Ancient Rome

Unit 2: Ancient Mediterranean (New)

Historical Background

According to legend, Romulus and Remus were abandoned twins that were raised by and suckled from a she-wolf. They later established the city of Rome on its fabled seven hills.
The state was first ruled by kings who were later overthrown by a Senate. Romans then established a democracy of sorts were magistrates ruled the country in concert with the Senate composed of an elected body of privileged Roman men.
War victories increased Rome's fortunes and boundaries.
211 BCE - Greek colony of Syracuse in Sicily was annexed.
146 BCE - Greece absorbed by the Roman Empire.
Romans valued Greek cultural riches and imported their sculpture, pottery, and jewelry. They also reproduced Greek art and established workshops to make many copies.
27 BCE - Octavian (Augustus Caesar) comes to power after a civil war in the Late Republic. From then on, Rome is ruled by a series of emperors and expanded its territory as far as Mesopotamia.
79 CE - Pompeii is destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and becomes the single most important archaeological site of the Roman world.
410 CE - Rome is sacked.

DATES / HISTORY / KEY PERIODS

REPUBLIC

509 BCE - 27 BCE

founding of RomeRevolt vs. SuperbusConquers GreeceCraze for Greek ArtAssassination of Julius

ARTWORKS:

Temple of Fortuna VirilisHead of a Roman Patrician

KEY RULERS:

MarcellusMariusSullaPompeyJulius CaesarMark Antony

EARLY EMPIRE (IMPERIAL ROME)

27 BCE - 96 CE

Pax RomanaEruption of Mt. Vesuvius

ARTWORKS:

Augustus of PrimaportaPortrait bust of LiviaAltar of Augustan PeaceColosseum (70-80 CE)Portrait of Flavian WomanPortrait of VespasianArch of TitusPont-du-Gard

KEY RULERS:

AugustusTiberiusCaligulaClaudiusNeroVespasianTitusDomitian

HIGH EMPIRE (IMPERIAL ROME)

96 CE - 192 CE

Height of Empire; both politically and geographicallyBeards are a trendWelfare; Social Programs

ARTWORKS:

Forum of TrajanColumn of TrajanMarkets of TrajanPantheonEquestrian statue of Aurelius

KEY RULERS:

NervaTrajanHadrianAntonius PiusMarcus AureliusLucius VerusCommodus

LATE EMPIRE (IMPERIAL ROME)

192 CE - 337 CE

Paganism becomes ChristianityRoman Civil War reflected by shared power of EmperorsUnited by Constantine (325 CE) Christianity becomes official religionRome < Constantinople

ARTWORKS:

Ludovisi Battle SarcophagusArch of ConstantinePortrait of ConstantinePortrait of 4 TetrarchsAula Palatina

KEY RULERS:

Septimus SeverusCaracallaSeverus AlexanderTrajan DeciusTrebonianus GallusDioclecianConstantine I

Enduring Understandings & Essential Knowledge

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: The culture, beliefs and physical settings of a region play an important role in the creation, subject matter, and siting of works of art.

Essential Knowledge:

Roman art was produced in the Mediterranean basin from 753 BCE to 337 CE.
Roman art can be subdivided into the following periods: Republican, Early Imperial, Late Imperial, and Late Antique.
Roman culture has a rich tradition of written literature: i.e., epics, poetry, dramas.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art Making is influenced by available materials and processes.

Essential Knowledge:

Roman art reflects influences from other ancient traditions.
Roman architecture reflects ancient traditions as well as technological innovations.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Cultural interaction through war, trade, and travel can influence art and art making.

Essential Knowledge:

There is an active exchange of artistic ideas throughout the Mediterranean.
Roman works were influenced by Greek objects. In fact, many Hellenistic works survive as Roman copies.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art and art making can be influenced by a variety of concerns including audience, function, and patron.

Essential Knowledge:

Ancient Roman art is influenced by civic responsibility and the polytheism of its religion.
Roman art first shows republican and then imperial values.
Roman architecture shows a preference for large public monuments.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDING: Art history is best understood through an evolving tradition of theories and interpretations.

Essential Knowledge:

The study of art history is shaped by changing analyses based on scholarship, theories, context and written records.
Roman art has had an important impact on European art, particularly since the 18th century.
Roman writing contains some of the earliest contemporary accounts about art and artists.

