Name: Roman Architecture
Uploaded: 2025-03-12T04:47:47.000Z
Duration: 3 min 14 s
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Roman Construction: The Arch, Vault, Dome, and Concrete.

The Roman Republic was founded in the year 509 BC and fell in 476 AD.

At its height, it covered almost two million square miles and touched three continents.

The Roman Empire's lasting influence can still be seen in the arts, science, politics, and as this video will illustrate, architecture.

The ancient Romans improved upon many Greek architectural innovations, but made huge advances in engineering, sanitation, and technology.

Roman architecture is characterized by a few common components: the arch, the vault, the dome, and the use of concrete.

The Romans improved upon the earlier Etruscan arch, using it frequently as a structurally sound, durable, and efficient building technique.

You can see arches put to use here in the Roman aqueducts, a series of tubes that transported water.

Many famous Roman buildings, including the Colosseum shown here, use the arch design's impressive load-bearing abilities.

Arches are still widely used in architecture today.

Roman architects also used vaults, similar to a set of long intersecting arches that structurally rely on one another.

The ridges and grooves of the Roman vault are clearly visible in these ruins from the city of Caesarea, Greece.

The Romans also achieved a major feat of engineering when they perfected the dome.

The large concrete dome over the Pantheon in Rome stood as the largest dome in the world for more than 1,000 years.

More visible from the interior, this large dome is made of molded concrete and features a hole in the center, referred to as an oculus.

Aside from design innovations, the Romans also advanced in building materials.

Concrete had been used for hundreds of years, but the Romans found a way to make it harder by adding the binding agent Pozzolana, which is volcanic ash.

The Romans used concrete for buildings, roads, and even for underwater construction, protected by pipes until it hardened.This picture from the city of Caesarea in Greece shows the ruins of a building set on an underwater concrete foundation, following the Roman example.

This new harder concrete gave architects much more freedom.

And it has helped Roman architecture to stand for hundreds of years.This scientific innovation made it possible for generations of architects to study and be inspired by examples of Roman architecture.