The Arch of Janus Quadrifrons, Rome, built in the Forum Boarium early in the fourth century, is a four-way arch at the junction of four roads. It is of debased work built about the time of Constantine, and has a simple cross vault with brick groins--probably a prototype of Gothic ribbed vaults.
Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method for Students, Craftsmen, and Amateurs (London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1921), p. 174.
The Arch of Janus Quadrifrons, Rome (c. A.D. 315), in the Forum Boarium, is another example of a four-way arch, but is of poor design. It has a simple cross-vault with embedded brick box-ribs at the groins, affording a further instance of the progressive character of Roman constructive techniques: such ribs are possibly the prototypes of Gothic ribbed vaults. Banister Fletcher, revised by J. C. Palmes, A History of Architecture (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975), p. 325. |
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