ARCHITECTURE, LIFE AND CUSTOMS OF THE ROMANS

It was St Ambrose, in the 4th century AD, who said, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". This saying was applied to all the territories of the Empire during the period of Romanisation. In the most remote corners of the territories annexed by Rome, the Roman way of life and its urbanism was imposed and adapted to the cultural and geographical peculiarities of each area.

The first towns grew initially without planning. A good example of this is Rome itself, but the new towns and cities that were created later on were built in accordance with the Greek concept of urbanism. From the 1st century AD, each new colony was designed on a grid system similar to the layout of an encampment and the existing towns and cities maintained their original layouts in the centre and adopted the grid system when planning their extensions.

With the passing of time, the towns and cities were furnished with beautiful public buildings thanks to private or imperial benefactors. A large part of the architecture was influenced by Greek building styles and techniques, especially the designs of the theatres and basilicas. However, the 3rd century AD witnessed an architectural revolution: the use of concrete, which together with the arch, allowed the construction of new types of buildings.

The cities' public buildings included the baths, amphitheatres, theatres, circuses, forums and temples, as well as the structures that were necessary for community life, such as aqueducts, sewers and toilets.

The forum was the civic centre and marked the location of government and trade. It was also a meeting point for citizens. During the Republic, they usually had an irregular, open shape, but later, they were surrounded by offices, avenues with columns and a building with naves known as a basilica.

The public baths were one of the main buildings in imperial social life, where citizens met up with each other. The four main rooms were the changing room, the cold room, the warm room and the hot room. However, the most sophisticated establishments had immersion baths, cold baths, saunas, exercise rooms, courtyards and indoor walkways. The 1st century saw the introduction of the hypocaust, an underfloor heating system.

With the growth of the towns and cities, when the supply from the wells was seen to be insufficient, the aqueducts appeared. These were infrastructure works whose purpose was to bring water from the mountains to the towns and cities. Many aqueducts consisted of simple canals dug in the ground or underground pipes made of wood, terracotta or lead. However, the most impressive and outstanding were those that were built in the open air and held up by large rows of arches. As these constructions had to cross over large areas of uneven land, the gradient of their channels had to be meticulously controlled. The tops of these channels were hermetically closed to prevent evaporation and contamination. Once in the towns and cities, the water was distributed by lead, terracotta or wood pipes to the baths, public springs and private houses of the wealthy, since very few homes could afford a water pipe system.

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