Download Unit 2 SG 6

Unit TWO: Roman Art during the Early Empire
STUDY GUIDE
G Colosseum (Rome) 79-80 CE
freestanding Flavian amphitheater/Nero, Claudius, and Agrippina/ a fire in the Circus Maximus/ Vespasian/
use of concrete/ velarium/ height of a modern-day 16 story building/ use of three architectural orders/
supported by arches instead of columns/ easy access in and out/ Roman gladiators
1. After Nero’s death, “when Vespasian’s troops gained control of Rome in 69 AD, little opposition remained, and he was to hold the
imperial title until his death ten years later. Vespasian’s rule marked a change in the character of the Empire. His predecessors had all
come from the old aristocratic families that had held the highest offices in Rome for the last three centuries. Vespasian was not an
aristocrat; he came from a middle-class family (the Flavians) in a small Italian town. He had become emperor through his own efforts,
not through family connections and palace intrigues. He knew the provinces better than he knew Rome, and he relied on the Roman or
Romanized inhabitants of the provinces more than any of his predecessors had done” (Strayer and Gatzke 85). “The sheer magnitude of
such Roman amphitheaters such as the Circus Maximus, which seated 200,000 spectators and the Colosseum, which covered six acres
and accommodated fifty thousand, is a reminder that during the first century CE, Rome’s population exceeded on million people, many of
whom were the impoverished recipients of relief in the form of wheat and free entertainment, hence ‘bread and circuses’. The Roman
amphitheaters testify to the popular taste for entertainments that included chariot races, mock sea battles, gladiatorial contests, and a
variety of violent and brutal blood sports” (Fiero, First Civilizations 147).
2. “Buildings such as the Colosseum (itself begun in AD 72 under Vespasian and inaugurated in AD 80 by his son Titus) were primarily
for public spectacles. Their Greek antecedent was the outdoor theater. Similar to a modern sports arena, the Colosseum in Rome is
actually a massive amphitheater (from the Greek amphi, meaning ‘around,’ or ‘both,’ and theatron, meaning ‘theater’)” (Adams, Art Across
Time 223). “In this enormous entertainment center (it measure 615 by 510 feet and is 159 feet high) Roman audiences watched a variety
of athletic events and spectacles, including animal hunts, fights to the death between gladiators or between gladiators and wild animals,
performances of trained animals and acrobats, and even mock sea battles, for which the arena was flooded by a built-in mechanism. The
Flavians erected it to bolster their popularity in Rome, and its name then was the Flavian Amphitheater. The name ‘Colosseum,’ by which
it came to be known, derived from the Colossus, a bigger-than-life statue of Nero that had been left standing next to it. The opening
performance in 80 CE lasted 100 days, during which time, it was claimed, 9,000 wild animals and 2,000 gladiators were killed” (Stokstad,
Art History 252).
3. “The floor of the Colosseum was laid over a foundation of service rooms and tunnels that provided a backstage area for the athletes
performers, animals, and equipment. (This floor was covered in sand, or arena in Latin, hence the English term ‘arena.’) Some 50,000
spectators could easily move through the seventy-six entrance doors to the three sections of seats and the standing area at the top. Each
had an uninterrupted view of the spectacle below. Like many stadiums today, the Colosseum was oval with a surrounding exterior wall
and ascending tiers of seats laid over barrel-vaulted corridors that provided access to them. Entrance tunnels connected the ring
corridors to the inside ramps and seats on each level. The intersection of the entrance tunnels and the ring corridors, both barrel-vaulted,
created what is called a groin vault. The walls on the top level of the arena supported an awning system that could shade the seating
areas. Former seamen who had experience in handling ropes, pulleys, and large expanses of canvas were employed to work the
apparatus” (252-253).
4. “The curving, outer wall of the Colosseum consists of three levels of arcades surmounted by a wall-like attic story. Each arch in the
arcades is framed by engaged columns, which support entablature-like bands marking the divisions between levels. Each level also uses a
different architectural order: the plain Tuscan order on the ground level, the Ionic on the second level, the Corinthian on the third, and
flat pilasters on the fourth. The attic story is broken only by small, square windows, which originally alternated with gilded-bronze shieldshaped ornaments called cartouches. These were supported on corbels (brackets) that are still in place… Engaged Corinthian pilasters
above the Corinthian columns of the third level support another row of corbels beneath the projecting cornice. All of these elements are
purely decorative and serve no structural function… The addition of post-and-lintel decoration to arched structures was an Etruscan
innovation. The systematic use of the orders in a logical succession from sturdy Tuscan to lighter Ionic to decorative Corinthian follows a
tradition inherited from Hellenistic architecture” (253).
5. “The structural system was based on a series of arches and arched passageways that crossed more at less at right angles to each other,
making a groin vault. The arch gave the strength that was needed, without making more bulk and weight than was necessary… Most of
the interior was constructed of concrete, but the builders used an attractive travertine (local limestone) masonry for the exterior and the
main piers. Because this stone was seen as a highly desirable building material during the Renaissance, and the blocks were ready cut,
the Colosseum served as a veritable quarry for the builders of palaces and other grand buildings” (Ramage and Ramage 138).
6. “This oval amphitheater has eighty numbered arches through which the
audience entered and it seated some 45,000 people arranged according to their
place in society; women were at the top. Opposite the entrance, above the arch
where gladiators entered the arena, was the podium for the Emperor, Vestal
Virgins, and VIPs. A wooden floor formerly covered the pit of corridors where the
animals were caged and an elaborate system of mechanical gates and narrow
corridors, in which they could not turn, released them into the arena. This was
covered in sand to prevent the combatants slipping and to soak up the blood. An
enormous awning, which took 1,000 men to raise and lower, protected the
audience from the sun” (Carr-Gomm 28). This huge awning, “called a velarium, …
was held up by ropes suspended from 240 poles that encircled the top story”
(Jessop 19).
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Unit TWO: Roman Art during the Early Empire
STUDY GUIDE
H Arch of Titus (Rome), after 81 CE
triumphal arch/ Via Sacra/ use of gilded bronze statues/ composed engaged columns and spandrels
1. “Titus (AD 79-81) had the honor of officiating at the opening ceremonies of the Colosseum, in AD 80. But he is probably best known to
us today for the triumphal arch that was erected to celebrate his victory in the Jewish War. Triumphal arches were connected with the
Roman idea of a victory, and a ‘triumph’ was an honor voted by the Senate. This was celebrated with the Roman idea of victory, and a
‘triumph’ was an honor voted by the Senate. This was celebrated by a specified ritual procession where the troops marched before the
populace and exhibited the booty and prisoners-of-war so as to confirm the success of the general and his army. Law and convention
required that the soldiers had to lay down their arms outside the city walls, before marching beneath the triumphal arch” (Ramage and
Ramage 140).
2. “The Arch of Titus was erected by Titus’ brother and successor, the emperor Domitian (AD 81-96). It is a relatively small marble arch,
with just one passageway underneath. A partially restored inscription on the attic clearly states that the Senate and the Roman people
erected this monument to commemorate the deified Titus. Representations of ‘Victory’ fill the corners above the arch, called the
spandrels, and two large relief panels, each with a scene from the triumphal procession, decorate the walls of the passageway.
Illusionism, in this case shown by the implication of space, depth, and atmosphere, is here exploited to its fullest. Both reliefs suggest
that the spectator is walking beneath the arch in the direction from the Colosseum into the forum, which would indeed be the way a
procession would be moving when coming into the city center” (140-141). “Heavy damage was inflicted on the reliefs when the Frangipani
family incorporated the arch into its medieval fortress. Large holes were gouged out to make room for beams, but luckily much of the
relief survives relatively intact. Indeed, it is the earliest surviving sculptured arch in Rome with its reliefs still in place” (141).
