Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/183

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ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. 125 Rectangular Examples {continued). At Spalato. Oa/e. K.marks. The Taiiple of .-Esculap'iis (No. A.D. 300 (See page 161.) 59)- ^ The Great Temple i^o. S'i)- A.D. 131-161 (See below.) The Temple of Jupiter (No. 53). A.D. 273 (See page 130.) At Palmyra. , ^ , , , , Th^ G>-eat Temple of the Sini. A.D. 273 rer.pteral octastyle, probably Corinthian, having attached bronze leaves. The Temple of Mars Ultor, Rome (b.c. 42-2) (No. 52), stood in the Forum of Augustus, in a precinct surrounded by an enclosing wall 100 feet high. It was one of the largest Roman temples, having columns 58 feet in height, but there are only three columns and a pilaster remaining, the capital of the latter bemg shown in No. 67 g. A short description is given on No. 52. The Temple of Venus and Rome (a.d. 123-135) (No. 50), had a peculiar plan consisting of two cellas, each provided with an apse placed back to back, and a pronaos at each end. It was pseudo-dipteral decastyle (No. 47"), the peristyle having twenty cokimns on the flanks, and the cella walls were of extra thickness to take the thrust of the vault. Internally there were niches for statues, and the cella was crowned with a hemispherical coffered vault, the apses having semi-domes. The plan on No. 47" gives the usually accepted restoration of this building, and that by Palladio is given on No. 50 a, b, c, d. This temple was raised on a platform and stood in a large enclosure, entered through imposing gateways, surrounded by a colonnade ot nearly 200 columns of red and grey Egyptian granite and red porphyry, occupying in all an area of about 540 by 340 feet. The Maison Carree, Ntmes (a.d. 117-138) (Nos. 18 g, 50 h, J, K, and 51), was erected during the reign of Hadrian, and is the 'best preserved Roman temple in existence. It is of the typical form, being pseudo-peripteral prostyle hexastyle, with Corinthian columns supporting a rich entablature, and raised ori a podium about 12 feet high provided with a front flight of steps only. The so-called Temple of Diana, Nimes (No. 50 e, f, g), was probably a nympha;um connected with some thermae. The interior walls have detached Corinthian cokimns, supporting a cornice from which springs a stone-ribbed barrel vault, the thrust of which is counteracted by smaller continuous vaults over the side passages, probably a prototype of the vaulting of many southern French Romanesque churches. The Great Temple, Baalbec (a.d. 131-161) (No. 53), was dipteral decastyle, but only six columns now remain. It stood m a court 380 feet square with recessed porticos, in front of which was a hexagonal cortile entered by a dodecastyle Corinthian portico