List of ancient spiral stairs - Wikipedia List of ancient spiral stairs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Section view of the interior stairway and the pedestal of Trajan's Column (click on interactive image) The list of ancient spiral stairs contains a selection of Greco-Roman spiral stairs constructed during classical antiquity. The spiral stair is a type of stairway which, due to its complex helical structure, has been introduced relatively late into architecture. Although the oldest example dates back to the 5th century BC,[1] it was only in the wake of the influential design of the Trajan's Column that this space-saving new type permanently caught hold in ancient Roman architecture.[2] Apart from the triumphal columns in the imperial cities of Rome and Constantinople, other types of buildings such as temples, thermae, basilicas and tombs were also fitted with spiral stairways.[2] Their notable absence in the towers of the Aurelian Wall indicates that they did not yet figure prominently in Roman military engineering.[2] By late antiquity, separate stair towers were constructed adjacent to the main buildings, like in the Basilica of San Vitale. The construction of spiral stairs passed on both to Christian and Islamic architecture. Contents 1 Spiral stairs 2 Gallery 3 See also 4 Footnotes 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 Further reading 8 External links Spiral stairs[edit] Monument Location Country Date of construction Height Number of stairways Comment Temple A[1] Selinunte Italy c. 480 BC 2 Temple of Bel[3] Palmyra Syria 1st century Trajan's Column[4] Rome Italy 113 29.68 m 1 14 steps per turn Column of Marcus Aurelius[5] Rome Italy Late 2nd century 29.62 m 1 14 steps per turn Baths of Caracalla[6] Rome Italy 212–216 2 Baths of Diocletian[6] Rome Italy 298–305 4 Round Temple at Ostia[6] Rome Italy 3rd century 1 Santa Costanza[6] Rome Italy c. 350 1 Tomb of Galerius[6] Thessaloniki Greece Early 4th century 2 Imperial Baths[6] Trier Germany Early 4th century 8 Column of Theodosius[7] Constantinople Turkey 386–393/4 c. 50 m[8] 1 Total former column height St. Gereon's Basilica[9] Cologne Germany Late 4th century 16.50 m[A 1] 1 Column of Arcadius[7] Constantinople Turkey 401–421 c. 46.09 m[10] 1 Total former column height Basilica of San Vitale[11] Ravenna Italy 527–548 2 A pair of stair towers Gate of the Great Palace[12] Constantinople Turkey 532[A 2] ? ? Procopius (Pers. 1.24.43) refers to sortie down a spiral stairway Sangarius Bridge[13] Adapazarı Turkey 559–562 10.37 m[A 3] 1 Located in pier of triumphal arch at entrance of bridge Gallery[edit] Plan of ground floor of the Greek Temple A at Selinunte. The remains of the two spiral stairs between the pronaos and the cella are the oldest known to date (c. 480 BC).[1] Column of Marcus Aurelius. An almost 30 m high spiral staircase winds up inside, with 14 steps per full turn. See also[edit] Greek architecture Greek technology Roman technology Roman engineering Footnotes[edit] ^ Ancient staircase preserved to this height ^ Date of evidence ^ Height of arched doorway References[edit] ^ a b c Beckmann 2002, p. 354; Ruggeri 2006, p. 77 ^ a b c Beckmann 2002, pp. 353–356 ^ Beckmann 2002, p. 355 ^ Jones 1993, pp. 28, 31 ^ Jones 1993, pp. 28, 38 ^ a b c d e f Beckmann 2002, p. 354 ^ a b Beckmann 2002, p. 352 ^ Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-2458: Demolished spiral column once crowned by colossal statue of Theodosius I, emperor; later used for statue of Anastasius, emperor. Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius (Tauros). 386-394 and 506". Last Statues of Antiquity. Oxford University. Retrieved 2020-05-08. ^ Schäfke 1984, p. 102 ^ Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-2459: Demolished spiral column once crowned by colossal statue of Arcadius, emperor. Constantinople, Forum of Arcadius. 401-21". Last Statues of Antiquity. Oxford University. Retrieved 2020-03-13. ^ Rasch 1985, p. 123, fn. 27 ^ Beckmann 2002, p. 349 ^ Whitby 1985, p. 129 Bibliography[edit] Beckmann, Martin (2002), "The 'Columnae Coc(h)lides' of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius", Phoenix, 56 (3/4): 348–357, doi:10.2307/1192605, JSTOR 1192605 Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-2458: Demolished spiral column once crowned by colossal statue of Theodosius I, emperor; later used for statue of Anastasius, emperor. Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius (Tauros). 386-394 and 506". Last Statues of Antiquity. Oxford University. Retrieved 2020-05-08. Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-2459: Demolished spiral column once crowned by colossal statue of Arcadius, emperor. Constantinople, Forum of Arcadius. 401-21". Last Statues of Antiquity. Oxford University. Retrieved 2020-05-08. Jones, Mark Wilson (1993), "One Hundred Feet and a Spiral Stair: The Problem of Designing Trajan's Column", Journal of Roman Archaeology, 6: 23–38, doi:10.1017/S1047759400011454 Rasch, Jürgen (1985), "Die Kuppel in der römischen Architektur. Entwicklung, Formgebung, Konstruktion", Architectura, 15, pp. 117–139 Ruggeri, Stefania (2006), Selinunt, Messina: Edizioni Affinità Elettive, ISBN 88-8405-079-0 Schäfke, Werner (1984), Kölns romanische Kirchen. Architektur, Ausstattung, Geschichte, Köln, ISBN 3-7701-1360-8 Whitby, Michael (1985), "Justinian's Bridge over the Sangarius and the Date of Procopius' de Aedificiis", The Journal of Hellenic Studies, The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 105: 129–148, doi:10.2307/631526, JSTOR 631526 Further reading[edit] Lancaster, Lynne (1999), "Building Trajan's Column", American Journal of Archaeology, 103 (3): 419–439, doi:10.2307/506969, JSTOR 506969 External links[edit] Media related to Roman stairs at Wikimedia Commons Traianus – Technical investigation of Roman public works v t e Roman architecture lists Roman Empire Amphitheatres Aqueducts Basilicas Bridges Canals Circuses Cisterns Dams and reservoirs Domes Monoliths Public baths Roofs Spiral stairs Theatres Triumphal arches Victory columns Watermills City of Rome Aqueducts Ancient monuments Bridges Fountains Roman Forum monuments Obelisks Other countries Villas in Belgium Villas in England Villas in Wales Sites in Spain Architectural records of the Greco-Roman World Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_ancient_spiral_stairs&oldid=965584630" Categories: Stairs Stairways Lists of ancient Roman buildings and structures Ancient Greek architecture Ancient Greek buildings and structures Ancient Roman architectural elements Church architecture History of construction Lists of ancient Greek buildings and structures Hidden categories: Commons category link is on Wikidata Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Deutsch Edit links This page was last edited on 2 July 2020, at 06:03 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement