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Tunnel Vault

Tunnel vault

In architecture, a barrel vault is an extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. It is the simplest form of vault; effectively a series of arches placed side by side. Barrel vaults are also known as tunnel vaults or wagon vaults. As with all arch-based construction, there is an outward thrust generated against the walls underneath a barrel vault. The walls will require buttressing or other mechanism to contain the thrust. One mechanism to resist the lateral thrust was to create an intersection of two barrel vaults at right angles to form a groin vault. Barrel vaults were used extensively in Roman architecture. They were also used to replace the Cloaca Maxima with a system of underground sewers.

References

- pp. 29 Category:Architectural elements

Vault

In architecture, a vault is an arched structure of masonry, forming a ceiling or canopy. Vaulting makes it possible to roof over a comparatively large space using bricks, stone blocks or concrete. Until the development of metal girders and trusses in the 19th century, the only alternative was to use long wooden rafters or long stone lintels — much simpler than vaulting; but cruder and more expensive as well, and ultimately limited by the length of wood or stone available. The Romans made an art form of the vault and it has remained popular ever since.

Types of vaulting through European history

Romans
- The most basic sort of vaulting is the Barrel vault (or tunnel vault). As its name suggests, it consists of a simple (usually semicircular) arch repeated longitudinally to form a tunnel. Although a barrel vault can successfully roof a wide hall, the difficulty is then lighting that hall — the vault cannot safely be pierced by more than the smallest of windows.
- A groin vault must be built where two barrel vaults intersect perpendicularly. Imagine two perpendicular barrel vaults built on the same square site; then mentally erase the redundant bits (i.e. the lower of the two vaults at each point). What will remain is as follows: an open square with no walls but merely a column in each of its four corners. A single arch connects each pair of neighboring arches, and another larger arch connects each pair of diagonally opposite corners. Each of four triangular quadrants formed by these two crossing arches is vaulted in what is roughly a barrel vault. If a set of parallel barrel vaults intersects with another, perpendicular set of barrel vaults, a grid of groin vaults will result. Roman baths were often built in just such an elaborate series of such groin vaults.
- After the fall of the Roman empire, few buildings large enough to require much in the way of vaulting were built for several centuries. In the early Romanesque period, a return to stone barrell vaults was seen for the first great cathedrals; their interiors were fairly dark. But with the reintroduction of the groin vault, more light could be brought into the buildings: instead of building groin vaults as the intersection of two barrell vaults, the master masons simply built one long line of groin vaults. Now two sides of each vault lay on the axis; but the other two transverse sides were left unattatched. Instead, they could be filled with windows. Durham Cathedral in the north of England is an excellent example of a Late Romanesque cathedral built with groin vaults. England
- Soon after this development, architectural taste in Europe swung in favor of the Gothic arch, which was pointed instead of rounded. Gothic cathedrals were built in the same manner, as a line of groin vaults; and as techniques improved, were more and more light-filled. The six principal arches of the vault (as described above) were generally more heavily built than the intervening spaces, and so the term rib vault is typically applied to these vaults. Looking upwards at a rib vault, one sees these six ribs serving as the 'skeleton' of the vault. (Technically speaking, this standard type of vault is called a quadripartite rib vault; with a slight variation, it became a Sexpartite rib vault which is divided by eight ribs into six parts.)
- Later Gothic architecture, particularly in England, saw even more elaborate vaults, such as Net vaults and Fan vaults. See Perpendicular Gothic.

Construction

The obvious way to construct a vault is by constructing scaffolding to hold up all the pieces. This is extremely expensive, however. Most classic vaults are self-supporting in construction, or built with jointures. In a self-supporting vault, the starting arches have to be built with scaffolding, but after that, the bricks or stone blocks interlock, permitting additions until the vault is complete. One of the easy ways to start an arch or construct a vault uses a "jointure", a beam or clamp with faces to grip the top blocks. Each time a block is added, the jointure is walked up to the next block on that side. The construction of jointures used to be a trade secret of masons. Some classic vaults are made to be constructed with jointures. There are several inexpensive ways to construct concrete vaults. One of the simplest (invented by Paolo Soleri) is to form or dig a mold in the earth, pour the concrete, and then remove the earth. This is extremely effective with unskilled labor, and produces beautiful, durable buildings. Another way (invented by Christopher Alexander) is to construct hollow pillars and an inner vault surface of flimsy, good-looking surfacing materials (pretty wood paneling or gypsum board). These also include the internal rebar, anchor studs, ducting, and piping. Then, these are filled with low density concrete, usually made with pumice or zeolite in place of silica gravel, and possibly with the addition of glass bottles (which are even lower density). The result is improvisable (the early stages are more like constructing a stage set than real construction), sturdy and attractive. Further, no wood, steel or other scarce materials are required for construction up to three stories tall.

Special cases

- corbel vaulting Category:Architectural elements ja:?????

Arch

An arch is a curved structure capable of spanning a space while supporting significant weight (e.g. a doorway in a stone wall). The arch was developed in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Egypt and Etruria. It was later refined in Ancient Rome. The arch became an important technique in cathedral building and is still used today in some modern structures as for example in bridges.

