to the hearth. When a fire was lit in the hearth, the smoke escaped through the cellar, simultaneously heating the house; the same system was used to heat the Roman baths. The floor was heated to medium temperature. However, the Romans covered the walls of their houses not only with paintings. They were faced with marble, sometimes with granite. In the 1st century n. e. especially popular was this type of decor, like a mosaic. She could decorate the floor, the ceiling, and even the columns.

The decoration of the front rooms was complemented by glass and bronze items. Bronze tripods and censers; candelabra in the form of a sprawling tree, a human figure or fantastic creatures; door handles-rings with a relief image of Medusa the Gorgon, averting evil; vessels for boiling water (samovars) on three legs in the form of birds, sphinxes and animal paws were an integral part of everyday life. Outbuildings adjoined the main part of the patrician's house, located along an open rectangle or semicircle. The Romans improved the architecture of residential buildings. The Italian type of house had a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, decorated with a fountain, statues, flower beds with fountains, pavilions, grottoes and a large reservoir. The villas were distinguished by their luxurious decoration, the use of marble and precious woods. The walls were decorated with complex paintings imitating columns - the so-called architectural style. At that time, the laws of perspective were already known, so there are many “tricks” in the wall paintings (framed paintings, illusory architecture, objects that seem real).

The culture of the conquered peoples also influences the Roman ornamentation. In addition to the traditional symmetrical combinations of flowers and leaves, symbolic figurines of eagles, lions, and sphinxes are used.

Furniture

The furniture was created according to Greek patterns, but with more lush ornaments. It was made of the finest woods with inserts of ivory or metal. Chairs and armchairs symbolized social status, and were not just utilitarian items.

The ancient Romans, in addition to furniture made of wood, bronze and marble, also made furniture woven from wicker rods. The general forms of ancient Roman furniture are graceful and refined, but suffer from an excess of decoration. Chairs, for example, were made with armrests in the form of griffins, sphinxes, lions. The legs were shaped like lion paws with wings ending at the top with the head of an animal. Wooden furniture was decorated with carvings, gilding, inlaid with gold and silver. There was also decorative, fixed furniture, made of white or colored marble with mosaic boards on tables.

Three beds were usually placed around the dining table. The men reclined on them (“Greek”), and the women sat on chairs. Heavy rectangular tables for meals were wooden: either on one support - in the form of a column, or on three - in the form of animal paws. In the atrium there were marble tables, decorated with carvings, on which dishes for guests were stored (silver dinner sets, bowls, goblets). At the quadrangular table, beds were placed on three sides, the fourth remained free for serving food. Three people were placed on each such bed. A table with three boxes around was called a triclinium; the room in which they had dinner also began to be called. When, at the end of the republic, round tables began to come into fashion, the boxes began to be made in a semicircular shape, and they received the name “sigma”. Round tables were fixed on three legs made in the form of animal paws, sometimes elegantly curved and richly decorated. Instead of individual legs, rectangular tables had solid sidewalls with strong relief carvings, which depicted double figures of griffins, lions, eagles, etc. The table board was sometimes made smooth, sometimes decorated with mosaics or stone inlay. Chairs with backs were called catedra, and the chair of the householder, like the imperial throne, was called solium. It was made with armrests, had high legs, its richly decorated back reached the shoulders of the person sitting, but sometimes it was made much higher. This chair usually stood on a low pedestal. The ancient Romans often replaced straight legs at tables, chairs and benches with a richly and exquisitely finished board. Often the legs were shaped like lion paws with wings ending at the top with the head of an animal. The armrests of the chairs depicted griffins, sphinx owls, lions, etc. Things were kept in chests.

Beds in ancient Rome were very similar to Greek beds. The bed frame was mostly made of wood with tortoise, ivory, stained glass inlays, as well as bronze details (lion heads, horses). Between the walls of the skeleton there was a lattice of bronze rods, on which a mattress was placed. The bed had turned legs of a rectangular or bent shape, or in the form of animal paws. A "carpet" of mosaic cubes stretched out near the bed. In the bedrooms there were small wooden or bronze tables on three legs - for lamps.

All ancient Roman furniture can be divided into two large groups:

• a) wooden furniture, decorated with carvings, gilding, inlaid wood of other colors, enamel, pieces of faience, gold and silver;
• b) decorative, fixed furniture, made of white or colored marble with mosaic boards on the tables.

In addition to these two types, bronze furniture existed. Among other bronze furnishings, numerous candelabra, lamps, tripods and other furnishings were found in these excavations. Applied art reached a high development in ancient Rome: carved and chased gold and silver bowls, glass vessels set in gold, beautiful fabrics adorned the interiors of houses in Rome. Mosaic glass pieces were a bright decorative accent in the house (the Romans used the technique of inlaying shapes with different colored pieces).

Characteristic features of ancient Roman architecture

Remark 1

Under Ancient Rome, one should understand not only Rome itself of the ancient era, but the entire Roman Empire, which included many countries and peoples. Ancient Roman art is one of the greatest examples of ancient art in general. Not only the Romans, but also the Egyptians, Greeks, the inhabitants of Gaul and many other peoples conquered by Rome took part in its creation.

The culture of Ancient Rome was formed on the basis of interpenetration and mutual influence of traditions and cultures of original peoples and tribes.

A characteristic feature of ancient Roman architecture is the breadth of urban planning. The Romans adopted a strict and rationally organized layout from the Etruscans and Greeks, later implementing it in cities of an even larger scale.

The Romans were the first to build "model" cities, planned after military camps. First, two perpendicular streets were laid, and their intersection became the center of the city. The entire urban planning was subject to a strict scheme.

Roman architecture played a key role in the entire Roman culture during its heyday. The leading place was given to public buildings designed for a huge number of people and designed to embody the ideas of the might of the empire.

