Customer Reviews

Principles of Roman Architecture

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I had always wondered how the Romans calculated the ratio of width to height when designing their columns. This book treats the matter in detail with excellent diagrams and details far beyond just columns. Mouldings, orders, temples, markers, baths, etc., are all covered lucidly and with enough depth to interest both the architectural professional as well as the dilettant.

A very well written book, introducing its material in an argumentative order. Taken from various regions of the roman world, archeological examples are considered in order to prove -or disprove- theoretical arguments. The arguments themselves are ordered by complexity, making the reading easier.
The point of view is clearly architecural for the analysis, while the material data are checked for archeological or static pertinence.
If the bibliography is wide ranging, it suffers from its division following the chapter order: if it is easy to follow during a first rading, it is more difficult to come back to it after closing the book.
Manar HAMMAD

The finest book on classical art and architecture that I have read. I was dazzled by his brilliant analysis of the "problem" presented by the facade of the Pantheon. Wilson presents quite a lot of evidence (some of it, I think, new) to support his hypothesis: namely, that Hadrian had originally planned for columns ten feet taller than those he eventually was able to obtain from the Imperial quarries in Egypt. From my point of view as a non-specialist, this essay on the Pantheon was worth the price of the book and then some. I heartily recommend this book.