Fifty years after the last major monograph in English surveying the breadth of Roman architecture, Etruscan and Roman Architecture by J. Ward-Perkins and A. Boëthius in the Pelican History of Art (1970) – subsequently two separate volumes, Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture (1978) and Roman Imperial Architecture (1981) – this new work by Yegül and Favro follows a similar structure. Resisting the alternative ordering by building type adopted by P. Gros (L'architecture romaine, 2 vols. [1996–2001]), they present the architecture of Rome chronologically, with chapters on building technology and residential architecture, that of her empire geographically, to illustrate their conviction that regions are ‘cultural and contextual wholes’ (p. 410), and a final chapter on late antiquity, which controversially includes the Severan period. Only the accounts of peninsular Italy and Asia Minor are typologically arranged. The book's positive message about the cultural impact of ‘Romanisation’ on architecture and its proficiency despite the economic hardships of late antiquity (p. 858) is mitigated only by occasional reminders that its reach was urban and its success unfelt by most inhabitants, who lived in rural poverty (p. 496). Although a short section notes the flaws in some designs (pp. 179–82), the authors foreground the Romans’ confidence in ‘the structural abilities of different materials’ (p. 613), admiring the ‘seemingly effortless and creative fusing of utilitarian charm and classical presence, of which the Romans, at their best, were complete masters’ (p. 145). Even the Asclepieion at Cos is subsumed within this ‘Roman’ achievement (p. 110); the House of the Faun in pre-colonial Pompeii is regarded as ‘a wholly Roman’ experience (p. 254).

The work differs from Ward-Perkins and Boëthius in its greater emphasis on buildings in their urban context. If its structural model is Ward-Perkins and Boëthius, its spirit comes from William MacDonald (The Architecture of the Roman Empire, 2 vols [1965–86]), whose influence is visible on virtually every page. Buildings are highlighted for functionality and ‘spatially articulated design’, for their dramatic settings and the experience of users (p. 176). The sanctuary of Jupiter Anxur at Terracina is said to have boasted the ‘first underground “shopping center” of antiquity’ (p. 103). The authors frequently applaud the manipulation of physical materials, comparing modern buildings such as Meier's Getty Center (p. 89). They imagine how the volcanic basalt of northern Syria, ‘king of stones’, creating ‘a hard, crisp polished surface almost oily in appearance that might as well be in black titanium’, would ‘win the approval of Frank Gehry’ (p. 792). Typologies and taxonomies have no place in this account of works of individual inventiveness, from the ‘wilful creativity’ of Rabirius (p. 321) to the brilliance of the unknown designer of the ‘Temple of Venus’ at Baalbek. Syrian residential architecture is recognised as ‘superb native craftsmanship in stone’ (p. 789). Yet not everything is ascribed to creative invention. The impression of depth of the apse of the ‘Basilica’ at Trier, which others have seen as an intentional refinement, is based, in their view, on ‘simple practicalities of building’. Yet, unlike both their illustrious predecessors, Yegül and Favro set out to place these creations in their political and social contexts: buildings in Rome are judged as settings for the appearance of the emperor; the reading of architecture in Asia Minor is contextualised within the ambitions of the local aristocracy; the distance slab reliefs of the Antonine Wall and the Sebasteion reliefs of Aphrodisias are ‘statements of imperial power’, though not all will agree that they were ‘in no way different’ (p. 484). The historical framework that was glaringly absent from MacDonald's masterful analyses of provincial architecture is clearly presented at the start of each chapter. This adds to the volume's length – almost 900 pages of double columns in small print – and interrupts the flow of architectural discussion, but ensures that Roman architecture is properly understood as a product of its circumstances.

