The Forum Romanum under the Republic would seem to have served several purposes. The principal temples and important public buildings occupied sites round it, and up to the time of Julius Caesar there were shops on both sides: it was also used as a hippodrome and served for combats and other displays. Under the Empire, however, these were relegated to the amphitheatre and the theatre, markets were provided for elsewhere, and the forum became the chief centre for the temples, basilicas, courts of law and exchanges. But already in the time of Julius Caesar the Forum Romanum had become too small, and others were built by succeeding emperors. In order to find room for these, not only were numerous crowded sites cleared, but vast portions of the Quirinal hill were cut away to make place for them. The Fora added were those of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Nerva and Vespasian. Outside Rome, in provincial towns and in Africa and Syria, the Forum was generally built on the intersection of the two main streets, and was surrounded by porticoes, temples and civic monuments.
Colonnaded Streets.—We gather from some Roman authors that in early days the Campus Martius was laid out with porticoes. All these features have disappeared, but there are still some existing in Syria, North Africa and Asia Minor, which are known as colonnaded streets. The most important of these are found in Palmyra, where the street was 70 ft. wide with a central avenue open to the sky and side avenues roofed over with stone. The columns employed were of the Corinthian order, 31 ft. high, and formed a peristyle on each side of the street, which was nearly a mile in length. The triple archway in this street is still one of the finest examples of Roman architecture. At Gerasa, the colonnaded streets had columns of the Ionic order, the street being 1800 ft. long, with other streets at right angles to it; similar streets are found at Amman, Bosra, Kanawat, &c. At Pompeiopolis, in Asia Minor, are still many streets of columns, and in North Africa the French archaeologists have traced numerous others.
Temple Enclosures.—In Rome the great cost, and the difficulty of obtaining large sites, restricted the size of the enclosures of the temples; this was to a certain extent compensated for by the magnificence of the porticoes surrounding them. The most important was that built by Hadrian, measuring 480 ft. by 330 ft., to enclose the double temples of Venus and Rome. The portico of Octavia measures 400 ft. by 370 ft., enclosing two temples, and the portico of the Argonauts, which enclosed the temple of Neptune, was about 300 ft. square. These dimensions, however, are far exceeded by those of the enclosures in Syria and Asia Minor. The court of the temple of the Sun at Palmyra was raised on an artificial platform 16 ft. high, and measured 735 ft. by 725 ft., with an enclosure wall of 74 ft. on the west and 67 ft. high on the other three sides.
At Baalbek the platform was raised 25 ft. above the ground, the dimensions being 400 ft. wide and 900 ft. deep. At Damascus the enclosure of the temple of the Sun has been traced, and it extended to about 1000 ft. square. Similar enclosures are found at Gerasa, Amman and other Syrian towns. In Asia Minor, at Aizani the platform was 520 by 480 ft., raised about 20 ft., and in Africa the French have found the remains of similar enclosures.
Roman Temples.—The Romans, following the Etruscan custom, invariably raised their temples on a podium with a flight of steps on the main front. Their temples were not orientated, and being regarded more as monuments than religious structures occupied prominent sites facing the Forum or some great avenue. Much importance was attached to the entrance portico, which was deeper than those in Greek temples, and the peristyle when it existed was rarely carried round the back. On the other hand the cella exceeded in span those of the Greek temples, as the Roman, being acquainted with the principle of trussing timbers, could roof over wider spaces. The principal temples in Rome, of which remains still exist, are those of Fortuna Virilis, Mars Ultor, Castor, Neptune, Antoninus and Faustina, Concord, Vespasian, Saturn and portions of the double temples of Venus and Rome. At Pompeii are the temples of Jupiter and Apollo, at Cora the temple of Mercury, and in France, the Maison Carrée at Nîmes and the temple at Vienne. In Syria are the temples of Jupiter at Baalbek, of the Sun at Palmyra and Gerasa, and in Spalato the temple of Aesculapius.
Of circular temples the chief are the Pantheon at Rome, the temple of Vesta on the Forum, of Mater Matuta, so-called, on the Forum Boarium, the temple of Vesta at Tivoli, of Jupiter at Spalato and of Venus at Baalbek.
Of the rectangular temples the Maison Carrée at Nîmes is the most perfect example existing (fig. 26). It was built by Antoninus Pius, and dedicated to his adopted sons Lucius and Martius. This temple, 59 ft. by 117 ft., is of the Corinthian order, hexastyle, pseudoperipteral, with a portico three columns deep, and is raised on a podium 12 ft. high. The next best preserved example is the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, also of the Corinthian order, octastyle, peripteral, with a deep portico, and a cella richly decorated with three-quarter detached shafts of the Corinthian order.
Of the circular temples the Pantheon is the most remarkable. It was built by Hadrian, and consists of an immense rotunda 142 ft. in diameter, covered with a hemispherical dome 140 ft. high. Its walls are 20 ft. thick, and have alternately semicircular and rectangular recesses in them. In the centre of the dome is a circular opening 30 ft. in diameter open to the sky, the only source from which the light is obtained. The rotunda is preceded by a portico, originally built by Agrippa as the front of the rectangular temple erected by him, taken down and re-erected after the completion of the rotunda, with the omission of the two outer columns. In other words Agrippa’s portico was decastyle; the actual portico is octastyle.
Basilicas.—The earliest example of which remains exist is that of the Basilica Julia on the Forum, the complete plan of which is now exposed to view. It consisted of a central hall measuring 255 ft. by 60 ft., surrounded by a double aisle of arches carried on piers, which were covered with groined vaults. The Basilica Ulpia built by Trajan was similar in plan, but in the place of the piers were monolith columns, with Corinthian capitals carrying an entablature, with an upper storey forming a gallery round.
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| Fig. 26.—Elevation and plan of the Maison Carrée, Nîmes. |
The third great basilica, commenced by Maxentius and completed by Constantine, differs entirely from the two above mentioned. It followed the design and construction of the Tepidarium of the Roman thermae, and consisted of a hall 275 ft. long by 82 ft. wide and 114 ft. high, covered with an intersecting barrel vault with deep recesses on each side which communicated one with the other by arched openings and constituted the aisles.
Theatres.—The only example in Rome is the theatre of Marcellus, built by Augustus 13 B.C., and one of the purest examples of Roman architecture. Amongst the best preserved examples is the theatre of Orange in the south of France, the stage of which was 203 ft. long. In the theatre at Taormina in Sicily are still preserved some of the columns which decorated the rear wall of the stage. The theatre of Herodes Atticus at Athens (A.D. 160) retains portions of its enclosure walls and some of the marble seats. There are two theatres in Pompeii where the seats and the stage are in fair preservation. Other examples in Asia Minor are at Aizani, Side, Telmessus, Alinda, and in Syria at Amman, Gerasa, Shuhba and Beisan.
Amphitheatres.—The largest amphitheatre is that known as the Colosseum, commenced by Vespasian in A.D. 72, continued by Titus and dedicated by the latter in A.D. 80. This refers to the three lower
