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The Roman Empire
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The Roman World
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Capitoline Wolf, from Rome, Italy, ca. 500–480 BCE. Bronze, 2’ 7 1/2” high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.
“The Feral Kid” from Mad Max: Return of the Road Warrior
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"The Rape of the Sabine Women" (1637-1638) by Nicolas Poussin
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Rise of Rome
• Latins invaded the peninsula in 1000 BCE
• By 800 BCE, founded Rome at the lower valley of the Tiber River, central locus for control of the rest of Italy
• Other ethnicities migrated to the region: Etruscans, Phoenicians, Greeks
• Unlike the other villages, Rome encouraged other ethnic groups to migrate there
Chronology
Romulus founded Rome: 753 BCE
Republican Period: 509-27 BCE
Early Empire: 27 BC - 96 AD
High Empire: 96 - 192 AD
Late Empire: 192-337 AD
ROMAN EMPIRE: “MERIT”
MonumentsEngineeringRealismInterior SpaceTemples— play a part in Roman contributions to the West.
MERIT is also a term connected to the idea of virtue and praise, which allows us to discuss the Roman use of sculpture and architecture for propagandistic purposes.
Multiethnic Contributions to Rome
Phoenicians contributed maritime and commercial skills and phonetic alphabet
Etruscans brought urban planning, chariot racing, the toga, bronze and gold crafting—and the arch
Greeks: the pantheon of gods and goddesses, linguistic and literary principles, and aesthetic
The Centrality of the Roman State
Expectations of the citizen:•Obedience to the state•Service in the military—which could be profitable The soldier had to finance his own spear, shield, armor and helmet •Both were essential to the rise of the Roman emporium, the empire
The Roman Empire:Unification of the Ancient World
Government: ruled from Mesopotamia to England
Infrastructure: all led to Rome
Domination: law and order Pax Romana
Roman influences on the Western World
Legacy: Rome lives on in our government, law, architecture and language
Our coins are like Roman coins
Christian churches borrowed form the Roman Basilica
Aqueducts continue to supply water
Ships dock in Roman ports
Roman roads are still used
The Roman use of art as propaganda
Differences from Greece
• The artists are unimportant, no names survive(servants of the patron)
• Greeks were interested in philosophy, art and science. The Romans were interested in conquest and administration.
“verism”
Roman Technical Developments
ConcreteThe Arch
Barrel vaults
Groin vaults
The Dome: architecture of light and space
Roman Invention of Concrete
• Cheap and strong; can be molded to any form
• Placed in wooden frames, then dried
• Architecture of space rather than mass.
• Roman genius: many materials in the same building
Roman concrete construction. (a) barrel vault, (b) groin vault, (c) fenestrated sequence of groin vaults, (d) hemispherical dome with oculus (John Burge).
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Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia Palestrina, Italy 110 BC Goddess of fate and chance
• 7 vaulted terraces, tholos at peak of triangle
• innovative use of concrete; barrel vaults
• Symbol of Roman will & rational order over nature
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Restored view of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina, Italy, late second century BCE (John Burge).
The Arch
• Rome built on the arch, contributed by the Etruscans
• Weight is evenly distributed from the keystone to the sides
• It could provide so much strength that other structures could be built above it
Roman Engineering Feats: The Vault
Barrel Vault (Tunnel); a series of connected arches
needs buttressing dark and gloomy
Groin Vault: barrel vaults intersect at right angles over a square area.
