Roman Architecture
Yale University
Acerca de este Curso
Roman Architecture is a course for people who love to travel and want to discover the power of architecture to shape politics, society, and culture.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
1
Section
Introduction to Roman Architecture
Roman urbanism and introduction to the wide variety of Roman buildings covered in the course.
4 videos (Total 43 min), 8 readings
4 videos
1.2 The Urban Grid and Public Architecture 14m
1.3 Bathing, Entertainment, and Housing in the Roman City 12m
1.4 Roman Tombs, Aqueducts, and the Lasting Impact of Roman Architecture 5m
8 readings
Welcome to the Course!10m
Syllabus10m
Glossary of Terms10m
Suggested Readings - "The Monument Lists"10m
Grading10m
Pre-Course Survey10m
Welcome to Week 110m
Lecture 1 Image Sources10m
It Takes a City: The Founding of Rome and the Beginnings of Urbanism in Italy
Evolution of Roman architecture from the Iron Age through the Late Republic with emphasis on city planning, wall building, and early Roman temple architecture.
5 videos (Total 75 min), 1 reading
5 videos
2.2 The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus 17m
2.3 Defensive Stone Walls and Regular Town Planning 17m
2.4 The Hellenization of Late Republican Temple Architecture 18m
2.5 The Advent of the Corinthian Order 11m
1 readings
Lecture 2 Image Sources10m
Technology and Revolution in Roman Architecture
The Revolution in Roman Architecture through the widespread adoption of opus caementicium (concrete) used for expressive as well as practical purposes.
5 videos (Total 70 min), 1 reading
5 videos
3.2 The First Experiments in Roman Concrete Construction 11m
3.3 Sanctuaries and the Expressive Potential of Roman Concrete Construction 16m
3.4 Innovations in Concrete at Rome: The Tabularium and The Theater of Marcellus15m
3.5 Concrete Transforms a Mountain at Palestrina 13m
1 readings
Lecture 3 Image Sources10m
2
Section
Civic Life interrupted: Nightmare and Destiny on August 24, A.D. 79
Civic, commercial, and religious buildings of Pompeii buried by the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and later rediscovered. Daily life in Pompeii is illustrated through its bakeries and fast food stands and a moving account dramatizes what happened when disaster struck.
6 videos (Total 72 min), 2 readings
6 videos
4.2 The Early Settlement and the Forum at Pompeii 10m
4.3 The Capitolium and Basilica of Pompeii 8m
4.4 Pompeii’s Entertainment District: The Amphitheater, Theater, and Music Hall15m
4.5 Bath Complexes at Pompeii 12m
4.6 Daily Life and the Eruption of Vesuvius 13m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 210m
Lecture 4 Image Sources10m
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Houses and Villas at Pompeii
Domestic architecture at Pompeii from its beginnings to the eruption of Vesuvius with emphasis on the development of the domus italica and the Hellenized domus and featuring the House of the Faun and Villa of the Mysteries.
6 videos (Total 76 min), 1 reading
6 videos
5.2 Early Pompeian Houses and the Ideal Hellenized Domus 9m
5.3 Hellenized Houses in Pompeii 13m
5.4 The House of the Faun 15m
5.5 Additional Pompeian Houses 12m
5.6 Villa of the Mysteries 9m
1 readings
Lecture 5 Image Sources10m
Habitats at Herculaneum and Early Roman Interior Decoration
What befell the city of Herculaneum’s inhabitants when they tried to escape Vesuvius. The development of the city’s domestic architecture, especially the Houses of the Mosaic Atrium and the Stags, is traced as is the evolution of First and Second Style Roman wall painting, the latter transforming the flat wall into a panoramic window.
6 videos (Total 73 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz
6 videos
6.2 Houses at Herculaneum and the Samnite House 7m
6.3 Further Developments in Domestic Architecture at Herculaneum: The House of the Mosaic Atrium and the House of the Stags 17m
6.4 First Style Roman Wall Painting14m
6.5 Second Style Roman Wall Painting 12m
6.6 Second Style Roman Wall Painting and the Family of Augustus8m
1 readings
Lecture 6 Image Sources10m
3
Section
Gilding the Lily: Painting Palaces and Villas in the First Century A.D.