Remark 2

Ancient Roman architecture is based on ideas of rigor, rationality and expediency. Its great achievement was the satisfaction of everyday and social needs not only of the ruling class, but also of the broad masses of the urban population.

Historical stages

The history of ancient Rome is divided into two types:

• Republican (VI century BC - I century BC);
• Imperial (I century BC - IV century AD).

The beginning of ancient Roman art belongs to the period of the republic. It reached its heyday during the formation of a large slave-owning power.

The needs of Roman society gave rise to many types of structures: amphitheatres, triumphal arches, baths, aqueducts, etc. Palaces, villas, theaters, and temples received a new architectural solution.

During the Republican period, the main types of ancient Roman architecture developed.

The main type of public building in the era of the republic was the temple. The architecture of ancient Roman temples was formed due to the interweaving of Italo-Etruscan and Greek traditions.

The originality of Roman architecture was also manifested in the creation of a new type of house for wealthy citizens (landowners, large merchants, the wealthy part of artisans). As a rule, Roman mansions are large one-story houses.

The appearance of the ancient Roman city can be represented by the example of Pompeii. The city had a regular layout. On the sides of straight streets there were houses, on the first floors of which shops were located. The forum was surrounded by a two-story colonnade.

Pompeian houses ("domuses") were rectangular structures stretching along the courtyard and facing the street with blank end walls. The main room there was an atrium (lat. “smoky”, “black”), which performed a sacred function.

At the end of the 1st century BC. The ancient Roman state turned from an aristocratic republic into an empire. The first sovereign ruler and founder of the empire was Octavian Augustus.

Rome acquired a look that corresponded to the prestige of the world capital. The importance of public buildings grew and their number increased.

An idea of ​​the religious architecture of that era is given by the temple in Nimes (beginning of the 1st century AD, located on the territory of modern Young France). The proportions of its design are slender, the forms of the Corinthian order are strictly observed.

The epitome of the power and significance of the Roman Empire were to be triumphant structures erected to glorify military victories. Triumphal arches were built in honor of victories or as a sign of the consecration of new cities.

Architectural buildings of ancient Rome

Roman architecture gave the world many buildings, which to this day are architectural monuments and sights of the cities in which they were built. The most famous of them are the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Forum.

The Pantheon was conceived as the temple of all the gods. A massive bronze door led into it, and the threshold was made of African marble. Its walls are lined with colored marble. Inside, along the perimeter, there were statues of deities. Floor inner hall trimmed with precious stones.

The next famous building is the Roman Forum, which is a square and several buildings adjacent to it. This area was originally a market place. Later it became the place of popular meetings and meetings of the Senate. It served as the most important place of public life.

The Colosseum is one of the most famous and grandiose structures of the Ancient World. It often acts as a symbol of Rome, just as the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a symbol of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris, the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin is a symbol of Moscow.

One of the most common types of memorial structures is the triumphal arches already mentioned above. Examples of such structures include the arch of Titus and the arch of Constantine.

Initially, vaulted and arched forms were widely used in structures such as bridges and aqueducts. The latter occupied a very significant place in the improvement of cities. Water was supplied to them from the hilly surroundings, then flowed through stone plastered channels (in low places they were supported by arched structures) and fell into city reservoirs.

Palace construction was also carried out on a large scale. One of the examples here is imperial palace on the Palatine. It consisted of a palace for ceremonial receptions and the emperor's dwelling.

The construction of villas has also become widespread. The principles of garden and park architecture have been applied in them. Among the most notable architectural structures of this type is Hadrian's villa in Tibur.

Roman! You learn to rule the peoples sovereignly. This is your art! - to impose the conditions of the world. Show mercy to the humble and humble the haughty with war.

Ancient Rome. Hundreds of articles and books have been written about him. And this is not surprising, since there are few states that would leave such a bright mark in the history of world civilization and would bequeath to their descendants such a huge cultural heritage. Its significance as a great treasury of knowledge that moves humanity forward is truly enormous.

It is not surprising that our generation is increasingly turning to Ancient Rome, not only to the history of culture, architecture, law and military affairs, but also to the history of its technology, in particular the technique and technology of building production, where much attention was paid to the construction of concrete .

Concrete could develop and become widespread only in such a strong and huge state as Ancient Rome was with its large volumes of construction work, including the construction of thousands of amphitheatres, stadiums, thermal baths, powerful fortress walls or the famous Roman roads stretching for a thousand kilometers throughout the country. and beyond. The emergence of Roman concrete reflected the growing needs and technical capabilities of ancient society. Therefore, in order to better understand their influence on the development of concrete, it is necessary to briefly get acquainted with the social system of Ancient Rome, its politics, including construction and economics.

The growth and development of ancient Rome was not only rapid, but also unparalleled. Originating as a small military settlement on the Palatine (One of the 7 hills on which Rome arose) in the middle of the 8th century. BC e., it gradually became the political and cultural center of the entire ancient world. Its initially small territory has grown over the centuries into a huge and powerful empire with hundreds of millions of inhabitants.

The borders of Rome expanded - initially at the expense of the territory of Italy, and then of neighboring countries. Foreign policy was characterized by continuous wars and was based on the famous principle of "divide and conquer".

In the 60s of the III century. BC e. The Punic Wars begin between Rome and Carthage. Intermittently, they continue for more than a hundred years. After the fall of Carthage (146 BC), when the city was set on fire and destroyed by the decision of the Roman Senate, Rome becomes the most powerful power in the entire vast territory from Egypt and Asia Minor to the British Isles. Countless riches and tens of thousands of slaves flow into it, whose labor becomes the basis of the state system, the bulwark of its power for many years. Such a policy required the construction of roads, bridges, water conduits and other engineering structures, demanded even more gold and slaves.