3. “On the right, as one faces the forum, is the relief depicting the emperor Titus in his chariot, led by a personification of the goddess
Roma, while Victory flies in behind him, crowning his head with a laurel wreath. The head of Titus, which is now destroyed, must have
been a portrait, but the members of the imperial entourage who accompany him are idealized. As on the Gemma Augustea there is an
easy mixing of the divine and human. The subject of triumph seems to have called for this fusion of the two realms. By making the
nearest figures stand out in high relief, and contrasting these with the shallow treatment of the figures in the background, the artist has
created a sense of deep space. The sculptor also used a device to give the feeling of atmosphere: he left much of the upper portion of the
background empty, save for the fasces of the attendants. The fact that they are held on the diagonal helps to give a sense of receding
space” (141, 143). “Victory rides with Titus in the four-horse chariot and places a wreath on his hand. Below her is a bare-chested youth
who is probably a personification of Honor (Honos). A female personification of Valor (Virtus) leads the horses” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and
Tansey 274).
4. “The second relief does not focus attention on any particular figures, but the great menorah (lampholder) in the center commands
attention. Again, the artist has left the upper part of the frieze largely blank, giving the effect of free space. Soldiers parade by, carrying
the menorah and other sacred objects form the Temple at Jerusalem that had recently been sacked by the Romans. They also display
placards that explain the events of the military campaigns to the crowds lining the streets. Eventually this plunder was displayed in the
Temple of Peace. The procession, at the back end, appears, from the positions of the soldiers, to be coming towards us. The nearest
figures are those carrying the litter with the menorah on it, and those at the front of the procession appear to be marching away from us
and passing under an arch that we see projecting from the background. It must be at some distance, because the soldiers in the front
rank appear too large to go through it. The implication here is that the line of soldiers turns before our eyes, and indeed we feel that we
are spectators watching the event” (Ramage and Ramage143).
5. “The arch, constructed of concrete and
faced
with
marble,
is
essentially
a
freestanding gateway pierced by a passageway
covered by a barrel vault. Originally the whole
arch served as a giant base, 50 feet tall, for a
statue of a four-horse chariot and river, a
typical triumphal symbol. Applied to the faces
of the arch are columns in the Composite
order- capitals are formed by superimposing
Ionic volutes on a Corinthian capitalsupporting an entablature. The inscription on
the attic story declares that the Senate and
the Roman people erected the monument to
honor Titus” (Stokstad, Art History 254). “The
Arch of Titus stands at the highest point of the Via Sacra, looking across to the Temple of the Emperor and his father, Vespasian” (CarrGomm 32).
6. “Rome’s highly disciplined army was the backbone of the Empire. During the Republic, the army consisted of citizens who served twoyear terms, but by the first century CE, the military had become a profession to which all free men might devote twenty-five years (or
more) of their lives. Since serving for this length of time allowed a non-Roman to gain Roman citizenship for himself and his children,
military service acted as a means of Romanizing foreigners. The Roman army was the object of fear and admiration among those familiar
with Rome’s rise to power” (Fiero, First Civilizations 133). Josephus “described the superiority of the Roman military machine, which he
estimated to include more than three hundred thousand armed men. According to Josephus, Roman soldiers performed as though they
‘had been born with weapons in their hands’. The efficiency of the army, reported Josephus was the consequence of superior organization
and discipline” (133).
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Unit TWO: Art of the High Roman Empire
STUDY GUIDE
I Josephus and the Jewish Rebellion
1. “After securing the imperial throne, Vespasian turned his attention to ending the Jewish rebellion. Judea had been a Roman province
since AD 6. Although Jews had been granted certain privileges, including exemption from military service and from participation in the
imperial cult, there was deep unrest in Judea. Jews resented the rule of foreigners as an offense to their religion. Open revolt flared in AD
66, when rebels drove a Roman garrison from Jerusalem. Fighting spread quickly through Judea and spilled over to Syria and Egypt”
(Wren 1: 133).
2. “In AD 67 Vespasian was appointed by Nero to direct the reconquest of Judea. His military campaign, however, was interrupted, first
by the outbreak of civil war after the suicide of Nero and then by his need to consolidate his position as emperor. In AD 70 Vespasian, an
emperor, sent his eldest son, Titus, to Judea to finish putting down the rebellion. Faced by the strong walls and towers that defended
Jerusalem, Titus laid siege to the city. Finally unable to withstand the Roman assaults, Jerusalem was conquered. The city was
destroyed, the temple was burned, and the Jewish Rebellion was smashed” (133-134).
3. “The same events are described by the Jewish historian Josephus. Josephus (c. AD 37- c. 93) was a soldier, a statesman, a historian,
and a priest. Born in Jerusalem in an aristocratic family, he was educated in the Jewish religious law and became a Pharisee. In AD 64
he visited Rome on a diplomatic mission to obtain the release of Jewish prisoners. Upon his return to Rome, he was appointed governor
of Galilee by the Sanhedrin, the great council of Jews in Jerusalem. In AD 66 he joined the Jewish revolt and organized the defense of the
city of Jotapata. Captured by the Romans, Josephus won the favor of Vespasian by prophesying that he would one day become emperor;
when the prediction proved true, Josephus was released. During the siege of Jerusalem, he changed sides and served Titus as an
interpreter. Hated by the Jews as a traitor, Josephus accompanied Titus to Rome, where he became a roman citizen and received a
pension” (134). “In c. AD 78 Josephus published an official account of the Jewish rebellion, entitled The Jewish War, based upon his own
observations and recollections” (134).
A Column of Trajan (Rome), 112 CE
commemorating victory over the Dacians/ a continuous spiral frieze/ emphasis on the emperor/ emphasis on
superior organizational skills
1. “Five very competent rulers- Nerva (ruled 96-98 CE), Trajan (ruled 98-117 CE), Hadrian (ruled 117-138 CE), Antonius Pius (ruled
138-161 CE), and Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180 CE)- succeeded the Flavians. Until Marcus Aurelius, none of them had natural sons,
and they adopted able members of the Senate to be their successors. Known as the ‘Five good Emperors,’ they oversaw a long period of
stability and prosperity” (Skotstad, Art History 259).
2. “The relief decoration on the Column of Trajan spirals upward in a band that would stretch about 656 feet if unfurled. Like a giant
scroll, it contains a continuous pictorial narrative of the entire history of the Dacian campaign. This remarkable sculptural feat involved
creating more than 2,500 individual figures- including soldiers, animals, and hangers-on- linked by landscape, architecture, and the
recurring figure of Trajan. The artist took care to make all of the scroll legible. The narrative band slowly expands from about 3 feet in
height at the bottom, near the viewer, to 4 feet at the top, where it is far from the viewer, and the natural and architectural frames for the
scenes have been kept small relative to the important figures in them” (261-262).
3. “The scene at the bottom of the column shows the army crossing the Danube River on a pontoon (floating) bridge as
the campaign gets under way. A giant river god, providing supernatural support, looks on. In the scene above, soldiers
have begun constructing a battlefield headquarters in Dacia from which the men on the frontiers will receive orders,
food, and weapons. Throughout the narrative, which is, after all, a spectacular piece of imperial propaganda, Trajan is
portrayed as a strong, stable, and efficient commander of a well-run army, whereas his barbarian enemies are shown as
pathetically disorganized and desperate. The hardships of war- death, destruction, and the suffering of innocent
people- are ignored, and, of course, the Romans never lose a battle” (262).
