Architecture: Classic and Early ChristianSmith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)
History
Architecture: Classic and Early Christian
Smith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)
Architecture -- History; Church architecture
The survival of Etruscan habits is clearly seen in the construction of
Roman tombs, which existed in enormous numbers outside the gates of
the city. Merivale says: "The sepulchres of twenty generations lined
the sides of the high-roads for several miles beyond the gates, and
many had considerable architectural pretensions." That of Cecilia
Metella is a typical example. Here we find a square basement
surmounted by a circular tower-like structure, with a frieze and
cornice. This was erected about B.C. 60, by Crassus. The mausoleum of
Augustus was on a much more extensive scale, and consisted of four
cylindrical stories, one above the other, decreasing in diameter as
they ascended, and the topmost of all was crowned with a colossal
statue of the Emperor. The tomb of Hadrian, on the banks of the
Tiber--now known as the Castle of Sant' Angelo--was even more
magnificent. This comprised a square base, 75 ft. high, the side of
which measured about 340 ft.; above this was a cylindrical building
surmounted by a circular peristyle of thirty-four Corinthian columns.
On the top was a quadriga with a statue of the Emperor. These mausolea
were occasionally octagonal or polygonal in plan, surmounted by a
dome, and cannot fail to remind us of the Etruscan tumuli.
Another kind of tomb, of less magnificence, was the columbarium, which
was nothing more than a subterranean chamber, the walls of which had a
number of small apertures in them for receiving the cinerary urns
containing the ashes of the bodies which had been cremated. In the
eastern portion of the Empire, in rocky districts, the tombs were cut
in the rock, and the façade was elaborately decorated with columns and
other architectural features.
_Domestic Architecture._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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