However, along with the slaves, sharp social contradictions also came to Rome, which often exploded with uprisings against the enslavers. When they grew to such an extent that they turned into civil wars, the powerful Roman Republic shook and, like an old building, gave the first deep crack.

There was an urgent need for the restructuring of the state system, and it happened, bringing to the crest of the political wave of such outstanding commanders as Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar. Anthony and Octavian. The latter, as you know, opens a new stage in the history of the ancient Roman state with his rule.

In the era of the Roman Empire, the pantheon of gods recognized by the official religion expanded. It included the cults of the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis, Asia Minor Ma-Bellona, ​​the Iranian god Mithra, especially popular among warriors, and a number of Syrian solar cults. There were other cults, among which Judaism stood out and prevailed by the 4th century. Christianity. A special place was occupied by the cult of emperors. The diversity of the religious life of the empire was reflected in religious architecture, where, along with temples to the ancient Roman gods, temples were built to deified emperors, eastern gods, mitreums and synagogues. Most of the temples I-II centuries. dedicated to the main gods of the Roman pantheon and emperors. Old temples were often rebuilt in new forms. In the imperial period, the temples basically repeated the types used under the republic - the prostyle, the Italian type and the peripter in its Roman version. Depending on the frequency of setting up the columns and, accordingly, their changing proportions, several types of peripters were distinguished. The most common were temples with intercolumnia 1.5; 2 and 2.25 column diameters, defined by Vitruvius as pycnostyle, systile and eustyle. They were distinguished from republican temples by their larger scale, the predominant use of the ceremonial Corinthian or composite order instead of the modest Doric and Ionic, the close placement of columns on the facades and the use of expensive materials - marble, porphyry and granite for wall cladding, for columns and details. Due to the traditional nature of the main types in the cult architecture of the empire, the search for architects focused mainly on the development of temple decor. The poor preservation of the temples of this era does not allow us to get a fairly complete picture of them.

The main temples of ancient Rome were concentrated in the center of the city on the Roman Forum (Fig. 33, 34).

33. Rome. The plan of the Roman Forum in the imperial period: 1 - the Basilica of Emilia; 2 - curia; 3 - Temple of Concordia; 4 - temple of Vespasian; 5 - portico; 6 - temple of Saturn (repository of the state treasury); 7 - arch of Septimius Severus; 8 - arch of Tiberius; 9 - rostra: 10 - memorial columns; 11 - Basilica Julia; 12 - vestibule of the imperial palaces; 13 - Temple of the Dioscuri; 14 - arch of Augustus; 15 - Temple of Julius; 16 - temple of Vesta; 17 - vestal atrium; 18 - Regia; 19 - temple of Antoninus and Faustina; 20 - heroon Romulus; 21 - Basilica of Maxentius; 22 - lobby of the Golden House; 23 - arch of Titus; 24 - temple of Venus and Roma

Temple of Julius Caesar, the first of the temples built by Augustus, was dedicated to the deified Julius Caesar and erected in 29 BC. in the Roman Forum, limiting it from the east (Fig. 35). It was still a modest style of the Ionic order. The front of the podium receded in the center, skirting the round altar that marked the site of Caesar's cremation. The protrusions of the podium on the sides of the altar, decorated with the rostra of enemy ships, served as tribunes for speakers. They replaced the tribunal that previously existed here, located opposite the rostra in the western part of the forum and demolished during the construction of the temple.

The style of the early empire is characterized by a monumental marble altar of peace, built in 13 BC. on the occasion of the victories of Augustus in Spain and Gaul, which completed the appeasement of the empire (Fig. 36). Put near the altar of the god of war Mars, it was a rectangular fence measuring 11.63X10.62 m and 6 m high, in the center of which an altar stood on a stepped pedestal.

Openings in the western and eastern walls of the fence opened a through passage past the altar. The outer walls of the fence, marked at the corners and at the openings with ornamented pilasters, were covered at the bottom with floral ornaments. The upper parts of the southern and northern walls contained relief images of the procession of Augustus with his retinue to the altar for sacrifice. The theme of moving towards the altar was interrupted by panels on the end sides of the entrances.

37. Rome. Temple of Mars Ultor, 2 BC Modern view, detail of the cornice, profiles of the entablature: A - upper caisson cymatium; B - the second cymatium of the caisson; B - quarter shaft with ionics at the base of the caisson; G - cymatium crowning the architrave; D - beads between the fasciae of the architrave

The grandiose scale of the buildings of the Empire manifested itself in Temple of Mars Ultor at the forum of Augustus (2 BC, fig. 37). With a façade 35 m wide, the columns reached a height of about 18 m. The slender eight-column Italic type pyknostyl was supplemented by an apse located above floor level and closing the main axis of the temple and the entire forum. A feature of the interior, the wooden ceiling of which was carried by the walls of the cella, were decorative colonnades along the walls. The whiteness of the marble walls and columns, the beautiful forms of the classical Roman-Corinthian capitals, the portico coffers and the skillful cutting of the details of the entablature gave solemnity to the monumental dynastic temple of the Julii.

It was close to the temple of Mars Ultor in size (30x50 m), slender proportions, order and decor Temple of the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum, reconstructed in 6 BC. (Fig. 38, 39). Like the neighboring temple of Julius, the temple of the Dioscuri, which was a peripter, was also adapted for speeches. The front part of its podium, which did not have steps, served as a platform, which was climbed by side stairs. A wide flight of stairs led to the level of the cella. The protrusions of the podium on its sides served as pedestals for the equestrian statues of Castor and Pollux. The exquisite capitals of the temple with intertwining middle curls are peculiar.