Technical aspects

The arch is significant because, in theory at least, it provides a structure which eliminates tensile stresses in spanning an open space. All the forces are resolved into compressive stresses. This is useful because several of the available building materials such as stone, cast iron and concrete can strongly resist compression but are very weak when tension, shear or torsional stress is applied to them. By using the arch configuration, significant spans can be achieved. This same principle holds when the force acting on the arch is not vertical such as in spanning a doorway, but horizontal, such as in arched retaining walls or dams. Even when using concrete, where the structure may be monolithic, the principle of the arch is used so as to benefit from the concrete's strength in resisting compressive stress. Where any other form of stress is raised, it has to be resisted by carefully placed reinforcement rods or fibres. (See Arch bridge.) The following gallery shows examples of arch forms displayed in roughly the order in which they were developed. Image:Treledsbåge.png|Triangular arch Image:Rundbåge.png|Round arch or Semi-circular arch Image:Segmentbåge.png|Segmental arch Image:Stigande båge.png|Unequal round arch or Rampant round arch Image:Lansettbåge.png|Lancet arch Image:Spetsbåge.png|Equilateral pointed arch Image:Skulderbåge.png|Shouldered flat arch Image:Trepassbåge.png|Three-foiled cusped arch Image:Hästskobåge.png|Horseshoe arch Image:Korgbåge.png|Three-centred arch Image:Ellipsbåge.png|Elliptical arch Image:Draperibåge.png|Inflexed arch Image:Kölbåge.png|Ogee arch Image:Karnisbåge.png|Reverse ogee arch Image:Tudorbåge.png|Tudor arch Image:Parabelbåge.png|Catenary or Parabolic arch Parabolic arch

Construction

An arch requires all of its elements to hold it together. This raises the interesting question of how an arch is actually constructed. One simple answer is to build a frame (historically, of wood) which exactly follows the form of the underside of the arch. This is known as a centre or centring. The voussoirs are laid on it until the arch is complete and self-supporting. For an arch higher than head height, scaffolding would in any case be required by the builders, so the scaffolding can be combined with the arch support. Occasionally arches would fall down when the frame was removed if construction or planning had been incorrect. (The A85 bridge at Dalmally, Scotland suffered this fate on its first attempt, in the 1940s).

History

Arches were used by the Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Assyrian civilizations for underground structures such as drains and vaults, but the ancient Romans were the first to use them widely above ground although it is thought that Romans learned it from the Etruscans. The so-called Roman arch is semicircular, and built from an odd number of arch bricks (in modern architectural parlance, these are called voussoirs). The capstone or keystone is the topmost stone in the arch. This shape is the simplest to build, but not the strongest. There is a tendency for the sides to bulge outwards, which must be counteracted by an added weight of masonry to push them inwards. The semicircular arch can be flattened to make an elliptical arch. The horseshoe arch is based on the semicircular arch, but its lower ends are extended further round the circle until they start to converge. It was used in Spanish Visigothic architecture, Islamic architecture and mudéjar architecture, as in the Great Mosque of Damascus and in later Moorish buildings. It was used for decoration rather than for strength. The semicircular arch was followed in Europe by the pointed Gothic arch or ogive, whose centreline more closely followed the forces of compression and which was therefore stronger. This design had been used by the Assyrians as early as 722 BC. The parabolic and catenary arches are now known to be the theoretically strongest forms. The arch was used in some bridges in China since the Song dynasty. Song dynasty design.]]

Other types

A dome is a three-dimensional application of the arch. Igloos are notable early structures making use of domes. A special form of the arch is the triumphal arch, usually built to celebrate a victory in war. The most famous example of this is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. Natural rock formations may also be referred to as 'arches'. These natural arches are formed by erosion rather than being carved or constructed by man. See Arches National Park for examples.

