Roman Art and Architecture

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Roman Art and Architecture

•  Began around the eighth century BC (early 700s
  BC)
• Highly sophisticated society
• The Romans were the most powerful civilization
  and eventually dominated the Western world
• The Romans created an empire, and absorbed the
  cultures from those they conquered
• In painting and sculpture, the Romans often
  borrowed from and imitated the Greeks (whom they
  conquered)

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Architecture
Romans made some of their greatest contributions
in architecture, especially the invention and use
of arches.

• The development of the arch eliminated the need
  for columns
• Therefore buildings had vast interior spaces
• Buildings were impressive because of their size
  and practicality (rather than aesthetic feeling)

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Colosseum- Rome (72-80 AD)

• Created to hold spectacles (shows), such as
  battles between animals and gladiators
• This building could hold 50,000 Romans in the
  marble seated interior
• Vespasianus built 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 10 years.

• Why does it look like this (a ruin)
• Later citizens and architects damaged the
  colosseum by using the marble from this
  building to construct other buildings
• It has experienced many earthquakes
• Damaged by pollution especially acid rain

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• Just like in the movie The Gladiator the
  Colosseum had elaborate bloodthirsty events
• Gladiator matches-the gladiators were often
  slaves or criminals, who were trained to fight to
  each other on life and death. They also fought
  against lions and tigers.
• Elaborate staged performances of battles.
• Navel battles were staged and the lower vaults
  were flooded- they built smaller versions of the
  ships and had mock battles
• Celebrations of Roman victories where captured
  people and goods were displayed in pomp and
  ceremony
• Chariot races
• Boxing-matches, archery-matches
• The last bloodthirsty event was in 523 A.D.

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A heavy wooden floor covered the cells below,
which contained the gladiators and the animals.
The floor was made of wood. There was sand on the
that floor, so the blood could easily be taken
away. The word arena is descended of the Latin
word for sand or beach.
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• The outer wall is as high as a 16 story building,
  and went around the whole structure
• The exterior wall is divided into four horizontal
  bands large arched openings piercing the lower
  three.
• This building contains three types of columns
  Doric (first band), Ionic (second band),
  Corinthian (third band)
• Statues filled the arched niches ( a recess or
  hollowed out area
  in the wall) and
  arches

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• Concrete arches, walls and vaults (which were
  covered in marble) made up several kilometres of
  passageways

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barrel vault or tunnel vault The simplest form
of a vault, consisting of a continuous surface of
semicircular or pointed sections. It resembles a
barrel or tunnel which has been cut in half
lengthwise
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groin vault A vault produced by the intersection
at right angles of two barrel (tunnel)
vaults. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults may
be pointed instead of round.
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Pantheon, Rome (118-125)

• Built to honour all the gods
• Floor space is 144 feet in diameter, and the top
  of the dome is 144 feet above the floor
• On the outside, a colonnade of Corinthian
  columns, cut from single blocks of stone, support
  a Greek style pediment

Setting for Angels and Demons, Dan Browns book
before The DaVinci Code
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•    A single "eye" or oculus, 8.23 m (30 feet) in
  diameter in the top of the dome provides the
  interiors only source of light, rainfall is
  carried away by an elaborate underground drainage
  system.
• Concrete dome is thin at the top and thicken as
  it meets the walls (43.4 m inside diameter)
• The dome is decorated with a series of recessed
  (hollowed out) rectangular panels.

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• As the marble inlay floor patterns indicate, the
  Pantheon is built on an interplay of circles and
  squares. The interior of the drum area is
  decorated with marble columns and coloured marble
  panels.

• Walls are over 20 feet thick, faced with brick,
  are massive enough to support the tremendous
  weight of the dome

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The Pantheon (from Greek Pantheion, meaning
"Shrine of all the Gods") is a building in Rome
which was originally built as a temple to the
seven deities of the seven planets in the state
religion of Ancient Rome, but which has been a
Christian church since the 7th century. It is the
best-preserved of all Roman buildings and the
oldest important building in the world with its
original roof intact. (en.wikipedia.org/)
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The Baths of Caracalla, Rome (215)

• Spanned over 30 acres and had a bathhouse
  measuring 750 feet by 380 feet.
• Contained several pools of various temperatures
• Also consisted of libraries, offices, meeting
  rooms, conversation rooms and spaces for
  recreation
• The interior of the concrete structure was roofed
  with vaults that spanned enormous spaces

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MODEL OF THE BATHS
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Theatre of Herodes Atticus, Athens (2nd century
AD)

• The performance was given from the stage, and
  important spectators were seated in the orchestra
  (stage area)
• The seating was a semi circle, built on the side
  of the Acropolis in Athens
• Could seat up to 5000 people
• Still used today the 2004 Olympic Games had
  concerts there and the marathon finished at the
  theatre.