Thrust is concentrated at four corners, eliminating walls, allows clerestory windows
The Dome
• Third form of rooftop architecture in Rome
• Created by rotating a round arch through 180 degrees on its axis
• Must be buttressed from all sides
• The weight must be evenly distributed at all sides
• The dome included a circular skylight
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Domestic Architecture
Entrance to a home was an atrium, a large hall entered through a corridor from the street,
An open compluvium (skylight) which let in rainwater and sunlight
Rainwater was collected in a sunken basin in the floor (impluvium) and channeled off into a cistern
Equestrian Statues
• Equestrian statues were a Roman invention reproduced throughout history
• This statue of Marcus Aurelius is typical-it depicts both horse and rider in Grecian naturalistic design
• The veins and muscles of the horse are visible as it raises its foreleg, a triumphal pose
Roman Sculpture• Emphasized Roman victories: triumphal
arches and victory columns (obelisks redesigned in Roman style)
• Sculptures of Roman emperors, in realistically detailed Roman breastplate and idealized faces and proportions
• Equestrian statues were added in the 2nd Century BCE
• Emphasis on realism was evident in balding senators and matronly women
• Fig leafs in nude male statues such as Mercury were a Roman invention after conversion to Christianity
Roman Roads
“All roads lead to Rome” is an apt description of Roman roadsThe network on this map show how the Roman army could go anywhere
Later, it also indirectly contributed to the spread of Christianity throughout the empire
The paving was basic to the rapids transport of troops
Public Architecture: The Forum
• A rectangular open space, usually with a temple at one end
• Bounded on three sides by colonnades (rows of columns)
• Fourth side by a basilica
• Best known: Forum Romanum and Forum Julium
Architectural and Engineering Professions
• Roman architecture and engineering were considered to be one discipline
• The most influential manuals were Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture
• Function to the Roman architecture determined design
• Classic architecture emphasized size to accommodate 1 million people of Rome: the coliseum, the amphitheaters, all designed for entertainment, whether gladiators, drama, or circuses
The Republican Period509-27 BCE
• 509 BCE Expulsion of Etruscans from Rome
• Establishment of constitutional government
• Power in senate and consuls
• Two social classes: Patrician and Plebian
Dancing Warriors, late Republican period, Vatican museum
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Roman Republic: Roots
Etruscans ruled the Latins but were overthrown in 509 BCGradually, monarchy gave way to government by the people (res publica)
Predominately comprised the patricians (aristocrats) and the plebians (farmers, artisans, and other common folk.
Slaves formed a third category as the empire expandedThe rise of the republic was a slow process
Structure of the Roman Republic
• Patricians through the Senate controlled the lawmaking process
• However, plebians filled the ranks of the Roman army and exercised veto power over the decisions of the Senate
• Eventually, through their leaders, the tribunes, acquired the right to hold executive office and lawmaking power
The Romans took over their neighbors one by one
27 BC Republic becomes Roman Empire
211 BC: Romans conquered the Greek city of Syracuse, Sicily-plundered Greek art
146 BCE Greece becomes a Roman Province
Military Organization
• The army was the tool of imperial expansion
• The Roman army was a highly disciplined force and the backbone of Rome
• Initially, all free men served two-years
• Later, professional soldiers filled the ranks
• As the empire expanded, non-Romans joined to gain Roman citizenship
• The phalanx was the basic unit (Later it would be divided into smaller units
• These units could combine to form a legion if necessary.
Roman Law• Formed the model of legal
systems throughout European countries except England, which relied on common law
• The term jus meant both the law and justice
• The system of customary law (ius) was written down as codes (lex)
• These were displayed as the Twelve Tables of Law at the Forum.
Roman Philosophy
• Much of philosophy was derived from the Stoics of the Hellenistic empire, who saw life as adversity to be endured
• Happiness lies in acceptance of things as they are
• Seneca was a leading proponent of Stoicism
• Lucretius in The Nature of Things saw the world in a purely materialistic light and denied the existence of gods or a spiritual dimension
• This belief system encouraged the sense of duty and also the equality of all, which had a humanizing effect on Roman law
• This world view anticipated the beliefs of the early Christians, emphasizing personal responsibility and the equality of all
Roman Literature: Epic Poetry• Under sponsorship of Octavian,
produced a golden age of poetry
• Virgil (Publius Vergilius Mato) wrote the epic poem Aeneid, on Aeneas, the mythical Trojan founder of Rome
• Virgil accompanies Dante in the Purgatorio and Inferno in the Divine Comedy
• Catullus, a Sicilian, wrote lyric poetry, some of it inspired by his adulterous affair with Clodia, wife of a Roman consul, and the collapse of the affair
• Publius Ovidus Naso (Ovid) covers the art of seduction, work which earned him exile
• Horace was the master of satire that addresses Stoic themes, such as Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)
Roman Literature
• Best known for prose, writing as a vehicle for providing information
• Provided the first geographies and encyclopedias
• Other media: instruction manuals, histories, and biographies
• Livy provided a detailed history of Rome from the 8th century BCE to his own day (1st century BCE)
• Also masters of oratory, exemplified by Tullius Cicero (106-41 BCE)
Architecture
Greek: religious artistry; the building as sculpture
Roman:
Structure and engineering
Invention of concrete and use of the arch
eclectic; borrowed from Etruscan and Greek
Greek: the temple is a shrine to a deity
Roman : the temple is a monument to an empire
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Temple of Portunus (Temple of “Fortuna Virilis”), Rome, Italy, ca. 75 BCE.
