List of ancient Greek and Roman roofs

The truss roof of the 4th-century church Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. The triangular frame of beams of the main nave is largely self-supporting, since the forces are carried along the beams rather than acting vertically on them.

The list of ancient roofs comprises roof constructions from Greek and Roman architecture ordered by clear span. Most buildings in classical Greece were covered by traditional prop-and-lintel constructions, which often needed to include interior colonnades. In Sicily truss roofs presumably appeared as early as 550 BC. Their potential was fully realized in the Roman period which saw over 30 m wide trussed roofs spanning the rectangular spaces of monumental public buildings such as temples, basilicas, and later churches. Such spans were thrice as large as the widest prop-and-lintel roofs and only superseded by the largest Roman domes.

Greek roofing

This list is sorted by the largest clear span (in m).

Image	Monument	Location	Region	Date	Type of roof	Width between cella walls	Clear span between colonnades	Largest clear span
	Temple of Olympian Zeus (or Olympeion)	Agrigento	Sicily		Truss	12.85	1–	12.85
	Temple of Heracles	Agrigento	Sicily	5th century BC, early	Truss	11.84	1–	11.84
	Temple E	Selinunte	Sicily	480/70 BC	Truss	11.70	1–	11.70
	Parthenon	Athens	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	19.20	11.05	11.05
	S. Biagio	Agrigento	Sicily		Truss	10.35	1–	10.35
	Athene	Syracuse	Sicily		Truss	19.82	1–	19.82
	Erechtheion	Athens	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	19.80	1–	19.80
	Treasury of Gela	Olympia	Greece		Truss	19.68	1–	19.68
	Temple of Athena Alea	Tegea	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	18.94	1–	18.94
	Temple of Zeus	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	13.26	18.52	18.52
	Temple C	Selinunte	Sicily	550 BC	Truss	18.50	1–	18.50
	Megaron	Gaggera	Sicily		Truss	18.47	1–	18.47
	Athenians	Delos	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	18.34	1–	18.34
	Temple D	Selinunte	Sicily	540 BC	Truss	18.20	1–	18.20
	Temple of Hera	Agrigento	Sicily		Truss	17.68	1–	17.68
	Temple of Concordia	Agrigento	Sicily		Prop-and-lintel	17.55	1–	17.55
	Temple A	Selinunte	Sicily		Truss	17.50	1–	17.50
	4th century, Apollo	Delphi	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	10.72	17.32	17.32
	Temple G	Selinunte	Sicily		Truss	17.93	17.15	17.15
	Temple F	Selinunte	Sicily	530 BC	Truss	17.12	1–	17.12
	Poseidon	Isthmia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	11.7	~7.0	~7.0
	Temple of Poseidon	Sounion	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	16.53	1–	16.53
	Heraion	At the mouth of the Sele River near Paestum	Italy, Lower		Prop-and-lintel	16.14	1–	16.14
	Artemis	Kalydon	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	16.14	1?	16.14
	Kardaki	Corcyra	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	~6.0	1–	~6.0
	Temple of Hera/Neptune	Paestum	Italy, Lower	480/70 BC	Prop-and-lintel	10.85	15.9	15.9
	Temple of Athena/Ceres	Paestum	Italy, Lower		Prop-and-lintel	15.70	1–	15.70
	Apollo	Delos	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	15.70	1–	15.70
	Basilica	Paestum	Italy, Lower	550–10 BC	Prop-and-lintel	11.44	15.6	15.6
	Tavole Palatine	Metapontum	Italy, Lower			15.60	1–	15.60
	Bouleuterion (S)	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	11.07	15.53	15.53
	Bouleuterion (N)	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	10.80	15.40	15.40
	Temple of Apollo	Bassae	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	16.81	15.23	15.23
	Rhamnous	Attica	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	15.17	1–	15.17
	Metroon	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	15.08	1–	15.08
	Temple of Hera	Olympia	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	18.37	14.84	14.84
	Temple of Hephaestus (or Theseion)	Athens	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	16.24	14.74	14.74
	Artemis	Corcyra	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	17.37	14.1	14.1
	Asclepios	Epidauros	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	13.95	1–	13.95
	Temple of Aphaia	Aegina	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	16.28	13.85	13.85
	Apollo	Syracuse	Sicily		Truss	19.70	13.6	13.6
	Apollo	Corinth	Greece		Prop-and-lintel	18.47	13.45	13.45

Roman roofing

This list is sorted by clear span (in m).

Image	Monument	Location	Region	Date	Type of roof	Clear span
	Throne room of the Flavian Palace	Rome	Italy, Central	192 AD	Truss	31.67
	Odeum	Aosta	Italy, Upper	Augustan	Truss	30.49
	Diribitorium	Rome	Italy, Central	117 BC	Truss	29.60?
	Coenatio Iovis	Rome	Italy, Central	192 AD	Truss	29.30
	Constantine's Basilica	Trier	Germany	300 AD	Truss	26.05
	Theatrum Tectum (Odeum)	Pompeii	Italy, Lower	180 BC	Truss	25.75
	Odeon of Agrippa	Athens	Greece	115 BC	Truss	25.75
	Temple of Venus and Roma	Rome	Italy, Central	135 AD	Truss	25.75
	Basilica Ulpia	Rome	Italy, Central	113 AD	Truss	25.16
	Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls	Rome	Italy, Central	385 AD	Truss	24.27
	Old St. Peter's Basilica	Rome	Italy, Central	330 AD	Truss	23.68

See also

• Record-holding roofs in antiquity
• Greek architecture
• Roman architecture
• List of Ancient Greek temples

External links

• Traianus – Technical investigation of Roman public works