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The Arch of Constantine, Rome (312-312 AD)

• Triumphal arches are known from about 200 BC.
  They were intended as imposing free-standing
  portals through which paraded the victors and
  victims of Rome. This arch, one of the largest
  built, celebrates Constantines assumption of
  power
• It is a large structure with three arches through
  it

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Covered in detailed bas relief sculptures, many
of the statues on it came from other monuments in
Rome
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Pont du Gard (1rst century BC) LOCATION (FRANCE)

• Made up of arches and vaults
• The pont-du -guard is a triple-storied aqueduct
  built of stone (without mortar)
• Bridges the gorge of the Gard River, first level
  is a road, third level an water carrier
• It ran for about 30 miles and supplied Nimes
  daily with 22,000 tons of water.

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PETRA"... match me such a marvel, save in
Eastern climeA rose-red city, half as old as
time."Petra", Dean Burgen

• Petra is located in modern day Jordan- its called
  the Hidden City
• first established sometime around the 6th
  century BC, by the Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic
  tribe who laid the foundations of a commercial
  empire that extended into Syria.

• largely in Nabataean hands until around 100AD,
  when the Romans took over.

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Entranceway
The Siq
Petra lies about 3-5 hours south of modern Amman,
about 2 hours north of Aqaba, on the edges of the
mountainous desert of the Wadi Araba. The city is
surrounded by towering hills of rust-coloured
sandstone which gave the city some natural
protection against invaders.
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Monastery

• carved their temples and tombs into the sandstone

The Khazneh (first century BCE)- (site of the
Indiana Jones movie) The name means 'treasury-
comes from the legend that it was used as a
hiding place for treasure. In practice, it seems
to have been something between a temple and a
tomb, possibly both at once.
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Royal tombs
The first tomb in line is the Urn Tomb , a
well-preserved monument that faces out over an
open terrace fronted by a double row of vaults. A
colonnaded cloister runs along the northern side
of the terrace. The elaborate facade fronts a
single, unadorned room, this one measuring nearly
20 metres on each side
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Roman Amphitheatre-8,000-seat.
Further sites on Petra http//www.raingod.com/angu
s/Gallery/Photos/MiddleEast/Jordan/Petra/index.htm
l http//www.panoramaproductions.net/tr_petra.htm
http//www.petraphotos.com/ http//www.amnh.org/ex
hibitions/petra/
Some distance away from the Royal Tombs, to the
north, there is one more tomb, which was built in
AD 130 for the Roman governor of the city under
Hadrian, Sextius Florentinus
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Roman Sculpture

• They borrowed heavily from the Greeks  
• However, they also created original portraits to
  honour their emperors and emphasized their
  greatness
• Often it was only the head and upper torso which
  were depicted

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Bust of Augustus, Meroe, Sudan (C. Julius Caesar
Octavianus), emperor of Rome, 27 BC-14 AD. Upon
defeating Anthony and Cleopatra in 31 BC. (Julius
Caesars nephew))

• Made of bronze and has eyes of glass paste
• Realistic appearance and individualized
  expression
• Not an idealized figure the Romans were
  interested in showing what their rulers looked
  like.
• This bust was discovered in Meroe (southern
  Sudan), apparently having been plundered from
  imperial estates in Egypt.

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Portrait of a Roman, c. 80 BC, marble,
life-size, Palazzo Torlonia, Rome

• objective realism
• .the sculptors aim was to reveal character and
  strength in figures of authority.
• The characteristics of sternness ruggedness and
  nobility can be contrasted to the idealism and
  serenity of Greek Classical sculpture.

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Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius Rome
(161-180 AD)

• Equestrian statue (horse and rider)
• over life size, realistic detail
• Made of bronze
• Its about 1800 years old and the only such
  bronze to survive in such good condition
• The size of the figure is large in comparison to
  the horse

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Lacoon and his Sons

• Roman copy of a Greek Hellenistic original from
  c. 200 BCE
• marble, height 1.84 m, Vatican.
• Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons are
  attacked at by giant serpents.
• .The date of the Laocoön is controversial, some
  scholars arguing for the late second century BCE,
  others for c. 50 BCE.

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Roman Painting -Fresco

• The Romans used paintings to decorate and colour
  the interiors of houses
• Still life's, portraits, landscape, and
  mythological subjects are found on walls in
  Pompeii and other excavated sites
• Often landscapes and architectural scenes were
  painted to serve as an open widows to provide a
  feeling of greater space in small rooms.

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• All Roman paintings were done in frescos which is
  a method of painting wet plaster with pigment.
• Entire plaster-covered walls were frescoed to
  look like marble and wood paneling, or were gaily
  decorated with flowers and vines, almost like
  wall paper
• Portraits were sometimes painted on walls to
  record how members of the family looked.

• Portrait of a Young Girl, Pompeii (79AD) Fresco.
• She is holding a stylus to her lips as if
  thinking about what to write.
• This painting many be a girl who died young and
  whose family wished to remember her.

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Mosaics

• Romans excelled in this art.
• Small bits of marble were cut, polished, and
  fitted together to make an image
• The sizes were approximately 1 to 2 cm across
• Extremely small stones were used to create wall
  mosaics many less than a millimetre in diameter
• When done, the entire image was polished to feel
  like a smooth sheet of glass

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• Young Women Exercising, Roman villa at Piazza
  Armerina (early 4th century AD)
• They almost seem to be involved in an ancient
  aerobic class or gym work out.
•