204 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OK SCIENCE. [Marcll 27, 



March 27, 1893. 



stated meeting. 



Vice-President, Dr. M. L. Mallory, in the chair. 



A large audience present. 



The third lecture of the Popular Lecture Course was delivered 

 by Professor H. F. Burton, of the University of Rochester, 

 entitled : 



THE ARCHITECTURAL SPLENDOR OF ANCIENT ROME. 



The purpose of the lecture was to give an impression of the 

 grandeur of the ancient city of Rome at the time of its highest 

 development. Stereopticon views were shown representing various 

 buildings in Ancient Rome in their original form, so far as can be 

 ascertained. These representations were derived from the works of 

 eminent archjeologists, such as Canina, Piranesi, Biihlmann and 

 others. Among the objects represented were the walls and gates of 

 the city ; the Roman Forum ; the temples of the Capitoline hill ; the 

 palaces upon the Palatine ; the Fora of Julius Cresar, Augustus and 

 Trajan ; the Pantheon ; the theatre of Pompey ; the Colosseum ; the 

 Circus Maximus ; the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian ; and, finally, 

 the roadside tombs and the imperial Mausolea. 



The lecturer said in part : " It is difficult for us to conceive of 

 the magnificence of Rome for two reasons : because there exists no 

 modern city with which it can properly be compared, and because the 

 remains of Ancient Rome are so scanty, so bare and ugly, that to 

 the ordinary observer they suggest nothing but ruin and decay." 



" The beauty of the city of Rome was due to three causes, 

 namely : to its location, to the material used in its buildings, and to 

 the architectural skill employed in their construction." 



"The site of Rome had the advantage of great variety of eleva- 

 tion, presenting an alternation of steep hills and low lying valleys, of 

 level plains and gradual slopes. Its hills were crowded with palaces 

 and temples, and the observer who stood upon them beheld the city 

 itself, spread out like a map before him, and might look far down the 

 Tiber valley to the sea, or across the level country to the snow-capped 

 mountains." 



" 'I'he building materials used in Rome were at first rough 

 volcanic rock and limestone in huge blocks ; later, concrete faced 



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