List_of_Greco-Roman_roofs

List of ancient Greek and Roman roofs

List of ancient Greek and Roman roofs

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The list of ancient roofs comprises roof constructions from Greek and Roman architecture ordered by clear span. Roof constructions increased in clear span as Greek and Roman engineering improved. Most buildings in classical Greece were covered by traditional prop-and-lintel constructions, which often needed to include interior colonnades. In Sicily, truss roofs presumably appeared as early as 550 BC.[1] Their potential was fully realized in the Roman period which saw over 30 m wide trussed roofs spanning the rectangular spaces of monumental public buildings such as temples, basilicas, and later churches. Such spans were thrice as large as the widest prop-and-lintel roofs and only superseded by the largest Roman domes.[2]

The truss roof of the 4th-century church Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. The triangular frame of beams of the main nave is largely self-supporting, since the forces are carried along the beams rather than acting vertically on them.

Greek roofing

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Roman roofing

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See also


References

  1. Ulrich 2007, pp. 148f.
  2. Conjectured by Hodge 1960, pp. 38–44
  3. Hodge 1960, p. 39 (table)

Sources

  • Hodge, A. Trevor (1960), The Woodwork of Greek Roofs, Cambridge University Press, pp. 38–44
  • Ulrich, Roger B. (2007), Roman Woodworking, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-10341-0

Further reading

  • Klein, Nancy L. (1998), "Evidence for West Greek Influence on Mainland Greek Roof Construction and the Creation of the Truss in the Archaic Period", Hesperia, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 335–374, JSTOR 148449
  • Traianus – Technical investigation of Roman public works

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