References

- pp. 27-8 Category:Architectural elements Category:Arch bridges ja:アーチ th:อาร์ช

Buttress

A buttress is a structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (sideways) forces arising out of the roof structures that lack adequate bracing. The word buttress, in a more general sense, means to support; one might buttress another person's arguments, for instance. By visual analogy, that which looks like a buttress may be called so; a projecting tree root at the base of the trunk, for example, may be referred to as a buttress. In architectural terms, there are at least five distinct types of buttress:
- Clasping buttresses support two walls as they meet at a corner by making some length of both walls at the corner thicker than the remainder of the wall.
- Angle buttresses, like clasping buttresses, support walls at the corner but in essence by building each wall out beyond the corner, so that in plan the corner in fact is a cross shape.
- Flying buttresses may be thought of as half or semi arches; the elevated end of the arch supports the wall and the lower end of the arch is mounted on foundations, or on pillars or other flying buttresses. Flying buttresses are especially common in medieval cathedral design.
- Set-back buttresses support walls near a corner but set back from it.
- Diagonal buttresses support walls at corners but are built diagonally out of the corner of the wall, so forming a 135° angle between the buttress and each wall. In the two pictures of the Palace of Westminster, to the right, the top image shows a buttress serving two functions; it buttresses the lower wall as an ordinary buttress; supports a flying buttress (only the top diagonal of which can be seen) which in turn supports the inset, higher of the two walls. The lower image shows no less than four different buttress designs; the two featured in the top image; diagonal buttresses around the base of the statue's plinth; a plain buttress to the far right of the picture. Flying buttresses deserve additional mention for the part they played in enabling Gothic cathedrals to be developed into massive and splendidly airy structures. The three elements key to the move from the older, smaller and thicker walled Norman architecture, were pointed arches, ribbed vaulted roofs and flying buttresses. All these worked together to enable the construction of roofs of widths and weights more than could be contemplated using hammer-beam roof constructions. Ribbed vaulted roofs are a form of arch extended across the floor-space to be roofed, subdivided by ribs (for instance from the four supporting pillars of a roof section) and coming together at a point, rather than continuing in a smooth semicircle as would a plan arch. Such roofs exert force down, but also out, laterally, away from their centre. These forces act on the top of the walls supporting the roof, pushing them apart; the flying buttress' design provides for an equal and opposite force to be imposed on the wall, thus keeping the wall in balance. This, firstly, enables the vaulted roof and, secondly, by externalising some of the structural elements of the wall, allows the wall so supported to be thinner, which in turn enables the development of large arched window sections to let in light and be filled by stained glass. stained glass The pier section of a flying buttresses - that part which rises vertically from the ground (or other support) is often taller than the flying end of the buttress. The additional height provides a deadweight pressing down on the pier, the function of which is to keep the line of force being opposed by the buttress within the line of the pier. The lateral force exerted by the roof travels down through the arched section of the buttress, and into the pier. Without the additional weight of the over-height pier the line of force would exit the pier at some point way above the ground, if it did so the pier would be unable to resist the force and so would collapse at that point. Combining the two force vectors, from the roof and from the deadweight, keeps the line of force within the masonry of the pier. In more modern buildings better internal bracing of structures arising out of a more well developed understanding of structural engineering diminishes the use of buttresses; however they are by no means obsolete and will continue to be found as integral parts of certain structures, not least in certain designs of free standing curtain walls and retaining walls. Category:Architectural elements

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. For several centuries, the Romans controlled the whole of Western Europe, as well as the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and some of the area surrounding the Black Sea. Black Sea]]

History

Monarchy

Black Sea The city of Rome grew from settlements on and around the Palatine Hill, approximately eighteen miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the river Tiber. At this location the Tiber has an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic and trade. In Roman legend, Rome was founded on 21 April 753 BC, by Romulus who, along with his brother Remus was suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over where their new city should be located. Romulus, whose name is said to have inspired Rome's name, was the first of seven Kings of Rome, the last of whom, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed in 510 BC or 509 BC when the Roman Republic was established. The mythical or semi-mythical kings are (in chronological order): Romulus, Numa Pompilius (Good King Numa), Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud).

Republic

Tarquinius Superbus The Roman Republic was established around 509 BC, according to later writers such as Titus Livius (Livy), when the king was driven out, and a system based on annually elected magistrates was established in the monarchy's place. The most important were the two consuls, who between them exercised executive authority, but had to contend with the Senate, which grew in size and power with the establishment of the Republic. The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians but were later opened to plebeians. The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, mostly related Italic tribes (of Indo-European stock) such as the Samnites and Sabines, but also the Etruscans. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Tarentum, a major Greek colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 282 BC. The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic places. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Rome clashed with Carthage in the first two Punic wars. These wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests, of Sicily and Iberia, and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power. After defeating Macedon and the Seleucids in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the undisputed masters of the Mediterranean. Internal strife now became the greatest threat to the Republic. The Senate, jealous of its own power, repeatedly blocked important land reforms. An unintended consequence of Gaius Marius's military reforms was that soldiers often had more loyalty to their commander than to the city, and a powerful general, such as Marius or his rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla, could hold the city and Senate to ransom. In the mid-1st century BC three men, Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, formed a secret pact (the First Triumvirate) to control the Republic. After the conquest of Gaul a stand-off between Caesar and the Senate led to civil war, with Pompey leading the Senate's forces. Caesar emerged victorious and was made dictator for life. After Caesar's assassination a Second Triumvirate, consisting of Caesar's designated heir Octavian and his former supporters Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, took power, but its members soon descended into a struggle for dominance. Lepidus was exiled to Circeii after attempting to coerce the highest position in the government through empty threats against Rome. When Octavian defeated Antony and queen Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC he became the undisputed master of Rome. He assumed almost absolute power while retaining the pretence of Republican form of government. His designated successor, Tiberius, took power without bloodshed.

Empire

Tiberius, in AD 14, and in AD 117.]] After the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, the Empire was ruled by his relatives, the Julio-Claudian dynasty until the death of Nero in 69. The territorial expansion of the state continued and the empire remained secure despite some incompetent emperors. Their rule was followed by the Flavian dynasty. During the reign of the Five Good Emperors (AD 96-180) the Empire reached its zenith in terms of territory, economy and culture. The state was secure from both internal and external threats and the Pax Romana created prosperity. With the conquest of Dacia during the reign of Trajan the Empire saw the peak of its territorial expansion, at which point it covered 2.5 million square miles. The period between 180 and 235 was dominated by the rule of the Severan dynasty. The period saw some of the most incompetent rulers in the history of the Empire, Elagabalus being one of the most notorious ones. This and the increasing influence of the army to imperial succession were among the main reasons for a long period known as the Crisis of the 3rd Century. The crisis was ended by the competent rule of Diocletian, who in 293 divided the Empire into four parts ruled by two co-emperors, both aided by a junior emperor. This period is known as the Tetrarchy, and was the basis of the later East-West division of the Empire. The various co-rulers of the Empire competed and fought for supremacy for more than half a century. In 330 emperor Constantine I moved the capital to Byzantium. The empire was permanently divided into Eastern (Byzantine) and Western Empire in 364. The Western Empire was constantly harassed by barbarian invasions. In 410 the city of Rome itself was sacked. In 476 the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Having lasted for approximately 1200 years the rule of Rome in the West came to an end. The Empire survived in the East as the Byzantine Empire.

