List of ancient Greek and Roman roofs

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.

The list of ancient roofs comprises roof constructions from Greek and Roman architecture ordered by clear span. 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 Such spans were thrice as large as the widest prop-and-lintel roofs and only superseded by the largest Roman domes.^[2]

Greek roofing

This list is sorted by the largest clear span (in m).

Image	Monument	Location	Region	Date	Type of roof	Width between cella walls	Clear span between colonnades	Largest clear span
	Temple of Olympian Zeus (or Olympeion)	Agrigento	Sicily		Truss [3]	12.85	1–	12.85 [4]
	Temple of Heracles	Agrigento	Sicily	5th century BC, early	Truss [3]	11.84	1–	11.84 [4]
	Temple E	Selinunte	Sicily	480/70 BC	Truss [3]	11.70	1–	11.70 [4]
	Parthenon	Athens	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	19.20	11.05	11.05 [4]
	S. Biagio	Agrigento	Sicily		Truss [3]	10.35	1–	10.35 [4]
	Athene	Syracuse	Sicily		Truss [3]	19.82	1–	19.82 [4]
	Erechtheion	Athens	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	19.80	1–	19.80 [4]
	Treasury of Gela	Olympia	Greece		Truss [1]	19.68	1–	19.68 [4]
	Temple of Athena Alea	Tegea	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	18.94	1–	18.94 [4]
	Temple of Zeus	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	13.26	18.52	18.52 [4]
	Temple C	Selinunte	Sicily	550 BC	Truss [3]	18.50	1–	18.50 [4]
	Megaron	Gaggera	Sicily		Truss [3]	18.47	1–	18.47 [4]
	Athenians	Delos	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	18.34	1–	18.34 [4]
	Temple D	Selinunte	Sicily	540 BC	Truss [3]	18.20	1–	18.20 [4]
	Temple of Hera	Agrigento	Sicily		Truss [3]	17.68	1–	17.68 [4]
	Temple of Concordia	Agrigento	Sicily		Prop-and-lintel [5]	17.55	1–	17.55 [4]
	Temple A	Selinunte	Sicily		Truss [3]	17.50	1–	17.50 [4]
	4th century, Apollo	Delphi	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	10.72	17.32	17.32 [4]
	Temple G	Selinunte	Sicily		Truss [3]	17.93	17.15	17.15 [4]
	Temple F	Selinunte	Sicily	530 BC	Truss [3]	17.12	1–	17.12 [4]
	Poseidon	Isthmia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	11.7	~7.0	~7.0 [4]
	Temple of Poseidon	Sounion	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	16.53	1–	16.53 [4]
	Heraion	At the mouth of the Sele River near Paestum	Italy, Lower		Prop-and-lintel [3]	16.14	1–	16.14 [4]
	Artemis	Kalydon	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	16.14	1?	16.14 [4]
	Kardaki	Corcyra	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	~6.0	1–	~6.0 [4]
	Temple of Hera/Neptune	Paestum	Italy, Lower	480/70 BC	Prop-and-lintel [3]	10.85	15.9	15.9 [4]
	Temple of Athena/Ceres	Paestum	Italy, Lower		Prop-and-lintel [3]	15.70	1–	15.70 [4]
	Apollo	Delos	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	15.70	1–	15.70 [4]
	Basilica	Paestum	Italy, Lower	550–10 BC	Prop-and-lintel [3]	11.44	15.6	15.6 [4]
	Tavole Palatine	Metapontum	Italy, Lower			15.60	1–	15.60 [4]
	Bouleuterion (S)	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	11.07	15.53	15.53 [4]
	Bouleuterion (N)	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	10.80	15.40	15.40 [4]
	Temple of Apollo	Bassae	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	16.81	15.23	15.23 [4]
	Rhamnous	Attica	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	15.17	1–	15.17 [4]
	Metroon	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	15.08	1–	15.08 [4]
	Temple of Hera	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	18.37	14.84	14.84 [4]
	Temple of Hephaestus (or Theseion)	Athens	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	16.24	14.74	14.74 [4]
	Artemis	Corcyra	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	17.37	14.1	14.1 [4]
	Asclepios	Epidauros	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	13.95	1–	13.95 [4]
	Temple of Aphaia	Aegina	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	16.28	13.85	13.85 [4]
	Apollo	Syracuse	Sicily		Truss [3]	19.70	13.6	13.6 [4]
	Apollo	Corinth	Greece		Prop-and-lintel [3]	18.47	13.45	13.45 [4]

Roman roofing

This list is sorted by clear span (in m).

Image	Monument	Location	Region	Date	Type of roof	Clear span
	Throne room of the Flavian Palace	Rome	Italy, Central	192 AD	Truss [6]	31.67 [6]
	Odeum	Aosta	Italy, Upper	Augustan	Truss [6]	30.49 [6]
	Diribitorium	Rome	Italy, Central	117 BC	Truss [6]	29.60? [6]
	Coenatio Iovis	Rome	Italy, Central	192 AD	Truss [6]	29.30 [6]
	Constantine's Basilica	Trier	Germany	300 AD	Truss [6]	26.05 [6]
	Theatrum Tectum (Odeum)	Pompeii	Italy, Lower	180 BC	Truss [6]	25.75 [6]
	Odeon of Agrippa	Athens	Greece	115 BC	Truss [6]	25.75 [6]
	Temple of Venus and Roma	Rome	Italy, Central	135 AD	Truss [6]	25.75 [6]
	Basilica Ulpia	Rome	Italy, Central	113 AD	Truss [6]	25.16 [6]
	Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls	Rome	Italy, Central	385 AD	Truss [6]	24.27 [6]
	Old St. Peter's Basilica	Rome	Italy, Central	330 AD	Truss [6]	23.68 [6]

See also

• Record-holding roofs in antiquity
• Greek architecture
• Roman architecture
• List of Ancient Greek temples

References

1. Hodge 1960, p. 41
2. Ulrich 2007, pp. 148f.
3. Conjectured by Hodge 1960, pp. 38–44
4. Hodge 1960, p. 39 (table)
5. Hodge 1960, p. 43
6. Ulrich 2007, p. 149

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 0-300-10341-7

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 67 (4), pp. 335–374, doi:10.2307/148449, JSTOR 148449

External links

• Traianus – Technical investigation of Roman public works