ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN ARCHITECTS

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

(Reporter: Karen Cris Montuerto)

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa [a] (/ əˈɡrɪpə /; c. 63 BC – 12 BC) was a

Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-
in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus.

He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable

buildings in history, including the original Pantheon, and is well known
for his important military victories, notably the Battle of Actium in 31
BC against the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Theory of Architect
In Roman politics Agrippa had been the right-hand man of Rome's first
emperor for almost 30 years. He held the office of consul, or chief
magistrate, three times (37, 28, 27 b.c.) and the aedileship, in charge of
grain supplies, public works, and public games, in 33 b.c.

Agrippa's campaign of public repairs and improvements included

renovation and building aqueducts, one of which was the Aqua Marcia.
He was concerned with enlarging and cleaning the Cloaca Maxima,
constructing baths and porticos, and laying out gardens, and became
the first water commissioner of Rome in 33 b.c. Through his actions, the
streets were repaired and the sewers were cleaned out. Agrippa was a
staunch supporter of the public exhibition of works of art.

Agrippa is best known for building the Pantheon, probably the best-
preserved Roman building in the world. The original structure would
later burn down and was rebuilt by emperor Hadrian, who kept
Agrippa’s original inscription on the building’s façade. Agrippa was busy
in the provinces too.

The measurement for a Roman foot was standardized around this time.
The standard was nothing less than Agrippa’s own foot. An imperial
Roman mile, still in use in some parts of the world denotes 5,000
Agrippan feet. A man of many talents, he was also a writer. However,
his biography and his treatise on Geography, are sadly lost.

Works
 PANTHEON

It is the best preserved Ancient Roman monument. It is a bit of a

mystery how the Pantheon managed to survive barbarian raids when all
the rest of Roman monuments had been shattered. Its turning into a
church in 609 AD has a lot to do with it in later time, but also the
structure itself is way ahead of its time. In fact, the exact composition
of the material is still unknown and appears to be structurally similar to
modern day concrete! Whatever the reasons are, the Pantheon is the
only structure of its age and size that has successfully survived the
damage of time and gravity, still intact with all its splendor and beauty.

The exact age of the pantheon remains unknown. The Roman legend
tells that the original Pantheon was built on the very site and was
dedicated to Romulus, their mythological founder, after he ascended to
heaven from that site. Most historians claim that Emperor Augustus
right hand, Agrippa, built the first Pantheon in 27 BC. It burned in the
great fire of 80 AD, was rebuilt by Emperor Domitian, but was struck by
lightning and burned again in 110 AD. The Pantheon as we know it
today was built in 120 AD by Emperor Hadrian Who was passionate
with architecture and designed it together with Apollodorus of
Damascus, a famous Greek architect of the time who unfortunately was
executed by order of the Emperor, because of an argument about the
design of the temple.

ICTINUS

(Reporter: Crisdel Angelo Tizon)

-a celebrated Greek architect, worked on such famous structures as the Parthenon on the Acropolis, the
Temple of the Mysteries at Eleusis, and the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae.

-the exact date Ictinus's birth and death are unknown, but it is clear
that he lived during the 5th century B.C.

-it thought that Ictinus was not Athenian, but rather from the
Western Peloponnese.

THEORY

-Ictinus focused on applying optical refinements on his works.

example:

PARTHENON

the reason why Parthenon is perfect is because the Parthenon's architects, Ictinus and
Callicrates, and its chief sculptural artist, Phidias, have incorporated numerous "hidden" devices within
its marble construction and carved decorations that were designed to trick the viewer's eye, to make us
believe we are witnessing something perfectly regular, sensible, and balanced in all its aspects.
 the hidden devices are optical refinements that make the Parthenon more graceful and
appealing. To the human eye straight lines appear to bulge or sag. But the optical illusion was
counteracted in the design of the temple. Some of the methods employed by Ictinus were already in use
by Greek architects, but these refinements reached new heights in the Parthenon. To the end, Ictinus
and Callicrates made the Parthenon appear perfectly symmetrical when little of it was.

WORKS

Parthenon

- means "Apartment of the Virgin"

- construction began on 447 B.C. during the Panathenaic Festival

- the temple itself took less than 10 years to complete. (The last stone was laid in 438 B.C.)

