With the influence of Greece and the Etruscans, Rome became a great empire. Spreading culture and art throughout the provinces, it left examples of its architecture all over the Mediterranean.
The Etruscan influence
All Roman art, especially architecture, was greatly influenced by Etruscan art, which stood out for incorporating elements of Greek art and the Tuscan style. Both would be incorporated and used profusely in Roman architecture, the main example being the foundation that raises the height of temples. Other elements were also incorporated, such as the use of cement (opus caementicum), marble cladding, and monumental scale, far removed from human scale, in buildings.
Architecture and the city
Architecture was the most important artistic expression of the Romans. It was an essentially urban art, subordinate to the political interests of state rulers, in contrast to the essentially religious character of the great buildings of other ancient civilizations. This explains two key characteristics of Roman architecture: its utilitarian nature and its sense of grandeur, manifested in a wide variety of buildings and architectural solutions.
The Romans used the orders and perfected the drawing and calculation instruments inherited from the Greek world. In addition, they increased the use of arches, combining arcades and colonnades, extended the use of
vaulted roofs, and invented the dome. They also diversified their building materials: bricks, stone blocks, and concrete obtained from a mixture of lime and volcanic rock.
The city, surrounded by a wall, was organized around two major roads: the cardo, a north-south axis, and the decumanus, an east-west axis. At the intersection of these two main axes was the forum, a rectangular open space where markets were held and political assemblies took place. According to the classical canon, the width of the forum should be two-thirds of its length and its area proportional to the number of inhabitants of the city.
