1. INTRO to the ROMAN EMPIRE

2. ROMAN ART - AP Art History
Area of the Empire in 117 CE (in orange)

3. Is it
GREEK ?
Or is it
ROMAN

4. GREEK ROMAN Preferred Structure: Temples to Glorify Gods
Civic Buildings to honor Empire
Walls:
Made of cut stone blocks
Concrete with Ornamental facing
Trademark Forms:
Rectangles, Straight Lines
Circles, Curved Lines
Support System:
Post and Lintel
Rounded Arch
Column Style:
Doric & Ionic
Corinthian
Sculpture:
Idealized Gods & Goddesses
Realistic (Verism) humans, idealized officials
Painting:
Stylized figures floating in Space
Realistic images with perspective
Subject of Art:
Mythology
Civic Leaders, military triumphs

5. Temple of Athena Nike Classical Greek
Temple of Portunus
Rome, Italy - ca. 75 BC

6. PARTHENON 447-424 BCE, Marble. Greek
PANTHEON CE, Concrete with stone facing. Rome

7. Polykleitos, Doryphoros, 450-440 BCE, High Classical Greek
Augustus of Primaporta, 1st Century CE, Pax Romana (Roman)

8. Athena and Alcyoneus frieze from the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, c180 BCE. HELLENISTIC GREEK
Spoils from the Temple of Solomon, Jerusalem. Relief on the Arch of Titus
EARLY EMPIRE ROME

9. Etruscan Supremacy: 700-509 BCE
Provided link between Greek and Roman Art KEYWORDS: TERRA-COTTA, COMPOSITE ORDER
Roman Republican Period: BCE
Begins with overthrowing last Etruscan King and ends with Julius Caesar… Major buildings built more for POLITICAL use than for WORSHIP KEYWORDS: TEMPLES, ARA PACIS, HOMAGE TO RULERS
Early Empire Period: 27 BCE-180 CE
KEYWORDS: WALL PAINTINGS, CONCRETE, ARCH, COLOSSEUM
The High Empire: CE
Five Good Emperors (Trajan, Hadrian, etc.) kept things prosperous and peaceful. KEYWORDS: COLUMN OF TRAJAN, HADRIAN’S WALL, PANTHEON
The Late Empire: CE Diocletian had Empire divided into four parts. KEYWORDS: TETRARCHY, ARCH OF CONSTANTINE

10. The Roman Architectural Revolution

11. Temple of Portunus , ca. 75 BCE. EARLY REPUBLIC ROMAN
A superb example of Roman eclecticism is the Temple of Portunus, the Roman god of harbors.
Follows the Etruscan pattern:
High podium is accessible only at the front, with its wide flight of steps.
Freestanding columns are confined to the deep porch.
The structure is built of stone overlaid originally with stucco in imitation of the white marble temples of the Greeks.
The columns are Ionic, complete with flutes and bases.
In an effort to approximate a peripteral Greek temple - while maintaining the Etruscan plan - the architect added a series of engaged Ionic half-columns around the cella’s sides and back.
The result was a pseudoperipteral temple.
Model of a typical Etruscan Temple,
6th Century BCE

12. Temple of “the Sibyl” or of “Vesta” Tivoli, Italy - early 1st century BCE
The Romans’ admiration for the Greek temples they encountered in their conquests also led to the importation of the round, or tholos, temple type.
The travertine columns are Corinthian.
In contrast with Greek practice, the cell wall was constructed not of masonry blocks but of a new invention: concrete.

13. Aulus Metellus Late 2nd - early 1st century BCE
This bronze of Aulus Metellus is life-sized. We know his name because it is inscribed on the hem of his clothing. The statue has been known since ancient times as ‘The Orator’ and the man stands as if addressing a crowd. He wears sturdy leather boots, an interesting thing to note…gods and goddesses were depicted barefoot and later on we will see that Augustus was sculpted barefoot, perhaps hinting at his deification.
Note the differences between this statue and similar Greek statues. While both cultures made statues of their leaders to instill confidence there are marked differences. Most notable at first glance, our Roman is clothed. Secondly, he wears shoes, going barefoot was a sign that the statue was of a god. Also, our orator appears to have been a real person.
The Romans generally presented their leaders with recognizable features as they appeared in life. The Greeks presented idealized statues of their leaders showing them as gods with perfect proportions, bodies, and strength.
This piece was done during the Republican period of Rome when leaders in the Senate ruled (ideally) through reason and with the support of the people. The Senate was the governing body and the ability to speak eloquently was paramount to success.

