Egypt, Greece, and Rome Summary

1) The big lessons we learn from Egyptian architecture are: a timelessness found in the large scale of secular and royal buildings and the use of stone as a building material, stylized forms found in the flat figures of wall paintings and carvings, and an axial symmetry found in the lay out of buildings.

2) The big lessons found in Greek architecture are: creating an ideal building by correcting optical illusions, the use of city planning to organize buildings within city states, the use of axial symmetry in building plans, the use of religious influences on ornament, and the creation of an order of importance through the use of said orders for different buildings.

3) The big lessons we learn from Roman architecture are: a display of power through the creation of vast interiors and the use of dense realistic ornamentation made of rich materials, the innovation found in new architectural forms such as the arch and the dome, and the use of Greece as a prototype for Rome’s architecture.