Roma civilization reviewer

The greek legacy and the roman ideal

- Rome inherited greek’s culture (art, literature, philosophical and religious life)
- Roman civilization produced remarkable achievements of its own, in the field of politics, law and
engineering.

Etruscan Civilization

- Inhabited the central Italian mainland

- Their alphabet is derived from greek but their language seems unique
- Herodotus (5th century B.C.E.) a greek historian said that Etruscan came to Italy from Lydia
(turkey)
- Dionysus of Halicarnassus claims they were an indigenous Italian people, which appears more
likely.
- There are many vases from greek that you can find in Etruscan tombs.
- Greek heroes and deities were incorporated into the Etruscan pantheon.
- Their temples reflected greek influence.

Architecture

a. Temples
- Roman author VITRUVIUS described and Etruscan temple, which it has been possible t create
reconstruction.
- Similar to greek temple (rectangular plan, raised podium, and peaked roof)
- Built with columns of Tuscan order which is doric order modified by the addition of a base.
- Etruscan temple has steps on only one side unlike greek temple that has a steps on all four
sides.
- Etruscan temple has a deep front porch occupying much more of the platform than is occupied
by the porch of a greek temple.
- Etruscan temple’s cella (enclosed part) is divided into three rooms unlike greek temple plan.
b. Tombs
- etruscan tombs were rich with weapons, gold work, and vases.
- The targets of grave robbers.
- Can be found in underground
- Two types of tombs:
1. Corbeled domes covered with mounds of earth
2. Rock cut chambers with rectangular rooms
- Examples;
 Tomb of the reliefs (3rd century B.C.E.)
-The famous and most impressive of the rock cut tombs
-made with Tufa, a type of stone that is soft when cut but hardens when exposed to
the air and tends to remain white.
-tombs were used for families and this one has places for over 40 bodies.
-the interior replicates a home and provides a document of Etruscan life.
 -have stone pillows, roof beams are carved, and on the walls there are weapons,
armor, household items, and busts of the dead.
-the column capitals are similar to an early ionic type.
 The paintings in the tomb of hunting and fishing
-this wall painting shows the afterlife.
c. Sculpture
- their homeland Tuscany is rich in copper and iron and provided ample raw materials.
-celebrated antiquity for their ability to work in metal.
-from 600 B.C.E. onward, the Etruscan produced many bronze statuettes and utensils,
some of which they exported.
 Wife and sarcophagus from cerveteri (ca. 520 B.C.E.)
-the sarcophagus molded in clay and once brightly painted, it shaped like a couch.
-the deceased couple reclined on top means social equals.
-this also shows afterlife.
 Capitoline she-wolf (ca. 500 B.C.E.)
-an example of Etruscan bronze sculpture
-the two suckling babes were the legendary twin founders of the city, Romulus and
Remus.
- the she-wolf is authentic and has the energy and vitality characteristic of Etruscan art.

The roman republic

-Rome was ruled first by a succession of kings and then in 509 B.C.E. it became republic until 27 B.C.E.

-Romulus established the traditional roman distinction between patricians and plebeians

-Patricians, the land owning aristocrats who served as priests and magistrates, lawyers and judges.

-Plebeians, poorer class who tilled the land, herded livestock and worked for wages as craftspeople,
trades people and laborers. They depended on the patricians for support.

-Patronage, plebeian could choose any patrician as a patron.

-Pater, the father and his duty is to protect not only his wife and children but also his clients those who
had submitted to his patronage.

-Pietas, this is called when his family and clients returning his protection by giving him total obedience
and to defer him in all things.

-Consilium Plebis, plebeian’s own legislative assembly.

-Tribunes, plebeians elected officers to tpotect them from patrician magistrates.

-Gaius Marius, began to enrol men in the army who did not meet the property or citizenship
qualification.

-each soldier served for 20 years and when not involved in combat, they was occupied by the
construction of roads, bridges and aqueducts.
-at the end of their service, they were given land in the province where they had served as well as
roman citizenship.

-Equites, men who are born into familes that could pursue senatorial status and chose careers in
business and finance.

-Lucius Cornelius sulla, murdered thousands of his opponents and introduced a new constitution.

-Gaius Julius Caesar, became dictator of an empire included Italy, spain, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and north
Africa.

-Octavian, became the sole power in rome.

Art of the roman republic

-Roman writers rarely make reference to roman artists, instead they write about the greek masters-
Polykleitos, Phidias, Praxiteles,lysippos.

-Romans were impressed with great size-the size of the empire, buildings, and their sculptures.

-they were superb engineers.

