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Ancient Rome
Roman Art
History of Roman Art
• Italy was home to an ancient people called
Etruscans (most civilized and powerful)
• Under the Etruscans, Rome grew in size and
power
• By the end of the 6th Century, it was the largest
and richest city in Italy
• The Romans drove the Etruscans out of the city
in 509 BC and established a republic
• Much of Roman art was copied from the Greeks
• The Romans imported the art and brought the
Greek artists over
Roman Sculpture and Painting
• Differed tremendously from the Greeks
Greeks:
Romans:
• Preferred Idealistic
• Public monuments
• Preferred Realistic
• Private needs
• Romans wanted sculpture to remind viewers
of specific individuals
• A person’s character could be shown through
facial features and expressions (they often
commissioned busts (heads) instead of full
figures)
Greek vs. Roman Sculpture
Portrait Sculpture
• Funeral masks~ originally wax masks
were carried in funeral processions
and displayed on small shrines in
homes
• Soon marble and other stone was
used and the artist’s were
commissioned for high demand to
create these
Mural Painting
• Wealthy people didn’t like to hang
paintings on wall but hired artists to paint
murals
• Mural- a large picture painted directly on a
wall
• The muralists depicted the world around
them, painting landscapes and pictures of
buildings
• Pompeii- almost every house had a mural
Pompeii Murals
Roman Architecture
• Many buildings, temples and monuments
still survive
• The Romans built roads, sea routes,
aqueducts and public buildings
• The temples used Greek features and the
Romans added columns for decoration
Maison Carree`
• Built by the Romans in France in the 1st
century
• Illusions of columns around the building
but only used on the front
• Placed on a podium or platform to raise it
above eye level (a feature borrowed from
the Etruscans)
Maison Carree`
Roman Architecture
• Temples were created in a circular or semicircular fashion, spanning
openings
• Openings have arches and roofs
• to support the roofs,, they created a barrel vault- a series of round
arches placed from front to back to form a tunnel
• The roofs were so heavy, no windows were used
• This rounded arch improved the post and lintel system
• The Romans improved construction with the arch- used to
counterforce the weight of the wall
• Keystone- top of arch
• They used concrete as a building material
• They also used architecture wherever they went and conquered
keystone
Roman Aqueducts
• Aqueduct- a system that carried water
from mountain streams into cities by using
gravitational flow
• Engineering skills designed for efficiency
• 11 built around Rome ranging from 1-=60
miles carrying 270 million gallons of H20
everyday
Roman Aqueducts
Roman Baths
• Baths- vast enclosed structures containing
libraries, lecture rooms, gymnasiums,
shops, restaurants and pleasant walkways
• Became social center/ cultural center and
place for hygiene (shopping malls of
today)
Roman Baths
Roman Bath
Spring from aqueduct
(rocks are red from
minerals)
Roman Bath Designs
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Series of rooms with pools of
progressively cooler water
1. Calidarium- hot water pool; entered first
2. Tepidarium- warm bath, next
3. Frigidarium- cool bath; last
-water temperatures were made possible by
furnaces underground tended to by
workers and slaves
Roman Bath Plan
Caracella
Caracella now
(An artist's impression of the
baths... see those specks in the
water?)
Caracella
• Most famous
• Built by emperor Caracalla in 3rd C AD
• Sprawled 30 acres, bathhouse measuring
750’x380’
• Central hall- 180’x77’ wide with concrete
groin vaults
• Groin vault- 2 barrel vaults placed at right
angles
Sport Event Building
• Chariot races
• 150,000 Romans at Circus Maximus
• Eventually schedules 64 days a year
because of popularity
Colosseum
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Large arena or ampitheatre
Built in 1st century AD
Named after colossal statue of Nero
Covers 6 acres
Forms complete oval 615’x510’
So large that Middle Age people moved within Colosseum and
erected a small city
Over centuries, rulers, popes and nobility, took apart the stone to
create other buildings
Pope Benedict XIV put an end to the destruction
Uses all 3 orders- Doric on bottom, Ionic on middle, Corinthian on
top
Pilasters- flat rectangular columns attached to a wall
Colosseum
Colosseum’s Interior
"Thumbs Down" by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1872
Colosseum’s History and Facts
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After the death of Nero, Vespasianus instructed to build the Colosseum for spectacular events in 72 AD.
He did this, because he wanted to impress and because he wanted to make the citizens happy. With help
of a large army of slaves and removable stagings, he built the Colosseum. The Colosseum was built in 10
years.
Shape
The Colosseum has an oval shape. The name descends of the Latin word colosseus, what means:
colossal. It is 49 m height and the outside walls have an outline of all most 537 m. Underground, there was
a labyrinth of passages, dressing rooms, cages, cells and storage accommodations. They could stretch
sail over the Colosseum, so the sunlight would be subdued. A special group of sailors, who used to do the
work with cables and pully's, were apointed to pull and to veer out the whole system of ropes.
