Ancient Rome Flashcards
Primaporta Statue of Augustus
SIZE: life-size
MATERIALS: marble
LOCATION: museum
ANCIENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF SYSTEM: polytheistic
INFORMATION/STATEMENTS:
- copy of bronze original
- statue of Augustus as general
- first emperor
- holding scrip with right hand, gesture that alludes to making a speech or addressing the truth
- military leader, senator, priest divine being
- gesture of speaking
- highly ornate breastplate
- bringer of the Pax Romana (peaceful times)
- next to right leg shows cupid riding a dolphin
- Breastplate shows a figure returning a Roman standard to another, Roman deities
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
SIZE: life-size
MATERIALS: bronze
LOCATION: Italy
ANCIENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF SYSTEM: Stoicism, polytheistic
INFORMATION/STATEMENTS:
- political symbolism combined with emotional presence
- military context, emperor, philosopher
- preserved/spared due to being mistaken for a statue of Constantine the Great, (first Christian emperor)
Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus
SIZE: life-size
MATERIALS: marble
LOCATION: museum
ANCIENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF SYSTEM: polytheistic
INFORMATION/STATEMENTS:
- depicts high relief of battle, multiple layers
- Chaotic battle of Romans and Goths (barbarians)
- Idea of Roman triumph
- rejection of classcism
Colosseum
SIZE: monumental
MATERIALS: concrete, brick, travertine, tuff
LOCATION: Rome, Italy
ANCIENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF SYSTEM: polytheistic
INFORMATION/STATEMENTS:
- held gladiator games
- visual engagement
- people either voluntarily or enemy soldiers’ participants
- sophisticated lift system
- suppress the lower classes through entertainment and low food prices (less revolution and aggression against governmentality)
- seating arranged according to social statuses (higher up = lower status)
- held animals
- each story and gate had roman numerals
- wooden barrier system that controlled flow
Pantheon
SIZE: monumental
MATERIALS: concrete, brick, tuff
LOCATION: Rome, Italy
ANCIENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF SYSTEM: polytheistic
INFORMATION/STATEMENT:
- courtyard
- temple is round
- bottom has heaviest concrete, higher up is made of lighter concrete
- coffered dome with decreasing square indentations
- light from oculus (opening in center, supplies sunlight)
- built under emperor Hadrian
- originally covered in bronze
Sainte Foy
SIZE: small
MATERIALS: wood fitted with sheets of gold, adorned with gems
LOCATION: France
ANCIENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF SYSTEM: Christianity
INFORMATION/STATEMENTS:
- “furta sacra” = holy theft
- monks stole her remains to get more people to come to their church
- Depicts a young Christian convert living in Roman-occupied France
- Condemned to die for her refusal to sacrifice to pagan gods (died for her faith)
Cathedral Complex Pisa
SIZE: monumental
MATIERALS: marble, stone
LOCATION: Italy
ANICENT TRADITION: Roman
BELIEF STYSTEM: Christianity
INFORMATION/STATEMENTS:
- front left = baptistery
- middle = cathedral
- back right = campanile (bell tower)
