Roman Art

Question 1

How did the Roman culture become Hellenized?

Answer 1

• during the republic (450 years), Rome conquered the rest of Italy and expanded outwards to include places like France and Greece
• Greek influenced Rome in architecture, literature, statues, wall painting, mosaics, pottery, and glass

Question 2

What brought an end to the Roman Republic?

Answer 2

• Greek culture brought Greek gold→ generals/senators fought over this wealth
• civil war→ Romans empire

Question 3

How did Augustus become the first emperor?

Answer 3

• Octavian (later Augustus; adopted son of Caesar) defeated Cleopatra and Mark Antony at Actium
• was only the first citizen and ruled by consent of the Senate→ supreme Authority

Question 4

How did the success of the Roman empire depend of the emperor?

Answer 4

-service to the empire/emperor was key to advancement
-if the emperor was weak→ end in bloodshed/chaos
3rd century CE→ empire was threatened by economic crisis, weak/short-lived emperors/usurpers and barbarians

Question 5

What factors contributed to the collapse of the Roman empire?

Answer 5

• financial pressure
• urban decline
• underpain troops
• overstretched frontiers
• barbarian invasions

Question 6

What were some of the influences on Roman art?

Answer 6

• Rome= melting pot
• expansion= influenced from many countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia
• Greek, Etruscan, and Egyptian influences
• hard for specialists to define what is “Roman” about Roman art

Question 7

What did Roman art communicate about the emperor?

Answer 7

-after Augustus’s rise to power, art was put in service of the leader
-indicate shifts in leadership?
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Question 8

What are some of the Classicizing elements of imperial art?

Answer 8

• influences form the Classical and Hellenistic periods of Greek Art
• smooth lines, elegant drapery, idealized nude bodies, highly naturalistic forms, balanced proportions

Question 9

Roman art in the public sphere

Answer 9

• commissioned by emperor
• portraits of imperial family/bath houses decorated with classical statues (copies)
• commemorative works→ triumphal arches/columns
• victories, war, military life
• foreign lands/ enemies of state
• emperor’s domestic/foreign policy
• religious art

Question 10

Sculpture of Augustus of Prima Porta

Answer 10

• the breastplate depicts the Roman victory over the Parthians
• used by Tiberius as propaganda so the view would recall the important role his father played in securing the Roman Empire
• based on the Doryphoros (Canon) by Polykleitos)–> ideal human proportions
• Augustus wanted to portray himself as a perfect leader (flawless) with the power and authority of an emperor who had the capacity to stabilize a society and empire

Question 11

Pont du Gard

Answer 11

• aqueduct
• how was it contructed
• part of a 50 km long contruction
• mixture of limestone, sand, water, and broken tiles⇒ center conduit of Pont Du Gard
• used for 400 years

Question 12

Collsseum

Answer 12

• Vespasian wanted to replace the tyrannical emperor’s private lake with a public amphitheater
• it as freestanding, not dug into a hillside
• had an awning (velarium)
• held 50,000 ppl; gladiator contest, mock naval engagements

Question 13

Column of Trajan

Answer 13

• built to commemorate the emperor’s successful military campaigns against the Dacians in central-east Europe
• chronological (army prep to engagement in battle to victory)
• 100 ft tall
• story is 600 ft if unraveled

Question 14

Pantheon

Answer 14

• temple for the gods→ sanctified church→ tourist attraction
• circular and radial→ has a central point and radiates out from that point
• perfect sphere
• lots of geometrical shapes→ ideal geometries
• oculus= perfect circle; movement of the heavens/ sun—> like a sundial
• concrete could be molded (thick outer layer of concrete to keep the dome from falling)

Question 15

Arch of Constantine

Answer 15

• while preparing, Constantine saw the sign of Christ in the heavens (the cross)
• God interfered with history
• Edict of Milan= granted religious toleration for Christianity( before it outlawed)
• inscription= Constantine identified as Emperor, Caesar, greatest, pious, blessed Augustus
• liberty from a tyrant
• reliefs= taken from monuments made for earlier Emperors→ artistic decline
• Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius= 3 greatest Roman emperors of the 2nd century
• connection between Constantine and Rome’s past glory
• constantine is beardless→ like Greek philosophers→ dynastic link to Constantine and the new Augustus