4. “Although the upper scenes could not have been seen from the ground, they would have been visible from the
balconies of nearby buildings. A gilded bronze statue of Trajan, since destroyed, originally stood at the top of the
column. It has been replaced by a statue of St. Peter” (Adams, Art Across Time 232). The column is atop a cubic plinth
where an inscription, held up by two goddesses of victory over the doorway of the plinth, “speaks of the function of this
monument: the column was intended to show ‘the height of the mountain that was removed with so much labor.’ It was
both a victory monument and a funerary memorial; the golden urn containing the emperor’s ashes was kept inside the
plinth, which has relief decoration” (Hintzen-Bohlen 140). “The various scenes merge without transition, in the
narrative manner of Roman historians, and are separated from each other only occasionally by architectural features.
The pictorial areas are densely filled with figures, and leave little room for depictions of architecture and landscape.
Although the reliefs are very shallow, the different parts of the background are subtly graded, so that the elements
furthest to the back are only lightly incised, as if they were drawings” (140-141).
5. “Day-to-day details abound among the 2,500 figures shown. For instance, the special insignia of individual units of
the regular Roman army and the cohorts of auxiliaries drawn from all over the empire are included. They are depicted
in precise and accurate detail” (Ramage and Ramage 172). “The focus is always on the emperor, who appears again and
again in the frieze, but the enemy is not belittled” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 276).
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Unit TWO: Art of the High Roman Empire
STUDY GUIDE
B Funerary relief of a circus official (Ostia), c. 110-130 CE
Circus Maximus/ depiction of the working class compared to that of Roman nobility/ distorted perspective/
continuous narration/ handshake between man and woman
1. “Beneath the elite orders, the vastly larger group of city dwellers fills out the lower section of the social pyramid. There was no middle
class in the modern sense of the term. Distinctions between citizen and non-citizen within this group were later eroded with the gradual
extension of citizenship privileges beginning in AD 212, but long before that the distinction that mattered most was between those in the
elite and those lumped together in the bottom ranks. Yet from this group of slaves, ex-slaves, and freeborn poor, the ex-slaves and
freedmen had opportunities for advancement” (D’Ambra 45).
2. “This relief is not a product of one of the emperor’s official sculptural workshops, and it illustrates once again how different the art
produced for Rome’s huge working class was from the art the state and old aristocratic families commissioned. The relief shows the
Circus Maximus in distorted perspective. Only one team of horses races around the central island, but the charioteer is shown twice,
once driving the horses and a second time holding the palm branch of victory. This is an example of continuous narration; that is, the
same figure appears more than once in the same space at different stages of a story” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 278).
3. “The charioteer may appear a third time within the same relief, for he may be, later in life,
the toga-clad official who appears at the panel’s left end. There the recently deceased official
clasps hands with his wife. (The handshake between man and woman is a symbol of
marriage in Roman art.) She is of smaller stature (and less important than her husband in
this context, for it is his career in the circus commemorated on his tomb), and she is shown
standing on a base. The base indicates that she is not a living person but a statue. The
handshake between man and statue is the plebeian artist’s shorthand way of saying the wife
died before the husband, that her death had not broken their marriage bond, and that,
because the husband has now died, the two will be reunited in the afterlife” (278).
4. Principally designed for chariot races, the Roman circus “could accommodate up to a dozen four-horse chariots. The resulting
structures ranged in length from 1300 to 1970 feet. It has been estimated that the Circus Maximus, or Largest Circus, in Rome could
hold more than 200,000 spectators. Circus races began from the starting gates, or carceres (from the Latin word for jail: cf. ‘incarcerate’
in English), because the gates remained closed until the race started. The race itself consisted of seven circuits in a counterclockwise
direction. As the racers completed each lap, a marker indicated the number of remaining laps” (Adams, Art Across Time 224).
C Hadrian
1. “Hadrian (117-138) was less a soldier and more an administrator. He abandoned what was left of Mesopotamia and strengthened
fortifications along the frontiers. One example of these efforts is Hadrian’s Wall, much of which is still visible; it was built to protect
northern Britain from raids by the inhabitants of Scotland. But Hadrian’s real interest was in perfecting the imperial civil service. He
continued earlier trends by appointing equestrians as bureau chiefs instead of freedmen, by organizing a regular hierarchy of positions,
and by developing a group of career officers, who could be advanced from post to post until they reached the highest positions in the
government. He kept careful watch over these men and made long trips through the Empire to inspect provincial government. His
success may be measured by the fact that the reign of his successor, Antoninus Pius (138-160), was so uneventful that contemporary
writers have little to say about it” (Strayer and Gatzke 86).
2. “His ancient biographer describes him as tall and elegant, with hair curled, and ‘a full beard to hide the natural blemishes of his face’;
thenceforth, all Rome wore beards. He was strongly built and kept himself in vigor by frequent exercise, above all by hunting; on several
occasions he killed a lion with his own hands. So many elements were mingled in him that description is baffled. We are told that he was
‘stern and cheerful, humorous and grave, sensual and cautious, hard and liberal, severe and merciful, deceptively simple, and always in
all things various.’ He had a quick, impartial, skeptical and penetrating mind, but he respected tradition as the connective tissue of
generations. He read and admired the Stoic Epictetus, but he sought pleasure with shamelessness and taste. He was irreligious and
superstitious, laughed at oracles, played with magic and astrology, encourage the national faith, and sedulously performed the duties of
pontifex maximus” (Durant, Caesar and Christ 415).
3. “He was a good singer, dancer, and harpist, a competent painter, a middling sculptor. He wrote several volumes- a grammar, an
autobiography, poems decent and indecent, in Latin and Greek” (415). “Following the wholesome precedent of Augustus, he decided to
visit every province, examining its conditions and needs and alleviating them with the expedition and resources available to the emperor.
He was curious, too, about the ways and arts, dress and beliefs, of the diverse peoples in his realm” (417). “Only one thing remained- to
make Rome, too, more beautiful than before. The artist in Hadrian was ever competing with the governor; he rebuilt the Pantheon while
reorganizing Roman law. No other man ever built so plentifully, no other ruler so directly. The structures erected for him were sometimes
designed by him, and were always subject to his expert inspection as they progressed” (420).
4. “For himself the Emperor built a yet ampler home- the villa whose remains still draw visitors to the pleasant suburb known to him as
Tibur, to us as Tivoli. There, in an estate seven miles in circumference, rose a palace with every variety of room, and gardens so crowded
with famous works of art that every major museum in Europe has enriched itself from the ruins… Besides porticoes, libraries, temples, a
theater, a music hall, and a hippodrome, the profuse architect added small replicas of Plato’s Academy, Aristotle’s Lyceum, and Zeno’s
Stoa” (421).
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Unit TWO: Art of the High Roman Empire
STUDY GUIDE
D Pantheon (Rome), 118-125 CE
traditional portico/ intersection of two circles/ pumice used to create a dome with coffers/ oculus/ niches
dedicated to planets and the luminaries (sun and moon)/ emphasis on enclosed space vs. Greek emphasis on
mass/ a villa in Tivoli (Hadrian’s villa)
1. “One of the most remarkable buildings surviving in Rome is a temple to the Olympian gods called the Pantheon (‘all the gods’). It was
built under the patronage of Emperor Hadrian between 125 and 128 CE on the site of a temple erected by Agrippa in 27-25 BCE but later
destroyed. The approach to the temple gives little suggestion of what it must have looked like when it stood separate from any
surrounding structures. Nor is there any hint of what lies beyond the entrance porch, which was raised originally on a podium (now
covered by centuries of dirt and street construction) and made to resemble the façade of a typical Roman temple. Behind this porch is a
giant rotunda (a circular building) with 20-foot-thick walls that rise nearly 75 feet. Supported on these is a huge, round, bowl-shaped
dome, 143 feet in diameter and 143 feet from the floor at its summit. Standing at the center of this nearly spherical temple, the visitor
feels isolated from the real world and intensely aware of the shape and tangibility of the space itself rather than the solid surfaces of the
architecture enclosing it” (Stokstad, Art History 263-264). “The eye is drawn upward over the circle patterns made by the sunken panels,
or coffers, in the dome’s ceiling to the light entering the 29-foot-wide oculus, or central opening. Clouds can be seen through this
opening on clear days; rain falls through it on wet ones, then drains off as planned by the original engineer; and occasionally a bird flies
through it. But the empty, luminous space also imparts a sense of apotheosis, a feeling that one could rise buoyantly upward to escape
the spherical hollow of the building and commune with the gods” (264). “The simple shape of the Pantheon’s dome belies it sophisticated
design and engineering. Its surface of marble veneer disguises the internal brick arches and concrete that support it. The walls, which
form the structural drum that holds up and buttresses the dome, are disguised by a wealth of architectural detail- columns, exedrae,
pilasters, and entablatures- in two tiers. Seven niches, rectangular alternating with semicircular, originally held statues of the gods. This
simple repetition of square against circle, which was established on a large scale by the juxtaposition of the rectilinear portico against the
rotunda, is found throughout the building. The square, boxlike coffers inside the dome, which help to lighten the weight of the masonry,
may once have contained gilded bronze rosettes or stars suggesting the heavens” (264).
