Famous Buildings: A Primer of Architecture - Essay Example

Of course, it had always been referred to that the Romans were imitative of Greek culture. The same can be said of their architecture. Barstow makes for an interesting commentary when he said that “Roman architecture has been called merely Greek architecture imitated with greater richness but less refinement. No doubt the Greeks were greater originators, but the Romans were more practical, and, being great builders they extended the art in every direction. Yet, where they changed or modified the Greek, they did not always improve it (p. 49). The columns are the very main foundation of both the Erechtheum and the Pantheon.

It served not only a decorative, and magnificently so at that, but also as the main source of strength of the two buildings. When we see the Erechtheum and the Pantheon we are immediately transported to the culture of a former world and its lush sense of style that has continued to captivate the essence of design up to this day. There are many similarities between these architectures and this may be palpable in the two structures but there are also differences that may be perceived, especially in the Pantheon which came much later than the Erechtheum and thus contains some improvements and innovations.

The Erechtheum is a temple built for the goddess Athena Polias with an Ionic design. The design is characterized by two chambers where one faces west and the other faces east. There is a debate as to which direction is actually devoted to Athena but there is the belief that it is the western end of the Erechtheum while the eastern portion is that of Poseidon-Erechtheus, Hephaestus, and Boutes. The Erechtheum is actually the name of one of its cells, the same way the Pantheon derived its name. An interesting tidbit of history was divulged by Pausanias to describe the worship of Athena by the people.

He tells that even though there are many of those who had already converted to Christianity, they still hold a special reverence for Athena and the Erechtheum. The image in the Acropolis was considered to be most holy. Legend says that it fell from the sky with a lamp that never goes out of oil easily though it is lighted throughout (George, n.p.). The most distinct design of Roman architecture is its use of arches. This was not new when they incorporated it into their construction but it was revolutionized by the Romans.

Where the Greeks usually employed straight lines, the Romans made use of arches to give a softer feel to the look of the buildings. This is an integral aspect of the Pantheon which is essentially a dome that fully embraces the use of an arch. This transformed the total design of a building. It was also during the time of the Romans that the use of cement which is basically rock that was ground and sand mixed as a wet component proliferated. This technique was actually responsible and made it possible to build the Pantheon.