14. Funerary Relief with Portraits of the Gessii
Rome (?), Italy - ca. 30 BC
The surviving sculptural portraits of prominent Roman Republican figures are uniformly literal reproductions of individual faces. Although their style derives to some degree from Hellenistic and Etruscan portraits, Republican portraits are one way the patrician class celebrated its elevated status. Slaves and former slaves could not possess such portraits, because, under Roman law, they were not people but property. Yet when freed slaves died, they often ordered portraits for their tombs - in a style that contrasts sharply with that favored by freeborn patricians. This image depicts former slaves who have gained their freedom and right to have their portraits created.

15. Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius
Aerial view of the amphitheater, Pompeii, Italy, ca 80 BCE
The forum was an oasis in the heart of Pompeii - an open, airy plaza. Throughout the rest of the city, every square foot of land was developed. At the southern end of the town, immediately after the Roman colony was founded in 80 BCE, Pompeii’s new citizens erected a large amphitheater. It is the earliest such structure known and could seat some 20,000 spectators. The word- amphitheater means “double theater”, and the Roman structures closely resemble two Greek theaters put together, although the Greeks never built amphitheaters.
Arena is Latin for “sand”, which soaked up the contestants’ blood. Instead of refined performances, the Amphitheater held mostly bloody gladiator combats.

16. The Eruption of Vesuvius

17. Head of a Roman patrician, from Otricoli, Italy, ca 75-50 BCE.
Republican patrician portraits:
Mostly men of advanced age (generally these elders held the power in the state)
One of the most striking of these so-called veristic (superrealistic) portraits is of an unidentified patrician.
We are able to see this man’s personality: serious, experienced, determined- virtues that were admired during the Republic.
Kresilas, Pericles
Classical Greece

18. Augustus of Primaporta, Early 1st Century BCE EARLY EMPIRE ROMAN
Octavian Caesar (the great-nephew and adopted ‘son’ of Julius Caesar) became the first Roman Emperor in 44 BCE. By 27 BCE, the Senate conferred him the title ‘Augustus’ (meaning ‘exalted’ or ‘sacred’).
For the next 41 years, Augustus Caesar led the empire thru a period of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace.
The inclusion of Venus’ son, Cupid, is a reminder of Augustus’ divine descent (related to Goddess Venus).
Furthermore, this depicts the return of Roman military standards by the Parthians. The marble statue was originally painted.

19. Ara Pacis, 13-9 BCE. EARLY EMPIRE ROMAN.
The Ara Pacis (or ‘Altar of Augustan Peace’) was a monument dedicated in 9 BC to commemorate Augustus; return to Rome after establishing Roman rule in Gaul.
Included on this monument was the Imperial Procession – a relief showing the family members and other who attended the dedication. (This is much different than the ‘Procession of the Gods’ frieze located on the Parthenon in Athens.)

20. Gemma Augustea, Onyx ca 1st Century CE, EARLY EMPIRE ROMAN
Augustus Caesar was elevated to Divine Status after his death (as memorialized with the Ara Pacis)… Here is an onyx cameo of the ‘crowning’ of Augustus as Jupiter – King of the Gods. His adopted son, Tiberius, holds a lance and steps out of the chariot on the left, ready to be the next Emperor.
This piece combines:
The idealized heroicism of Classical Greek Art
The dramatic action of Hellenistic Art
The Roman realism and depiction of historical events

21. Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius
Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater
Pompeii, Italy, c CE
This painting that is found on the wall of a Pompeian house depicts an incident that occurred in the amphitheater in 59 CE. A brawl broke out between the Pompeians and their neighbors, the Nucerians, during a contest between the two towns.
The fight left many wounded and led to a 10 year prohibition against such events.
The painting shows the cloth awning (velarium) that could be rolled down from the top of the cavea to shield spectators from either sun or rain. It also has the distinctive external double staircases that enabled large numbers of people to enter and exit the cavea in an orderly fashion.

