reflection on the roman empire

The mausoleum of Hadrian clearly reflects the importance of the roman empire at the time. The huge structure may refer to the big amount of lands that they concerned at the time. The standing and lasting mausoleum refers to the the strong will and the power that the society had. The materials used refer to the advanced technologies they had and their ability to construct large scale structure using very primitive materials. What is mostly interesting is that mostly all the great emperors that ruled and changed the societies way of thinking and behavior were buried inside this mausoleum.

description of mausoleum

The mausoleum of Hadrian, also referred to as the castle of saint Angelo, is a cylindrical mausoleum located on the west bank of the Tiber inside of Rome.Its location is very important because everyone could see it when passing through the city.It was built by emperor Hadrian for him and his family throughout the year 135 A.D.nd The building was 50 meters high, and larger than any other building around including the pantheon.The building was used for different functions through time; it was used as a residence at first, a jail at a later stage, and a mausoleum nowadays.After Hadrian's died, he along with his whole family were buried inside the building. After that, all the emperors of Rome were buried there the last being emperor Caracalla.This amazing structure was made out of roman concrete based on a hydraulic-setting cement , huge stones that were carried around by slaves,brick that was covered in whitewashed stucco, ceramic roof, blown glass that was then engraved, and metal work that were used for aesthetic as well as functional usage.

opinion and debate

Hadrian's mausoleum is a very important building to study due to the importance of Hadrian as a roman empire as well as the importance of the building in roman architecture. We were specifically interested in the fascination that the roman empire brought to the world due to its advanced mega-structure at the time, in addition to that the story of Hadrian and his paranoia helps in getting to know what was going on during and after the mausoleum was built. In our opinion the mausoleum could be used as a sample when referring to roman architecture because it contains all the right descriptions and structure used at the time. After the death of Hadrian the building was used for different purposes. It was used as a residence at first, a jail at a later stage, and a mausoleum or a touristic site nowadays. This diversion in usage clearly provokes a debate; does the construction and the interior design of a building define its purpose and use, or does it depend on the need, location, and importance of a the building during different era's?