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Roman Builders

Roman Builders

Roman Builders

A Study in Architectural Process
Rabun Taylor, Harvard University, Massachusetts
January 2003
Available
Paperback
9780521005838
£32.00
GBP
Paperback

    How were the architectural ideas behind great Roman building projects carried out in practice? Roman Builders is the first, general interest book to address this question. Using the Baths of Caracalla, the Pantheon, the Coliseum, and the great temples at Baalbek as physical documents for their own building histories, this book traces the thought processes and logistical considerations - the risks, reversals, compromises, and refinements - that led to ultimate success. Each major phase of the building process is considered: design, groundwork, support structures, complex armatures, such as the superstructures of amphitheaters, vaults, and decorations. New hypotheses are advanced on the raising of monolithic columns, the construction sequence of the Coliseum, and the vaulting of the Pantheon. The illustrations include archival and original photographs, as well as numerous explanatory drawings.

    • Comprehensive step-by-step approach to Roman architectural practice
    • Detailed analytical illustrations
    • Considers both humanistic and technological issues
    • New hypothesis about the raising of monolithic columns, the construction sequence of the Coliseum and the vaulting of the Pantheon
    • Capitalizes on the current popularity of unsolved puzzles of ancient technology

    Reviews & endorsements

    'The illustrations are extremely useful. Taylor has borrowed well from other sources, and his photographs are clear and well reproduced. His own line drawings are excellent.' SPAB News

    See more reviews

    Product details

    January 2003
    Paperback
    9780521005838
    320 pages
    246 × 175 × 20 mm
    0.727kg
    150 b/w illus.
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Planning and design
    • 2. Laying the groundwork
    • 3. Walls, piers, and columns
    • 4. Complete armatures
    • 5. Roofing and vaulting
    • 6. Decoration and finishing.
      Author
    • Rabun Taylor , University of Texas, Austin

      Rabun Taylor is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in Classical Studies from the University of Minnesota and taught at Harvard University prior to his current appointment. His publications include Public Needs and Private Pleasures: Water Distribution, the Tiber River, and the Urban Development of Ancient Rome (Rome 2000) and Roman Builders: A Study in Architectural Process (Cambridge and New York 2003). His most recent book, The Moral Mirror of Roman Art, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2008.