Similarities Between Greek And Roman Architecture

Many people are not aware of the Carthaginian Empire like they are the Roman Empire. However, Carthage was an adversary to the Romans that nearly bested them in the Second Punic War. The Carthaginian Empire was founded by the Phoenicians and included the North African coast, Southern Spain, and several islands in the Mediterranean, including Corsica, Sardinia, and parts of Sicily. The city of Carthage was founded in 814 BC along the Mediterranean in what is present day Tunisia (Roman-empire.net, n.d.). The city was built where it had access to the riches of the seas but also was easily protected.

Ancient Civilizations of the ancient world have explained a lot of things in our present days, but what makes it so great is that it’s architecture. The ancient Greek and Ancient Roman are very rich and variable history and culture, but also they had similarities and differences The Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman civilizations had some differences although they are very close to each other. First, they had different social systems; the ancient Greek divided their social systems into five categories: slaves, freedmen, metics, citizens and women , and in the ancient Greek women were not given a position they were like to be less than slaves, but in the ancient Roman civilization they dived into four categories: freedmen, slaves, plebians and patricians, and women were considered citizen if they were not born into slavery, however they were not able to hold any position or vote. Second, The ancient Greek created and developed the three famous classical orders which is Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, On the other hand Ancient Roman took the classical order with making minor differences and created the arch and used it in their buildings.

Two very important historic buildings from the Greek and Roman civilizations, namely the Parthenon and the Pantheon respectively, are worthy of academic exploration. An analysis of their function and style will help to put their design and features into perspective, and create a better appreciation for their emulation in Western civilization. These buildings possess very unique individual characteristic designs, which bears testimony to the societies from which they originate. However, they are also a resourceful database of knowledge in terms of their symbolism, rich heritage of their era and application to the present civilization.

Of all the architectural designs utilized by the ancient Greeks throughout history, three major Greek styles have withstood

New Orleans is home to countless amounts of historical architecture. The city has many historical districts and landmark buildings. This is more than any other city in the United States. New Orleans has a diversity of architectural styles and types of buildings. New Orleans was founded by the French, ruled for 40 years by the Spanish and then bought by the United States in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

Even in antiquity, its architectural refinements were legendary, especially the subtle correspondence between the curvature of the stylobate, the taper of the naos walls and the entasis of the columns." (Cooper pg 63)The basic principles of Greek Architecture can be traced back to this time. The goal of Greek Architecture was to have the greatest buildings in all of Greece in order to bring prestige and recognition to Athens. The architecture was meant to be harmonious, symmetrical, as well as aesthetically pleasing. Columns were also a large part of Greek architecture and were found in 3 different styles, Doric, Ionic, as well as Corinthian.

I wanted to begin with the columns, they are a great example of how Roman architecture was changed after the conquering of Greece. As the remaining Greek citizens migrated into the empire the began to incorporate many of their own column orders into the empire's order. A thing to note is that the Romans had always had an interest in the Greek architecture and thus based many of their own structures to resemble theirs, an example would be that of the Roman’s many temple columns. There the greeks modified and adapted to how the empire built their columns, thus they created new variations based of the Doric order called Tuscan and Composite order. In The Journal of Education Lucy A. Fitch author of the article Architure-

The Romans took this concept, expanded it and re-interpreted it, and then used it as their own. When it came to art, many of the Romans' art forms also greatly resembled those of the Greeks. For example, the main type of art appreciated at the time was accurate portraits and busts. Another big idea the Romans took from

Similarly, the Parthenon and Pantheon were high rising buildings which are typical of a classical

As Rome expanded and became victorious in conquering other nations, she adopted the culture and the ideas of the foreign nations she brought under her. The people who influenced the Romans most were the Greeks. (Morey, 1901) As the Romans increased in knowledge, they engaged in the study of Greek philosophy. They studied the “nature of the Greek gods and the moral duties of men”.

In order to build such an enormous construction and elegant temples; Romans used many diverse type of materials such as marble, concrete, limestone, and fine stone during the classic era. They were the great innovator that quickly adopted new construction techniques, used new materials, and uniquely combined existing techniques with creative design to produce a whole range of new

Ancient Greek and ancient Rome are often confused with one another even though there are great differences between the two. Both countries are Mediterranean but have social class differences, different mythology, different life values and different architectural concepts. It is said that much of what Rome used in everyday life was taken from the ancient Greek civilization as the ancient Greek civilization started 5th century BC. And it was not till hundreds of years later that the roman civilization started. Cities in Ancient Greece were differentiated by hills.

Art and architecture had a huge impact on the development of Greece. Greeks showed their love of visual beauty through art by telling stories within the product. Athenians used decorated columns to display the architecture. The art and architecture in Greece reflects on the society that created them. They built magnificent temples, theaters, and other public buildings through the city.

The Forum of Trajan is a Roman example of axial planning because as you entered through its triumphal arch towards a statue of Trajan in the center, the surrounding structures were at opposite angles and lines, creating a clear sense of order and focus. [12] The complexity of this planning demonstrates the outlook and organization that went into any of the architecture in Rome and Athens. [13] While many citizens at the time did not appreciate (or may have not noticed) this visual architectural connection between Rome and Athens, the members of the elite who traveled, did especially the Roman Emperor Augustus. The cities of Rome and Athens became increasingly similar during the Augustan period and created a hybrid style that was influenced by Augustus. Though the exchange in architectural culture between these two cities was common there were subtle difference.

The Parthenon in Athens and the Pantheon in Rome depict the splendor of these two cultures. Starting with the Parthenon, it was completely constructed in 432 B.C.E by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates to honor the Athen’s patron deity, Athena, and to house her statue. It is rectangular and consisted of a series of Doric columns. However, it is a mixture of the Doric and Ionic orders. The Pentelic marble, bronze, gold, and ivory are the basic media used in this construction.