Red Basilica Essay - 855 Words

Red Basilica; Pergamon, Turkey (2nd c. 150 CE)
The Red Basilica was built by the Roman Empire, around the time of Hadrian. Though Hadrian had traveled to nearly every province in the Empire. Explaining why he was a Turkey. (Dio, 425). It is just odd that this temple was where is was. However, it was located on the top of this hill in Pergama; this location is high emphasizing the massiveness and magnificence of this temple; Located at the Eastern end of what was originally an immense sacred precinct. It is one of the largest Roman structures still surviving in the ancient Greek world. (Net Books, 77)
Its location in Turkey is relatively close to Greece explains the Hellenistic style of the basilica (Net Books, 78). A unique feature of this building is the two rotundas topped by domes standing on ether side of the main temple (Dubin, 3). This is the main feature we will be focus because these were some of the very first domes. The domes on the rotundas is similar to that of the pantheon. The domes are quite low and shallow similar to the saucer dome seen on the Pantheon; this shows that the idea of the dome was still in its beginning stages and was still simplistic. However, a special feature to this dome is the oculus or small opening at the top of each of the domes identical to the concept seen in the Pantheon (Bainbridge 215). This opening provided light in a very unique way having the light shine mainly on one point.
The entire complex was used to worship Egyptian gods, Isis, Osiris, Harpocrates; Hadrian clearly built this temple after being influenced by his travels in Egypt (Dubin, 4). Yet, the use of the rotundas is unknown, but after looking at the structures it seems that the structures were used for religious meetings or meditation because the oculus provides only little light. Furthermore, the domes do not seen to try to emphasize power of Roman Empire in fact it seems to be built for practical reasons like provision of light and securing the tower. This can be seen through the later use of the rotunda in the 19th century. The rotunda was used as an olive oil factory, and currently is used as a mosque.
The dome is made of brick; this is possibly one of the earliest brick domes out there (Net Books, 79). Showing the ingenuity it took to build this structure; furthermore the belief that true domes originated in the Middle East shows how this was just the beginning for domes. This dome is a precursor to what the world had in store for architecture, and how the dome would soon defy what was believed to be possible and become a pivotal part of architecture.

Soltaniyeh Dome; Soltaniyeh District, Abhar County, Iran (1302-1312 CE)
The concept that the true dome was founded in the Middle East is quite important, and consistently as time passed the use of the dome was extremely prevalent and was evolving. One of the techniques used to create a dome was the double shell, and the Soltaniyeh dome is the oldest double-shell dome in Iran. The use of the double-shell dome demonstrated the high level of development of the Islamic dome architecture in the Middle East and central Asia during this time.
Soltaniyeh dome was one of the first domes to use the double shell; its construction is referenced as one of the major revolutions seen in Islamic architecture. This technique

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