How Did Greek Architecture Influence Roman Architecture

Let's begin with the arch. This was used by the Greeks long before the Romans, but it was utilized by the Romans in a more effective way. The arch was capable of sustaining a heavier load than a typical support due to its dispersing of weight over a wider distance.(Cartwright, 2013) Therefore, the arch enabled the Romans to build longer bridges and taller

Indo Europeans populated during 1500-1100 B.C.E. Latin’s populated and Greeks during 800 B.C.E. The Greek influenced Rome just like England and Greece influenced the U.S. The U.S fed off of Rome, which explains how we have buildings in Washington D.C with columns. The Greeks influenced Rome by sharing grapes and olives, alphabet and gave them languages to speak. The Etruscans influenced the most, they taught them how to build a proper city. Both Rome and the U.S were influenced in making an army.

World War I was a ghastly experience for the soldiers due to what they experienced during the war. Many of the Soldiers that were drafted in the war were young and fresh out of high-school. These young soldiers left their home, away from family and friends, to fight a war not knowing if they were going to return home. These young soldiers hardly had any training before being forced to fight a war and many had lost their lives. These young soldiers were finding themselves losing their youth and innocence during the war. For those who returned from the war they came back a different person. While the outside world was living carefree lives; these soldiers were living in monstrous horror.

Romans borrowed Greek gods and myths, the Greek alphabet, Greek literature, and Greek architecture and incorporated them into Roman culture.

Who were the Romans influenced by? The Romans were clearly heavily influenced by the Greeks. The Romans adopted the Greek style of architecture. For example they borrowed dome architecture from the Greeks, and improved upon it. The Romans also borrowed their intense use of columns from the Greeks. The Romans did not just borrow architecture from the Greeks, but they also heavily borrowed from Greek mythology, and philosophy. The Roman gods and the Greek gods are eerily similar; Jupiter and Zeus

The expanse of Rome required a vast network of roads to connect the empire to aid with speedy communications and troop movements. The combination of concrete in addition to the use of arches allowed the romans to build the bridges necessary to keep those roads connected. As its cities grew, so did the need for water for its residents and again the Romans turned to the combination of concrete and arches to build great aqueducts. (Kamm,

Rome and Greece were two extremely important and iconic ancient civilizations. They had some things in common, but they differed in most areas. With Rome being located in Italy, and Greece being so close they are often compared. From politics down to the culture that existed in these places, they differed in many ways, Rome and Greece had distinctive personalities, which was what made them both so unique in their own ways.

For example, in Ancient Rome, most of the buildings were build be using columns, therefore, the buildings were more reliable. In many of our buildings today you see this same columns used in buildings in our society today. For instance, “You can see the influence of Roman architecture in government buildings, large banks, and even some famous buildings like the United States Capitol Building (Ducksters).” A building that the Romans built that also takes a big part in our society today is the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built in the shape of a dome, and was built to honor every god the Romans worshipped.

Imagine you live in ancient Rome and your potable water source is forty miles away from where you live. How would you get the water for every day? The answer to this are the aqueducts. Why and how the Romans did this? The Roman did this because some of their cities were far away from the potable water source and the function of an aqueduct is to transport the water from the potable source to the city. The Romans brought the water from their sources using channels at ground level or building structures like bridges with channels at the top. They used the bridges in order to save uneven terrains. All this structures are called aqueducts. In Roman times all aqueducts functioned using gravity, which means they brought water from higher levels to lower levels.

Whereas Rome was divided into four different social systems: “Freedmen, Slaves, Plebeians, and Patricians” (Binns). In the Roman society, the women were not treated as insignificant individuals, as they were in Greece. Women were rather considered citizens, if they were not born into slavery, therefor they were not able to hold political offices or vote. They were both known for their architecture and contributions for some of today’s society’s buildings. The Greeks were responsible for incorporating three different types of architectural styles: Corinthian, Doric, and Ionic. Most of the Greek architecture inspired the Romans, who in turn adopted the Greek style however the incorporated arches and aqueducts into their buildings. Another architectural notation is that the Greeks chose to use statue figures to honor the human form, while Romans seemed to focus more on the actual technique and the building design. The Greeks used materials like wood, plaster, metals, and some marble to create their architecture. While the Romans did use some of the same materials as the Greeks, they were responsible for the new incorporation of concrete as a new building material, something the Greeks never had.

The Romans were fascinated with the Greek culture including their gods. In fact the Roman Supreme god Jupiter is just another name for the Greek god Zeus. Roman artists would create their own statues of the gods and carve their own myths into stone. For a short while, Roman and Greek art was really very similar. However as time passed Roman artists began to take a different approach; they began to make more lifelike images.

As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” however long it took to build the capital, the days, months, years, centuries of work can be viewed as a long lasting landmark which paved the way for new and challenging architecture to come (How Roman architecture influenced modern architecture [sa]). According to Tony Rook (2013: [sp] ch.2) the typical Roman temple shows the Etruscan tradition combined with the Greek one. Although some of their premature concepts were acquired from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, Roman architects transformed the body of architecture for all time to come, offering buildings and structures that has never been before, along the side of public buildings and infrastructure that could be used by

Roman arches are of great importance, not only to Rome but to the world as a whole. The arch was not invented by the Romans, as arches have been used in cultures far predating the Romans; however, the Romans did find a way to perfect the arch. Before the Romans, arches were used to support relatively small amounts of weight, such as in storerooms, these arches limited the scale of buildings they supported. The Romans however used arches to support immense amounts of weight. The reason for the arches newfound strength lies not with the shape of the arch, but within the material used to construct it. Through the invention of concrete, Romans were able to construct arches that would hold the weight of structures such as the aqueduct, which provided water to entire cities. Soon, several cultures adopted the Roman arch to support their own

Greek and Roman architecture is truly amazing. They each had great ideas, and fabulous productions. It is said that the Pantheon is to Italy what the Parthenon is to Greece. Both are tremendous monuments that reek of culture and history. Each had a purpose which was displayed by the design and construction of each. There are such great meanings behind each of these architecural structures. The Romans and the Greeks alike worshipped and dedicated their structures and designs to the Gods and Goddess they believed in.

The temples of the greek architecture is the most remaining example for the buildings types. It was also built to be an art of honor to their gods, they also have ornated these temples on the outside only. While the roman buildings still preserved nowdays due to the creative materials, such as concrete. They have many public spaces like bathhouses, amphitheaters which where for sporting events and aqueducts. Romans architects have ornated on both the inside and the outside. They also built many churches which it was originally a law court law. The romans have used many columns in their buildings that the greek architects used it also, but they added the dome and the arch.