1. THE ROMAN EMPIRE
GARDNER CHAPTER 10-2 PP

2. POMPEII AND THE CITIES OF VESUVIUS
August 24, 79 CE -> Mount Vesuvius erupts -> many prosperous towns around the Bay of Naples buried in one day -> most famous city was Pompeii
Ruins undisturbed for 1700 years -> first excavated in the 18th century -> major event for archaeologists and art historians

3. FORUM
FORUM = the center of civic life in any Roman town -> public square
Located at the center of the town
North end -> Temple of Jupiter/Capitolium -> sits at north of Forum -> unlike Greek temple it does not stand isolated
Porticoes lined the forum
BASILICA -> at the southwest corner of the forum -> housed the law court of Pompeii -> long and narrow with 2 stories of internal columns -> central nave and flanking aisles

4. AMPHITHEATER Pompeii’s amphitheater is the oldest know -> 70 BCE
Could seat 20,000 -> seating was assigned by rank -> social hierarchy
Amphitheater = “double theater” -> resembles two Greek theaters put together
Artificial earthen mound surrounded and supported by giant retaining wall that holds up the earthen mound and stone seats -> barrel vaults form tunnels that lead to the arena

5. Patron-client relationships was a key element of Roman society -> status of a patron depended on size of his clientele
DOMUS = house
FAUCES = entryway
ATRIUM
IMPLUVIUM
CUBICULUM = bedrooms
TABLINUM = “home office”
TRICLINIUM = kitchen
PERISTYLE = columns surrounding small enclosed garden
THE ROMAN HOUSE

6. (2-39/1) HOUSE OF THE VETTII House of the Vettii plan Pompeii, Italy Imperial Rome c. 2nd century BCE ; rebuilt c C.E. cut stone and fresco
FLASHCARD

7. (39-2/2) HOUSE OF THE VETTII Atrium Pompeii, Italy Imperial Rome c
(39-2/2) HOUSE OF THE VETTII Atrium Pompeii, Italy Imperial Rome c. 2nd century BCE/rebuilt c/ C.E. cut stone and fresco
FLASHCARD
Atrium of the House of the Vettii -> 62 BCE
Roman townhouse with central atrium with impluvium with open roof above -> bedrooms/cubicula opened onto the atrium
Peristyle garden at the back with mural paintings

8. (2-39/3) HOUSE OF THE VETTII Frescoes Pompeii, Italy Imperial Rome c
(2-39/3) HOUSE OF THE VETTII Frescoes Pompeii, Italy Imperial Rome c. 2nd century BCE rebuilt c C.E. cut stone and fresco
FLASHCARD

9. PAINTING
Houses and villas around Vesuvius provide best record of interior decoration in the ancient world
Custom painted murals in nearly every room
True frescoes
The various mural painting schemes are divided into 4 Pompeian Styles

10. FIRST STYLE
First Style wall painting in the fauces of the Samnite House, Herculaneum, Italy, late 2nd century BCE
First Style -> also called Masonry Style = decorator’s aim was to imitate costly marble panels using painted stucco relief

11. SECOND STYLE
Second Style wall painting, detail of tholos from cubiculum M of the Villa at Boscoreale, BCE
Second Style is antithesis of First Style
Painters wanted to dissolve a room’s confining walls and replace them with the illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world
Illusionism

12. VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES
Dionysiac mystery frieze, Second Style wall paintings in room 5 of the Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy, BCE, fresco, frieze 5’4”
Chamber used to celebrate in private the rites of Dionysos -> precise nature of Dionysiac rites unknown
Imaginary 3 dimensional world on the walls -> mortals interacting with mythological figures
Frieze is framed by painted panels imitating wall w/a shallow ledge on which the actors move around the room

13. VILLA AT BOSCOREALE
Second Style wall painting in cubiculum of the Villa at Boscoreale, BCE
All around the room are vistas of Italian towns, marble temples, and colonnaded courtyards
Use of linear perspective -> all receding lines in a composition converge on a single point along the paintings central axis to convey depth and distance

14. VILLA OF LIVIA, PRIMAPORTA
Gardenscape, Second Style wall paintings, from the Villa of Livia, Primaporta, Italy, ca BCE, fresco
The ultimate expression of a Second Style “picture window” wall
To suggest recession, the painter used atmospheric perspective = intentionally blurring the most distant forms

15. THIRD STYLE
Detail of Third Style wall painting from the Villa at Boscotrecase, 10 BCE, frsco
Third Style -> reasserts the primacy of the wall surface -> does not seek to create 3-D world -> does not imitate a marble wall
Walls are decorated with delicate linear fantasies sketched on predominantly monochromatic (one-color) bacgrounds

16. VILLA AT BOSCOTRECASE Third Style wall painting
Landscapes and mythological scenes appear in frames, like modern canvas painting hung on walls

17. FOURTH STYLE
Fourth Style wall paintings from the Domus Aurea of Nero, Rome, CE
Creamy white walls of Nero’s Golden House display a kinship w/the Third Style but views through the walls revealing irrational architectural vista characterize the new Fourth Style

18. IXION ROOM
Fourth Style walls paintings in the Ixion Room of the House of the Vetii in Pompeii, CE
Garishly colored, crowded and confused compositions with a mixture of architectural views, framed mythological panel paintings, and First and Third Style motifs
Like a small private art gallery with paintings decorating the walls

19. PRIVATE PORTRAITS
Portrait of a husband and wife, wall painting from a Pompeian house, CE
Man holds scroll, woman holds stylus and writing tablet -> thoughtful and finely educated
Like a wedding photo
Realistic portraiture

20. STILL LIFE PAINTING
Still life with peaches, detail from a 4th Style wall painting from Herculaneum, CE, fresco
Roman interest in illusionism -> attention on the play of light and shadow on different shapes and textures