As Rome expanded its dominance over Greece, Greek art had a stronger and

stronger influence over Roman artists and architects. In Greece, the gods were the
driving force behind any major architecture of the Hellenistic period. As a matter of fact,
a large percentage of the ancient Greek architecture that we still know of today are
temples, because the Greeks built beautiful architecture mostly for the worship of their
gods. This was obvious in the ornate exteriors of the buildings; in the pediments and
metopes and the relative drabness of the interiors. In a sense, the Greek designed
buildings as a sculpture, with all of the beauty to be viewed from the outside.
Roman architectural style turns this around. Although their buildings are
beautiful on the outside, the inside is equally beautiful, with the many colored walls and
paintings, and a use of space concerned with the lighting of the room so that the interior
decorations could be seen clearly. Also, while the Romans did build temples to their
gods, their style was more predominantly seen in public dwellings and social gathering
areas, such as basilicas and forums, than in their temples.
Unarguably, a revolutionary architecture was the biggest contribution to art
history by the Romans. Very importantly, the Romans revolutionized architectural
design by developing concrete construction. In addition to being much cheaper to use
than the Greek marble (which also had to be imported), the use of concrete allowed to
design and construct new shapes that were not achievable before. We are talking about
huge vaults (like barrel vaults and groin vaults) and hemispherical domes that needed
not internal supports.
The most impressive and innovative use of concrete during the Republic was in
the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, the goddess of good fortune, in Palestrina,
southeast of Rome. While the design featuring terraces is typical of Hellenistic Greek
architecture, the construction method is original and distinct. In fact, the use of barrel
vaults allows to support the terraces exploiting the natural strength of this kind of
shape/construction. Later on, the use of concrete allowed for the construction of
amphitheaters, colossal constructions resembling a Greek theater (the word
amphitheater means “double theater”) but standing on their own rather than being
resting on the side of a natural hill. The earliest amphitheater known is the one in
Pompeii, dating around 70 BCE, while the most famous is the Colosseum, in Rome,
dating around 70 CE, during the Early Imperial period, under the Flavians. A fun fact is
that the Colosseum, which is huge (it can hold more than 50,000 spectators) didn't take
its name from its colossal dimensions, but from a statue that used to be next to the
Colosseum. That statue, which was also huge, was the Colossus of Nero. The Colosseum
was different from the amphitheater in Pompeii, reflecting the technological advances in
the use of concrete. Rather than finding support on an artificial earthen mound, the
Colosseum has a concrete skeleton made of barrel-vaulted corridors to hold up the
enormous oval seating area. The exterior of the colosseum is largely gone because the
material has been used for construction of houses and other buildings. Three sets of
vaults support the skeleton, each decorated with a different style— tuscan, ionic, and
corinthian, respectively, from the lower band to the third one.
Another revolutionary building, the Pantheon was built by Hadrian during the
High Empire. Curiously, the Pantheon has the largest dome in the ancient’s world,
measuring 142 feet both in height and in diameter. At the top, an open oculus lets a
beam of sunlight pass through and move across the dome as the sun moves across the
sky.
Like architecture, a good deal of Roman sculpture was created to serve a purpose
— to impress the public and communicate the power and majesty of Rome. In its
important works there was a constant expression of seriousness, with none of the Greek
conceptualism or introspection. The mood, pose and facial features of the Roman statue
of an Emperor, for instance, was typically solemn and unsmiling. As Rome grew more
confident from the reign of Augustus (31 BCE - 14 CE), its leaders might appear in more
magnanimous poses, but gravitas and an underlying sense of Roman greatness was
never far from the surface. Another important characteristic of Rome's plastic art was its
realism. The highly detailed reliefs on Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus
Aurelius, for instance, are perfect illustrations of this focus on accurate representation,
and have been important sources of information for scholars on many aspects of the
Roman Legion, its equipment and battle tactics.
Among the many portraits of Roman sculpture, the Augustus of Prima Porta and
the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius are the two best representations of the two
types of Roman sculptures, which were the standing figure and the mounted figure. The
Augustus of Prima Porta is based on the Doryphorus, a famous antique statue by
Polykleitos portraying the ideal human proportions of an Athenian athlete. The
depiction of Augustus portrays him as a victorious general making a speech. He is posed
in the traditional contrapposto manner: his right leg is placed firmly forward while his
left leg is bent and the heel slightly-raised. Augustus’ right arm is stretched out in a
noble and controlled Roman gesture, which we can see in the equestrian statue of
Marcus Aurelius, too. In this statue, the emperor— who possesses a superhuman
grandeur and is much larger than any normal human would be in relation to his horse—
stretches out his right arm in a gesture that is both a greeting and a sign of clemency.
So, while much of Roman art is inspired by Hellenistic art or based on Greek
standards, Roman art and architecture had been influenced by the Etruscan, too, and
has introduced several innovative features as well, resulting in a revolutionary addition
to the fine arts.