41. Roman Forum. Temple of Concordia, early 1st c. AD Plan, profiles (according to Tebelmann): A - crowning goose; B - cymatium over a remote plate; B - remote plate; G - caisson; D - modulons; E - ionics and beads between modulons and teeth; Zh - cymatium over the frieze; 3 - top profile architrave

At the same time, the ancient Temple of Concordia(Fig. 40, 41), which repeated the republican temple of Vejova with a transverse arrangement of the cella. The cella (45x24 m) obscured the substructures of the Tabularium. The Corinthian capitals of the six-column portico are unusual - instead of volutes, they have double ram's heads. The remains of the cornice testify to its high artistic quality: the clearly expressed tectonics of the elements was combined with the picturesqueness of the juicy floral ornament animated by chiaroscuro and the excellent quality of the marble carving. The mature perfection of the decor of these temples marked the flowering of August classicism.

By the 2nd half of the 1st c. the decor has lost its classical clarity of construction. In the adjacent to the temple of Concordia prostyle Temple of Vespasian(79), which obscured the stairs from the forum to the Capitol, the cornice modules, densely covered with floral motifs, drown in the ornament and are no longer perceived as load-bearing elements. The nature of the marble carving has also changed: the ornamentation is deeply carved, but flat, and a number of priestly items on the frieze are interpreted with dry naturalism (Fig. 42, 43).

From the 2nd half of the 1st c. in some temples, a departure from traditional forms is noticed. Two places of worship in the Pompeii Forum are unusual in plan (see p. 430. Plan of the Pompeii Forum). One of them is the temple of Vespasian, which did not have a portico and was divided into three parts - a vestibule with flat aedicules on the walls, the middle part and behind it - three service rooms. The middle part played the role of a pronaos, at the back wall of which there was an aedicule on a hill, replacing the cella (Fig. 44). Located next to the temple of Vespasian, Atrium of the city lararies, apparently reproduced on a large scale the construction of private lararies. It was open towards the forum, having an altar in the center, an apse along the main axis, and two rectangular exedra near the entrance.

46. ​​Pantheon. Facade

47. Pantheon. Longitudinal section, plan

A special place in Roman and world architecture was occupied Pantheon- the temple of "all gods", in the capital of the empire. The appearance of the Pantheon and its scale sharply distinguish it from the round peripters that preceded it (Fig. 45).

Most of the Roman temples-rotundas of the era of the empire were dedicated to the imperial cult. At the end of the 1st century BC. The first Pantheon was built by the architect Valery of Ostia by order of Agrippa. The surviving remains of it are insignificant. It probably had a round shape and was dedicated to all the gods, but first of all to Mars and Venus - the patrons of the imperial family of Julius. Apparently, the desire to preserve the continuity of traditions was one of the main reasons that forced the architect of the Pantheon (he was, in all likelihood, Apollodorus of Damascus, although it is believed that the authorship belongs to Emperor Hadrian) to give it a round shape. The Pantheon was built in 118-128, the later restorations of Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus and Caracalla did little to change its appearance. It was erected on the Champ de Mars, about the same distance from the city center as the Colosseum, and served as a kind of counterweight to it.

The building consists of three parts: a domed rotunda, a rectangular portico adjacent to it from the north, and a transitional element between them, having the height of the rotunda and the width of the portico (Fig. 46, 47). A staircase of five steps, equal in width, led to the portico. As excavations have shown, in front of the Pantheon there was a rectangular elongated paved courtyard, surrounded by porticos with propylaea on the axis of the temple portico and a triumphal arch in the center of the courtyard (Fig. 48). The giant rotunda has an internal diameter of 43.5 m and a spherical dome with a diameter of 43.2 m. The dome is larger than all such structures of antiquity, but also of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and modern times up to the 19th century. The Pantheon is the most monumental example of a domed building from the Roman era.

The development of dome building in Roman architecture was associated with the domed halls of the nymphs and thermae. The rotunda of the Baths of Mercury in Baiae (1st century AD), with a dome diameter exceeding 20 m, was in this respect the prototype of the Pantheon. But the domed halls of the thermae have always been part of the building complex, in the Pantheon, for the first time, a cylindrical domed volume of enormous size acquired independent significance.

The diameter of the rotunda is equal to its height, which is half the height of the building - the ratio recommended by Vitruvius (Fig. 48).

The rotunda rests on a circular foundation 7.3 m wide and 4.5 m deep. The spread of the dome determined the considerable thickness of the concrete wall with brick lining of 6.3 m (1/7 of the diameter of the rotunda), which is divided by large niches into eight giant pylons (Fig. 49). Eight main niches have a width of 8.9 m and a depth of 4.5 m with a thickness of their back walls of 1.8 m. The niches lighten the wall by 1/3 of its volume. In addition, eight pylons are divided by small voids (in the form of reverse closed niches) into 16 radial buttresses. This greatly lightened the volume of the wall and turned it into a rigid frame of 16 supports, alternating with thin sections of the wall.

Large niches are covered with powerful double curvature brick arches that connect the pylons to each other and create a continuous ring support for the dome. Smaller arches not only connect the larger ones, complementing the dome support system, but also unload the entablature of the order of the lower tier from the pressure of the mass of the dome. The system of arch structures also includes arches in the lower zone of the dome itself, the task of which is to transfer the pressure of the dome only to the pylons. Thanks to this, there is almost no inertial mass in the wall of the Pantheon. The wall is a multi-tiered arcade, the skillful construction of which ensured the excellent preservation of the monument in seismic conditions for millennia.