4. “Although this magnificent monument was designed and constructed entirely during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, the long
inscription on the architrave clearly states that it was built by ‘Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, who was consul three times.’ Agrippa, the
son-in-law and valued advisor of Emperor Augustus, died in 12 BCE, but he was responsible for the building of a previous temple on this
site in 27-25 BCE, which the Pantheon replaced. In essence Hadrian simply made a grand gesture to the memory of the illustrious
Agrippa, rather than using the new building to memorialize himself” (264). “We know when Hadrian undertook the building of the
Pantheon, for the building can be dated by its bricks that were stamped to show when and by whom they had been made. A majority of
them belong to the year AD 125, and show that the inscription over the porch mentioning Agrippa- the son-in-law of Augustus- is
honorific rather than contemporary” (Ramage and Ramage 189). “The builders adjusted the materials, called aggregate, used in the
making of the concrete: the lower parts are made of heavier matter, and, as the building rose, progressively lighter materials were used.
Thus, at the bottom, the concrete contained heavy travertine; then came a mixture of travertine and the much lighter local stone, tufa;
then tufa and brick; then brick; and finally, pumice” (189). “The surface decoration of marble veneer that we see today on the interior was
for the most part added later, but it preserves the general intentions of the Roman architects quite well. So does the decoration of the
floor, which is composed of colored slabs that form alternating circles and squares” (189).
6. “As one stands inside the grandiose space of the Pantheon,
the light circle entering the building through the oculus moves
perceptibly around the dome as the earth turns, and makes the
viewer aware of the cosmic forces” (190). “Making an opening of
this size in the roof was a piece of engineering that was daring in
the extreme. There had been earlier examples of holes in the
center of a dome, but none had approached this size. Today, the
bronze sheathing around the oculus is still the original Roman
bronze. In contrast, the original bronze roof tiles on the exterior
of the dome have had to be replaced several times since
antiquity, and are now made of lead” (190).
7. “Until 1632 the ancient bronze ceiling survived, but it was
taken by Urban VIII, the Barberini Pope, for Bernini’s
baldacchino as St. Peter’s and for cannons at the Castel
Sant’Angelo.
The huge bronze doors are original … The
Pantheon was consecrated as Santa Maria ad Martires in 608;
Raphael was buried here as well as the first tow Kings of United
Italy” (Carr-Gomm 58).
8. “One of the few buildings from Classical Antiquity to have remained almost intact, the Pantheon boasts a nineteen-foot-thick rotunda
that is capped by a solid dome consisting of five thousand tons of concrete. The interior of the dome, once painted blue and gold to
resemble the vault of heaven, is pierced by a 30-wide-foot oculus, or ‘eye’, that invites light and air” (Fiero, First Civilizations 149). “The
Pantheon has inspired more works of architecture than any other monument in Greco-Roman history. It awed and delighted such
eminent late eighteenth-century neoclassicists as Thomas Jefferson, who used it as the model for many architectural designs, including
that of the Rotunda of the University of Virginia” (149).
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Unit TWO: Art of the High Roman Empire
E Hadrian’s Antinoüs
STUDY GUIDE
F Hadrian’s Tomb
1. Hadrian had come upon the young Greek Antinoüs
“some years before in Bithynia; he had been stirred by the
youth’s rounded beauty, soft eyes, and curly head; he had
made him his favored page and had formed for him a
tender and passionate attachment” (Durant, Caesar and
Christ 419). Hadrian’s wife “Sabina made no protest that
has come down to us, but the gossip of the cities
assumed that the boy played Ganymede to the new Zeus;
possibly, however, the childless Emperor loved him as a
heaven-sent son” (419).
2. “Now, at the height of Hadrian’s happiness, Antinoüs,
still but eighteen, died- apparently by drowning in the
Nile. The monarch of the world ‘wept like a woman,’ says
Spartianus; he ordered a temple to be raised on the
shore, buried the lad there, and offered him to the world
as a god. Around the shrine, he built a city, Antinoöpolis,
destined to be a Byzantine capital. While Hadrian returned sadly to Rome,
legend began to remold the story: the Emperor, it said, had learned by
magic divination that his greatest plans would succeed only if that which he
loved most should die; Antinoüs had heard of the prophecy and had gone
voluntarily to his death. Perhaps the legend formed soon enough to
embitter Hadrian’s declining years” (419).
1. “Like the Mausoleum of
Augustus, the shape of
Hadrian’s tomb is that of an
enormous drum on which
earth was originally piled
high. This drum sat on a
square base, and was
topped by a smaller circular
structure, on which there
was originally a bronze statue of Hadrian being drawn
in a four-horse chariot. Inside the large circular drum
was an open space reserved for his tomb; this served as
the final resting place for every emperor between
Hadrian and Caracalla (who died in AD 217)” (Ramage
and Ramage 191).
2. “Hadrian’s tomb became a fortification in the Middle
Ages, and is today called by the name Castel
Sant’Angelo- named for the bronze angel that wields a
sword on the top. This is the dramatic setting where
the final act of Puccini’s opera Tosca takes place”
(191,193).
G Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius (Rome),
c. 175 CE, bronze
Marcus Aurelius, a “philosopher king”/ Meditations/ equestrian statue/ thought to have been Constantine/
Faustina
1. “Marcus Aurelius (121-180) has been called the Roman philosopher-king. The nephew and adopted son of the emperor Antoninus Pius,
Marcus Aurelius and his adoptive brother Verus shared the rulership of the Roman empire from the time of Antoninus Pius’ death in 161
until Verus’ death in 169. Between 169 and 180 Marcus Aurelius ruled alone” (Wren 1: 139). “Marcus Aurelius was serious and
contemplative, with no genuine relish for power and little personal ambition. He undertook the government of the empire as a duty and
devoted himself unstintingly to its service. Drawn to philosophy, he found in Stoicism his chief intellectual interest and his spiritual
creed. His writings, called the Meditations, reveal that Marcus Aurelius tried to carry out in daily practice the moral precepts of Stoic
philosophy” (139).
2. “Written in Greek, the Meditations are Marcus Aurelius’ thoughts and reflections jotted down in the midst of
his military campaigns and his administrative chores and intended for his personal guidance. Sometimes
criticized for their lack of originality, the Meditations nonetheless restate the Stoic moral creed with a new
intensity of feeling” (139).
