Download The ancient Romans borrowed key features of the Greek

Rome!
The ancient Romans borrowed key features of the Greek
Classical style, but created works of art and architecture on
a much larger scale, especially during the period of the
Roman Empire.
Greek Influences in
Roman Art and
Architecture!
•  humanism, or a focus on the importance and potential of
humans
•  rationalism
•  order
•  balance
•  proportion (including the proportions of the Greek
orders of columns, especially the Corinthian form)
•  a combination of naturalism and idealism in depicting
human figures
Roman Innovations in
Large-Scale
Architecture!
•  arch construction, which allowed Roman architects
to span greater distances than Greek architects,
who used post-and-lintel construction methods
•  concrete, a relatively lightweight and inexpensive
building material that the Romans perfected for use
in public monuments during the period of the Empire
The Roman Republic!
(509-44 BCE)!
During the early history of Rome, its government took the
form of a republic, or a representative democracy. Citizens
elected representatives to the Senate, the legislative body
made up exclusively of the patrician upper classes.
Though the plebeian lower classes had less political power
than the patricians, they did have their own Popular
Assembly and elected representatives.
Roman Portrait Busts
Like Greek artists, Roman
artists focused on creating
naturalistic detail, but they
moved away from the idealism
of the Greek Classical style.
Portrait busts from the
Republican period represent a
style known as verism, in
which visual details include
wrinkles and flaws associated Head of a Roman Patrician
with age and wisdom.
(1st century BCE)
Roman Temples
Early Roman temples also drew on Greek models, as with
the Ionic columns of the Temple of Fortuna Virilis (2nd
century BCE). The Romans also integrated influences from
the Etruscans, an early civilization in northern Italy. The
floor plan of this temple imitates earlier Etruscan buildings.
The Roman Empire!
(27 BCE-476 CE)
During the late Roman Republic, military
expansion led to increased power and wealth for
military leaders, culminating in Octavian’s
assumption of the position of emperor in 27 BCE.
The reign of Octavian (known as Augustus)
signaled a shift from a representative democracy
to an imperial system in which emperors ruled with
near-absolute power.
Public Works
As Rome expanded its territory throughout Europe and the
Near East, Roman architects adapted the Greek Classical
style of order and balance to public works projects, such as
the bridge and aqueduct known as Pont du Gard. The Roman
development of arch construction and concrete contributed to
the large scale of these projects.
Triumphal Arches
Arches created not only an effective structural systems, but
also impressive political monuments. The Arch of Titus
(81 CE) commemorates the emperor s conquest of
Jerusalem in 70 CE. It combines Greek influences such as
symmetry and Corinthian columns with the Roman
innovation of arch construction.
Roman Imperial Sculpture
Augustus of Primaporta
(20 BCE)
Unlike the extremely
realistic sculptures of
the Roman Republic,
statues of Roman
emperors idealized
their political and
military authority. The
most famous statue of
the Emperor Augustus
shows him with a
powerful stance and
ceremonial armor.
Christian Rome
After 313 BCE, with the
legalization of Christianity,
Roman art turned away
from naturalism toward the
symbolic messages that
would become the focus of
medieval art. This
sculpture of Constantine,
the first Christian Roman
emperor, is closer to the
rigid, formal Egyptian
tradition than to Greek
Classical models.
early 4th century