Temple of Fortuna Virilis (Portunus: Roman god of harbors) Rome, 75 BCE
EtruscanPlanHigh podiumentry
Greek Ionic columnsStucco used as faux marble over stone
RomanPseudoperipteral: engaged columns
Head of an old man, from Osimo, mid-first century BCE. Marble, life-size. Palazzo del Municipio, Osimo.
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Head of a Roman Patrician 75-50 BCE marble
Function: show elevated class status through genealogy
Waxed death masksBust of ancestors kept in the homeRoman coins
Different from Greek:Not full figureUse of verism, not idealism
Portrait of a Roman general, from the Sanctuary of Hercules, Tivoli, Italy, ca. 75-50 BCE. Marble, 6’ 2” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
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Portrait of a Roman General, From Sanctuary of Hercules 75-50 BCE Marble 6’2”
What’s wrong with this picture?
Cuirass(breastplate): military general
Body: Hero (Idealized)
Face: portrait (verism)
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Funerary relief with portraits of the Gessii, from Rome(?), Italy, ca. 30 BCE. Marble, approx. 2’ 1 1/2” high. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Plebian Relief SculptureSlavery was commonStylistic tastes tied to social and political status
Funeral portraits of deceased freedmen.Legal members of society-thus the portraits
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Relief with funerary procession, from Amiternum, Italy, second half of first century BCE. Limestone, 2’ 2” high. Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo, L’Aquila.
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Aerial view of the forum (looking northeast), Pompeii, Italy, second century BCE and later. (1) forum, (2) Temple of Jupiter (Capitolium), (3) basilica.
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Aerial view of the amphitheater, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70 BCE.
Pompeii and the cities of Vesuvius
Buried by a volcano 79 ADExcavated mid 1700’s
Classical Revival 1760’s- (Neo Classic period)
Forum: Public squareBasilica: city hallAmphitheater: gladiators
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Dionysiac mystery frieze, Second Style wall paintings in Room 5 of the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60–50 BCE. Fresco, frieze 5’ 4” high.
Villa of Mysteries• Scene from the Villa of the
Mysteries
• An initiate is flagellated (by a winged woman out of view)
• Another women plays cymbals while in a frenzied dance
• The technique give a three-dimensional image on a two dimensional surface
• Portraits were common, as seen in Young Woman With a Stylus
• This was probably the Lesbian poet Sappho—from the Isle of Lesbos, but not necessarily homosexual
2nd style Dionysiac Mystery frieze,
Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy 60-50 BCE 5’ 4” high
• Celebrate rites of the god of Bacchus
• Women emulate Ariadne
• Figures interact across the room
• Fasting, alcohol, physical abuse
• Pictorial devices: Modeling of figures- illusion of a ledge
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Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater, wall painting from House I,3,23, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60–79 CE. Fresco, 5’ 7” x 6’ 1”. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
Restored view and plan of a typical Roman house of the Late Republic and Early Empire (John Burge). (1) fauces, (2) atrium, (3) impluvium, (4) cubiculum, (5) ala, (6) tablinum, (7) triclinium, (8) peristyle.
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Atrium of the House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy, second century BCE, rebuilt 62–79 CE.
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First Style wall painting in the fauces of the Samnite House, Herculaneum, Italy, late second century BCE.
First Style Wall Painting; Masonry styleSamnite House Herculaneumlate 2nd cent BCE
Trompe l’oeil
Concrete covered with plaster
Imitates slabs of colored marble
Modeled in relief
Second Style
Realistic architecture Illusion of windows and porticos, looked out to scenes Linear Perspective: using a vanishing point
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Second Style wall paintings (general view left, and detail of tholos right) from cubiculum M of the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale, Italy, ca. 50–40 BCE. Fresco, 8’ 9” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Gardenscape, 2nd style Villa of Livia. Primaporta, Italy 30-20 BCE
• Illusion of nature• Atmospheric Perspective:
blurring of colors further away
• no framing element
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Gardenscape, Second Style wall painting, from the Villa of Livia, Primaporta, Italy, ca. 30–20 BCE. Fresco, 6’ 7” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
3rd Style: ornamental end of 1st cent BCE Villa of Agrippa Postumus Boscotrecase, Italy 10 BCE
• Tiny floating landscape• no illusionism• Picture gallery• Candelabra replaced columns• Wall is painted to support framed paintings as in a
gallery
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Detail of a Third Style wall painting, from cubiculum 15 of the Villa of Agrippa Postumus, Boscotrecase, Italy, ca. 10 BCE. Fresco, 7’ 8” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Fourth Style Wall Painting
• Return to Illusionism
• Mixture of 2nd and 3rd styles
• fragmented architecture
• Walls divided into panels; may be chaotic and overfilled
Domus Aurea of Nero, Rome Italy 64-68 CE
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Fourth Style wall paintings in Room 78 of the Domus Aurea (Golden House) of Nero, Rome, Italy, 64–68 CE.