22. The Roman House

23. The Roman House

24. Atrium of the House of the Vettii
The Roman House
Atrium of the House of the Vettii
Pompeii, Italy, second century BCE, rebuilt CE
One of the best preserved houses at Pompeii, partially rebuilt and an obligatory stop on every tourist’s itinerary today, is the House of the Vettii, an old Pompeian house remodeled and repainted after the earthquake of 62 CE.
The photograph was taken in the fauces. It shows the impluvium in the center of the atrium, the opening in the roof above, and in the background, the peristyle garden with its marble tables and mural paintings.
The house was owned by two brothers, Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius Conviva, probably freedmen who had made their fortune as merchants. Their wealth enabled them to purchase and furnished houses that would have been owned only by patricians.

25. Atrium of the House of the Vettii
The Roman House
Atrium of the House of the Vettii
Pompeii, Italy, second century BCE, rebuilt CE
Most of the interior rooms were painted in the Fourth Style: illusionistic architectural frames that leave large expanses of wall which contain central panels, for the most part painted with mythological scenes. In this style of wall painting, the images were generally copies of celebrated Greek originals, and therefore were seen as authentic art collections, branding the householder as an art-lover and collector.
The walls of the peristyle walkway are decorated with black panels, edged in Pompeiian red with a yellow background. The black panels alternately contain still life and figure paintings.

26. Dionysiac mystery frieze, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60-50 BCE
Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius
Dionysiac mystery frieze, Pompeii, Italy, ca BCE

27. Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius

28. Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius
The volcanic ash of Vesuvius completely covered the town of Pompeii, preserving the buildings AND the deceased people with it. These areplaster casts of the preservations.

29. Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius
The volcanic ash of Vesuvius completely covered the town of Pompeii, preserving the buildings AND the deceased people with it. These areplaster casts of the preservations.

30. Pompeii & the Cities of Vesuvius
Portrait of a husband and wife Pompeii,Italy CE
Originally formed part of a Fourth Style wall of an exedra, recessed area on the opening of the atrium of a Pompeian house.
Standard attributes of Roman marriage portraits are displayed here with the man holding a scroll and the woman holding a stylus and a wax writing tablet. These portraits suggested high education even if it wasn’t true of the subjects.
The heads are individualized to the subject’s features, not simply standard types.
This is the equivalent of modern wedding photographs.

31. Still life with peaches, detail from a wall painting; Heraculaneum, Italy; 62-79 CE
Roman painters’ interest in the likeness of individual people was matched by their concern for recording the appearance of everyday objects.
This still life demonstrates that Roman painters sought to create illusionistic effects while depicting small objects. Here they used light and shade with attention to shadows and highlights.
The illusion created here is the furthest advance by ancient painters in representational technique. It appears that this artist understood that the look of things is a function of light. Also, the goal was to paint light as one would strive to paint the touchable object that reflects and absorbs it.
This illusion of light marks the furthest advance by ancient painters in representational technique; it would not be seen again until the Dutch in the 1700’s.

32. Boscoreale, Italy, decorated ca. 50-40 BCE
General view of wall paintings from Cubiculum M of the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor
Boscoreale, Italy, decorated ca BCE
In the early Second Style Dionysiac mystery frieze, the spatial illusionism is confined to the painted platform that projects into the room. This cubiculum is a prime example of mature Second Style designs in which painters created a 3-D setting that also extends beyond the wall.
All around the room the painter opened up the walls with vistas of Italian towns and sacred sanctuaries. Painted doors and gates invite the viewer to walk through the wall into the created world. Although this painter was inconsistent in applying it, he demonstrated a interest in, but lacking knowledge of linear [single vanishing-point] perspective.
Their attempt at perspective was intuitive and it not conform to the “rules” of linear perspective that would later be discovered by the Renaissance masters.

33. Augustus
Rome's first emperor. He also added many territories to the empire.
Claudius
He conquered Britain.
Nero
He was insane. He murdered his mother and his wife and threw thousands of Christians to the lions.
Titus
Before he was emperor he destroyed the great Jewish temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
Trajan
He was a great conqueror. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest extent.
Hadrian
He built 'Hadrian's Wall' in the north of Britain to shield the province from the northern barbarians.
Diocletian
He split the empire into two pieces - a western and an eastern empire.
Constantine
He was the first Christian emperor. He united the empire again chose his capital to be the small town Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople.
Romulus Augustus
He was the last emperor of Rome, nicknamed Augustulus which means 'little Augustus'.
Justinian
He was the last 'great' emperor. He conquered many territories, created the 'Justinian Code' and built the fantastic church Santa Sophia.
Constantine XI
The last emperor of Constantinople. He died defending his great city against the Turks.