ARCHITECTURE 



32.> 



ARCHITECTURE 



ceedingly heavy walls for its support, for 

 reasons which are explained in the article 

 BRIDGE, and made Roman works impressive for 

 their size rather than for their grace. 



The Pantheon, as rebuilt by the Emperor 

 Hadrian in the second century A. D., is an illus- 

 tration of both the Greek and the Etruscan 

 influence on Rome. From the outside it is 

 truly not a pleasing structure; the square, pil- 

 lared entrance does not accord with tho 

 massive circular walls. Inside, however, the 



in Constantinople, erected in the sixth century, 

 is typical. From the outside this huge pile of 

 brick is unattractive, but its interior, before 

 Turkish occupation in 1453, was probably the 

 most gorgeous in the world. Red, green and 

 black marble, precious stones, mosaics all 

 have a part in it, yet there is no confusion of 

 colors, for all are placed according to a defined 

 scheme. Much of the gracefulness of this 

 interior is due to the placing of the dome upon 

 square walls, a feat of construction unknown 



INTERIOR OF 



huge dome, over 140 feet in both diameter and 

 height, is striking. Other Roman edifices are 

 to 1.1 of and pictured under the headings COLOS- 

 SEUM; FORUM; AMPHITHEATER; AQUEDUCT; 

 ATKM.M; BASILICA; and BATHS AND BATHING. 



Rome. The fall of Rome was not the 

 fall of all things Roman. The Empire of the 

 Caesars had left its stamp upon the languages, 

 laws and religion of the Western world, and to 

 an even greater extent on its architecture. 

 Whnvvrr Roman soldiers went people learned 

 to build the arch, the vault and the dome. 



In the East, the mingling of Roman and 

 Oriental ideas produced a style known as 

 Byzantine, of which the church of Saint Sophia 



to the Romans. It was accomplished by means 

 of pcndentives, curving brackets of stone at 

 tin* corners, which, as may be -seen from th 

 accompanying illustration, formed an arch on 

 each of the four sides and carried the weight 

 of the dome to the corners. Saint Mark's, 

 Venice, another famous Byzantine church, re- 

 sembles Saint Sophia's in many respects. 



In the West early Christian churches were 

 formed in imitation of the basilicas or halls of 

 Roman residences. There was nearly always a 

 long room bordered with pillars; an aisle on 

 each side whose roof was lower than the cen- 

 tral roof and permitted a clerestory, or row of 

 windows, above it ; and an apse, or semicircular 



