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Roman Architecture
Terms
23
Architecture
Undergraduate 1
05/18/2009

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Term
Vitruvius
Definition
Famous for asserting in his book De architectura that a structure must exhibit the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas/commoditas, venustas — that is, it must be strong or durable, useful, and beautiful.
Term
Entasis
Definition
The slight outward curve of a column, which then tapers toward the top of the shaft.
Term
Aqueduct
Definition
A pipe for conducting water under gravity flow. The term is often applied to the arched structure built to support the pipe across valleys.
Term
Castra/Castrum
Definition
A Roman military camp or garrison.
Term
Decumanus
Definition
In Etruscan and Roman cities, the principal east-west road.
Term
Cardo
Definition
In Etruscan and Roman cities, the principal north-south road.
Term
Cloaca Maxima
Definition
"Greatest sewer". One of the world's earliest sewage systems. Constructed in ancient Rome in order to drain local marshes and remove the waste of one of the world's most populous cities, it carried an effluent to the River Tiber, which ran beside the city. It may have been initially constructed around 600 BC.
Term
Forum/Fora
Definition
In Roman towns, the open space near the center used for commerce and civic life.
Term
Palaestra
Definition
A Roman building used for exercise; a gymnasium.
Term
Oculus
Definition
The circular opening at the apex of a dome.
Term
Pozzolana
Definition
A volcanic ash containing silicon and aluminum, which will harden as a cement when ground fine and mixed with lime and water.
Term
Basilica (Roman)
Definition
"Kings hall". A hall used for public administration. The term generally refers to a rectangular building that has a central section with a higher roof (the nave if a church) flanked by lower aisles on both long sides. A semicircular projection, the apse, was often set at one or both of the shorter ends.
Term
Thermae
Definition
Roman baths, usually containing rooms for hot-, warm-, and cold-water bathing.
Term
Apses
Definition
The termination of the nave of the basilica or the choir in the basilican church. The apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome.
Term
Caladarium
Definition
The hot or sweating bath chamber in Roman baths or thermae.
Term
Tepidarium
Definition
The warm-water chamber in Roman baths or thermae.
Term
Frigidarium
Definition
The cold-water baths in a Roman thermae.
Term
Atrium (Roman)
Definition
The central space of a Roman house, open to the sky and serving as a source of light and fresh air.
Term
Impluvium
Definition
In Roman houses, the shallow pool that collected rainwater draining from the atrium roof.
Term
Tablinium
Definition
In Roman atrium houses, a reception area, usually on axis with the entrance.
Term
Peristyle/Peristilium
Definition
A colonnaded court or garden.
Term
Insula
Definition
A Roman apartment house where the lower and middle classes of Romans (the plebs) dwelled. The floor at ground level was used for tabernas, shops and businesses with living space on the higher floors.
Term
Triclinium/Triclinia
Definition
A dining room in Roman houses and palaces. It was characterized by three couches, the klinai, on three sides of a low square table.
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