Italic Architecture of the Earlier First Millennium BCE

the origins of roman architecture have long been sought, as its iconic and widespread form exerts influence even in the post-modern world. recent scholarship has addressed the role played by social processes in the generation of a recognizably roman material culture and places this phenomenon toward the end of the first millennium BCe (elsner 1995b; hölscher 2004; Stewart 2008). these studies are immensely valuable for examining the material culture of the roman republic and the ensuing imperial period, yet this same culture may be set in an even sharper focus by situating it against the background of deeply rooted Italic traditions that inform, at least in part, the aspects that make it “roman.” this chapter will examine the underpinnings of roman architecture by exploring some critical issues related to the architecture of central Italy primarily during the first half of the first millennium BCe. Four categories of buildings will be considered, namely domestic structures, civic buildings, fortifications, and sacred architecture. It can be shown that over the first half of the first millennium BCe, a tradition of indigenous construction emerged with characteristics of material and form that would continue to have a marked influence on architectural design throughout roman history. roman authors in the Late republic also sought to explain the origins of their society. notions about the origins of architectural design received their due, especially from Marcus Vitruvius pollio (d. after 15 BCe), whose De Architectura outlines numerous conventions that recommend (if not dictate)