3. “It is a lucky error- or twist in fortune- a once-gilded bronze equestrian statue of the emperor came early
but mistakenly to be revered as a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and escaped the fate of
being melted down, which befell all other bronze equestrian statues from antiquity. The emperor is dressed in
the tunic and short, heavy cloak of a commander. The raised foreleg of his horse is poised to trample a figure
of a crouching barbarian (lost). His head, with its thick, curly hair and full beard(a style that was begun by
Hadrian to enhance his image and then became popular among Roman men), resembles the traditional
‘philosopher’ portraits of the Republican period. The emperor wears no armor and carries no weapons, like the
Egyptian kings, he conquers effortlessly by the will of the gods. And like his illustrious predecessor Augustus,
he reaches out to the people in a persuasive, beneficent gesture” (Stokstad, Art History 271).
4. “It is difficult to balance the composition of an equestrian portrait so that the rider stands out as the dominant figures without making
the horse look too small. The sculptor of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius found a balance acceptable to viewers of the time and,
in doing so, created a model for later artists. The horse’s high-arched neck, massive head, and short body suggest that it is form a
Spanish breed of strong, compact, agile and relatively small animals prized as war steeds” (271).
5. “His wife Faustina, whose pretty face has come down to us in many a sculptured portrait, may not have relished sharing bed and board
with incarnate philosophy; … The talk of the town assumed her infidelity…Marcus said nothing; instead, he promoted the supposed
paramours to high office, gave Faustina every sign of tenderness and respect, had her deified when she died, and thanked the gods, in his
Meditations, for ‘so obedient and affectionate a wife’”(Durant, Caesar and Christ 430).
76
Unit TWO: Art of the High and Late Roman Empire STUDY GUIDE
H Mummy portraits (Faiyum), c. 160-170 CE,
A Heroic portrait of Trebonianus Gallus (Rome),
encaustic on wood
encaustic and tempera
251-253 CE, bronze
Trebonianus Gallus, one of the “soldier emperors”/
body of a wrestler and of brute force
1. “Cross fertilization in the visual
arts can be seen in a group of
paintings produced in Egypt under
the Roman Empire.
These works
differ considerably from Roman
murals, and reflect a revival of vivid
illusionism. They are believed to have
been
related
to
Hellenistic
portraiture, of which no examples
survive. Most come from the district
of Faiyum, an area about 60miles
south of Cairo in the Nile Valley. The
earliest date to the first decades of
the first century AD, but the majority
are from the second and third
centuries” (Adams, Art Across Time
251-252).
1. “The reign of Commodus marked the beginning of a period of
political and economic decline” (Stokstad 273). “Between the
assassination of the last of the Severans in AD 235 and the
beginning of Diocletian’s reign in 284, more than 25 men bore the
title of emperor.
Most were not elected by the Senate but
proclaimed by the army” (Ramage and Ramage 256). One of these
“soldier emperors” was Trebonianus Gallus (AD 251-253), “who
was the first in a long time to come from an old Italic family” (260).
In this statue, “his raised right hand would have held a lance. This
is the only more or less complete bronze statue of an emperor (put
together from many fragments) that survives from the period”
(261).
2. “The figure is naked, save for a
single piece of cloth slung over his
shoulder, and an elaborate pair of
sandals. The effect of the huge figure,
with long legs and arms, but short,
squarish torso and a head that seems
much too small for the body, can only
be described as grotesque. There is no
interest in the ideal body proportions of
classical statuary. The surface of the
head, nicked to show the texture of
hair, does not rise above the surface of
the skin.
The artists had by now
developed
a
crude,
if
effective,
technique
for
indicating
surface
textures” (262).
2. “Egypt had continued the practice of mummification, but the
masks which had previously been placed over the mummy cases
were replaced by portraits painted in encaustic on wood, and
later by tempera on wood” (252).
3. “The board was placed on the mummy and wrapped in the
linen cloth that encircled the body in such a way as to leave the
painted face showing. Both facial type and hairdo show a good
deal of careful observation, so much so that the time period
when the person lived can frequently be ascertained by
comparing the style of the coiffure to other dated works”
(Ramage and Ramage 217).
B Roman Baths
1. “The year before his death in 211, Septimius Severus began a popular public-works project, the
construction of magnificent new public baths on the southeast side of Rome. The baths were inaugurated in
216-217 CE by his son and successor, Caracalla. For the Romans, the baths were recreational and
educational centers, not simply places to clean themselves, and the emperors built large bathing complexes to
gain public favor. The marble, brick, and concrete Baths of Caracalla, as they are now called, were laid out on
a strictly symmetrical plan. The bathing facilities were located together in the center of the main building to
make efficient use of the below-ground furnaces that heated them and to allow bathers to move comfortably
from hot to cold pools and finish with a swim. Many other facilities- exercise rooms, shops, latrines, and
dressing rooms- were housed on each side of the bathing block. The baths alone covered 5 acres. The entire
complex, which included gardens, a stadium, libraries, a painting gallery, auditoriums, and huge water
reservoirs, covered an area of 50 acres” (Stokstad, Art History 274-275).
2. “The main elements in the central block consisted of an open swimming pool, the natatio, surrounded by a
colonnade; in the center of the entire complex, a large vaulted chamber, called the frigidarium, with a cold
water pool; a small room with warm water, the tepidarium; and a somewhat larger room with apses on three
sides, the caldarium, with hot water” (Ramage and Ramage 165). “It used to be possible to get some sense of
the size and grandeur of the frigidarium by going to the old Pennsylvania Railroad Station in New York City.
This building, now demolished, was modeled on the Baths of Caracalla, and its vaulting recreated the Roman
construction that had been carried out in concrete. The interior of the bath building was rich in color from marble decoration on the walls
and floors, mosaics, paintings, and painted sculpture. A number of sculptural works from the Baths of Caracalla must have been still in
place in late antiquity, since they were found in the rooms when the baths were mined for treasure in the 16th century. Some of these
sculptures were colossal, such as the so-called ‘Farnese Hercules’ that stands 10 feet 6 inches high” (251).
3. “Sculpture seems to have been displayed along a central axis, so that, for instance, looking from one end of the baths to the other, on
the long axis, one would have seen enormous statuary through the openings from one room to the next. From one palaestra to the other,
there was an uninterrupted view, and sculpture would have been placed in the exedrae at both ends. There is evidence, too, that the
numerous niches in the walls were filled with sculpture” (251, 253).
77
Unit TWO: Art of the Late Roman Empire
STUDY GUIDE
C Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (Rome), 250-260 CE, marble
practice of inhumation over cremation/ battle between Romans and possibly the Goths/ dissatisfaction with
the Classical style/ fearless central figure/ Mithras/ writhing and emotive figures to express the vagaries of
war
1. “Ever since the mid-second century, inhumation of the dead in
elaborately carved stone sarcophagi had been growing in popularity, at
the expense of the more traditional custom of cremation. Figural subjects
of many kinds were popular on sarcophagi, especially dionysiac scenes
and generalized battles. In spite of the variety of subject there is a unity
of purpose in the search for salvation. These themes suggest the triumph
over death or offer access to a life hereafter. Some of the allusions are
much more obvious than others, but the spirit of the age is shown in the
increasing devotion to religions or mystery cults that promised a better
life after death” (Ramage and Ramage 266).
2. “Perhaps the most impressive sarcophagus of the period is the Ludovisi
Sarcophagus, so-called for the cardinal in whose collection it belonged
after its discovery in the early 17th century. Dated to the period after the
middle of the third century, it is the last of the great battle sarcophagi- a
type which had been popular for some time. The person being honored here rides the horse in the top center of the relief as he ostensibly
leads his troops into battle against the barbarians. His head, distinctly a portrait, must have been sculpted by a specialist” (266).