Third Style Roman wall painting in villas belonging to elite patrons. Third Style painting is characterized by departure from perspectival vistas and return to a flat wall decorated with panel pictures and attenuated architectural elements. The Fourth Style is a compendium of all previous styles. Both coexist in Nero’s Domus Aurea.
6 videos (Total 74 min), 2 readings
6 videos
7.2 Transition from Second to Third Style at Oplontis 11m
7.3 The Mature Third Style at Boscotrecase 14m
7.4 A Third Style Garden and Fabullus Paints the Domus Aurea in Rome17m
7.5 Fourth Style Eclecticism and Display in Pompeii 12m
7.6 Scenographic Painting in Herculaneum 6m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 310m
Lecture 7 Image Sources10m
Exploring Special Subjects on Pompeian Walls
Painted renditions of special subjects inserted into Second through Fourth Style Roman wall paintings. These include mythological, landscape, genre, still life, and history painting, as well as painted portraiture. Highlights include the Dionysiac Mysteries paintings and the Riot in the Amphitheater, both from residences in Pompeii.
6 videos (Total 67 min), 1 reading
6 videos
8.2 A Mystical Marriage 17m
8.3 The God of Wine and His Brides10m
8.4 Conclusion to the Initiation Rites 7m
8.5 The Wanderings of Odysseus 13m
8.6 Genre, Historical, and Portrait Painting 10m
1 readings
Lecture 8 Image Sources10m
4
Section
From Brick to Marble: Augustus Assembles Rome
Transformation of Rome by Augustus. Claiming to have found Rome a city of brick and leaving it a city of marble, Augustus exploited marble quarries at Luna (modern Carrara) to build his Forum, decorating it with replicas of Greek caryatids associating his era with Periclean Athens. The contemporary Ara Pacis served as the Luna marble embodiment of Augustus’ new hegemonic empire.
7 videos (Total 75 min), 2 readings
7 videos
9.2 Julius Caesar, Venus Genetrix, and the Forum Iulium 12m
9.3 The Ascent of Augustus and Access to Italian Marble 12m
9.4 Augustus Assembles His Marble City 11m
9.5 The Forum of Augustus and Its Links to the Greek Past 8m
9.6 The Ara Pacis Augustae 12m
9.7 Mussolini, The Meier Museum, and a Jewel on Lungotevere 9m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 410m
Lecture 9 Image Sources10m
Accessing Afterlife: Tombs of Roman Aristocrats, Freedmen, and Slaves
Sepulchral architecture in Rome under Augustus. Roman tombs were built in a variety of personalized forms among them the pyramidal Tomb of the aristocrat Gaius Cestius, and the trapezoidal Tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces, probably a former slave who made his fortune overseeing the baking and public distribution of bread for the Roman army.
7 videos (Total 71 min), 1 reading
7 videos
10.2 Etruscan Antecedents of the Mausoleum of Augustus 8m
10.3 The Tomb of Caecilia Metella on the Via Appia 9m
10.4 The Pyramidal Tomb of Gaius Cestius 12m
10.5 The Tomb of the Baker Eurysaces and His Wife Atistia 8m
10.6 Atistia's Breadbasket and Eurysaces' Achievements9m
10.7 Tombs for Those of Modest Means and the Future of Concrete Architecture 11m
1 readings
Lecture 10 Image Sources10m
Notorious Nero and His Amazing Architectural Legacy
Architecture under the Julio-Claudian emperors: Tiberius' Villa Jovis on Capri, and, in Rome and at Portus, the eccentric architecture of Claudius with its unique combination of finished and rusticated masonry. The culminating masterwork is Nero’s Domus Aurea with its octagonal room, one of the most important rooms in the history of Roman architecture.
