Are You Entertained? Imperial Architecture of Mass Diversion

I. Imperial mass entertainment structures

The Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater), Rome, Italy, AD 72-80 (Imperial)

Emperor Vespasian builds the Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum) over Nero’s Golden House in A.D. 70

Flavian dynasty (AD 69-96)Vespasian 69-79Titus 79-81Domitian 81-96

I.

Rome – theaters in the Campus Martius entertainment district

amphitheater (“theater on both sides”)

I. A. Amphitheater basics 1. What was an amphitheater compared to a theater?

Colosseum (amphitheater) Theater of Marcellus, 13-11 BC

I. A. 1.

Amphitheater at Pompeii

gladiatorial combat

I. A. 1.

animal huntsColosseum

I. A. 3. What were the essential features of an amphitheater?

underground area for players, animals, stage sets

arena

seating (cavea)

Colosseum

I. A. 3.

awning (velarium)

I. A. 3. Why were amphitheaters elliptical rather than circular in plan?

Colosseum

I. B. Social/political context 1. Why were entertainment structures so much larger / more numerous in imperial Rome than they were in republican Rome?

the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions, everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses (Juvenal, Satire 10.77-81)

Imperial RomeRepublican Amphitheater at Pompeii, 70 BC

Colosseum

I. B. 2. How was the design innovative in its approximation of a great imperial interior? a. canvas awning (velarium)

I. B. 2. b. slope of seating

Imperial

Republican vs.

37o

Amphitheater in Pompeii Colosseum

senators

equestrian class

citizens (plebs)

common poor, slaves

I. B. 3. How did the Colosseum mirror Roman social hierarchy and mobility?

slaves, prisoners

Colosseum

I. C. Architectural design of the Colosseum1. How was the design conservative in structure, materials, and articulation?

tufa masonry

concrete masonry

Colosseum

Roman numeral I.C. is not on the exam in 2011.

framed-arch motif

non-structural use of Greek orders

I. C. 1. a. framed-arch motif

travertine stone veneer

Roman numeral I.C. is not on the exam in 2011.

I. C. 1. b. hierarchy of orders

Doric order

Ionic order

Corinthian order

Corinthian pilasters

Hierarchy of orders

Roman numeral I.C. is not on the exam in 2011.

II. Roman Baths from the late Republican to the Imperial era

Baths of Diocletian, Rome, Italy, AD 298-306

Imperial Rome

II. A. Socio-political context: Why did Roman emperors beginning with Nero build luxury baths for the use of the populace?

Baths of Nero

Baths of Titus

II. A. 2. What was the array of services that Roman baths offered in addition to bathing?

Baths of Diocletian

II. B. Ritual: Attending to physical and psychological well-being 1. What was the typical ritual of physical revitalization at a Roman bath?

Baths of Diocletian

Remains of NE recess of the caldarium

Remains of NE recess of the caldarium

II. B. Ritual: Attending to physical and psychological well-being 1. What was the typical ritual of physical revitalization at a Roman bath?

frigidarium reconstruction

Baths of Diocletian

Remains of NE wall of the caldarium

tepidarium

frigidarium

II. B. 2. Technology: how were Roman bath facilities heated (hypocausts) and how did concrete structure facilitate this?

Roman numeral II.B.2. is not on the exam in 2011.

II. C. Imperial design (the concrete vaulted style): The imperial bath buildings as imperial architecture

Imperial

Baths of Diocletian, AD 298-306

Republic

Forum Baths at Pompeii, 80 BC

II. C. 1. How did the design of baths that “educate” (enthrall, delight) the senses, according to MacDonald’s observations?

frigidarium reconstruction

Baths of Diocletian

Groin vaults make possible thermal windows in the lunettes under the vaults.

II. C. 2. Where do continuous surfaces of vaults obscure create ambiguity of load and support?

Baths of Diocletiantepidarium frigidarium

Greek orders enslaved to the concrete body(secondary system of decoration)

II. C. 3. How are the spaces combined in plan and how is that emblematic of Roman imperial spatial control?

Baths of Diocletian

caldariumtepidariumfrigidariumopen-air pool

Baths of Diocletian Pennsylvania Station, New York, NY

McKim, Mead, and White, 1910, demolished 1963

II. C. 4. In these immense imperial spaces, according to MacDonald, what choices did the individual Roman citizens have?

II. C. 4.

Baths of Diocletian Pennsylvania Station, New York, NY

McKim, Mead, and White, 1910, demolished 1963

"Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves. Even when we had Penn Station, we couldn’t afford to keep it clean. We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."- "Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times editorial, October 30, 1963