3. “The central hero rises out of the mass of figures below him, but seems to have nothing to do with them; he looks off into the distance,
and makes a grandiose gesture that does not apparently relate to the suffering portrayed everywhere else. All around him the battle rages,
and two men, one near each of the upper corners, accompany the noises of battle with sounds of the trumpet. Overall, the effect is one of
deep undercutting and writhing movement, with a pattern of arms, legs, and heads that, upon careful inspection, all fit on an appropriate
body. Roman soldiers, easily distinguished by their helmets, breastplates, and tunics, attack the enemy, who wear long, baggy pants, and
sport heavy beards. In general, the Roman figures seem to hold more prominent positions, but our attention and sympathy are drawn,
rather, to the faces and expressions of the barbarians” (266).
4. “The artist has made no attempt to create a realistic spatial environment. The bare-headed young Roman commander, addressing his
troops with an outstretched arm from the back of his valiant steed, is shown in the midst of the battle in a formal equestrian pose like
that of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius” (Stokstad, Art History 278).
5. On the forehead of the central figure “is carved the emblem of Mithras, the Persian god of light, truth, victory over death, many of
whose shrines have been found at Rome and Ostia” (Kleiner, Mamiya, and Tansey 293).
D Mithras
1. “From hostile Parthia came the cult of another sun-god Mithras; its devotees were enlisted as soldiers in the great cosmic war of Light
against Darkness, of Good against Evil; it was a virile faith that won men rather than women, and pleased the Roman legions stationed on
distant frontiers where they could hardly hear the voices of their native gods” (Durant, Caesar and Christ 390).
2. “In the later Zoroastrian theology Mithras was the son of Ahura-Mazda, the God of Light. He, too, was the god of light, of truth, purity,
and honor; sometimes he was identified with the sun and led the cosmic war against the powers of darkness, always he mediated between
his father and his followers, protecting and encouraging them in life’s struggle with evil, lies, uncleanliness, and the other works of
Ahriman, Prince of Darkness. When Pompey’s soldiers brought this religion from Cappadocia to Europe a Greek artist pictured Mithras
as kneeling on the back of a bull and plunging a poniard into its neck; this representation became the universal symbol of the faith. The
seventh day of each week was held sacred to the sun-god; and towards the end of December his followers celebrated the birthday of
Mithras ‘the Invincible Sun,’ who, at the winter solstice, had won his annual victory over the forces of darkness, and day by day would
now give longer light. Tertullian speaks of a Mithraic priesthood with a ‘high pontiff,’ and of celibates and virgins serving the god; daily
sacrifice was offered at his altar, worshippers partook of consecrated bread and wine, and the climax of the ceremony was signaled by the
sounding of a bell. A flame was kept ever burning before the crypt in which the young god was represented felling the bull” (524).
3. “Mithraism preached a high morality and pledged its ‘soldiers’ to a lifelong war against evil in every form. After death, said its priests,
all men must appear before the judgment seat of Mithras; then unclean souls would be handed over to Ahriman for eternal torment, while
the pure would rise through seven spheres, shedding some mortal element at each stage, until they would be received into the full
radiance of heaven by Ahura-Mazda himself. This invigorating mythology spread in the second and third centuries of our era through
western Asia and Europe (skipping Greece), and built its chapels as far north as Hadrian’s Wall. Christian Fathers were shocked to find
so many parallels between their own religion and Mithraism; they argued that these were thefts from Christianity, or confusing stratagems
of Satan (a form of Ahriman). If is difficult to say which faith borrowed from the other; perhaps both absorbed ideas current in the
religious air of the East” (524).
78
Unit TWO: Art of the Late Roman Empire
E Portraits of the four Tetrarchs, c. 305,
STUDY GUIDE
F Peristyle court of the Palace of Diocletian
porphyry
Diocletian/ tetrarchy/ porphyry/ overt display of
concord/ schematic cubical design/ use of the
human figure (or figures) as an icon
(Split, Croatia), c. 300-305
strongly fortified imperial residence/ castrum/
peristyle court/ “gable of glorification”
1. “During the turmoil of the third century, Roman artists lost
interest in representing the natural world, emphasizing instead the
symbolic or general qualities of their subjects and expressing them
in increasingly simplified, geometric forms. By the mid-third
century, portraits had begun to convey the anxious state of mind
of the emperors and the people they ruled. A further turn toward
abstraction and symbolic representation can be seen in The
Tetrarchs, a depiction of Diocletian and his three co-rulers from
the early fourth century CE.
Hardly a realistic portrait of
Diocletian, his co-ruler Maximian, and their Caesars, it reads like
a symbolic representation of four-man rule. The four figures- two
with beards, probably the senior Augusti, and two clean shaven,
probably the Caesars, their adopted sons- are nearly identical.
Dressed in military garb and clasping swords at their sides, they
embrace each other in a show of imperial unity, proclaiming a kind
of peace through concerted strength and vigilance” (Stokstad, Art
History 277).
2. “As a piece of propaganda and a
summary of the state of affairs at the
time, it is unsurpassed. The sculpture
is made of porphyry, a purple stone
from Egypt reserved for imperial use.
The hardness of the stone, which
makes it difficult to carve, and perhaps
the sculptor’s familiarity with Egyptian
artistic
conventions,
may
have
contributed to the extremely abstract
style of the work. The most striking
features of The Tetrarchs – the
simplification of natural forms to
geometric shapes, the disregard for
normal human proportions, and the
emphasis on a message or idea- can nevertheless be seen in most
Roman art by the end of the third century” (277-278).
1. “The great palaces such as Hadrian’s Villa were often as
extensive and semipublic as the Minoan palace at Knossos.
Diocletian broke this tradition by building a huge and wellfortified imperial residence at Split, on the Dalmation coast, after
he retired from active rule. Revolutionary in design, the building
recalls the compact, regular plan of a Roman army camp rather
than the irregular, sprawling design of Hadrian’s Villa. The
palace was surrounded by a wall, a reflection of the unstable
conditions of the time. It consisted of a rectangular enclosure
650 by 550 feet crossed by two colonnaded streets that divided it
into quarters, each with a specific function. The emperor’s
residential complex, which included the reception hall on the
main, north-south axis of the palace, faced the sea. Ships
bearing supplies or providing transport for the emperor tied up
at the narrow landing stage. The support staff lived and worked
in buildings near the main gate” (Stokstad, Art History 275).
2. “A colonnaded avenue extended from this entrance, leading to
a peristyle court that ended in a grand façade with an
enormous arched doorway through which the emperor made his
ceremonial appearances” (275). “The court, called the peristyle,
uses arches springing directly from the column capitals without
intervening architraves (the horizontal architectural elements
that surmount the columns). Constructions like this became
popular in the aisles of Early Christian basilicas. The grand
doorway brings into prominence for ceremonial uses a motif that
had been utilized in architectural facades for many years; here it
acts as a translation of a triumphal arch with all its attendant
associations.
It makes literal the implications of many
architectural forms and ceremonial situations, and gives focus
and statues to the one-time guardian of the Roman state”
(Ramage and Ramage 270-271).
3. “Following the tradition of a number of previous emperors,
Diocletian made preparations for his death and the perpetuation
of his memory in the form of a mausoleum that was built within
his palace complex. It later became the cathedral, an ironic turn
for the grave monument of somebody who had been one of the
worst offenders in the persecution of the early Christians. The
octagonal building, surrounded by a row of columns, nestled
within a courtyard off the central peristyle. The whole was roofed
by a cupola decorated with mosaics” (271).
G Constantine
1. “When the emperor Diocletian retired in 305, the Roman
empire… was plunged back into chaos. Constantine (280-337),
the son of an army officer and a member of the military governing
class of the late Roman empire, was proclaimed emperor by the
army troops under his command” (Wren 1: 150). “In 312
Constantine defeated his father-in-law, Maxentius, for control of
the Western empire; in 324 Constantine defeated his co-ruler,
Licinius, for control of the Eastern empire; in 324 Constantine
defeated his co-ruler, Licinius, for control of the Eastern empire.
From 324 until his death Constantine was the sole master of the
Roman empire” (150).
