Academics Lesson IV—Classical Art

Question 1

What Roman structure is depicted in this image?

Answer 1

Column of Trajan

Fun Fact: In 101 A.D. the emperor Trajan led his legions across the Danube river to conquer the kingdom of Dacia, modern day Romania. The king of the Dacians, Decebalus, had previously fought a successful war against the Roman emperor Domitian. By 106 A.D. Trajan had conquered Dacia and transformed it into a Roman province. In Rome Trajan then set out to build a monument to his victory. The result was Trajan’s Column, a 110 foot memorial which tells the story of the Dacian War. On top of Trajan’s Column was a bronze statue of the emperor, which has been replaced by a statue of St. Peter. Trajan not only built a column in Rome, but an entire Forum. Trajan’s Forum, called the Forum Ulpium in Latin, contained a basilica and a series of markets which were built into the sides of the Capitoline and Quirinal Hills. In the annals of Roman history, Trajan is known as Optimus Princeps (the best emperor). His reign ushered in the high point of the Pāx Rōmāna. In later years coins were minted in ancient Rome with the phrase felicior Augustō, melior Trāiānō—“more fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan.” When Trajan died in 117 A.D., the Roman Empire was at its greatest territorial extent.

Question 2

What Roman structure is depicted in this image?

Answer 2

The Arch of Constantine

Question 3

The “oculus” of what Roman structure is depicted in this image?

Answer 3

Pantheon

Question 4

What historical event is being displayed in the painting in this image?

Answer 4

The Oath of the Horatii (by Jacques Louis David)

Fun Fact: The Roman Monarchy lasted from Rome’s founding in 753 B.C. until the expulsion of the last king in 510 B.C. In total, Rome had seven kings. The first king, Romulus, established the Senate (with 100 members called patrēs), brought the Sabine women into the city (Rape of the Sabine Women), and dedicated the first spolia opima (earned for killing an enemy commander in battle) to Jupiter. For a brief time Romulus co-ruled with the Sabine king Titus Tatius. It was said that Romulus did not die, but was enveloped by a storm cloud and raised into the sky. The Romans deified Romulus under the name Quirinus. Romulus successor, Numa Pompilius, was a Sabine who brought religion to Rome. He established the Vestal Virgins and the cult of Janus. Rome’s third king, Tullus Hostilius, destroyed Alba Longa due to the victory of the Horatii over the Curiatii. Ancus Marcius, the fourth king, established Rome’s port city at Ostia. The fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus, was Rome’s first Etruscan king. He drained the Forum Rōmānum and was killed by the sons of Ancus Marcius. Servius Tullius, the sixth king, was the son of a slave woman. When he was a child, his head burst into flames while he was sleeping. Unharmed, the queen Tanaquil interpreted this as an omen that Servius Tullius would one day rule as king. Servius Tullius established the census by dividing Rome into six classes. He also established the cult of Diana on the Aventine hill and built the first wall around the city (the Servian Wall). He was murdered and overthrown by Rome’s last king, Tarquinius Superbus.

Question 5

What mythological event is depicted in the painting in this image?

Answer 5

Saturn Devouring His Son (by Francisco de Goya)

Fun Fact: The Titans, who are called the Elder Gods, ruled on the Earth before the Olympians. They are the children of the sky god Ouranos (Uranus) and the earth goddess Ge (Gaea). Ouranos was very cruel to his children, and so one day his son Cronus (Saturn), the youngest of the Titans, ascended the palace in the sky from which his father ruled and defeated him with his scythe. As Ouranos was fading away into the sky, he told Cronus that one day he would also be overthrown by one of his children. Cronus married his sister Rhea (Ops), and when she had children, the Titan swallowed them whole to prevent the uprising. Rhea hid the last child, Zeus, and presented Cronus with a stone wrapped in infant’s clothing instead. Cronus was fooled and ate the stone, while the baby Zeus was hidden on the island of Crete. Later, Rhea gave Cronus a potion which forced him to regurgitate his children, who emerged as fully-grown gods and goddesses. The ensuing war, which was won by Zeus and his siblings, is called the Titanomachy (war of the Titans). In addition to Cronus and Rhea, the other famous Titans were: Oceanus, who was the ocean that encircled the earth; Tethys, the wife of Oceanus with whom he had 3,000 daughters called Oceanids; Iapetus, who was the father of Prometheus (the Titan who gave fire to mankind), Epimetheus (the husband of the first woman, Pandora), and Atlas (the Titan who holds the world on his shoulders); Hyperion, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn; Themis, the goddess of order and justice; and Mnemosyne, whose name means memory, the mother of the Muses.