Causes for the downfall of the Empire

:Main article: Decline of the Roman Empire The study of the Decline of the Roman Empire is a classic field of study in History. There are numerous theories as to the main cause for the decline, many of which are not mutually exclusive.
- According to a classic theory presented by Edward Gibbon in his book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1788), Rome succumbed to barbarian invasions because of a loss of civic virtue among its citizens.
- Henri Pirenne published the "Pirenne Thesis" in the 1920s which holds that the Empire continued, in some form, up until the the Arab conquests, which disrupted trade routes, and thereby the European economy.
- A theory pioneered by Peter Brown maintains that the Empire never "fell", but transformed in a gradual process into medieval Europe.
- Historians such as Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the Empire itself was a rotten system from its inception. The Romans had no budgetary system and relied on booty from conquered territories or on a pattern of taxation that bankrupted small-scale farmers. Financial needs continued to increase, but the means of meeting them steadily eroded.
- The historian Vegetius theorised and has recently been supported by Arther Ferrill that the Empire declined and as a result fell, due to a combination of increasing 'barbarization', as well as a surge in decadence and the following lethargy.
- Peter Turchin in War and Peace and War : The Life Cycles of Imperial Nations (2005) contends that empires, including Rome, fell because of inequalities within society resulting a lack of internal cooperation.

Legacy

Rome produced great generals, lawyers, and engineers, but no mathematicians or scientists and few artists of note. The legacy of Rome is primarily in the areas of language, law, warfare, and engineering.

Successor states

After the fall of the city of Rome and the Western Empire the state continued its existence as the Byzantine Empire, which is conventionally treated as a separate entity in history books. In addition, the Holy Roman Empire and Russia have claimed the "Roman" legacy after the fall of Constantinople (See Third Rome).

Military legacy

Before Rome, armies generally fought on the field of battle nature provided. The Romans built roads for troop movement, dug trenches, built seige engines, and introduced many other improvements in the art of war. It made them invincible, for a time. Generals today still study the Roman methods of waging war.

Linguistic legacy

One of the most enduring legacies of Rome is linguistic: Romance languages that evolved from Latin spoken in the Roman Empire are now spoken widely in Europe and Latin America, such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Moldovan amongst others. Although English is a Germanic language, many English words derive from Latin roots, either directly from Roman occupation or through intermediary successor languages such as French. Latin remains the official language of the Vatican City and is studied and understood by scholars around the world. However, fluent speech in Latin is very rare in present day. This is mainly due to the differences between Latin's reliance upon inflection of words and modern Romance languages' reliance upon syntax, in addition to lack of use.

Cultural legacy

The art of Rome borrows heavily from Greece -- the Romans themselves looked to the Greeks as their artistic superiors, and stole or copied more than they created. Virgil's Aneid, by common consent the greatest Roman literary work, borrowed or plagarized from Greek epics. Thus most of our cultural legacy from Rome is Greek culture passed on. The only generally recognized original Roman contribution to our culture is comic theater, which has given us not only A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum but also the Three Stooges. Another Roman artform will be revived only if our extreme sports eventually go so far as to include battles to the death.

Legal legacy

The Roman law formed the basis of most of the legal systems of Europe and her colonies for hundreds of years and has been the direct inspiration for the Senate of the United States and other modern nations. In the Byzantine Empire, the codes of Justinian preserved the codes of Roman law and formed the basis of legal practice in Greece even after the fall of the Byzantine empire. In the West, Justinian’s codes were forgotten, but rediscovered in the 11th century. From that time, scholars began to study the ancient Roman legal texts, especially in Bologna. Many provisions of Roman law were better suited to regulate complex economic transactions than the customary rules of that time. Therefore Roman law began to be re-introduced into legal practice. By the middle of the 16th century, the Roman law dominated the legal practice in most European countries. The practical application of Roman law came to an end when national codifications were made. In the course of the 19th century, many European states either adopted the French civil code model or drafted their own codes. In some parts of Germany, Roman law continued to be applied until late 19th century.

Religion

19th century] Main articles: Roman mythology, Roman religion

Early Roman Religion

Archaic Roman "mythology", at least concerning the gods, was made up not of narratives, but rather of interlocking and complex interrelations between and among gods and humans. Gods were not personified, unlike in Ancient Greece. Romans also believed that every person, place or thing had their own genius (such as "Lares Familiares" - the family guardian spirits). Therefore the early Roman cult could be described as polydaemonism instead of polytheism. The Romans distinguished two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the de novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see List of Di Indigetes). The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually in response to a specific crisis or need. At the head of the earliest pantheon were the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Their priests, or flamens, were senior to others. Later this triad was supplanted by the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. During the Roman republic there was a strict system of priestly offices, of which the Pontifex maximus was the most important. Flamens took care of the cults of various gods, while augurs were trusted with taking the auspices. The rex sacrorum, or "sacrificial king" took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings.

