Looking for good books on Roman Architecture

[Philip Tone]

Hi,

I just recently returned from Rome, and of course I found myself trying
to imagine what the Mausoleum of Augustus originally looked like (I was
fortunate enough to participate in an evening tour of the interior by
candlelight), as well as many of the ruins of the various forums,
theaters, and markets. Can anyone recommend good books on the
architecture of ancient Rome, which would hopefully include
reconstructions in the form of drawings, photos of models, etc. with
accompanying text explaining the construction techniques and the
evolution of such? I was especially impressed by the Pantheon, and would
like to understand more fully what I was looking at.

Thanks,

Phil

[nuk...@worldnet.att.net]

A starting point for materials, try

http://www.personal.umich.edu/~pfoss/genr.html

which is a listing of resources.

DAW

[jhe...@yorku.ca]

Phil:

My first thought was that if you haven't raed anything by James S.
Ackerman on Roman architecture, you really should. He was both an
articulate and scholarly speaker and writer. I don't promise
reconstruction drawings and the like, but his texts should be
cherished as the products of a true academic.

J. Heuman
jhe...@yorku.ca

========================================================================

[Brett Todd]

Hey Phil,

Here's a couple good general books:

"Roman Architecture" Frank Sear
"Roman Imperial Architecture" J.B. Ward-Perkins (part of the Yale U.
Press/Pelican History of Art series)
"The Ancient Roman City" John E. Stambaugh

All are trade paperbacks, recent, and fairly cheap. They're also very good
general texts that lean a little more toward the scholar than layman, but
are still very readable by anybody. You should be able to find them at most
larger bookstores.

Your best bet here for what you're looking for (excellent, highly-detailed
histories, photos, diagrams, etc.) would be the Ward-Perkins --- although
Sear's book gives more specifics concerning building materials, etc.
Actually, the entire Pelican History of Art series is very good,
particularly the "follow-up" to Ward-Perkins dealing with Roman Christian
and Byzantine architecture.

Brett Todd