- the exterior of the temple continued until 432 B.C.

- employed the use of the Doric, the most simple and severe of the
styles.

Epicurean Apollo

- one of the notable architectural work by Ictinus

- built in 420 B.C. on a 3, 732 - ft. (1,131 - m) rise near Phigalia called Bassae

Hippodamus of Miletus
(Reporter: Melchie Grace Salamanes)
HE WAS A GREEK ARCHITECT, URBAN
PLANNER, MATHEMATICIAN, METEOROLOGIST AND PHILOSOPHER OF THE
5TH CENTURY BC. HE IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE FATHER OF EUROPEAN
URBAN PLANNING AND THE INVENTOR OF THE HIPPODAMAIN PLAN OF
CITY LAYOUT.
 Hippodamus of *Miletus, was the most famous Greek town-planner. He was born probably about 500
BCE.
He was born probably about 500 BCE. Ancient authorities speak of his nemēsis or allocation of sites.
Towards the middle of the 5th cent. he planned *Piraeus for the Athenians, and boundary stones found
there are probably evidence of his work (cf. R. Garland, The Piraeus (1987)).

THEORY
HE CLAIIMED AN IMPORTANT THEORY WHICH MADE A GREAT IMPACT ON URBAN
PLANNING IN WESTERN CITIES MORE THAN 2 THOUSAND LATER. IT IS CAUSED
THE HIPPODAMIAN PATTERN.

WORKS
Piraeus, the gritty port city that has provided
Athens’s naval and commercial power throughout
its tumultuous history, is the theater of a new
conflict, one that pits local interests against
economic development and a superpower’s global strategy. At least that’s the story
that Greece’s dueling politicians are telling. Greek archaeologists have stalled an
investment of more than 612 million euros offered by a Chinese-owned
company seeking to revamp and expand Piraeus’s port as part of President Xi
Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Pheidias
(Reporter: Jennylyn Padillo)

Phidias or
Pheidias (480 –
430 BC) was a
Greek sculptor,
painter, and
architect. His
Statue of Zeus at
Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Phidias also designed the statues of the goddess Athena on the Athenian Acropolis, namely the
Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon, and the Athena Promachos, a colossal bronze which stood
between it and the ((Propylaea, a monumental gateway that served as the entrance to the Acropolis
in Athens. Phidias was the son of Charmides of Athens. The ancients believed that his masters were
Hegias and Ageladas.

Phidias, also spelled Pheidias, (flourished c. 490–430 BCE), Athenian sculptor, the artistic director of
the construction of the Parthenon, who created its most important religious images and supervised
and probably designed its overall sculptural decoration. It is said of Phidias that he alone had seen
the exact image of the gods and that he revealed it to man. He established forever general
conceptions of Zeus and Athena.

Theory of the Architect

From Phidias works one can gain some idea of Phidias’s style. Even when
movement is represented in some of his reliefs, a monumental quality is
imparted. Though the construction of the human body is perfectly understood,
its rendering is restrained and harmonized. In other words, Phidias may be
called the initiator of the idealistic, Classical style that distinguishes Greek art
in the later 5th and the 4th centuries.
During the second half of the fifth century, in the “period of Periklean supremacy,” an Athenian sculptor by
the name of Phidias left his mark in the pages of history (Biers 196). Phidias was Perikles’ (the ruler of
Athens) chief artist from 460-429 BCE. It was during this time that Perikles had initiated a massive building
program to be completed in Athens, and entrusted Phidias to supervise all artistic undertakings. This second
half of the fifth century has been referred to as the High Classical period. The style prominent at this time,
known as the high classical style, emphasized an idealized human form in which, “individual traits were
suppressed, as were extremes of youth and old age; almost the only subjects were men and women in their
prime. A certain homogeneity was achieved; it has been said that all high classical statues look alike, with
their straight noses, down-turned mouths, vacant stares, and simplified musculature” (Biers 196). The style
was said to have been created by Perikles’ circle, and it is often attributed to Phidias. This idealized style is
believed to have been representative of both the artistic and political dominance of Athens under Periklean
rule. The qualities of the previous style, (Severe style) the depiction of naturalism and the expression of
emotions, were not evident in the works created by Phidias.

