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Art + Ideas
Rome
Art + Ideas
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Architectural styles: Columns and Arches
The Romans were very famous for their architectural
accomplishments... the way they designed and
constructed buildings and other large structures.
Their forms and creations are still being copied today!
Their most famous designs really depended upon a
couple of important architectural developments: the
arch and the column.
Directly below is the Roman Colosseum. Note the
arches throughout the whole structure. This structure
is not possible without the arch! If you look, you can
also see that columns have been placed at the edge of
each arch. You will read about both of these
important design elements.
An arch is a constructed curve that was most often
made of stone, brick, or concrete in Roman times.
Arches were built to add strength and support to
structures so that they could hold more weight.
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Arches were usually built from blocks that were wedge
shaped, with the last block being placed at the very top of
the arch (see the diagram below).
Although the Romans were known for their arches, they
did not invent the arch. Arches were used in Egypt,
Greece, and other places long before the Romans came
along. However, the Romans took the arch in new
directions, making them bigger, stronger, and more
impressive. The Romans combined another development,
concrete, with the arch and created amazing structures!
The Romans combined series of arches to make domes.
Many famous modern monuments, like the Jefferson and
Lincoln memorials in Washington D.C., and even the U.S.
capitol, use Roman style designs that depend upon the
arch.
Structures like the aqueducts built by the Romans (see the
picture on the bottom left) are still standing today. These
amazing creations could hold massive amounts of weight,
and have clearly withstood the test of time! Note that the
whole structure consists of series of arches of different
sizes. With that many arches, these aqueducts were super
strong!
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Architectural styles: Columns and Arches
Another important architectural development
that the Romans used was the column. Look at
the picture of the Roman Pantheon on the
bottom left. Note the columns that support the
roof and also add style and power to this building.
Just like the arch, the Romans did not invent the
column. The Greeks had developed three types
of columns, pictured below, and the Romans
borrowed this idea and went bigger and bolder
again.
Columns are vertical (straight up and down)
structures that are designed to support large
amounts of weight. Columns transmit the
pressure from something heavy, like a concrete
roof above, down through the column to the floor
or other base layer. With columns, buildings
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could be larger, have more floors, and also look a lot
cooler!
The Romans used columns to create amazing buildings
and structures, from temples to bridges to the
aqueducts. Their particular designs are still imitated
today in our own museums, memorials, government
buildings, and many other structures. Many modern
mansions try to imitate the architectural styles of
Rome.
Below on the right is a picture of the United States
Capitol, where the United States Congress meets to
make laws. Look for examples of both arches columns
in this structure.
Again, the Romans did not invent arches and columns,
but by combining them with new innovations like
concrete, they were able to use arches and columns
to create an architectural style we still value today.
Their buildings and other structures were large,
impressive, and long lasting, and they provide us with
a strong connection to the past.
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Roman Literature, History & Drama
From: historyforkids.org
ROMAN LITERATURE
HISTORY
The Roman Empire lasted for more than a thousand years,
Livy was a Roman historian who was born in northern Italy
so there was plenty of time to produce a lot of writing.
about 59 BC, in the Late Republic, when Julius Caesar was
Latin, an Indo-European language, was written in an
just beginning his career. Livy moved to Rome and wrote
alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet, with some
his books during the reign of the first Roman emperor,
letters changed: the Latin or Roman alphabet is
Augustus. He wrote an account of the history of Rome from
essentially the one Americans use today. English-speakers
the beginning of the Republic in 509 BC to the reign of
have added the letters “J,” “U,” and “W.”
Augustus, in 142 books (we would call them chapters
today).
Most of what was written during those thousand years
has been lost, but a fair amount still survives and we can
Unfortunately, most of these books have been lost. We
read it today. We like to think that the best writing has
only have 35 of them left. But these books tell us a lot of
survived, but certainly some very good works have been
what we know today about the beginnings of Rome and the
lost, while some of what survives is not very good. Nearly
Punic Wars.
all of the Latin literature that we still have today survives
because it was copied over and over by hand by different
people through hundreds of years. That is, almost none
of the actual books that people read at that
time survive: papyrus and parchment just don't
last that well. The words survive, but in later
copies. For some books, many copies survive;
for other books, only one.
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Roman Literature, History & Drama
From: historyforkids.org
DRAMA
Seneca
Seneca was one of the great writers of the Julio-Claudian
period in Rome. He was born in the Roman province of
Spain about 3 BC. But his aunt took him to Rome during
the reign of the emperor Claudius, so Seneca could get a
good education.
Seneca was also a famous philosopher and writer. He
Virgil
wrote Latin versions of many Greek plays, including the
Virgil was a poet who lived during the civil wars in Rome
stories of Medea and Phaedra. But he is best known for
and then in the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus, just
his Latin versions of Stoic philosophy. Seneca's Stoicism
before the birth of Jesus Christ. Virgil (VER-jill) was a friend
took the form of saying that the reason the Roman
of Maecenas (my-SEEN-as), who was a friend of Augustus.
Republic had collapsed was that people indulged in too
Virgil wrote poetry in order to support Augustus'
much pleasure, and too much politics, and they failed to
government. Virgil wrote a bunch of poems, called the
keep a peaceful and serene mind.
Georgics, which are about how wonderful Italy is, and how
nice it is to have peace (thanks to Augustus), and how good
it is to live a simple, traditional life.