The authors address recent controversies judiciously and independently. Declaring sympathy for J.W. Stamper's discredited theory about a reduced Capitoline temple (The Architecture of Roman Temples [2005]), they opt for the larger reconstruction, yet remark how it defies logic and practicality; on the next page, however, their discussion of the temple at Cosa rests on Frank Brown's theories, of which many are now sceptical. They recognise the conclusion of German investigators that the great exedra opening onto the Circus Maximus at the lower level of the Flavian palace was post-Domitianic, but highlight the ‘thought-provoking’ aspect of Domitian's original ‘introverted’ arrangement turning its back on the circus to look at the sky (p. 333). Despite a growing consensus that the rebuilt Pantheon was begun under Trajan, they favour a Hadrianic conception (p. 359), citing the need for stockpiled bricks and Yegül's own experience of experimental archaeology, in which bricks could not be used for two years. At Pergamon it is not the replica Pantheon but the ‘multilobed cult hall’ (p. 646) that excites their attention. They challenge the attribution of Imperial Roman ‘baroque’ architectural features to Alexandrian precedents, citing the paucity of Alexandria's remains (pp. 752–3) and the emphasis placed on survivals like the Mustafa Pasha tomb as ‘special pleading’ (p. 490).

Inevitably, Rome plays a large part. However, the authors offer readers the benefit of their unrivalled first-hand knowledge of the wider Roman world, illustrating it with sumptuous, large-format photographs from their extensive travels, some to sites now destroyed or not easily accessible. Readers can almost touch the granite of the columns of Baalbek (p. 744, fig. 11.37) or feel their hand down the grooves of the spirally fluted columns at Apamea (p. 714, fig. 11.3). The intrepid architectural voyager Yegül is pictured by his wife on the sloping underbelly of the tholos finial of the Deir at Petra (p. 763, fig. 11.56). There are other, older unfamiliar illustrations like Gatteschi's reconstruction of the Capitolium from the AAR archive (p. 82) and a wide range of new or digitally rendered plans. Yegül's experience of Asia Minor makes that chapter exceptionally rich in knowledge and new insight, with so many buildings that their names are highlighted in bold for the reader's convenience. The chapter on North Africa, benefiting from rare visits to sites like Lambaesis and Leptis Magna, offers a valuable fresh perspective. Throughout, the authors’ architectural depictions betray passion and perceptiveness. The ‘La Conocchia’ monument at Capua, for example, is described as ‘an embodiment of the triumph of form over function, a dynamic juxtaposition of curve against countercurve, a restless but harmonious interplay of surfaces and volume’ (p. 435). They not only describe, but question what they see, seeking to explain the exceptional city gates at Verona (pp. 450–1) and the reasons for their lack of influence. They consider not only evidence that survives, but also what does not, imagining how Pompeii might have looked had it survived the eruption.

To embrace architectural analysis and urban context for a millennium of architectural history from northern Britain to Arabia is challenging, even in a volume on this gargantuan scale. The focus is therefore primarily architectural, and in some cases the urban implications of a building are left to the imagination. The masterful account of the Colosseum (pp. 297–308) stresses its typological conservatism, but dwells little on its urban impact as a focus of radiating streets and a re-centring of the city. It would be invidious, however, to pinpoint omissions in such an enormous and comprehensive tome. It was perhaps inevitable too that so large a volume is not free from misprints, but the frequent typographical errors seem a disservice to the book and to a publisher that has produced so many important works in the field. Names are often misspelled; the columns of the Temple of Minerva were removed in 1605, not 1506 (p. 313). In a volume on this scale occasional inaccuracies are forgivable: the Arch of Titus keystone does not bear the figure of a captive (p. 310), perhaps an accidental recollection of the keystone in the courtyard of the Capitoline Museum.

Students and scholars of classical culture and wider architectural history will find this a rich resource to indulge in, perhaps more easily through the book's handy electronic version than from the weighty volume. A direct reading from cover to cover is not encouraged and is sometimes impeded. The term ‘baroque’, for instance, is belatedly explained (p. 745) despite earlier references to Borromini (p. 435) and to ‘baroque’ buildings in Italy (pp. 321, 450), Greece and Asia Minor (pp. 479, 559, 571) and North Africa (pp. 517, 542, 553, 561). Historians may quibble at inexactitudes such as labelling Palmyra a ‘caravan city’ (p. 770), but lovers of buildings will delight in the extensive vignettes of what the authors see as the Roman architectural achievement. This is a monumental book in every sense.