6 videos (Total 74 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz
6 videos
11.2 Caligula and the Underground Basilica in Rome 12m
11.3 Claudius and the Harbor at Portus 10m
11.4 Claudius' Porta Maggiore in Rome 7m
11.5 Nero and the Domus Transitoria in Rome13m
11.6 The Golden House of Nero and the Octagonal Room 12m
1 readings
Lecture 11 Image Sources10m
5
Section
The Creation of an Icon: The Colosseum and Contemporary Architecture in Rome
The Flavian dynasty of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. Vespasian linked himself to Divus Claudius by completing the Claudianum, distanced himself from Nero by destroying part of the Domus Aurea, filling in the artificial lake and replacing it with the Colosseum. Titus commissioned Rome's first preserved example of the "imperial bath type," characterized by grand scale, axiality, and symmetry.
6 videos (Total 72 min), 2 readings
6 videos
12.2 The Claudianum or The Temple of Divine Claudius 8m
12.3 The Colosseum: Icon of Rome 13m
12.4 The Colosseum as a Post-Antique Quarry 11m
12.5 The Forum or Templum Pacis 17m
12.6 The Imperial Baths of Titus 10m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 510m
Lecture 12 Image Sources10m
The Prince and the Palace: Human Made Divine on the Palatine Hill
The Domitianic Arch (and Tomb) of Titus celebrating the Flavian victory in the Jewish Wars; the Stadium of Domitian, its shape now preserved in Rome's Piazza Navona, the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill, designed by Rabirius and featuring Domitian as dominus et deus, and the Forum Transitorium, a narrow space with undulating columnar bays announcing the beginning of a "baroque" phase in Roman architecture. First Quiz is located here!
6 videos (Total 74 min), 1 reading
6 videos
13.2 The Arch of Titus: Triumph and Tomb 9m
13.3 Domitian's Succession and Stadium (The Piazza Navona) 9m
13.4 Domitian as Dominus et Deus in the Palatine Palace 13m
13.5 Rabirius' Architectural Innovations 15m
13.6 The Forum Transitorium and Incipient Baroque Architecture 11m
1 readings
Leture 13 Image Sources10m
6
Section
The Mother of All Forums: Civic Architecture in Rome under Trajan
Trajan’s monumental architecture in Rome references his expansion of the Roman Empire to its furthest reaches. Highlights include the Baths of Trajan and the Forum and Markets of Trajan, built on land that engineer/architect Apollodorus of Damascus created by cutting away part of the Quirinal Hill. The complex also includes the celebrated 125-foot Column of Trajan with a spiral frieze commemorating the emperor's military victories in Dacia.
6 videos (Total 72 min), 2 readings
6 videos
14.2 The Baths of Trajan 14m
14.3 The Forum of Trajan9m
14.4 The Basilica Ulpia 14m
14.5 The Column of Trajan 13m
14.6 The Markets of Trajan and The Succession of Hadrian 12m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 6!10m
Lecture 14 Image Sources10m
Rome and a Villa: Hadrian's Pantheon and Tivoli Retreat
Architecture in and around Rome during Hadrian’s reign: the Temple of Venus and Roma possibly designed by Hadrian; the Pantheon, combining the marble porch and pediment of a traditional Greco-Roman temple with a vast concrete cylindrical drum, hemispherical dome, central oculus, and theatrical light effects; the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, where the emperor recreated buildings and works of art observed during his empire-wide travels; and the Mausoleum of Hadrian (Castel Sant'Angelo).
5 videos (Total 73 min), 1 reading
5 videos
15.2 The Pantheon: A Temple to All the Gods 14m
15.3 The Pantheon and Its Impact on Later Architecture 17m
15.4 Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli: Travelogue and Retreat8m
15.5 Unique Designs at Hadrian's Villa and the Castel Sant' Angelo in Rome17m
1 readings
Lecture 15 Image Sources10m
The Roman Way of Life and Death at Ostia, The Port of Rome
Tour of Ostia, characterized by multi-storied residential buildings and widespread use of brick-faced concrete. The city's public face features the Forum, Capitolium, Theater, and Piazzale delle Corporazioni with its black-and-white mosaic shipping company advertisements. The Insula of Diana, a four-floor brick apartment building, and warehouses like the Horrea Epagathiana highlight the Ostian appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of exposed brick facing.