The dome is cast from horizontal layers of concrete reinforced with brick arches in the lower zone. Careful study of the structure of the dome refuted the misconception coming from Piranesi and repeated by Viollet le Duc, Choisy and others about the presence in the dome of the Pantheon of a frame of brick arches above the second row of caissons from the bottom *. The composition of the concrete varies depending on the height of the dome. In the lower parts of the dome, hard travertine chips served as a concrete filler, in the upper parts - crumbs of tuff and light pumice. An important role is played by the caissons of the dome, cast simultaneously with it. Covering its surface in five rows to a height of 60 ° from the base, they leave a smooth space around a round window - an opion, the diameter of which is 8.92 m. Corresponding to a decrease in the circumference, the upper caissons are half the size of the lower ones. The caissons divide the surface of the dome and lighten it by about 1/6 of its weight, and their perspective reduction visually increases the height of the dome. In general, the design of the Pantheon can be characterized as a dome on an arcade.

* W. Macdonald. The architecture of the Roman Empire, New Haven, 1965, p. 105

The outer articulations of the rotunda are very simple: the lower horizontal protrusion reflects the boundary between the first and second tiers of the wall, and the second one marks the beginning of the dome, i.e. boundary between load-bearing and non-bearing parts of the structure. The wall in the lower part was probably lined with marble, and in the upper part it was plastered. The third protrusion corresponds to the transition from the annular wall around the base of the dome to seven stepped ledges loading the lower part of the vault (Fig. 50). The surface of the dome was covered with gilded tiles.

Inside the building is divided into four rectangular and three semicircular niches. Against the middle semicircular niche there is a cut of the entrance arch that repeats its outlines. The lower tier of the wall is 13 m high and is decorated with columns and pilasters of the Corinthian order (Fig. 51). The second tier is an attic with a height of 8.7 m, until the 18th century. dissected by pilasters of colored marble.

The interior of the Pantheon is dominated by the hemisphere of its grandiose dome. The impression of the unity of the spatial whole is enhanced by the balance between its vertical and horizontal dimensions. A single undivided space is covered by a powerful sphere, perceived as a symbolic image of the celestial sphere. Ancient authors directly write about this understanding of the overlap of the Pantheon. This is what determined the special role of the dome in the construction of the Pantheon, different from the role that the dome played in utilitarian buildings.

An important role belongs to the order system introduced into the first tier of the temple. The columns supporting the entablature cover huge niches and thus contribute to the creation of a single internal space of the Pantheon. Without them, it would have been fragmented, the scale would have changed and the grandeur of the inner space would not have been revealed. The belt of the attic, unraveled only above the niche opposite the entrance, forms an organic transition from the wall to the sphere. The attic tier is perceived as part of the dome, further emphasizing its role in the interior of the Pantheon.

The predominance of the dome does not mean that its mass put pressure on the person inside the temple. The architect sought to create the impression of lightness of the ceiling structure. This purpose, in addition to the caissons, was served by order divisions of the wall. Obviously not designed to carry the true mass of the dome, they nevertheless gave the viewer the impression of the lightness of the sphere that rose above them. This was especially true of the small pilasters of the upper tier, which looked like a support for the dome.

A special role was assigned to a single light hole located in highest point domes of the Pantheon. The centrality of the room, its huge size, the brilliance of the column of light in the center and the twilight on the “periphery” of the rotunda not only created the impression of peace and concentration, but also made the worshiper in the temple perceive the sky and sunlight with a special feeling. The column of light pouring from the sky through the opion, around which the inner space of the Pantheon unfolds, is the real core of the composition (Fig. 52, 53). To understand how the Roman should have perceived such a decision of the internal space of the temple, one must remember that for him the supreme deity - Jupiter - was not so much an anthropomorphic creature as the vault of heaven itself.

	51. Order of the Pantheon. Corinthian order: a - entrance portico; b - the lower tier of the interior; in - the upper tier of the interior; g - pilasters of the entrance portico

The inner space of the Pantheon is huge and, as in any centric building, from any point of view (except the central one) it seems larger than it actually is: There are no corners, no straight horizontal lines, only a huge hemisphere and a uniform rhythm of columns, piers and niches. This does not look like the solution of the internal space of the temple, which is customary for a Roman. In the Pantheon, a fundamentally new solution was given to the sacred building, which fundamentally broke with the traditions of the ancient perception of the temple. An ordinary Greek and Roman temple is the house of a deity, access to which for an ordinary person is, if not prohibited, then difficult. Only the priest entered freely. All the rest were outside at the time of the religious ceremony. The architect of the Pantheon proposed a completely different solution. The worshiper was inside, he is covered on all sides by a space that is considered sacred. Here, a different, non-ancient understanding of the inner space of the temple already appears. The growing role of religion by the end of the ancient period, its new forms forced to rethink the architectural forms of the temple. The inward movement of the believer can be seen in many mystery cult temples. The principle here is the same, the difference is only in the size and shape of the space. Reflecting new trends in the development of religious ideology, the Pantheon became one of the prototypes of Christian centric churches of the Byzantine era, the most striking example of which is the Church of Sophia in Constantinople.

The entrance to the Pantheon is a portico, 14 m deep (Fig. 54). It is covered with a gable roof on bronze rafters, it is supported by 16 columns 1.5 m in diameter, 14 m high. Eight columns stand along the facade, the rest, arranged in a row of four each, divide the space of the portico into three parts. This division of the portico corresponds to the division of the facade of a rectangular ledge, which is a transitional element from the portico to the rotunda.

The entrance to the Pantheon is flanked by two large semicircular niches, in one of which stood a statue of Augustus, and in the other - Agrippa. In general, this is extremely reminiscent of the cell divisions of an ordinary Roman temple, but the central element here is turned into a passage. Naturally, the visitor had associations connecting the architectural elements of the Pantheon with familiar and familiar images. They forced him to perceive the very inner space of the Pantheon in a new way, to see in it an exorbitantly overgrown and redesigned cella of a traditional temple.

The introduction of the portico was intended to give an axial orientation to the centric building of the Pantheon. The search for Roman architects to solve this problem is illustrated by the republican temple B on Largo Argentina. The further development of these searches was reflected in the architecture of the Pantheon. That transitional element appeared here, which made it possible to push the portico forward.

