Historic Ornament, Vol. 1 (of 2): Treatise on decorative art and architectural ornamentWard, James
History
Historic Ornament, Vol. 1 (of 2): Treatise on decorative art and architectural ornament
Ward, James
Architecture -- History; Decoration and ornament -- History; Decorative arts -- History
It is elliptical in plan, is four stories in height; the three lowest
are pierced with eighty openings, semi-circular arched, with columns and
piers between. The first story is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third
Corinthian. Each column and pier is raised on a stylobate, and the
columns carry entablatures continuously around the building.
[Illustration: Fig. 308.—Jewish Candlestick, Arch of Titus. (P. & C.)]
An almost solid wall is the feature of the fourth story, which has a
series of Corinthian pilasters, and projecting brackets for carrying the
awning poles. The façade is built of stone quarried from the
neighbouring hills, and the interior portions are built of brick. The
dimensions are 620 ft. in length, 513 ft. wide, and 162 ft. in height.
Double corridors run around the building on each floor, and it had seats
for more than 80,000 spectators. Chariot races, mimic sea-fights, when
the arena would be flooded artificially with water, gladiatorial
combats, and fights with wild animals and bulls, were among the
amusements of the Romans that were performed in the amphitheatres.
[Illustration: Fig. 309.—Roman Composite Order, from the Arch of Titus.]
Other monuments, such as triumphal columns and arches, were erected by
the Emperors to commemorate their victories, and these were of the most
elaborate and rich description. The column of Marcus Aurelius, known as
the Antonine column, and the column of Trajan set up by that Emperor in
Trajan’s Forum at Rome in commemoration of his victory over the Dacians,
are the two best known of these commemorative monuments. The latter
column has been reproduced, and a cast of it may be seen in the South
Kensington Museum. The original is nearly 133 ft. high, and is richly
sculptured with bas-reliefs on marble slabs fastened together in a
spiral form around the central structure. The order is Doric, the shaft
being set up on a large pedestal with very fine sculptures of figures,
armour, and inscriptions.
The triumphal arches are rectangular masses of masonry with arched
openings, sometimes with one arch and sometimes three, a large one and
two smaller ones, as the arches of Constantine and Septimus Severus; and
sometimes smaller ones had piers and pilasters with a lintel entablature
instead of an arch, as in the Goldsmith’s Arch in Rome. The arch of
Titus (erected to commemorate the taking of Jerusalem A.D. 70), which is
one of the finest of these monuments, is interesting for two reasons:
one is that it has reliefs on it recording the capture of Jerusalem,
with the representation of the seven-branched golden candlestick of the
Temple (Figs. 307, 308), and the other is that the arch itself is one of
the finest examples of the architectural order that was created by the
Romans—the Composite—(Fig. 309), which is a grafting of the Ionic on the
Corinthian.
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