大马士革的阿波罗多洛斯50—120

生平

105年，阿波罗多洛斯在达基亚多瑙河上为在进行第二次达基亚战争的罗马帝国军队建筑了图拉真大桥。他在罗马也留下很多作品，其中最著名的是图拉真柱和图拉真广场。他还在贝内文托和安科纳建筑了图拉真凯旋门。此外，他也被认为是罗马万神庙的设计者和西班牙阿尔孔尼塔尔桥的建造者。106年，他完成或重新修缮位于罗马战神广场在图密善时代就开始建造的剧场。

哈德良登基后，由于阿波罗多洛斯多次嘲笑哈德良的建筑和设计，从而得罪哈德良。哈德良将其放逐，之后他被指控犯有虚有的罪名而被处死。

Apollodorus of Damascus (Latin: Apollodorus Damascenus, Ancient Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Δαμασκηνός) was an architect and engineer from Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century AD. As an architect he authored several technical treatises, and his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time. He is one of the few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a standard. He is also known as Apollodorus Mechanicus.

Early life

Apollodorus was born in Damascus, Roman Syria. Modern sources refer to him as Arab, or specifically Nabatean Arab, Hellenized Nabatean, or as Greek. Neither Cassius Dio nor Procopius, scholars and historians of antiquity, mention his origins when writing of him. Some scholars state the name Apollodorus to be a Hellenized form of Nabataean "Abdal" or "Abodat". It is noted that Trajan may have first met the architect in Syria, where Apollodorus began his career and maintained his artistic ties. Furthermore, the stylistic and grammatical weakness of his inscriptions in Greek language suggest that it was not his mother tongue.

Little is known of his early life, but he started his career as a military engineer before meeting future emperor Trajan in Damascus, then being summoned to Rome by him when he was a consul in 91 AD, after his twentieth birthday, and later accompanying him during the Second Dacian War in 105 AD.

Architectural works

Apollodorus was Trajan's favoured architect and engineer.

• In Rome he designed and oversaw the construction of:
• Trajan's Forum and Markets
• Temple of Trajan
• Trajan's Column (the first monument of its kind)
• Outside the capital, Apollodorus designed the:
• Trajan's Bridge across the Danube
• Alconétar Bridge over the Tagus in Spain
• triumphal arch of Trajan at Benevento

Arch of Trajan at Ancona.

Trajan's Trophy near Adamclisi, Romania

He is the author of Siege Engines (Πολιορκητικά, Poliorcetica), dedicated to an unnamed emperor, likely Trajan.

The director of the Italian Institute of Culture in Damascus, Fiorella Festa Farina, described the technical prowess of Apollodorus as stemming from his cultural roots and the architectural tradition of Syria; and that he owed his particular mastery to Nabataean culture filtered through Greek modes of thought. He was known for his practical and robust designs. It was likely due to his influence that domes became a standard element in Roman architecture.

Death

Cassius Dio reports that Apollodorus offended Hadrian by dismissing and ridiculing the emperor's forays into architecture, which led to his banishment and death. While some, considering this episode as consistent with Hadrian's documented acts of anger and violence, do believe the execution occurred, many modern historians cast doubt on this event. According to the historian Jona Lendering, modern scholarship views the anecdote as unlikely to have occurred, due to Hadrian's preoccupation with far greater threats to his power early in his reign, and that the criticism Apollodorus proffered was acted upon.