Finally, the strongest frontal axial orientation was given to the temple by a colonnaded rectangular courtyard 110 m long, which preceded a relatively high and wide portico. All these architectural elements, which narrowed the field of view when approaching the Pantheon, masked the rotunda and tuned the visitor to the usual perception. The influence of architecture and sunlight was all the stronger: from the bright sun of the colonnaded courtyard, the visitor passed to the shading of the deep portico and the semi-darkness of the passage behind it, and then again suddenly to the sun and the spaciousness of the inner space of the Pantheon.

In the Pantheon, the engineering and architectural thought of ancient Rome found its highest expression, prepared by previous searches and discoveries of Roman architects (development of the rotunda, domes of large diameter, the application of traditional axial composition to a centric building). The Pantheon was the model followed by many later built rotundas. After 35 years, a smaller temple of this type (Zeus Asklepios) was being built in Pergamon. The influence of the Pantheon is most pronounced in Ostian rotunda(dome diameter 18.35 m) of the 3rd century, dedicated to the imperial cult (Fig. 55).

	57. Rome. Temple of Venus and Roma. Plan, side facade, longitudinal section

The outbreak of eclecticism under Hadrian was especially pronounced in architecture, which combined the features of Greek and Oriental architecture with the Roman constructive basis. In this regard, erected according to the project of the emperor himself, it is characteristic Temple of Venus and Roma(121-140) at the Roman Forum, criticized by Apollodorus for the disproportion of some of its parts (Fig. 56-58). Outwardly, it is a Greek-type peripter with an elongated cella volume. But the core of the structure is made up of two identical, typically Roman temples, touching by apses, one of which housed a statue of a seated Venus, the other - Roma. The stone walls of the temple were supported by wooden rafters spanning more than 20 meters of cella. Peripter Corinthian columns (10x20) - made of white Luna marble. This most grandiose of the temples of the empire (107x55 m) was placed on a high platform (120x145 m), along the long sides of which ran colonnades of gray granite with white marble capitals. The colonnades in the center formed propylaea. Stairs adjoined the ends of the podium: the front wide one was turned to the Sacred Road, and two narrow side ones - to the Colosseum. The remains of the temple survived in the rebuilding of Maxentius, which strengthened its Roman features, when the stone walls were replaced with concrete with marble cladding, and the wooden covering with coffered vaults. The interior, with colored marble inlaid floors, with sculptures in niches framed by aedicules on brackets, with huge statues of Venus and Roma in apses framed by porphyry columns, struck with grandeur and splendor. The temple of the goddesses - the patronesses of Rome and the imperial power, compared with the temples of the ancient Roman Forum, was striking in size and scope and clearly demonstrated the power achieved by the empire.

The idea of ​​​​the military domination of Rome over the contemporary world was the basis of the Adrianeum - Temple of Hadrian in Rome, completed around 149 (Fig. 59). The temple, using the type of peripter, but in its Roman version and with a vaulted roof, was decorated inside with relief figures representing the provinces subject to Rome. The arrangement of the reliefs uses an oriental technique: they are placed on pedestals of semi-columns dividing the walls, and the gaps in the podium between them are filled with military fittings.

The peculiarity of forgiveness Temple of Antoninus and Faustina in the Roman Forum(141 AD) was a relief frieze, in which gracefully outlined images of griffins, priestly vessels and garlands were repeated (Fig. 60).

By the 3rd century the construction of new temples in Rome almost ceased. At the beginning of the III century. was rebuilt Temple of Vesta and atrium of the Vestal Virgins in the Roman Forum (Fig. 61). The round peripter with Corinthian columns on separate pedestals acquired a characteristic appearance for the buildings of the Severan time with fuzzy contours of the frieze reliefs and shallow cutting of ornamentation. The expanded atrium included, in addition to the living rooms of the vestals, a number of utility rooms around the courtyard, decorated with fountains and statues.

Along with temples to the Roman gods and emperors in the capital and a number of other cities in Italy already in the 1st century. BC. there were temples to the eastern gods.

The image of the religious ceremony of Isis has been preserved on a fresco in Herculaneum (Fig. 62).

64. Pompeii. Temple of Isis, 1st c. AD Modern view, plan

In Rome in 43 BC. on the Champ de Mars was built Sanctuary of the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis, later rebuilt by Domitian. It was a semicircular enclosure surrounded by a portico, with an apse in the center and exedra on the sides, apparently preceded by a rectangular courtyard (Fig. 63). In Pompeii there was a temple of Isis - a kind of prostyle on a high podium with two exedra flanking the cella, a second - lateral - entrance to it and a transverse division of the interior (Fig. 64). The temple stood in the center of the peristyle fence, to the back wall of which two halls adjoined - for the initiation ceremony and for the common meals of believers - with paintings on Egyptian religious subjects. In front of the temple, to the left of the stairs, there was an altar and a reservoir with sacred water from the Nile, protected by an oriental temple with an entablature in the center, curved in the shape of an arch.

In the 1st century BC. in Rome, near Porta Maggiore, followers of one of the mystical cults built a three-nave underground basilica with an apse and vestibule (Fig. 65). The incorrect position of the pillars is caused by the unusual way the basilica was built. Deep trenches and wells filled with concrete were dug along the contour of the walls and pillars. The earth was used as a casting mold also in the construction of arches between pillars and cylindrical ceiling vaults. The interior of the basilica, then freed from the ground, illuminated by light from the vestibule, was covered with fine stucco decor and murals.

A special type of religious buildings were mitreums, which spread in the last centuries of the empire. Many mithraeums have been preserved in Rome, Ostia, Capua and other cities of Italy and the provinces. Mithraeums were underground sanctuaries of an elongated rectangular shape with a niche in the depth imitating a grotto and containing an image of Mitra killing a bull, with an altar in front of him and an elevation along the walls with beds for worshipers (mitreum in Serdika, modern Sofia, Fig. 66). Sometimes, as in the mithraeum of the terms of Caracalla, there was a pool in the center of the floor, where the blood of sacrificial animals flowed. The rites took place in darkness and by the light of torches and ended with a meal. The main center of the Mithraists of Rome was the mitreum of the imperial villa (II century), remarkable for its stucco reliefs and murals. It was excavated under the church of Santa Prisca on the Aventina.

The followers of Judaism built synagogues - buildings of the basilica type, usually three-aisled, with benches along the walls and a facade oriented towards Jerusalem. One of them has been preserved in Ostia (1st century AD, in the reconstruction of the 4th century).

In the 2nd half of the 3rd c. conditions were ripe in Roman religion for the replacement of polytheism by monotheism. The first attempt in this regard was made by the emperor Aurelian, who tried to introduce a single cult of the Sun into the empire. At this time, two temples of the Sun were built in the capital, both round periptera: one - in the Circus Maximus, the other - near the Flaminian Way, which came down in a sketch by Palladio (Fig. 67). The latter was placed in the center of a large rectangular courtyard, surrounded by a stone fence with exedra. The decorative details of the ensemble, apparently, were made by Syrian craftsmen.

In the last century of the empire in Italy, the construction of new temples almost stopped. This was caused both by the decline of the official religion and by the general catastrophic state of the state.

Religious architecture in the provinces, even deeply Romanized ones, was more closely associated than other types of buildings with local traditions. This is explained by the fact that submission to Rome had little effect on this area of ​​life, for Roman polytheism fully allowed the existence of each nation of its own gods. Of course, the introduction of the Romans and the founding of Roman cities was accompanied by the construction of Capitols, and in the worship of the inhabitants of the conquered regions to the Roman deities, their loyalty to Rome was expressed. But often the Romans themselves, who fell into one or another conquered area, also began to worship local deities in local temples. Ancient polytheism often led to the identification of local deities with Roman ones, and the syncretism that arose in this way sometimes gave rise to a mixture of Roman and local features in the architecture of temples.

Thanks to all these circumstances, the overall picture of the development of cult architecture in the provinces was rather variegated. Gaul is a typical example. The very strong Romanization of the province caused the construction of a large number of Roman temples (mainly pseudo-peripteres), the most striking example of which was the Mason carré in Nemause - a temple built in 20-19. BC. and later dedicated to Guy and Julius Caesar (Fig. 68). Another example of temples of this type is the temple of Augustus and Livia (originally the temple of Augustus and Roma) in Vienne, also dating from the August time. In addition to them, in Gaul there were many temples, in forms that had nothing to do with the Greco-Roman types. They found distribution throughout the empire, since they worshiped oriental deities who gained recognition both in Rome and in all the provinces. Finally, there were local forms of temples. These primarily include grandiose tower-shaped sanctuaries. A rotunda with an internal diameter of 21 m and a preserved height of 27 m, surrounded by a high portico and placed inside a peribolus, is the structure of a typical temple of this type (Vesunna, modern Perigueux, 2nd century AD). The dominant type was the round tower; temples that are square in plan are also less common (the so-called temple of Janus in Augustodun). Similar temples are known in Britain.

Another local type of temple was the so-called fana. This small temple was usually built in a forest and had a square cella with an entrance on the east side.

These temples are found in Gaul, Germany and Britain. Finally, there were temples that mixed local and Roman features.

The situation was similar in other provinces. So, in North Africa there were many typical Roman temples. The temple in Teveste (modern Tebesse, the beginning of the 3rd century AD, Fig. 69), is extremely close to the temple of Nemauz, but differs from it in a peculiar decorative treatment of the attic. In the architecture of some temples, not Roman, but eastern - Syro-Phoenician features were clearly visible. Such is the temple of Saturn (Baal) in Dugga (Fig. 70), which consisted of a luxurious vestibule, a peristyle courtyard and three rooms located in a row on its northern side. The cult was performed in the courtyard around the image of the deity, possibly in the form of a betil (conical stone). A peculiar combination of local and Roman features is demonstrated by the temple of Juno Celestis (Heavenly) in the same city (Fig. 70). The center of the sanctuary is a typical Roman Corinthian peripter in the middle of a semicircular peribolus.

The cult architecture of Roman Syria is peculiar; usually ant, prostyle or peripterial temples were built here, set in the back of the courtyard on a high podium with a staircase from the main facade alone. But inside, the place of the usual apse was occupied by an adyton in the form of a high podium. Among the Syrian temples stood out grandiose complexes in Baalbek (Heliopolis) and Palmyra (I-III centuries).

The grandiose ensemble of three temples - Big, Small and Round- occupied a large area in the western part Baalbek, near the intersection of two main highways (Fig. 71-73). The main one was big temple(53.3X94.4 m, see Fig. 71), which, together with the structures related to it, was erected according to the old Syrian tradition on an artificial platform (its height is 9 m). The height of the temple (about 40 m), the spatial scope of the ensemble and its orientation to the city center determined its dominance in the urban landscape.

A monumental staircase led up to the wide façade of the propylaea. The towers flanking a deep 12-column portico, the curvature of the entablature in the form of an arch over the extended middle span of the colonnade, the emphasized frontality of the propylaea - all this corresponded to the traditions of Syrian architecture. At the same time, the location along one axis of all parts of the complex - the propylaea, the hexagonal courtyard, the rectangular peristyle and the Great Temple itself - corresponded to the principle of axial symmetry adopted in Roman architecture. The centric space of the hexagonal courtyard served as a kind of transition from the frontally developed space of the propylaea to the space of the rectangular peristyle. The altar located along the axis of the peristyle and the elongated pools flanking it directed towards the Great Temple. However, in keeping with local tradition, setting the altar in the center temple complex and its grandiose dimensions conflicted with the axial composition of this ensemble. The large temple is badly damaged: out of 54 columns of its outer porticos, six have been preserved. However, the similarity of the layout of the Great and Small churches allows us to reconstruct the interior of the Great Temple.