Late republic and the empire

As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became associated with Greek gods. Therefore Jupiter was perceived to be the same deity as Zeus. Mars was associated with Ares and Neptune with Poseidon. The Roman gods also assumed the attributes and myth of these Greek gods. The transference of the anthropomorphic qualities to Roman Gods, and the prevalence of Greek philosophy among well-educated Romans, brought about an increasing neglect of the old rites, and in the 1st century BC the religious importance of the old priestly offices declined rapidly, though their civic importance and political influence remained. Roman religion in the empire tended more and more to center on the imperial house, and several emperors were deified after their deaths.

Spread of Eastern Religions

Under the empire, numerous foreign cults grew popular, such as the worship of the Egyptian Isis and the Persian Mithras. Also, starting from the second century, Christianity began to spread in the Empire. Despite persecutions, Christianity steadily gained converts. It became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Constantine I. All cults except Christianity were prohibited in AD 391 by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.

Society

Classes

The free citizens of Rome were divided into two classes: patricians and plebeians. The patricians were the dominant social class, the plebeians much more numerous. Originally, only patricians could be elected to office. Intermarrying between the classes was forbidden and the patrician title could only be inherited, not earned. During the Roman Republic, a series of struggles led to increased rights for the plebeians, who were represented by tribunes. Tribunes had veto power over acts of the Senate. However, since voting was by tribes rather than by individuals, the vote of a plebeian never counted as much as the vote of a patrician. The patrician tribes voted first, and if they were united could attain a majority vote (by tribe) in which case the plebeian vote was not counted. Late in the Republic, the distinction between patricians and plebeians became less important, due to the rise of citizens whose power depended on wealth rather than family. Crassus, at one time the richest man in Rome, became council in spite of his plebeian birth. A new ruling class, the optimates, were those families, patrician or plebeian, who had produced a consul. The conservatives, led by Cicero, decried the power of the "upstarts" and spoke with contempt of anyone not born into the patrician class. A particular target of their wrath was Pompey, who dispite his great wealth, popularity, and military victories, was mocked for his crude manners and outlandish accent. During the empire, the class division fell into disuse and was largely forgotten. In the early Republic, citizens were also divided into classes according to the armament they could afford to buy for themselves for military service. The richest class was the equestrians or knights, who could afford a war horse. There were both patrician and plebeian equestrians. Later in the Republic, fixed amounts of wealth replaced military equipment as the basis of classification. Higher classes had more political power and prestige than lower classes. This system also lost its meaning after the abolition of the Republic. In the Late Republic, and under the Principate and emperors, Roman society was stratified according to wealth. The highest class was the Senatorial class, membership of which was maintained by the Censors and had a minimum property qualification of 1'000'000 Sesterces. It is worth noting that membership of the Senatorial class did not entail membership of the Senate. Members of the Senatorial class were prohibited from engaging directly in business and trade. They were permitted to receive an income from the possession of large agricultural estates. With a few exceptions, all political posts were filled with men from the Senatorial class. The second tier were the Equites. A through back to a military class of the Early Republic, membership of the Equites later required a property qualification of 400'000 Sesterces. Equites were allowed to engage in commerce and were often extremely wealthy. Petronius satirizes the wealth of the Equites class in the Satyricon. He descibes in details a sumptuous dinner party hosted by the disagreeable Knight Trimalchio. Certain political positions were filled by Equites: most notably under Principes, the head of the Praetorian Guard.

Family

The basic units of Roman society were households and families. Household included the head of the household (paterfamilias), his wife, children, and other relatives. In the upper classes slaves and servants were also part of the household. Romans certainly did not see the family as those of the suburban West do today - their family was more far reaching in definition. The head of the household had great power over those living with him: could force marriage and divorce, sell his children into slavery and possibly even had the right to kill family members (this has been recently disputed in academic circles). This particular manifestation of familial power was called "patria potestas", literally "fathers power". One interesting point of note is that wives did not always count as family, as they could choose to continue recognising their father's family as their true family, and not necessarily adopt their husband's family. Groups of related households formed a family (gens). Families were based on blood ties (or adoption), but were also political and economic alliances. Especially during the Roman Republic some powerful families, or Gentes Maiores came to dominate political life. Ancient Roman marriage was often regarded more as a financial and political alliance than as a romantic association, especially in the upper classes. Fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when they reached an age between twelve and fourteen. The husband was almost always older than the bride. While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower class women often married in their late teens or early twenties.

Economy

Ancient Roman marriage, a standardized silver coin (See also Roman currency).]] The early economy was largely dependent on slave labour, and slaves constituted around 20 percent of the population. A slave’s price was dependent on their skills, and a slave trained in medicine was equivalent to 50 agricultural slaves. In the later period, hired labour became more economical than slave ownership.

Finance

Although barter was common (and often used in tax collection) the monetary system was highly developed, with brass, bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the empire and beyond (some have been discovered in India). Before the 3rd Century BC, copper was traded by weight (in unmarked lumps) across Central Italy. The original copper coins (As) had a face value of a Roman pound of copper, but weighed less (according to Mommsen early coins weighed at most 312 g, but late second century BC As contained only 19 g of copper). Hence, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic value as metal; after Nero began debasing the silver Denarii, Mommsen estimated its legal value at one third greater than intrinsic (it was an offence to refuse payment in Denarii).

