Roman Building

by Jean-Pierre Adam

Now in paperback, Roman Buildings is a thorough and systematic examination of Roman architecture and building practice, with over 750 illustrations . It looks at large- scale public buildings as well as more modest homes and shops. Placing emphasis on the technical aspects of the subject, it follows the process of building through each stage -- from quarry to standing wall, from tree to roof timbers -- and how these materials were obtained or manufactured. The author also discusses interior decoration and looks at the practical aspects of water supply, heating and roads.

Genres: Architecture

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Emily]

Adam’s work is a useful compliment to Anderson and Ward-Perkins as part of an introduction to Roman architecture for scholars of Roman history and religion. In a systematic exploration of various elements of architecture (surveying, vaulting, flooring, civil and domestic building) Adam explains the materials and building techniques used across the Roman Empire. I would consider his explanations to be at a medium level of technicality – that is he often explains how certain techniques worked and why some techniques were more stable or more efficient, but he doesn’t often include complex formulas for predicting stress. His explanations are strengthened by wonderful pictures (both line drawings and photographs) so that this book is an excellent resource for images to use in teaching undergraduates. There are many pictures illustrating how the Romans employed the techniques described (although these reconstructions may be more or less certain, for example the techniques for centering are still a matter of debate and inquiry). I understand that at least one of the images was printed upside-down in the English translation and that a number of the captions have errors, so consultation of reviews and comparison with the French edition would be important before using images or captions. This book is a great place to start to answer the question “How did they build that?” and as such would be a great place to refer undergraduates who seek more advanced to these types of questions, or to include chapters for an advanced undergraduate class on Roman architecture or archaeology, but might not be great for generally assigned reading. It would make great assigned reading to graduate students in the fields of Roman architecture (although perhaps only as an introduction), history and religion. I’m certain I’ll refer to this book again.

[Steve]

This review is actually for TWO books, (1) “Roman Builders” by R Taylor and (2) “Roman Building” by JP Adam.

For some reason I started wondering how the heck the Romans were able to build such incredible and beautiful large structures like the Coliseum, the Pantheon, and various aqueducts. The architecture is gorgeous, the engineering seems just incredible, and I was mystified by the process of how they actually put them together. Did they have blueprints? What records do we have of the design and construction process? Anyway, I asked AI about this, and it gave me a bit of a summary and recommended these two books.

Fortunately my local library was able to get both of them for me on ILL. Unfortunately I’m not really prepared at this time in my life to read these books. Fortunately both are profusely illustrated and I did have an enjoyable week skimming both of them, enjoying the pictures and getting some bits and pieces of the text.

I’m returning them to the library but I hope someday to really read at least one of them, probably the newer one (Taylor)

[Michele Stefanile]

Una vera opera di riferimento. Fondamentale per tutti quelli che si interessano di archeologia classica