As it would seam the development of concrete and arches played a massive role in the way Rome designed there structures. Particularly concrete changed the way they did things but it makes sense Rome learned how to literally make rock that would conform to almost any shape that they wanted. It was in many ways not just a massive achievement for Rome but it would effect us today with so much being made of concrete these days.
Concrete
While concrete may not seem like the most interesting subject it is no less important to both Roman architecture and modern architecture. It is the reason why many of the buildings that are still standing from ancient Rome are still standing and have not crumbled to dust. Because concrete was …show more content…
Next we have the Latin name for concrete which is concretus which sounds very close to it's English name of Concrete. The Latin meaning of the word means to grow together which sounds highly justified to me considering what concrete does.
Something interesting to note is that apparently with time Roman concrete got stronger through chemical reactions with its surroundings. Apparently the Romans mixed up there concrete in such a way and with certain materials that allowed for the to react to its surroundings increasing the longevity of there structures . It also helps you understand how so many of Romes harbor structures survived so long constantly being hit by the waves . Many are even still structurally sound today.
Lastly why Concrete was so important to Rome was because it allowed the to create some of there greatest structures in history many of which are still standing partially intact some even almost completely. One such example is the Pantheon that is still sanding today when many other Ancient buildings have fallen. As well as some parts of the Colosseum where built from concrete overall concrete was both a great thing for Rome and the rest of the …show more content…
These types of arches where called Triumphal Arches they here are a few examples of Triumphal Arches the Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Titus ,the Arch of Janus . the Arch of Drusus , and last the Arch of Septimius Severus. To my knowledge these are all the major arches of Rome and there are most likely a few smaller Arches but these are the big one.
Now there where three types of Architecture that would have influenced the Roman arches and interesting enough they where also taken from the Greeks. The three forms of Architecture where Doric, Ionic and Corinthian different examples of all three can be spread across most of what was know as Romes territory. It is interesting how it seems most of Romes major Architectural designs and allot of there culture came from Greece I guess it was not a bad idea why mess with something that works?
In the End while Arches could indeed be use for construction of door way or other simpler things . Arches more often than not where used to honor there heroes maybe to gloat a little. In the end many of them stand as a timeless testament to just how powerful the Romans