Trade

Horses were too expensive, and other pack animals too slow, for mass trade on the roman roads, which connected military posts (rather than markets) and were rarely designed for wheels. Therefore, there was little transport of commodities between Roman regions, until the rise of Roman maritime trade in the second century BC. During that period a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia, spanning the entire length of the Mediterranean. The agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the first century BC vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers who were unable to match the imported grain price. The volume of trade was so great that a single mound of cargo pottery vessel fragments is over forty metres high and a kilometre around.

Culture

Literature

Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics telling the early military history of Rome. As the republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history and tragedy.

Epic Poetry

Virgil represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His Aeneid was produced at the request of Maecenas and tells the story of flight of Aeneas from Troy and his settlement of the city that would become Rome. Lucretius, in his On the Nature of Things, attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. Some of his science seems remarkably modern, other ideas, especially his theory of light, are no longer accepted. Later Ovid produced his Metamorphoses, written in hexameter verse, the meter of epic, attempting a complete mythology from the creation of the earth to his own time. He unifies his subject matter through the theme of metamorphosis. It was noted in classical times that Ovid's work lacked the gravitas possessed by traditional epic poetry.

Shorter Poems

Catullus and his set of neoteric poets produced poetry following the Alexandrian model, which experimented with poetic forms challenging tradition. He was also the first Roman poet to produce love poetry, seemingly autobiographical, which depicts an affair with a woman called Lesbia. Under the Emperor Augustus, Horace continued the tradition of shorter poems, with his Odes and Epodes. Martial, writing under the Emperor Domitian, was a famed author of epigrams, poems which were often abusive and censured piblic figures.

Drama

The genre of satire was traditionally regarded as a Roman innovation and satiric plays were written by, among others, Juvenal. Some of the most popular plays of the early Republic were comedies, especially those of Terence, a freed Roman slave captured during the First Punic War.

Letters

A great deal of the literary work produced by Roman authors in the early Republic was political or satirical in nature. The rhetorical works of Cicero, in particular, were popular.

Visual arts

Most of the first styles of Roman painting came from the Etruscan influences. The Etruscan practice of painting for political reasons continued in Rome. In the 3rd century BC as the Romans contact with Greece continued Greek art was taken as booty from wars. The Greek art became popular with the Romans. Many landscapes from Greek artists decorated many of Roman houses. Although Greek influence was popular in Roman Paintings discoveries in Pompeii showed that Romans used a wide variety of styles for thier paintings. One of first roman style was known as "Incrustation", where interior walls of houses were painted like colored marble. Another style was to paint the interiors like open landscapes with higly detailed scenes of plants, animals, and buildings. Although the Romans acquired their artistic traditions from Greece, they also played a very important role in the development of art. The Romans created an atmosphere with an appreciation of the arts that allowed for the continuation of artistic development, inspiration, and ideas. Portrait sculpture during the period depited youthful and classical porportions. Later the sculptures were a mixture of realist and idealist. During the Antonine and Severan periods deeper cuts and drilling creded more ornate hair and beards. Advancements were made in relief sculptures and usually depicted in victories of the Romans.

Education

The goal of education in Rome was to make the students effective speakers. School started on March 24^th each year. Every school day started in early morning and continued throughout the afternoon. Originally, boys were taught to read and write by their father, or by educated slaves, usually of Greek origin. Village schools were also established. Later, around 200 BC, boys and some girls were sent to schools outside the home around age 6. Basic Roman education included reading, writing, and counting, and their materials consisted of scrolls and books. At age 13, students learned about Greek and Roman literature and grammar in school. At age 16, some students went on to rhetoric school. Poorer people did not go to school, but were usually taught by their parents because school was not free.

Architecture and technology

Construction technology and engineering

Roads

rhetoric to the Southern parts of Italy remains usable even today.]] The Romans primarily built roads for military purposes. They allowed the legions to be rapidly deployed in far reaches of the realm. However, their economic importance was also significant. At its largest extent the total length of the Roman road network was 85 000 km (53 000 miles). Way stations providing refreshments were maintained by the goverment at regular intervals along the roads. A separate system of changing stations for official and private couriers was also maintained. This allowed a dispatch to travel a maximum of 800 km (500 miles) in 24 hours by using a relay of horses. The roads were constructed by digging a pit along the length of the intended course, often to bedrock. The pit was first filled with rocks, gravel or sand and then a layer of concrete. Finally they were paved with polygonal rock slabs. Bridges were constructed over waterways. The roads were resistant to floods and other environmental hazards. After the fall of the Roman empire the roads were still usable and used for more than 1000 years.

Aqueducts

bedrock is a Roman aqueduct built in ca. 19 BC. It is one of France's top tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.]] The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water to cities and industrial sites. The city of Rome itself was supplied by eleven aqueducts with combined length of 350 km (260 miles). Most aqueducts were constructed below the surface with only small portions above ground supported by arches. The longest Roman aqueduct, 141 km (87 miles) in length, was built to supply the city of Carthage. Roman aqueducts were built to remarkably fine tolerances, and to a technological standard that was not to be equaled until modern times. Powered entirely by gravity, they transported very large amounts of water very efficiently. Sometimes, where depressions deeper than 50 m had to be crossed, inverted siphons were used to force water uphill.