Fourth Style Ixion Room, House of the Vetti Pompeii,Italy AD 70-79
• Crowded, confused• Garish color• Eclectic• Faux marble
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Fourth Style wall paintings in the Ixion Room (triclinium P) of the House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70–79 CE.
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Neptune and Amphitrite, wall mosaic in the summer triclinium of the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, Herculaneum, Italy, ca. 62–79 CE.
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Portrait of a husband and wife, wall painting from House VII,2,6, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70–79 CE. Fresco, 1’ 11” X 1’ 8 1/2”. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
Mummy Portraits
Fayum portrait: Egyptian 160-170 CE
Encaustic on woodReplaced portrait masks
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Still Life with Peaches, detail of 4th style wall painting Herculaneum, Italy CE 62-79
Illusionistic light and shadowStill Life
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Still life with peaches, detail of a Fourth Style wall painting, from Herculaneum, Italy, ca. 62–79 CE. Fresco, 1’ 2” x 1’ 1 1/2”. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
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From Republic to Empire • Rome then began to build an
empire
• Conquest of the known world was the extension of conquest of the Italian peninsula by the Latins
• War with the Phoenicians of Carthage (Punic Wars) was the first phase of Roman expansion
• Other expeditions led to Roman control of the entire Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum, “Our Sea”) and much of Europe: Hispania (now Spain), Gallia (France) Britannia (England) and part of Germania (Germany)
From Republic to Empire
• Led by military dictators, of which Julius Caesar was the best known
• Caesar expanded the empire to include western and central Europe
• He directed the construction of a wooden bridge to enable the troop to invade and conquer Germania (central Europe)
• Under Caesar Augustus (Octavian), the empire entered into a pax romana (peace under Rome)
• This, which brought in a long era of high culture and stability
What is Propaganda?
• In Rome- presentation of absolute power
• Creation, manipulation, and display of imagery
• Persuasion of those who are subjugated to accept it
44 BCE Dictator perpetuusJULIUS CAESAR- Hellenistic portrait
44BC Julius Caesar Murdered! The Ides of March
• Rome: Civil war for 13 years
• 32 BC Octavian (Augustus), the grandnephew and adopted son of Caesar, crushes Anthony and Cleopatra-they commit suicide.
• Egypt becomes a Roman province 30 BC
THE EARLY EMPIRE27BC-96AD
Senate confers the title of Augustus on Octavian-27 BCE
Supreme emperorCalls himself the son of godControls all aspects of Roman public life
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Portrait of Augustus as general, from Primaporta, Italy, early-first-century CE copy of a bronze original of ca. 20 BCE. Marble, 6’ 8” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.
Portrait of Augustus as general
IdealizedHe was 76 when this was made
Diffusion?Polykletian styleA god and a man
Iconography:
Every part carries a political message
Cupid- descended from godsHero- bare feetCuirass: military power
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Aule Metele (Arringatore), from Cortona, near Lake Trasimeno, Italy, early first century BCE. Bronze, 5’ 7” high. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence.
Oratorical pose
Cuirass: current events-the return of the captured Roman military standards by the Parthians
Early Empire
Pax Augusta, PAX ROMANA
•Peace reigns for 200 years•Huge number of public works projects
•Art and architecture become a tool of propaganda
• Classical style after the Athenians
Portrait bust of Livia
Wife of Augustus
Not veristic, peak of youth and health
Classical Greek Goddess
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Portrait bust of Livia, from Arsinoe, Egypt, early first century CE. Marble, 1’ 1 1/2” high. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.