7 videos (Total 76 min), 2 readings, 2 quizzes
7 videos
16.2 Civic Architecture in Ostia 10m
16.3 Transacting Business at the Piazzale delle Corporazioni13m
16.4 Residential Architecture at Ostia: The Insulae 12m
16.5 The Warehouses of Ostia 6m
16.6 Painted Decoration and Mosaic Floors 8m
16.7 Re-emergence of the Domus at Ostia and Tombs at Isola Sacra 11m
2 readings
Preparing for the Roman Architecture Mastery Quiz10m
Lecture 16 Image Sources10m
1 practice exercises
Mastery Quiz 120m
7
Section
Bigger is Better: The Baths of Caracalla and Other Second-and Third-Century Buildings in Rome
Exploration of a "bigger is better" philosophy; exposed brick tombs with painted stucco and architectural elements; the Temple of Divine Antoninus Pius and Faustina and its post-antique afterlife as the Church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda; the earliest surviving triple-bayed Arch of Septimius Severus in the Roman Forum; the Septizodium, a lively baroque-style façade for Domitian's Palace on the Palatine Hill; and the colossal Baths of Caracalla
6 videos (Total 76 min), 2 readings
6 videos
17.2 Second-Century Tomb Interiors in Rome6m
17.3 The Tomb Of the Caetennii in the Vatican Cemetery 11m
17.4 The Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder in the Roman Forum 9m
17.5 The New Severan Dynasty and The Parthian Arch in the Roman Forum 15m
17.6 Biggest Is Best: The Baths of Caracalla in Rome 13m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 710m
Lecture 17 Image Sources10m
Hometown Boy: Honoring an Emperor's Roots in Roman North Africa
Timgad, Trajan’s colony for Roman army veterans, was designed as a castrum; Leptis Magna, with Carthaginian roots, was developed first under Augustus. Leptis-born Septimius Severus renovated his hometown featuring a forum, basilica, and arch. Entrepreneurs, providing animals to Rome's amphitheaters, commissioned Hunting Baths with intimate vaulted spaces revealed on the outside and silhouetted against the sea, suggesting that they knew how to innovate and enjoy life.
5 videos (Total 73 min), 1 reading
5 videos
18.2 Leptis Magna in the Age of Augustus 14m
18.3 The Augustan Theater and the Hadrianic Baths at Leptis Magna 14m
18.4 Septimius Severus Sheathes Leptis in Imported Marble 14m
18.5 The Severan Temple and Basilica, the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the Unique Hunting Baths 13m
1 readings
Lecture 18 Image Sources10m
Baroque Extravaganzas: Rock Tombs, Fountains, and Sanctuaries in Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya
The baroque phenomenon in ancient Roman architecture where the traditional vocabulary of architecture (columns, pediments, et al) is manipulated to enliven building façades and inject them with dynamic motion. Appearing in Rome in the late first century A.D., baroque architecture was foremost in the Greek East where high-quality marble and expert marble carvers made it the architectural mode of choice. It foreshadowed Borromini’s showpieces of seventeenth-century Rome.
6 videos (Total 73 min), 1 reading
6 videos
19.2 Exploring Baroque Elements in Italy 11m
19.3 Baroque Facadism at Petra 17m
19.4 The Baroque in Ancient Asia Minor 13m
19.5 The Theater at Sabratha, North Africa 4m
19.6 The Temples of Jupiter, Bacchus, and Venus in Baalbek, Lebanon 13m
1 readings
Lecture 19 Image Sources10m
8
Section
Roman Wine in Greek Bottles: The Rebirth of Athens
The rebirth of Athens under Rome’s foremost philhellenic emperors, Augustus and Hadrian. High quality Greek marble and expert Greek stone carvers produced notable edifices in Roman Greece dependent on a mutual exchange of architectural ideas and motifs between Rome and Athens. These include the Monument of Philopappos, the Library and Arch of Hadrian, and architectural additions or transformations made to the Acropolis and the Greek and Roman Agoras.