Baths

The baths served hygienic, social and cultural functions. The baths contained three main facilities for bathing. After undressing in the apodyterium or changing room, Romans would proceed to the tepidarium or warm room. In the moderate dry heat of the tepidarium, some performed warm-up exercises and stretched while others oiled themselves or had slaves oil them. The tepidarium’s main purpose was to promote sweating to prepare for the next room, the caldarium or hot room. The caldarium, unlike the tepidarium, was extremely humid and hot. Temperatures in the caldarium could reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Many contained steam baths and a cold-water fountain known as the labrum. The last room was the frigidarium or cold room, which offered a cold bath for cooling off after the caldarium.

Government

Roman Kingdom

Initially Rome was ruled by elected kings. The exact nature of the King's power is uncertain. He may have held near-absolute power, or may also have been just the chief executive of the Senate and the people. At least in military matters, the King's authority (imperium) was probably absolute. He was also the head of the state religion. In addition to the authority of the King, there were three administrative assemblies. The Senate acted as an advisory body for the King. The Curiate Assembly could pass laws suggested by the King and may have provided advise on succession. The Comitia Calata was mainly an assembly of the people to witness certain acts and hear proclamations.

Roman Republic

The class struggles of the Roman Republic resulted in an unusual mixture of democracy and oligarchy. Roman laws traditionally could only be passed by a vote of the Popular assembly. Likewise candidates for public positions had to run for election by the people. The Roman Senate represented an oligarchic insitution, which acted as an advisory body and issued its desicions in Senatus Consulta. The Republic had no fixed bureaucracy and only collected war taxes. Private citizens aspiring to high office largely paid for public works. In order to prevent any citizen gaining too much power, new magistrates were elected annually and had to share power with a colleague. For example, under normal conditions the highest authority was held by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary dictator could be appointed. During the Republic, the administrative system was revised several times to comply with new demands. In the end, it proved inefficient for controlling the vastly expanded empire. This was one of the reasons for the birth of the Roman Empire.

Roman Empire

Central government

In the early Empire the pretence of a republican form of government was maintained and the emperor was portrayed as only a "first citizen". Initially the Senate retained a degree of influence. However, the rule of the emperors became increasingly autocratic and the Senate was reduced to an advisory body appointed by the emperor. The Roman Empire did not inherit a set bureaucracy from the Republic, since the Republic did not have any permanent governmental structures apart from the Senate. The Emperor appointed assistants and advisors, but the state lacked many institutions, such as centrally planned budget. This is cited by some historians as a significant reason for the Decline of the Roman Empire.

Local government

The territory of the Empire was divided into provinces. The number of provinces increased with time as new territories were conquered, but also as provinces were divided into smaller units to discourage rebellions by powerful local rulers . Initially the provinces were divided into imperial and senatorial provinces, depending on which institution had the right to select the governor. During the Tetrarchy, the provinces of the empire were divided into 12 dioceses, each headed by a praetor vicarius. The civilian and military authority were separated, with civilian matters still administred by the governor, but with military command transferred to a dux.

Senate

The Roman Senate was an advisory body consisting of some of the most influential citizens. In the Roman Republic, it held great authority (auctoritas in Latin), but no actual legislative power (imperium). However, as the senators were individually very influential, it was difficult to accomplish anything against the collective will of the Senate. In the Roman Republic the Censors chose new members for the Senate among the most accomplished citizens. They could also remove a senator from his office if he was found morally corrupt. Later, membership in the Senate followed from the election as a quaestor. In the Roman Empire, the Emperor appointed senators, although for much of the time of the Empire, elections were still held, and the results followed. However, this veil of democracy, created by Augustus at the beginning of the transformation from Republic to Empire, was deceiving. In reality, no one disliked by the Emperor could stand. Furthermore, when there was a competitive election, the Emperor would issue his opinion on who should be elected, usually sealing the outcome.

Military

The early Roman army was, like those of other contemporary city-states, a citizen force where the bulk of the troops fought as hoplites. The soldiers were required to supply their own arms and would return to civilian life once their service was ended. The first of the great army reformers, Camillus, reorganized the army to adopt manipular tactics and divided the infantry into three lines: hastati, principes and triarii. The middle class smallholders had traditionally been the backbone of the Roman army but, by the end of the 2nd century BC, the self-owning farmer had largely disappeared as a social class. Faced with acute manpower problems, Gaius Marius transformed the army into a fully professional force and accepted recruits from the lower classes. The last army reorganization came when Emperor Constantine I divided the army into a static defense force and a mobile field army. During the Late Empire, Rome also became increasingly dependent upon allied contingents, foederati.

