Chapter Four: The Roman Legacy

Chapter Four:The Roman Legacy

Culture and Values, 7th Ed.Cunningham and Reich

Augustan Literature: Vergil

Roman art promoted Augustan worldviewOfficial, public, served state purposes

Vergil’s AeneidTribute to Rome and AugustusNational epic of RomeHuman destiny and personal responsibility

Eclogues (Bucolics) and Georgics

[Image 4.9]View of the Garden from the villa of Livia

and Augustus

Augustan Sculpture

Ara PacisCharacteristics of Vergil’s poetryPolitical and social messageDedicated to the spirit of PeaceCelebrates the abundance of nature

Augustus of Prima PortaVictory over ParthiansNational pride

Evidence of Pompeii

Vesuvius: August 24, C.E. 79Pliny the YoungerPreservation of ordinary Pompeian life

BuildingsDomestic ornamentsFood

Roman Imperial Architecture

Triumphal arches, internal arches, vaultsBarrel VaultDome (hemispherical vault)

Hadrian’s Pantheon and imperial foraDome, oculus

Engineering AchievementsAqueducts (Pont du Gard)Covered sewers

Rome as the Object of Satire

OvercrowdingHumble private residencesJuvenal (C.E. 60-130)

Satirical poet (sixteen Satires)Biting sarcasmMisogyny

The End of the Roman Empire

Gradual decline and political disunityInsufficient army / use of mercenary troopsIncreased taxes, decreased value of moneyImpossibility of trade

Emperor Diocletian (284-305)Emperor Constantine (306-337)Deposition of Romulus Augustulus (476)

Late Roman Art and Architecture

Last great Roman imperial buildingsBasilica of ConstantinePalace of Diocletian

Abandonment of Classical idealsLack of perspective and precisionEnthusiasm for Eastern religious cultsRole of Christianity