But the work Virgil is most remembered for is the epic
poem called the Aeneid. This is a long poem in twelve
books, like the Iliad or the Odyssey. The hero is Aeneas (iKNEE-as), who was a Trojan who was supposed to have
escaped from Troy when the Greeks captured it during the
Trojan War. It is the story of how Aeneas and his men (like
Odysseus and his men) travelled from Troy to Italy to found
the city of Rome. This makes the Trojans the ancestors of
the Romans.
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Art: Sculptures, Busts & Painting
Centered in the city of Rome, the civilization of Ancient Rome ruled much of Europe for over 1000 years. The arts flourished
during this time and were often used by the wealthy and powerful to memorialize their deeds and heritage.
Born from Greek Art But with Other Influences
The Romans admired the Greek culture and arts. After conquering Greece, they brought many Greek artists to Rome to
make sculptures for them in the Greek fashion. The art of Ancient Greece had a great influence on the art of Ancient Rome.
Although Greek art had the greatest influence on the Romans, other civilizations that they conquered and encountered
over their wide empire also had influence. These included the Ancient Egyptians, eastern art, the Germans, and the Celts.
Roman Sculpture
Roman sculpture played an important part of the Roman daily life.
Sculptures took the form of full statues, busts (sculptures of just a
person's head), reliefs (sculptures that were part of a wall), and
sarcophagi (sculptures on tombs). The Ancient Romans decorated with
sculptures in a number of places including public buildings, public parks,
and private homes and gardens.
Roman sculpture was heavily influenced by Greek sculpture. In fact,
many of the Roman sculptures were just copies of Greek sculptures. The
wealthy Romans decorated their large homes with sculptures. A lot of
times these sculptures were of themselves or their ancestors. Other
popular subjects for sculptures included gods and goddesses,
philosophers, famous athletes, and successful generals. To the left is a
marble statue of Augustus the first Emperor of Rome. He is shown here
wearing a traditional Roman toga while performing his duties.
The Roman Bust
One of the most popular types of sculpture in Ancient Rome was the bust. This
is a sculpture of just the head. Wealthy Romans would put the busts of their
ancestors in their homes. This was a way for them to show off their lineage.
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Art: Sculptures, Busts & Painting
Roman Painting
The walls of the homes of wealthy Romans were often decorated with paintings. These paintings were frescos painted
directly on the walls. Most of these paintings have been destroyed over time, but some of them were preserved in the city
of Pompeii when it was buried by the eruption of a volcano. Below is a painting discovered on a wall in the ruins of
Pompeii.
Mosaics
The Romans also made pictures from colored tiles call mosaics. The mosaics have been able to survive the test of time
better than the paintings. Sometimes the tiles would be applied directly at the site of the mosaic. Other times the tiles
and the base would be made in a workshop and the entire mosaic installed later. Mosaics could be art on a wall, but also
worked as decorative flooring.
Legacy
After the Middle Ages, the artists of the Renaissance studied the sculptures, architecture, and art of Ancient Rome and
Greece to inspire them. The classic art of the Romans had a significant influence on art for many years.
Interesting Facts about Ancient Roman Art
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Sculptures of people became so popular that artists would mass produce sculptures of bodies without the heads.
Then when an order came in for a certain person, they would carve the head and add it to the sculpture.
Roman Emperors would often have many statues made in their honor and placed around the city. They used this
as a way of commemorating their victories and reminding the people who was in power.
Some Greek statues only survive through the copies that the Romans had made.
Rich Romans would have their stone coffins covered with ornate carvings.
"History: Ancient Roman Art for Kids." Ducksters. Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI), Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.
<http://www.ducksters.com/history/art/ancient_roman_art.php>.
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A piece of an ancient Roman law text
found in the binding of a 16th century book
Law & Legal Systems
The Romans borrowed some legal ideas from past law
systems developed by the Greeks, Babylonians, and
other peoples, but they also developed and spread
their own ideas. The first known set of Roman laws
was known as the Law of the Twelve Tables. This was
a pretty harsh set of laws similar to previous legal
codes like Hammurabi’s Code.
Later, as Roman society got larger and more complex,
they needed a set of laws that would help them deal
with new sets of complicated problems. As Roman
society grew, the Romans developed a more advanced
set of laws that continue to influence modern thinking
about law. The Romans seem to be the first people to
identify two types of laws, public law and private law.
Public law involved questions related to the
government and how the government interacted with
citizens. For example, problems related to taxation
were covered by public law. Private law, on the other
hand, had to do with problems between individuals,
for example if two people disagreed about a payment
or a business contract. That separation can be seen
today in our court system in which we have different
courts for crimes and for civil disputes.
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As the Roman Empire expanded, they learned about
different legal systems and laws in places they
conquered. The Romans adopted ideas that fit into
their existing system. They even developed special
schools to train their lawyers. The Emperor Hadrian
had many of the different laws collected and
organized, and then these laws were applied in all
Roman courts throughout the empire. Even after the
Roman Empire fell apart, their ideas about law
survived and were taken up in different European
legal systems, and eventually then influenced our own
system.
Some important ideas behind Roman law were the
notions of justice, or fairness, as well as the rights of
the individual. Connected to these ideas, Roman law
put forth the concept of innocent until proven guilty,
although they did not use these words. A late Roman
collection of laws contained the statement “Proof lies
on him who asserts, not on him who denies.” This
means that if a person was accused of a crime, the
accuser had to prove their guilt; the accused did not
have to prove their innocence. This same idea is still
an important foundation of our own justice system.