External links

- [http://www.crystalinks.com/rome.html Ancient Rome info]
- [http://www.exovedate.com/ancient_timeline_one.html Ancient Roman History Timeline]
- [http://www.historylink101.com/ancient_rome.htm Ancient Rome pictures, art, and info] Link: [http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_intro.html The Private Life of the Romans by Harold Whetstone Johnston]

References

Ancient sources

# "Vitae Caesarum" by Suetonius, 2nd century # "Ab urbe condita" by Titus Livius, ca. AD 5 # [http://www.uvm.edu/~rrodgers/Frontinus.html "De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae"] by Sextus Julius Frontinus (On the water management of the city of Rome, translated by R. H. Rodgers, 2003, University of Vermont) (retrieved November 22, 2005)

Pre-20th century sources

# "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon, 1788

Modern sources

# "The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome" by Chris Scarre, Penguin Books 1995 # [http://www.forumromanum.org/life/johnston_intro.html "The Private Life of the Romans"] by Harold Whetstone Johnston, 1903 (retrieved November 13, 2005) # "The Punic Wars" by Nigel Bagnall, Thomas Dunne Books 1990 # "Rooman konsulit" ("The Consuls of Rome") by Pekka Tuomisto, Karisto 2002 # "War and Peace and War : The Life Cycles of Imperial Nations" by Peter Turchin, Pearson Education/PI Press (2005) # "Cäsar" by Christian Meier, Severin und Siedler 1982 (English translation "Caesar", HarperCollins Publishers 1995) # [http://www.waterhistory.org/histories/rome/ "Waterhistory.org"], website maintained by the ([http://www.iwha.net International Water History Association]) (retrieved November 22, 2005)
- ja:古代ローマ

Cloaca Maxima

The Cloaca Maxima was one of the world's earliest sewage systems. Constructed in ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous cities, it carried effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city. Tiber The name literally means Great Sewer. According to tradition it may have been initially constructed around 600 BC under the orders of the king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. This public work was largely achieved through the use of Etruscan engineers and large amounts of semi-forced labour from the poorer classes of Roman citizens. Although Livy describes it as being tunnelled out beneath Rome, he was writing a great deal after the event. From other writings and from the path that it takes, it seems more likely that it was originally an open drain, formed from streams from three of the neighbouring hills, that were channeled through the main Forum and then on to the Tiber. This open drain would then have been gradually built over, as building space within the city became more valuable. It is possible that both theories are correct, and certainly some of the lower parts of the system suggest that they would have been below ground level even at the time of the supposed construction. There were many branches off from the main sewer, but all seem to be 'official' drains that would have served public toilets, bath-houses and other public buildings. Private residences in Rome, even of the rich, would have relied on some sort of cess-pit arrangement for sewage. The Cloaca Maxima was well maintained throughout the life of the Roman Empire and there is evidence to suggest it was still working long after the traditional fall of the Western Empire. In 33 BC it is known to have received an inspection and overhaul from Agrippa, and archaeology reveals several building styles and material from various ages, suggesting that the systems received regular attention. In more recent times, the remaining passages have been connected to the modern-day sewage system, mainly to cope with problems of backwash from the river. The Cloaca Maxima was thought to be presided over by the goddess Cloacina. The Romans are recorded — the veracity of the accounts depending on the case — to have dragged the bodies of a number of people to the sewers rather than give them proper burial, among them the emperor Elagabalus and Saint Sebastian: the latter scene is the subject of a well-known artwork by Lodovico Carracci. The outfall of the Cloaca Maxima into the river Tiber is still visible today near the bridge Ponte Rotto, and near Ponte Palatino. There is a stairway going down to it visible next to the Basilica Julia at the Forum. (Some pictures [http://www.livius.org/a/italy/rome/cloaca/cloaca.html here], and [http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/Maecenas/rome/cloaca_maxima/ac991434.html here].) Some of it is also visible from the surface opposite the church of San Giorgio al Velabro.

External link

- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP
- /Cloaca_Maxima.html Cloaca Maxima: article in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome]
- [http://www.underome.com/eng/sub/165.php Pictures taken from inside the Cloaca Maxima] Category:Ancient Rome Category:Sewerage

Category:Architectural elements

This is a collection of terms that can be used to describe the physical parts of buildings but not
- terms for buildings as a whole (e.g. church, mansion)
- names for parts of building defined by their function (e.g. kitchen, nave)
- the names of styles of building or architectural movements (e.g. gothic, Bauhaus)
- building materials or method (e.g. thatch) Elements, Architectural

דנברוו

דגל דנמרק ידוע יותר בשם דנבּרוֹוּ (Dannebrog) שמשמעותו "הבד הדני". הדנברוו הוא אדום ובתוכו צלב לבן הנמתח לקצות הדגל; החלק האנכי של הצלב מוזח לכיוון העמוד. העיצוב בצורת צלב של הדגל הדני אומץ מאוחר יותר על-ידי מדינות נורדיות נוספות: שוודיה, נורווגיה, פינלנד ואיסלנד, וכן על-ידי שתי הטריטוריות האוטונומיות בסקנדינביה: איי פארו ואולנד. לפי המסורת הדנית העתיקה לא נוצר הדגל בידי אדם, אלא נפל מהשמיים בזמן הקרב ברוול (כיום טאלין שבאסטוניה) שנערך בשנת 1219. שורשו של הדגל הלטבי גם הוא בקרב זה, למרות שלא מופיע בו צלב. לפי ההסטוריונים, שורשיו האמיתיים של דגל דנמרק הם בכרזות שנישאו במסעות הצלב. הסמל הישן של ליבק (Lübeck) שבצפון גרמניה היה אדום וכלל צלב לבן. המלך הראשון של דנמרק, אריק מפומרניה, שלו היה דגל עם צלב לבן, היה גם מלך לובק. הצלב של הדנברוג דומה לצלב של השליח פליפוס. קטגוריה:דנמרק דנמרק, דגל ja:デンマークの国旗 ko:덴마크의 국기

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