 Rome's greatest concrete domes. We're going to be exploring two main places on each room live today Take it Rome and to the Bay of Naples First of all the pantheon we start with the greatest Concrete dome ever constructed by the Romans It's built between Trajan and Hadrian completed by about 125 AD it's still standing and And we can admire this volume this size this scale It's diameter of the interior of the rotunda is 43.5 meters in diameter Incredible at the base of the walls For the rotunda are as thick as five meters But it tapers to the top To about one meter and you can put a perfect sphere inside this structure and What the Romans seemed to have been in for it was about a hundred and fifty feet in width and a hundred and fifty feet in Height and they're just a little shy of That mark the Oculus itself is about 30 feet across creating a Solar calendar on the interior of the dome We passed the Domus Aurea as another noteworthy Concrete dome of the Romans The octagonal hall is built as one of the refined features of the Domus Aurea the Golden House of Nero Now it's not that large When we think about it compared to the pantheon, but it does have a complex system of weight-bearing piers and then a series of rooms around the octagonal hall that are miraculously illuminated by hidden openings That are apart from that wide opening of the Oculus so it really was a Noteworthy architectural wonder For the Romans of the Neuronian period we passed a Baye Which is in the northern Bay of Naples the Gulf of Potswold And these thermal bath spas where you have the development of many domes This is the first great concrete dome of the Imperial period dating to the reign of Augustus Now only just over 21 meters in diameter Originally about 21 meters in height as well It can't help but remind you of the pantheon. You've got your Oculus You've got your Marble line walls originally, but you also have water. This is the so-called temple of Mercury in Baye and it is our oldest One of the oldest unreinforced concrete domes still standing For a tour of the site of Baye, please join Darsar digs on YouTube To get a sense of this incredible archaeological site Another famous and important Concrete dome the so-called temple of Venus also in Baye and this is an expansive Rotunda with a diameter of over 26 meters that was on the water's edge originally and again it was a structure filled with Thermal bath spring water an Incredible incredible experience in Baye and of course the remains are impressive even though the dome is not intact This gives a sense of just how incredible Baye as a site originally was Another structure of thermal bath complex with a huge dome is the so-called temple of Diana again not a temple But a thermal spa area filled with hot spring water almost 30 meters in Diameter Porty preserve but very very impressive now to Lake of Airdis nearby Baye There is the so-called temple of Apollo again a thermal bath complex on water's edge And this was truly astounding in scale with a diameter of 36 meters look at the people passing by for scale This was again a gargantuan structure. We have so many vaulted structures Here in Baye in the northern Bay of Naples the so-called Gulf of Potswally the domed architecture that they are creating here Around Potswally and Baye is exceptional and there's nothing like it and of course you're right on this beautiful historical mythological Lake Lake of Airdis The baths of Karakala were built between 211 and 216 AD encompassing an area of over 25 acres and one of the standout features was the domed caldarium Very poorly preserved, but originally it was quite massive And what had a great affinity in its scale with the pantheon itself the mighty caldarium With a dome of Gilded bronze About two-thirds the size of the dome of the pantheon Magnificent wonders in the baths of Karakala We can look at the two Still-standing piers to get a sense of the scale the original scale of the domed caldarium of the great baths of Karakala We can also take a look at the so-called temple of Manuramanica, which was a vaulted heated dining room in An imperial complex that probably belonged to the Emperor Galeanus in the two 260s AD you get a great view of it and it's restored dome when you take a train out of Termini train station We can admire just the scale the size of the openings in the windows That gives a sense of the bravura of the Engineers at the time and we can also admire the remains of the dome and understand the lightness of the construction We have the pantheon dome. We have the octagonal hall in the dome of Saudi but here in Baye You have so many more dome structures. This one's Hadrianic right on water's edge and the oldest Poor concrete dome that still stands is also in Baye that goes back to the time of Augustus some terms of innovation in terms of experimenting with concrete Sure Rome is one of the centers, but another one is down here in the Baye of Naples it is essential then in your studies of archaeology and architecture and engineering to experience the Dome structures of Baye So there you have Rome's greatest concrete domes from the pantheon and the octagonal hall the dome of Saudi down to Baye With so many incredible concrete domes Join Darius for a tour of the archaeological site at Darius Arya digs on YouTube and join us weekly for a new Incredible content in Rome and throughout the Empire. Thanks for watching