Morphology of Roman, Islamic and Medieval Seismic Design: Pointed Arch and Ablaq

Abstract

In ancient written sources earthquakes were mostly interpreted as a divine punishment for human sins, only few authors instead interpreted the seismic event as a phenomenon independent from human actions. Considering the built architectures as material documents, several examples can be found, suggesting that there was an empyrical knowledge of the consequences of earthquakes on buildings. Modern literature on the topic, mostly within engineering studies, lacking an historical approach, assumes that in ancient times science ignored the physical nature of seismic events and consequently declares that architects couldn’t consider dynamics in their projects. The close examination of some examples shows clearly that Roman, Islamic and Medieval architects had an empirical knowledge of dynamics, probably based on post-seismic reconstruction. This knowledge developed through history, so it is possible to outline a history of seismic design way before the Lisbon earthquake (1775), considered by many authors as the beginning of the history of seismic design.