Interior Of The So-Called 'Temple Of Mercury' At Baiae, actually a circular bathing hall in a thermal complex (late first century B.C. or early first
century A.D.). The building is notable for its hemispherical concrete dome, the earliest large-scale example in Roman architecture. Owing to the
sinking of the earth-level in the region, the hall is now half submerged in water.
But the exploitation of marble brought with it a problem, lack of Roman expertise in handling it. That is why an army of Greek craftsmen were
drafted into the capital: their role in shaping the distinctive creations of the Augustan programme is hard to overestimate. A new, precise language
of architectural ornament, based on that of classical Greece, but with fresh variations and combinations, set the tone for the rest of the Empire and in
turn was a source of inspiration for generations of Renaissance and Neo-classical architects. Even the one original Roman contribution to the
classical orders, the Composite, with its blending of the volutes of Ionic with the acanthus leaves of Corinthian, makes its first known appearance in
Augustan Rome and is hardly to be dissociated from the creative genius of Greek craftsmen in the capital.