6 videos (Total 76 min), 2 readings
6 videos
20.2 Augustus and the Athenian Acropolis11m
20.3 Agrippa's Building Program in Athens 16m
20.4 The Roman Agora and the Tower of the Winds 9m
20.5 Architecture in Athens under Hadrian 12m
20.6 The Monument of Philopappos on the Mouseion Hill 12m
2 readings
Welcome to Week 810m
Lecture 20 Image Sources10m
Making Mini Romes on the Western Frontier
Romanization was meant to provide amenities to Rome’s new colonies while, at the same time, transforming them into miniature versions of Rome. The focus here is on western frontier sites in what are now North Italy, France, Spain, and Croatia. Highlights include: the Theater at Orange, the Maison Carrée and the Pont-du-Gard at Nîmes, and the Trophy of Augustus at La Turbie.
6 videos (Total 74 min), 1 reading
6 videos
21.2 Urban Planning in North Italy and the South of France 10m
21.3 Augustan Temples at Vienne and Nimes11m
21.4 The Pont du Gard and the Aqueduct at Segovia 15m
21.5 Augustus' Pacification of the Alpine Tribes and his Trophy at La Turbie 14m
21.6 Funerary and Commemorative Architecture12m
1 readings
Lecture 21 Image Sources10m
9
Section
Rome Redux: The Tetrarchic Renaissance
Except for the Aurelian Walls, Rome’s third century was an "architectural wasteland.” Diocletian created a new form of government called the Tetrarchy (four-man rule) with leaders in East and West. Public and private building campaigns in Rome and the provinces reflected the Empire's renewed stability and centered on enhancing or restoring buildings in the Roman Forum and constructing the Baths of Diocletian in Rome and Diocletian’s Palace at Split.
7 videos (Total 74 min), 3 readings, 1 quiz
7 videos
22.2 The Rise of the Tetrarchy 6m
22.3 The Decennial or Five-Column Monument in the Roman Forum 10m
22.4 The Senate House or Curia Julia 9m
22.5 The Baths of Diocletian 9m
22.6 The Palace of Diocletian at Split 9m
22.7 Tetrarchic Palaces Around the Empire 16m
3 readings
Welcome to Week 910m
Preparing for the Roman Architecture Mastery Quiz10m
Lecture 22 Image Sources10m
1 practice exercises
Mastery Quiz 220m
Rome of Constantine and a New Rome
Constantine commissioned buildings linked to the pagan past (Baths of Constantine) and others (Aula Palatina,Trier) looking to the Christian future. New architectural ideas abound. The "Temple of Minerva Medica" is decagonal and the Basilica Nova modeled on the frigidaria of Roman imperial baths. The Arch of Constantine commemorates Constantine's victory at the Milvian Bridge and serves as a compendium of Constantine's accomplishments matching those of “good” second-century Roman emperors.
6 videos (Total 76 min), 2 readings
6 videos
23.2 The Baths of Constantine in Rome and the Porta Nigra at Trier 11m
23.3 The Basilica or Aula Palatina at Trier 7m
23.4 The Temple of Minerva Medica in Rome 8m
23.5 The Basilica Nova in Rome 17m
23.6 The Arch of Constantine and the Enduring Impact of Roman Architecture 15m
2 readings
Post-Course Survey10m
Lecture 23 Image Sources10m
4.9
Top Reviews
By V•Apr 18th 2017
Excelente Curso!! El contenido y la forma de explicar de la maestra Diana lo hace más interesante. Excelente profesora, me transmite ese amor por Roma y sobretodo por ir a visitar Pompeya.
By GO•Nov 3rd 2017
The course is wonderful! Professor Kleiner can take us on a journey into the past and teach beautifully about the fascinating history of Roman Architecture. I recommend it to everyone!
Instructor
Diana E.E. Kleiner
Dunham Professor of History of Art and Classics at Yale UniversityAbout Yale University
For more than 300 years, Yale University has inspired the minds that inspire the world. Based in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale brings people and ideas together for positive impact around the globe. A research university that focuses on students and encourages learning as an essential way of life, Yale is a place for connection, creativity, and innovation among cultures and across disciplines.
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