Imperial Form: From Achaeminid Iran to Augustan Rome (A History of Architecture) - Softcover

After the conquests of Alexander the Great of Macedon, Hellenic influence held sway over a vast territory, from Macedonia in the west to India in the east; from Egypt in the south to Samarkand in the north. Imperial Form starts with the architecture of the great Achaemenid empire and describes the coming together of the Hellenic and Asian ideals and the resulting hybrid art.
The story continues with the architecture of the Roman republic and its subsequent Hellenisation, preserved for us at Pompeii. Finally, the advances in building technology pioneered by the Romans - a direct result of the discipline of their military life and the authority of their political administration - led to a new architecture of space in the age of Augustus, rooted in a revival of the old religion and given canonical expression by Vitruvius.