Its peculiarity is the assimilation of the interior of the temple to the peristyle courtyard, which gives the impression of a kind of doubling of space. In the composition of the entire complex, the Great Temple was the final element, but at the same time, its interior space, as it were, repeated the ensemble as a whole in a reduced size. The monumental staircase of the temple was likened to the stairs of the propylaea, the portico of the facade - to the propylaea proper, the pronaos - to the space of a hexagonal courtyard, the naos resembled a peristyle, and in its depths, on a high podium, there was an adyton, designed as a miniature temple.

The unity of the various parts of the ensemble was emphasized by the same decorative technique - the division into two tiers of niches and aedicules filled with sculpture, almost all internal surfaces: the walls of the propylaea, the walls of numerous exedras that overlooked the porticos of the courtyards, and the walls of the temple. The order is interpreted in general in a Roman way, although with excessively high columns. It was combined with half-figures of bulls and lions in the relief decoration of the entablature. characteristic of oriental art.

small temple(34X68.5 m, apparently dedicated to Bacchus) repeated the same compositional and decorative motifs on a smaller scale (Fig. 76, 77). Its interesting feature was the introduction of a sculptural frieze into the interior, depicting scenes of the Dionysian cult. The frieze, placed on the podium of the adyton, seemed to lead to the statue of Bacchus, which stood in a niche in the depths of the adyton.

South of the Big and Small temples was the so-called round temple(its diameter is 9 m). A four-column portico, facing the center of the ensemble, obscured the cella and gave the centric temple a frontal axial orientation, which was favored by Roman architects. A rare originality of the appearance of the temple was revealed when walking around it. The deep unraveling of the podium and entablature created an alternation of protruding and receding parts of the portico. The arcuate parts of the porticoes receding to the viewer brought the niches of the cella closer to the viewer, highlighting them with a warrant frame and focusing attention on the statues placed in them. Thus, the architectural forms of the temple communicated to the movement of the viewer perceiving them an intermittent rhythm, different from the smooth movement around the usual rotunda.

78. Palmyra (Syria). Temple of Bel, I-III centuries. Reconstruction of the temple, plan, master plan, fragment of the courtyard colonnade	79. Temple of Bel. Modern look

Architecture is also marked by a combination of Roman and local features. Temple of Bel in Palmyra(I-III centuries AD, fig. 78, 79). Like the ensemble of the Great Temple in Baalbek, the sacred site of the Temple of Bel was located on an artificial platform (its size is 210 X 205 m) and was surrounded by a wall broken from the outside with pilasters and niches. In the II century. porticoes were built along the inner perimeter of the wall. The higher portico along the western wall, unlike the others, had only one row of columns. In front of the temple, as in Baalbek, there was an altar for sacrifice and a pool for ablution. Access to the sacred area was opened by propylaea (the width of their facade is 35 m) with a monumental staircase and a three-span entrance. They were located on the western side of the site, along the axis of the entrance to the temple.

The frontal nature of the composition, characteristic of Syrian architecture, was clearly manifested in the architecture of the Temple of Bel.

The temple of Belus (55.3X30.3m) is of the pseudodipter type, the capitals of the Corinthian columns of which were decorated with bronze acanthus leaves. It had an entrance not on the short, but on the long side, slightly shifted to the south from the transverse axis of the temple and decorated with a portal covered with a flat floral ornament. There were two adytons in the temple - at the northern and southern walls of the cella. In addition to the statue of Bel, statues of the gods of the sun and moon (Yargibol and Aglibol) were also placed in the niche of the southern wall in the cell of the temple, which, together with Bel, constituted the triad of the main deities of Syria. The images in the temple of the Roman type of seven planets, accompanied by the signs of the zodiac on the ceiling of the northern niche, testify to the strength of local religious traditions with their cosmic ideas. Unusually for a Roman temple, the presence of stairs in the corners of the cella, which led to rooms above the cult niches. Apparently, the stairs also had access to a flat roof, where square turrets rose above the Syrian crenellated attic, possibly serving for astronomical observations. In the details of the ornament, and especially in the reliefs of the temple, local motifs play a prominent role.

Due to the unusualness of architectural forms, the originality of the combination of Roman and Eastern features and monumentality, the ensembles of temples in Baalbek and Palmyra were an outstanding phenomenon in the architecture of the Roman Empire.

In the south of Syria, in the areas of settlement of the Nabatean tribes, temples were spread, ascending according to the principles of their structure to the Iranian temples of fire (for example, Khirbet-Tannur, Syria), built here since the Hellenistic time. The cella, square in plan, was divided inside by four columns, forming a square in plan, in the center of which an altar was placed. Northern Mesopotamia is characterized by the revival of the most ancient local forms of the sanctuary. So, the temples of Dura-Europos repeat the scheme of the Babylonian temple with its vast courtyard, around which a group of rooms is arranged. A similar process is taking place in Egypt.

The general direction of the evolution of the religious architecture of the empire was the gradual elimination of traditional Italian types of temples. Strengthening of Eastern cults in Italy already in the II century. led to an increase in the importance of the interior of the temple and to the assimilation of a number of oriental decorative forms and compositional techniques. By the end of the empire, the construction of Roman temples ceased, and in the provinces, local types of sanctuaries began to prevail over temples with mixed Roman and local features. From the 3rd century first implicitly, and then explicitly, there is a search for a type of temple for the growing new religion - Christianity.