All about Imperial Rome
Introduction
Rome was founded by Romulo and his brother Row in him in 753.C by a group of villages next to the Tiber River. The imperial era covers since the 1st century.C. to the s.V. During this time the Roman society was transformed in order to include those people from the different parts of the empire. About the year 300 had a population of about 700.000 inhabitants.
The city was walled, and the inhabitants and visitors accessed through open doors on the wall that Aureliano had ordered to build in the year 271 D.C. To protect the capital of barbarian incursions. One of the most frequented was the ostiensis holder that communicated directly with Ostia, the commercial river port.
Developing
The Roman city was structured around two large roads, the cardus (from north to south) and the decumanus (from east to west), with the forum in the center. From there a grid of streets that crossed perpendicularly. In this particular case, the Decumanus was called the Sacra Way. This passed through the center of Rome, between the Capitol, the Forum and the Colosseum and was part of the traditional Roman triumph that began on the outskirts of the city and continued through the Roman forum.
The Rome forum was the city’s core. As today was where commerce, business, prostitution, religion and administration of justice took place. In it were the following main buildings
Roman society, like many other societies was based on inequality and religion was very marked. The classes that distinguished were five. First the patricians, being the first families settled in Rome, who had slaves and directed the life of the city of Rome. Then the commoners, which constituted most of the population. Slaves, being the prisoners of war made the worst jobs for free. Customers were foreigners or poor refugees who were subject to a patrician, and finally were the releases. The woman’s situation was different if it was rich or poorer. In rich families, women had to obey and had no other job than spin and knit. In addition, for the Romans the most serious crime was to commit adultery. On the other hand, Slavic women were considered objects and had to do what their owner ordered them.
In Rome, the constructions were designed to serve and not to beautify. In addition, new materials, such as concrete, brick and the traditional marble of Greek architecture are used.
This city is composed of a series of equal modules, distributed in orderly and separated by streets. Between all they form a rectangular design set that is surrounded by a wall with surveillance towers. All the streets are the same, except two: the one that goes from north to south, called Kardo Maximus, and the one that goes from east to the west, known as Decumanus, which are wider and end in the only four doors that theWall. At the crossroads of these two streets, the city forum and the market are located.
With these modules, public buildings are designed. On the one hand the amphitheater, which has two modules long and one and a half wide. Also the theater, having a module. On the other hand the market, with a module and finally, the set of the forum, with two modules.
These urban norms are developed for almost 10 centuries, creating the different cities. Within the cities, the types of housing were divided into: house, domus, the insula and the village. There were also the houses or houses of slaves and lower classes, which for their construction systems, today have disappeared. In addition, large community buildings such as basilicas, hot springs and important sociocultural and religious sets called forums appeared.
Most significant and type constructions. (Civil or religious)
- Roman Forum: Civil
- Colosseum: civil
- Constantine arc: civilian
- Trajan column: religious
- Pantheon of Agrippa: Civil/ Religious
- Termas de Caracalla: Civil
- Venus Temple: Religious
- Catacumbas: religious
- Marcelo Theater: Civil
- Maximum circus: civilian
Description of the constructions and use that occurs in those spaces.
1. The Roman forum: it is the central area of the city, where the entire citizen life in ancient Rome was developed: politics, justice, commerce, social life and the cult of the gods. It was the square where the public buildings were, where the deals were closed, where the meetings took place and where people protested. In the back of the Basilica of Emilia, there is the Curia of Rome, a building that fulfilled political functions and in which the characters of the Senate met to discuss issues of the government and the monetary administration of the Roman Empire. In front of the Roman curia is Romulo’s grave, being a very important element. Here, there were the marble slabs that covered the entire Plaza of the Roman Forum, where the politicians of the Empire met and around this square the most important monuments and temples of Rome were grouped together. In addition, there was a basilica, the Julia Basilica, which was the one that dominated the entire right part of the forum square.
- The Colosseum: its original name is Flavio Anfitheater and is the largest in the Empire. He was declared a World Heritage by UNESCO and also chosen as one of the seven wonders of the world. The Colosseum was a scenario for great social events (animal struggles and gladiators, theatrical performances and even naval battles) that gathered Romans from all social classes, but that yes, differentiated. It had an oval shape, with a height of forty -eight meters, eighty rows of bleachers that were accessed by eighty numbered doors. In its construction, seventy thousand tons of stone of light and luminous tones were used, joined by three hundred tons of iron. Finally, there was a system that allowed protecting itself from the sun.
- The arc of Constantine: it is one of the best known monuments in Rome. It is located between the coliseum and the palatino hill. Constantino ordered to build his triumph arc to celebrate his arrival to absolute power after beating Majencio in the battle of the Milvio bridge. I take as a model the arch of Septimio Severo. The marble and brick were combined in the attic, there was relief on the outside and measured twenty -one meters high. At a certain height from the ground there is a door through which a ladder is accessed.
- The Trajano column: It is a commemorative monument. Not only served to beautify, but to tell two battles. It is located in the Trajano forum (north of the Roman forum). The column consists of eighteen marble blocks of Carrara, each of which weighs about forty tons and has a diameter of about four meters. The complete sculptural frieze measures about two hundred meters and gives twenty -three times the return to the column. Inside this (it is hollow), a snail staircase of one hundred eighty -five steps allows access to a viewpoint in its upper part. Originally the column was topped with the statue of a bird, and later a statue of Trajan himself was placed instead. In 1588 and by order of Pope Sixto V, it was replaced by a statue of San Pedro, which is still preserved.
As for the reliefs of this, the victories of Trajano against the Dacios are described. From the inside to half of the column, the first of the battles is narrated, while half of the column to the end of it, the second is narrated. In addition, between the illustration of one battle and another, the goddess Victoria is represented.
The Pantheon of Agrippa: The Pantheon of Rome (or Pantheon of Agrippa) that we currently know was built in imperial era (123-125 d.C.) At the time of the Adriano Emperor, rebuilding a previous temple and that had been promoted by Agrippa (63-12 a.C.) But that suffered serious damage in the time of Augusto and Trajan. The Facade of the Pantheon of Agrippa has the form of an octástilo temple. What is in front, is composed of three rows of monolithic and smooth corinthon columns of Egyptian granite. Is attached to the circular part by an intermediate element as a parallelepiped.
The internal space is a single circular plant environment covered by a huge large hemispheric dome. The diameter is 43.44 m (150 Roman feet) which is the same dimension of its height.
conclusion
The cylindrical body has a thickness of about 6 meters. On this, the large hemispheric dome is supported. This is the largest dome in the world. The dome is made in an old concrete system composed of lime, pozolana, water and pedrisco. In construction, as we approach the cusp, we find always lighter materials. We pass from the initial travertine to the pumice stone.
An oculus, from the diameter of almost 9 meters constitutes the only light source of the large circular space. Inside the dome, we find five concentric rings with 28 artison boxes that on the one hand make the structure lighter and on the other hand they make it resistant forming a network of ribs. One of the most important factors of the pantheon of Rome: its relationship with light. It is she who creates the internal space. This relationship between space and light is a great discovery of Roman antiquity.
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