4. “The size and facilities of Diocletian’s palace are remarkable;
in the 18th century most of the town of Spalato was contained
within the walls. We can attribute its preservation to the ongoing
adaptive use of the well-built structure” (271).
2. “Constantine moved the capital of the empire from Rome to the
city of Byzantium, which he rebuilt on an impressive scale and
renamed Constantinople” (150). “During his campaign against
Maxentius in 312, he experienced his second vision- a lighted
cross in the sky. His subsequent victory proved to him the power
of the Christian god. Although he was not baptized until he lay on
his deathbed, he never wavered in his support of Christianity”
(150).
79
Unit TWO: Art of the Late Roman Empire
STUDY GUIDE
H Arch of Constantine (Rome), c. 312-315 CE
Reliefs from a triumphal arch dedicated to Marcus Aurelius found on the Arch of Constantine/ Constantine/
Maxentius and the Milvian Bridge/ Edict of Milan/ St. Helena/ Constantinople/ triple-passageway arch/
mechanical repetition of forms/ spandrels and roundels/attic
1. On October 27, 312, Constantine “met the forces of Maxentius at Saxa Rubra (Red Rocks) nine miles north of Rome;
and by superior strategy compelled Maxentius to fight with his back to the Tiber, and no retreat possible except over the
Mulvian Bridge. On the afternoon before the battle, says Eusebius, Constantine saw a flaming cross in the sky, with the
Greek words en toutoi nika –‘in this sign conquer.’ Early the next morning, according to Eusebius and Lactantius,
Constantine dreamed that a voice commanded him to have his soldiers mark upon their shields the letter X with a line
drawn through it and curled around the top- the symbol of Christ. On arising he obeyed, and then advanced into the
forefront of battle behind a standard (known henceforth as the labarum) carrying the initials of Christ interwoven with a
cross. As Maxentius displayed the Mithraic-Aurelian banner of the Unconquerable Sun, Constantine cast in his lot with
the Christians, who were numerous in his army, and made the engagement a turning point in the history of religion. To
the worshipers of Mithras in Constantine’s forces the cross could give no offense, for they had long fought under a
standard bearing a Mithraic cross of light. In any case Constantine won the battle of the Mulvian Bridge, and Maxentius
perished in the Tiber with thousands of his troops. The victor entered Rome the welcomed and undisputed master of the
West” (Durant, Caesar and Christ 654).
2. “Early in 313 Constantine and Licinius met at Milan to co-ordinate their rule. To consolidate Christian support in all provinces,
Constantine and Licinius issued an ‘Edict of Milan,’ confirming the religious toleration proclaimed by Galerius, extending it to all
religions, and ordering the restoration of Christian properties seized during the recent persecutions” (654). “For like Augustus,
Constantine had managed well everything but his family”; he had killed his son, his nephew, and his wife (663). “His relations with his
mother were generally happy. Apparently by his commission she went to Jerusalem, and leveled to the ground the scandalous Temple of
Aphrodite that had been built, it was said, over the Saviour’s tomb. According to Eusebius the Holy Sepulcher thereupon came to light,
with the very cross on which Christ had died. Constantine ordered a Church of the Holy Sepulcher to be built over the tomb, and the
revered relics were preserved in a special shrine… Helena raised a chapel over the traditional site of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem, modestly
served the nuns who ministered there, and then returned to Constantinople to die in the arms of her son” (663).
3. “In Rome, next to the Colosseum, the Senate erected a memorial to Constantine’s victory over Maxentius, a huge, triple arch that
dwarfs the nearby Arch of Titus. Its three barrel-vaulted passageways are flanked by columns on high pedestals and surmounted by a
large attic story with elaborate sculptural decoration and a traditional laudatory inscription: ‘To the Emperor Constantine from the Senate
and the Roman People. Since through divine inspiration and great wisdom he has delivered the state from the tyrant and his party by his
army and noble arms, [we] dedicate this arch, decorated with triumphal insignia.’ The ‘triumphal insignia’ were in part looted from earlier
monuments made for Constantine’s illustrious predecessors, the ‘good emperors’ Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. The reused
items in effect transferred the old Roman virtues of strength, courage, and piety associated with these earlier emperors to Constantine”
(Stokstad, Art History 283).
4. “New reliefs made for the arch recount the story of his victory and symbolize his power and generosity. A panel in one of the lintels, for
example, depicts Constantine, in the center, making his first public speech after the triumph over Maxentius… Although these new reliefs
reflect the long-standing Roman affection for depicting important events with realistic detail, they nevertheless represent a significant
change in style, approach, and subject matter that distinguishes them from the reused elements in the arch. The stocky, most frontal,
look-alike figures- reminiscent of figures in plebeian-style works- are compressed by the miniature buildings of the forum into the
foreground plane. The arrangement and appearance of the uniform and undifferentiated participants below the enthroned Constantine
clearly isolate the new Augustus and connect him visually with the illustrious predecessors on each side of him. This two-dimensional,
hierarchical approach and stiff style is far removed from the realism of earlier imperial reliefs. With its emphasis on authority, ritual, and
symbolic meaning rather than outward form, this style was adopted by the emerging Christian church. Constantinian art is thus a bridge
between the art of the imperial past and the art of the European Middle Ages (roughly 476 to 1453 CE)” (283).
5. “The relief portraying Constantine’s largesse, or the donatio, is, if anything, even more
abstract and formal. Constantine sits in the center, enthroned, and again his head is
missing. It is clear here that it had been made of a separate (and probably finer) piece of
marble, and it must have either fallen or been removed at some later date. His ministers
surround him, once more in two rows. Beyond the central group are four window-like
divisions with balustrades on the upper level, within which are small scenes where one man
is distributing the bounty while another, with a scroll, keeps records. Immediately below is
a row of standing men, each with one hand raised, and his head turned upwards to view the
emperor” (Ramage and Ramage 289-290).
6. The human heads take on inordinate importance. It is only by a head count that one can
really read the relief at all, and space is defined, such as it is, by the positions of the heads,
one behind the other. The emphasis on the head prefigures Byzantine icons, where the
importance of the face is if anything even more pronounced” (290).
80
Unit TWO: Art of the Late Roman Empire
I Portrait of Constantine from the
Basilica Nova (Rome), c. 315-330,
marble
colossal image of eternal authority/
orb
1. “Constantine, seeking to impress the
people of Rome with visible symbols of his
authority, put his own stamp on projects
Maxentius had started. To the Basilica
Nova he added an imposing new entrance
in the center of the long side and a giant
apse facing it across the three aisles. After
he had begun to construct his new capital
in the East, he commissioned a colossal,
30-foot portrait statue of himself and had it
placed in the original apse. This statue
was, in effect, a permanent stand-in for the
emperor in Rome, representing him
whenever the conduct of business legally
required his presence. The sculpture
combines
features
of
traditional
Roman
portraiture with the abstract qualities evident in
the Four Tetrarchs. The defining characteristics
of Constantine’s face- his heavy jaw, hooked
nose, and jutting chin- have been incorporated
into a rigid, symmetrical pattern in which other
features, such as his eyes, eyebrows, and hair,
have been simplified into repeated geometric
arcs. The result is a work that projects imperial
power and dignity with no hint of human frailty
or imperfection” (Stokstad, Art History 283-284).
2. “The original statue combined marble, wood,
and bricks. Only a few marble fragments
survive- the head, a hand, a knee, an elbow, and
a foot. The body might have been made of
colored stone or of wood and bricks sheathed in
bronze. This statue, although made of lessexpensive materials, must have been as aweinspiring as the gigantic ivory and gold-clad
statues of Zeus at Olympia and Athena on the
Acropolis in Athens” (283).
