Roman Buildings

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giving access to its high plinth, or platform. The traditional Greek orders, or canons (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian respectively), were usually retained, but the Romans also developed a new type of column capital called the composite capital, a mixture of Ionic and Corinthian elements. An excellent example of the canonical temple type is the Maison Carrée (circa ad 4) in Nîmes, France.
Roman temples were erected not only in the forum, but throughout the city and in the countryside as well; many other types are known. One of the most influential in later times was the type used for the Pantheon (ad 118-28) in Rome, consisting of a standard gable-roofed columnar porch with a domed cylindrical drum behind it replacing the traditional rectangular main room, or cella. Simpler temples based on Greek prototypes, with round cellas and an encircling colonnade, such as that built about 75 bc at Tivoli, near Rome, were also popular. (MacDonald, 1986).

Markets and Shops

Recreational buildings and shops were dispersed throughout th...