Originally, the Roman theatres, like those of Greece, were semicircular in form. But, while the Greek the- atres were cut in the solid rock on the side of some lofty hill with a beautiful landscape for the scene, the Roman theatre was built up, like other edifices, in the midst of the most populous cities, and the walls were decorated with colonnades, with vaulted arcades leading through the different stories to the seats. Theatres of vast size were built in Rome and in many provincial cities. The best preserved is at Orange, in France. But the amphitheatre was the specially characteristic form of theatre-building with the Romans. This was
ROMAN AliT
VI KOMAN CATHOLIC CIIUKCII
built of vast size in even the most distant provincial cities. The largest are the Colosseum at Home and the amphitheatres at Cajiua, Verona, I'ola, Nisme.s, and Cun- stantine in Africa. It is estimated that the Colosseum coidd contain over sixty thousand spectators. In its arena gladiatorial sports of tlie most cruel character took place, and by their ferocity hastened the deprava- tion of manners and morals which largely caused the downfall of the empire. See Thkatuk.
The public baths form another characteristic feature in Roman architecture. Tliese were laid out upon a scale of immense grandeur. The baths of Caracalla covered thirty -six acres. The vast edifices in this structure were highly decorated, and contained almost innumerable works of sculpture and painting. Several thousand bathers could be accommodated at one time. J^legant halls were also provided for reading, conversa- tion, music, boxing, and other lighter games of various sorts. Other baths of vast size were built by various emperors, as Diocletian, Agrippa, Titus, and Vespasian. See Bathe.
The arch was most successfully applied to the erec- tion of bridges and aipieducts. Many of these were erected with surprising boldness, and of a size and length to excite the wonder of tlie modern beholder. Though frequently without much arcliitectural decora- tion, the aqueducts generally have graceful outlines, and by their long lines, as they sweep for miles over the plain, mark the power of the people who ruled the world. See Bridge.
The lack of perfect artistic taste was manifested by the Romans in the erection of columns of victory, which received long sculptured portrayals of the achievements of victors. As the sculpture is thus placed utterly out of the reach of the eye, its effect is lost upon the be- holder. See Column.
The history of the Roman domestic residence is to be traced in the progress of Roman luxury. In the ear- ly career of the state, private houses were extremely simple. During the empire, all the luxurious richness of decoration that wealth and art could supply was employed in adorning the houses of the wealthy. Good taste was soon overwhelmed in costly decoration. The houses in the provincial city of Pompeii indicate what may have been the luxurious decoration of the capital. Even greater profligate expenditures were made upon the villas of the rich on beautiful moimtain-sides or by the coasts of the sea. See IIoi'Se. The palaces of the emperors presented the climax of luxurious domestic architecture. These palaces, especially in provincial summer resorts, were built on an immense scale, and were rather a vast group of edifices within a fortified enclosure, all laid out and decorated with the fullest luxury of the period. Two of the most famous of these imperial palaces were that of Diocletian at Spalatro, and that of Adrian at Tivoli. See Palace.
The tumular architecture of the Romansis very strik- ing, both with reference to the number and the style of the monuments. Of the tombs of the kingh' period, there remain only the monuments attributed to the Curiatii. Of the republic, there remain only the tomb and sarcophagus of Scipio. The tombs of the period of the empire seem to have been decidedly of Etruscan style, both in shape and construction. The earliest of these is that of Cecilia Metella, on the Appian Way; but the grandest and most splendid was that of Adrian, now known as the Castle St. Angelo. The basement was three hundred and forty feet square; the height to the pine cone on the summit was tlirce lumdred feet. It was decorated with an immense number of statues. The building called the tomb of Santa Helena, mother of Constantine, shows how the feeling for interior dec- oration had in that period displaced the earlier feeling for exterior decoration in all classes of structures. Par- allel to these tombs erected above the ground are the columbaria, or underground tombs, with niches for con- taining a number of cinerary urns. In general struct-
ure, these have their antitype in the subterranean tombs, or catacombs, of the Etruscans. JMany of these columbaria are ex(iuisitely decoratod witli araliesques of stucco, which havt; i)ceii the delight of inediieval and modern artists. Tumular niouuuients of more slender upright form, often witii highly a|)propriate architect- ural decoration, and evidently with a marked Greek impress, are found in a few provincial cities in the nortli and west of the empire. But in Cyrene in Africa and in Petra in Arabia are found a large number of elalio- rate and imi)osing tomljs. Those at Petra are deeply cut in the rock, like many Egyptian tombs, but wiiii elaborate Corintliian decorations. Of this same Roman period are a large number of tombs in Palestine, !Moso- potamia, and other countries in the Orient. See ToMU.