3. “The enormous
eyes look upward,
and are emphasized
by the deeply drilled,
bean-shaped pupils”
(Ramage
and
Ramage 291). “This
was the first time
since Hadrian that
an emperor had not
worn a beard; the
clean-shaven
face
emphasizes
the
powerful jaw and
adds character to the
smooth outlines of
the powerful head”
(291).
STUDY GUIDE
J Basilica Nova (Rome) c. 306-312 CE
use of the basilica in Roman times/ apse/ barrel vault/groin
vault/nave/ fenestration/ richly marbled and stuccoed interior/
20 feet thick wall buttresses used for reinforcement
1. “Maxentius, who controlled Rome throughout his short reign, ordered
the repair of many buildings there and had others built. His most
impressive undertaking was a huge new basilica just southeast of the
Imperial Forums called the Basilica Nova, or New Basilica. Now known as
the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, this was the last important
imperial government building erected in Rome itself. It functioned, like
all basilicas, as an administrative center and provided a magnificent
setting for the emperor when he appeared as supreme judge. Earlier
basilicas, such as Trajan’s Basilica Ulpia, had been columnar halls, but
Maxentius ordered his engineers to create the kind of large, unbroken,
vaulted space found in public baths” (Stokstad, Art History 281).
2. “The central hall was covered with groined vaults, and the side aisles
were covered with lower barrel vaults that acted as buttresses, or
projecting supports, for the central groin vault and allowed generous
window openings in the clerestory areas over the side walls. Three of
these brick-and-concrete barrel vaults still loom beside the streets of
modern Rome. The basilica originally measured 300 by 215 feet and the
vaults of the central nave rose to a height of 114 feet. A groin-vaulted
porch extended across the short side (on the southeast) and sheltered a
triple entrance to the central hall” (281).
3. “The walls were covered in marble and stucco decoration. One of the
eight columns supporting the vaulting still survived in 1614 when Pope
Paul V took it to Santa Maria Maggiore; sixty horses were needed to
remove it” (Carr-Gomm 31). On its western side, the central area of the
Basilica of Maxentius opened into an apse where the remains of a
colossal seated statue of Constantine were found… The apse was marked
off by a barrier consisting of columns and grilles, and was used as a law
court. Opposite, on the southern side, the entrance under Constantine
led from the Via Sacra up a flight of steps to a portico with four porphyry
columns” (Hintzen-Bohlen 93).
4. The basilica “was entered
through a vestibule, or
narthex, at the east end…
Basilicas, long halls used
for civic purposes, had first
been
developed
in
Hellenistic Greece toward
the end of the third century
BC. (In ancient Greek,
‘basilica’
meant
‘royal
house,’
from
basileus,
‘king.’)
They
never
conformed to a single type
but varied from region to
region… Rome itself had a
number of basilicas, but
very little remains of them today. Those in the provinces have fared somewhat
better” (Janson 167). Most Roman basilicas had “wooden ceilings instead of
masonry vaults for reasons of convenience and tradition rather than necessity.
Thus they were often destroyed by fire… Whatever the reason, the Christian
basilicas of the fourth century were modeled on the older, wooden-roofed type. Not
until 700 years later did vaulted basilican churches become common in western
Europe” (167).
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Unit TWO: Greek and Roman Art
STUDENT NOTES
Greek Art
Possible Essay Topics:
•
development of vase painting from the Geometric Period to the Archaic Period
•
development of sculpture from the Archaic Period to the Hellenistic Period
•
development of architecture from the Archaic Period to the Hellenistic Period
•
the concept of “humanism” and how it impacted the development of Greek art,
especially in architecture and in depictions of the human form
•
how the Parthenon expresses the spirit of the Age of Pericles and the Greek ideals of
order, harmony, and moderation
•
how the art of the Late Classical period reflected both the uncertainties and the heroic
drama of the time of Alexander the Great
•
how the art of the Hellenistic period reflected various aspects of the cosmopolitan,
international civilization that existed under the Greek kings
•
compare and contrast an early Shang dynasty vessel with an Archaic (Attic) Greek vase
•
compare and contrast an African pair of carved human forms from the Dogon people in
Mali with Greek statuary from the Classical Period
•
compare and contrast a nineteenth century sculpture by Carpeaux with the Hellenistic
sculpture of Laocoon and his sons
Roman Art
Possible Essay Topics:
•
how the emperors of ancient Rome used works of art for propagandistic purposes to
assert their power and authority
•
discuss the characteristics and innovations of Roman architecture
•
compare and contrast Greek architecture with its emphasis on mass with Roman
architecture with its emphasis on enclosed space
•
compare and contrast the stylized and idealized Greek statues of human figures with the
realistic (or veristic) busts and statues of Romans
•
compare and contrast the Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple, with the Japanese Shinto
Ise Shrine in terms of its construction, symbolism, materials, and relationship to its
surrounding area
•
how and why late Roman art began to reject the principles of classical art in favor of
heavily stylized forms and images
•
trace the development of how Roman emperors were depicted in art throughout the
history of the ancient Roman empire
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Unit TWO: Greek and Roman Art
TIMELINE
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
431-404 BCE Peloponnesian Wars between
Athens and Sparta
c. 776 BCE First Olympic Games
c. 650 BCE First Doric temples
c. 350 BCE Mausoleum, Halikarnassos
c. 550-520 BCE Persians conquer Asia
336 BCE Alexander becomes King of
Macedon at age 20 after his father,
Minor, Mesopotamia, and Egypt
Philip II, dies
c. 540-510 Temple of Apollo at Delphi
c. 500-470 Temple of Aphaia, Aegina
323 BCE Death of Alexander the Great
480 BCE Sack of Athens by the Persians
c. 300 BCE Temple of Apollo, Didyma
477 BCE Delian League founded
241-197 BCE Attalos I rules as first King of
Pergamon
c. 460 BCE Temple of Zeus, Olympia
31 BCE Battle of Actium where Marc
c. 460-429 BCE Pericles is the leading
Antony and Cleopatra were defeated
citizen of Athens
by Octavian (Augustus Caesar)
447-432 BCE Parthenon, Athens
WRITERS AND PHILOSOPHERS:
Aeschylus (525 – 456 BCE)
Herodotus (c.485-425 BCE)
Socrates (469-399 BCE)
Plato (429-347 BCE)
Aristotle (384- 322 BCE)
GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES:
Zeus (Roman: Jupiter)- king of the gods
Hera (Roman: Juno)- wife of Zeus, goddess of marriage
Poseidon (Roman: Neptune) – god of the sea
Athena (Roman: Minerva) – goddess of wisdom
Apollo (Roman: Apollo) – god of light, reason, and music
Aphrodite (Roman: Venus) – goddess of love and beauty
83
Unit TWO: Greek and Roman Art
TIMELINE
Hermes (Roman: Mercury) – messenger of the gods
Artemis (Roman: Diana) – goddess of the hunt; twin sister of Apollo
Hephaistos (Roman: Vulcan) – god of fire and metalworking
Ares (Roman: Mars) god of war
Demeter (Roman: Ceres) – goddess of grain and agriculture
MAJOR ROMAN EMPERORS:
Augustus (r. 27 BCE – 14 CE)
Tiberius Caesar (r. 14-37)
Caligula (r. 37-41)
Claudius (r. 41-54)
Nero (r. 54-68)
Vespasian (r. 69-79)
Titus (r. 79-81)
Domitian (r. 81-96)
Nerva (r. 96-98)
Trajan (r. 98-117)
Hadrian (r. 117-138)
Antoninus Pius (r. 138-161)
Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180)
Commodus (r. 180-192)
Septimius Severus (r. 193-211)
Caracalla (r. 211-217)
Severus Alexander (r. 222-235)
Trajan Decius (r. 249-251)
Trebonianus Gallus (r. 251 – 253)
Diocletian (r. 284-305)
Constantine I (r. 306-337)
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