Artwork List ( * = in addition to 250)

Head of a Roman Patrician

House of the Vetii

Augustus of Prima Porta

Colosseum

Forum of Trajan

>Column of Trajan

Marcus Aurelius Equestrian Statue*

Pantheon

Patronage and Artistic Life

The Roman state and wealthy individuals were the major patrons of art.
Art was used to enhance their domestic spaces and was dedicated to the public for grand scale projects.
Homes were used to demonstrate power and privilege of the wealthiest individuals. Romans build their homes specifically to entertain and to impress, creating lavish interiors with fresco paintings and even marble plumbing fixtures.
Artists were considered low members of the social scale and were treated poorly. Many were slaves who toiled in anonymity.

Roman Architecture

Romans considered master builders and forged great roads and massive aqueducts to connect their empire and make cities livable spaces.
Greek architecture is a major influence on Roman work.
Created arenas for spectators who were awed by both their size and engineering genius.
Romans developed use of the arch to span huge spaces without the constant support of post-and-lintel systems. Mortar was not needed and Romans used ashlar masonry to construct them.
Arches and vaults make building enormous structures possible like the Colosseum and the Pantheon.
Romans used low-cost concrete to construct many of their larger buildings, but it was often covered with another material such as marble, as they deemed the look of concrete to be less pleasing.

Roman Painting

Frescos were created on interior walls of homes (cubicula) and displayed scenes from mythology, landscapes, and city plazas.
Mosaics were used as floor decorations and served a practical purpose, as stone kept cool in the summer.
Encaustic painting was influenced by Egypt and provided portraits of the deceased.
Romans had a better understanding of linear perspective in painting, using multiple vanishing points and atmospheric perspective to capture accurate depth.
Figures were painted using foreshortening.

Roman Sculpture

Republic = Marble busts created with verism of noblemen. Republicans valued virtues of wisdom, determination, and experience. Romans had a great respect for ancestors and some figures could be seen holding busts of their relatives as a sign of patrician heritage.
Imperial = Emperors were portrayed as divine and influenced by Classical Greece. Sculptors adopted contrapposto, ideal proportions, and heroic poses. Forms were less individualized and more idealized.
Late Imperial = Compositions marked by figures lacking individuality and crowded tightly together (horror vacui). Contrapposto was ignored and bodies are seen as almost lifeless behind drapery.

Unit Vocabulary

Atmospheric Perspective - landscapes that give the illusion of distance.

Atrium - a courtyard in a Roman house or before a Christian church.

Basilica - in Roman architecture, a large axially planned building with a nave, side aisles, and apses.

Bust - a sculpture depicting the head, neck, and upper chest of a figure.

Coffer - in architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling.

Composite column - one that contains a combination of volutes from the Ionic order and acanthus leaves from the Corinthian order.

Continuous narrative - a work of art that contains several scenes of the same story painted or sculpted in continuous succession.

Cubiculum (plural: cubicula) - a Roman bedroom flanking an atrium; in Early Christian art, a mortuary chapel in a catacomb.

Cupola - a small dome rising over the roof of a building; in architecture, a cupola is achieved by rotating an arch on its axis.

Foreshortening - a visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space.

Forum - a public square in a Roman city.

Fresco - a painting technique that involves applying water-based paint onto a freshly plastered wall. The paint forms a bond with the plaster that is durable and long-lasting.

Horror vacui - Latin for "fear of empty spaces." A type of artwork in which the entire surface is filled with objects, people, designs, and ornaments in a crowded, sometimes congested way.

Impluvium - a rectangular basin in a Roman house that is placed in the open-air atrium in order to collect rainwater.

Oculus - a circular window in a church, or a round opening at the top of a dome.

Perspective - depth and recession in a painting or a relief sculpture. Lines, called orthogonals, draw the viewer back into space to a common point called a vanishing point.

Pier - a vertical support that holds up an arch or a vault.

Spandrel - a triangular space enclosed by the curves of arches.

Vault - a roof constructed with arches. When an arch is extended into space, forming a tunnel, it is called a barrel vault. When two barrel vaults intersect at right angles, it is called a groin vault.

Veristic - sculptures from the Roman Republic characterized by extreme realism of facial features.

Resources

Google Sites

Report abuse