Events
In the Colosseum regular events were hold . Gladiators fought each other on live and death, sometimes
they had to fight agains animals. In the Colosseum, you could look at boxing-matches, archery-matches,
chariot races and feminine fighters. There were also sea battles in which case the whole Colosseum was
flooded. The last bloodthirsty event was in 523 A.D.
The events took place in the arena. The floor was made of wood. There was sand on the that floor, so the
blood could easiely be taken away. The word arena is descended of the Latin word for sand or beach.
Gladiators
The gladiators were often slaves or criminals, who were trained to fight to each other on life and death.
They also fought agains lions and tigers. These animals were imported from North-Afrika. There were
different sorts of gladiators:
- The Samniets fought with a long, rectangular, shield and a sword of a lance.
- The Thraci�rs fought with a little, round, shield and a dagger.
- The Retiarii fought with a net and a three-pronged.
'Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutand' 'Salute, Imperator, they who will die salute you' When a gladiator
surrendered, the public might say that he must die or might live. If they put their thump up, he might live. If
they put their thump down, he had to die.
The Colosseum’s Interior
• Ground level- 80 arched openings allowed people to enter and leave
and could be emptied in minutes
• 76 used by the general public
• 1 reserved for the Emperor and 1 used by the priestesses
• “Door of Life”- reserved for gladiators
• “Door of Death”-slain gladiators
• Seats now gone but easily accomodated 50,000 people
• 1st tier seats- best seats reserved for Emperor and state officials
• Upper class sat on 2nd tier
• Upper tier- general public
• High stone wall separated spectators from gladiators and wild
animals
• Beneath floor- compartments and passages
• Place to hold caged animals, barracks for gladiators and rooms to
house machinery needed to raise and lower stage sets and
performers
Gladiator Contests
• 3rd C BC
• Slaves pitted against each other in death
battles
• Battles very popular
• Objectors afraid to voice their opinions
• 5,000 pairs of gladiators and 11,000
animals killed in a day
PANTHEON
One of the most celebrated Roman
monuments, especially for its state of
conservation, its grandiosity and ingenious
design, it was reconstructed in the year 130
a.d. by the emperor Hadrian and for some
centuries transformed in a church. Its dome
measures 43 meters in diameter and has a
hole in the center that creates an incredible
luminous effect on multicolored marble
found inside. It accommodates the tombs of
the kings of Italy as well as some of Italy's
great artists among which Raphael.
Pantheon 118-125 AD
• Designed as a temple dedicated to all Roman
gods
• later converted to a Christian Church
• In continuous use and in excellent condition
• Steps once leading up to front are gone because
of street level
• Impact of building is less from the outside
• Inside-great dome space with true hemisphere
• Made of brick and concrete 144 feet above floor
• Diameter is exactly 144 feet
Pantheon
cross section
Pantheon 118-125 AD
• 3 zones:
• 1. lowest- 7 niches-recesses in wall possibly
containing statues or altars dedicated to Roman
gods of the heavens- Sol (sun), Luna (moon)
and 5 known planets
• 2. middle-12 signs of the zodiac
• 3. top- dome representing the heavens covered
with coffers (indented panels) which reduce the
weight of the dome
Pantheon 118-125 AD
• -well illuminated considering it has no
windows
• Walls are 20 feet thick
• Opening is 30 feet across
• Sky is seen through the top
• Rain: floor is built slightly higher in center,
formed a shallow depression (drain) and
created a drainage system to carry water
away
basilicas
• Spacious rectangular buildings designed
to hold large numbers of people
• Designed as a court of law or public
meeting hall (public square)
• Served as model for generations of
Christian church buildings
Plan for basilicas
• Rows of slender columns divided space
into nave- long wide center aisle
• Roof over center was higher and allowed
builders to install windows
• Apse- semicircular area at end of nave
Early basilica plan
Triumphal Arch
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Heavily decorated arch
Celebrating a military success
Monument to victory
Large central opening and 2 smaller
openings on the sides
• General rode through opening on chariots
or horses and foot troops marched through
small ones
Arch of Constantine 312-315 AD
Arch of Constantine
• Largest and most elaborate
• Decorated with reliefs and sculptures
dedicated to other emperors
• Located across the street from the
Colosseum
Declining Power of Rome
• 330 AD Constantine I moved capital from Rome
to the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, which
was renamed Constantinople
• Marked the beginning of the Byzantine Empire
• 410AD- Visegoths invaded and barbarians
invaded
• End of the 5th century, the barbarian kingdoms of
the Middle Ages took it’s place