Works of Pheidias
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant seated figure, about 12.4 m (41 ft) tall, [1] made by the
Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece, and erected in the
Temple of Zeus there. Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king
of the gods of Mount Olympus.
The statue was a chryselephantine sculpture of ivory plates and gold panels on a wooden
framework. Zeus sat on a painted cedarwood throne ornamented with ebony, ivory, gold, and
precious stones. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The statue was lost and destroyed before the end of the 5th century AD, with conflicting accounts of
the date and circumstances. Details of its form are known only from ancient Greek descriptions and
representations on coins.

Athena Parthenos
The Varvakeion Athena reflects the type of the restored Athena Parthenos: Roman period, 2nd century CE
(National Archaeological Museum of Athens).

The statue of Athena Parthenos[N 1] (Ancient Greek: Παρθένος Ἀθηνᾶ, lit. 'Athena the
Virgin') was a monumental chryselephantine sculpture of the goddess Athena.
Attributed to Phidias and dated to the mid-fifth century BCE, it was an offering from the
city of Athens to Athena, its tutelary deity. The naos of the Parthenon on the acropolis of
Athens was designed exclusively to accommodate it.
Many artists and craftsmen worked on the realization of the sculpture, which was
probably built around a core of cypress wood, and then paneled with gold and ivory
plates. At about 11.50 meters high, the statue reflected the established aesthetic canon
of the severe style (clothing) while adopting the innovations of the high classical (leg
position). She was helmeted and held a large round shield and spear, placed on the
ground to her left, next to her sacred snake. Clothes, jewellery, accessories, and even
the statue base were decorated, mainly with the snake and gorgon ((motif.
The statue was lost at an unknown date sometime in the first millennium. Several
replicas and works were inspired by the original.
According to Pausanias and Plutarch[N 5], the statue is not by Phidias alone but of a team of craftsmen
representing several trades, Phidias supervising all the decoration work of the Parthenon. [12][13][14] The
location of the workshop where the statue was made is unknown. It could have been on the
acropolis, at the eastern end, under what was later to become the old Acropolis museum. However,
given the cost of precious materials (gold and ivory), it could also have been installed elsewhere, at
the foot of the sacred rock, far from the comings and goings of the main site and its dust

APOLLODORUS OF DAMASCUS

(Reporter: Windell Bona)

Apollodorus of Damascus was a Syrian architect and engineer from Damascus, Roman Syria, who
flourished during the 2nd century AD.[2][3][4] As an engineer he authored several technical treatises,
and his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time.[5] He is one of the
few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern
innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a stand.

THEORY OF THE ARCHITECT

Fiorella Festa Farina, Director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Damascus, described the technical
prowess of Apollodorus as stemming from his cultural roots and the architectural tradition of Syria,
owing his mastery to "Nabataean culture filtered through Greek modes of thought."[14] He was known
for his practical and robust designs. It was likely due to his influence that domes became a standard
element in Roman architecture

Works of the Architect:

TRANJAN'S COLUMN
Trajan's column, erected in 113 CE, stands in Trajan's Forum in Rome and is a commemorative
monument decorated with reliefs illustrating Roman emperor Trajan's two military campaigns in Dacia
(modern Romania). The column was the first of many such monuments and it is also an invaluable
source of information on the Roman Army and a lasting testimony to the Roman love of monumental
architecture constructed to celebrate military victories and Roman leaders.

TRAJAN'S MARKET
Trajan's Market was probably built in 100–110 AD by Apollodorus of Damascus,[1] an architect who
always followed Trajan in his adventures and to whom Trajan entrusted the planning of his Forum.[2][6]
It was inaugurated in 113 AD.[7] During the Middle Ages the complex was transformed by adding floor
levels, still visible today, and defensive elements such as the Torre delle Milizie, the "militia tower" built
in 1200. A convent, which was built in this area in the 16th century was acquired by the state in 1885
and became the Goffredo Mameli barracks.[8] This was demolished at the beginning of the twentieth
century to restore Trajan's Markets to the city of Rome.