Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome
Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome
Concrete Vaulted Construction in Imperial Rome examines methods and techniques that enabled builders to construct some of the most imposing monuments of ancient Rome. Focusing on structurally innovative vaulting and the factors that influenced its advancement, Lynne Lancaster also explores a range of related practices, including lightweight pumice as aggregate, amphoras in vaults, vaulting ribs, metal tie bars, and various techniques of buttressing. She provides the geological background of the local building stones and applies mineralogical analysis to determine material provenance, which in turn suggests trading patterns and land use. Lancaster also examines construction techniques in relation to the social, economic, and political contexts of Rome, in an effort to draw connections between changes in the building industry and the events that shaped Roman society from the early empire to late antiquity. This book was awarded the James R. Wiseman Book Award from the Archaeological Institute of America in 2007.
- Original illustrations of major monuments in Rome and of concepts necessary to understand them
- Interdisciplinary approach to incorporating aspects of geology and structural analysis
- Provides synthesis of recent work on major monuments in Rome in addition to original research
Reviews & endorsements
"...Lancaster's arguments mark a more sophisticated approach to the study of Roman architecture than has hitherto been possible...Indeed, books like these move us from archaeological monographs on particular monuments...or broad general texts on Roman architecture...toward an in-depth understanding of what Roman concrete, marble-clad buildings were designed to do, of what they did, and of the way in which their successes and failures influenced generations of later architects."
-James E. Packer, Northwestern University, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"The book's clear prose style and the useful summaries at the end of each chapter make it very accessible to students, and it will be a very useful teaching tool' moreover, it is a surprisingly engrossing read."
-Ellen Swift, University of Kent, Canterbury
"This is one of the most important-and most readable-books on Roman Imperial construction, and by extension on Roman architecture, to have appeared in a long time. It should become a standard reference work in its field and be used and appreciated for decades[...]it is an essential and very welcome volume."
-James C. Anderson, Jr., The University of Georgia, American Journal of Archaeology
Product details
August 2005Hardback
9780521842020
296 pages
230 × 288 × 28 mm
1.27kg
Out of stock in print form with no current plan to reprint
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Centering and formwork
- 3. Ingredients: mortar and caementa
- 4. Amphoras in vaults
- 5. Vaulting ribs
- 6. Metal clamps and tie bars
- 7. Vault behavior and buttressing
- 8. Structural analysis: history and case studies
- 9. Innovations in context.