- their sculpture and painting is realistic with an emphasis of specific people, places and times.

a. Architecture
-adopted greek orders- Doric, ionic and Corinthian but made modification.
-Romans made doric columns taller and slimmer and gave them a base.
-The acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order were combined with the volutes of the
ionic order to create composite order.
-they used Corinthian order most and the doric least.
-they used engaged columns on the inside and outside of buildings.
-Concrete, consist of cement mixed with small pieces of stone. Strong, can be cast into
any shape, far less costly than stone construction.
-Romans favoured circular tempes (ex. Temple of Vesta in Rome)
b. Aqueducts
-some of aqueducts were many miles long, crossing valleys, spanning rivers, going over
mountains and even passing underground.
-the most famous and best preserved of the ancient roman aqueducts is the Pont du
Gard, which based on a series of arches, the water channel Is at the top and is lined with
cement. Flat stone slabs were placed over the top to keep out leaves and debris.
c. Sculpture
-Roman sculpture focused on individual people, particularly political figures.
-A roman patrician with busts of his ancestors, a pefect example of a sculpture, the high
level of realism may have been assisted by the custom of making deathmasks, called
imagines by Romans.
-Imagines, after death, a wax mask was molded on the face of the deceased and
sometimes transferred into stone.
-Toga, a garment fashionable in the republican era.
 d. Literature
-Roman poets used greek genres
-Roman genre called satire
-Catullus, wrote passionate love poems
-Roman Drama: Plautus and Terence, two most important roman comic dramatists.
-Terence’s plays were aimed at and aristocratic audience
-Plautus wrote for common people.

The empire

-Octavian restored the republic.

-In 12 C.E. Octavian had given the title Pontifex maximus or “high priest”

-together with Octavian’s wife, they created pax romana or “roman piece” and it lasted for 200 years.

-Five good emperors; Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, antoninus pius, Marcus aurelius

-In COMMODUS ruled the empire started to flounder.

-Diocletian restored order by dividing the empire into four portions- the tetrarchy.

-Constantine moved the seat of government from rome to the port city of Byzantium.

a. Music
- Roman music was loud and aggressive and featured in open air games, festival
parades, and military attacks.
-Brass instruments such as Cornu (G shaped instrument) and tuba (long straight
trumpet) played accompaniment through raging wars, were also used to communicate
field orders and to announce important visitors.
-Hydraulos, needs a flow of water to power and organ that could heard for miles, was
used in the circus maximus and the colosseum to rouse the crowd.
-Roman pipers, played a flutelike instrument at funerals and between acts at plays.
b. Architecture
-The Roman forum, was built by augustus dedicating it to mars the avenger. To served
as reminder of the revenge he had taken on the murderers of his uncle, Julius Caesar.
-The colosseum, an amphitheatre type. Accommodated 50 thousands of people and
awning could be stretched to protect the people from sunshine. There were a lot of
amphitheatre because the official policy was the state should provide entertainment for
the public.
-The pantheon, a large circular temple dedicated to all the gods. The oculus, the eyes or
opening in.
c. Sculpture
- Greek idealism was combined with roman realism.
-Augustus of Primaporta, a slightly over lifesize marble figure that was intended to
glorify the emperor and roman peace under his rule.
-The Ara Pacis, a small rectangular building, an illusion of spatial recession has been
created in stone relief.
 -the column of Trajan, columns usually erected to celebrate a military victory.
-the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, the over lifesize equestrian statue of emperor
Marcus aurelius, only survived because it was mistaken for a portrait of Constantine, the
first Christian emperor.
-portrait head of Caracalla, a sculpture of Antoninus who was brutal soldier that’s why
the sculpture portrayed him like he was stressed.
-Head of Constantine, a sculpture of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, unlike
antoninus, he was portrayed here as someone as calm.
-The arch of Constantine, to celebrate his victory against the emperor maxentius, the
senate erected a giant triple arch next to the colosseum in Rome.
d. Painting
-Roman painting to survive is found on walls in the form or murals
-German historian August Mau classified Roman wall painting into four styles.
1. First style- referred to as the “incrustation” or “masonry” style since the painting
imitate the appearance of colored marble slabs (ex. Casa di Salustio at Pompeii)
2. Second style- referred to as “architectonic”, “architectural” or “illusionistic” style.
Architectural structures which were themselves colored were copied in paint. (ex. The
villa of the mysteries, outside Pompeii and the cubiculum from the villa at boscoreale)
3. Third style- known as the “ornamental/ornamented” , “capricius”,”ornate”,
“candelabra” or “classic” style. Places emphasis on the wall surface rather than on
illusions of depth.
4. Fourth style- the most elaborate and known as “composite”, “fantasy” or “intricate”
style. The painting technique is somewhat freer, sketchier, more impressionistic than
the rest of the style. (ex. Ixion room)

Philosophy

- Stoicism, the dominant roman philosophy

-epictetus, a greek slave and secretary in the imperial administration, believed that we
need to control what elements of their our lives that we could and to avoid worrying
about those we could not.
-Marcus aurelius, he composed meditations and believed that only the soul, inner self,
counted.

Roman Historians

-Gaius Sallustus Crispis, historical writing deals with corruption in roman politics.

-Titus Livius or Livy, wrote an extensive history of rome, from the mythological founding of the city,
emphasis individual historical figures and their influence rather than on conflicting political forces.

-Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, his works analyses the decline of political freedom in rome and criticizes
dynastic power (ex. Histories and Annals)

-Gaius Suetonius, his works includes short biographies of Roman orators, rhetoricians, philosophers and
poets including lives of Horace, Terence and virgil.
Literature

-Virgil, made poem The Aeneid rivals the Homeric epics in literary splendour and cultural significance.

-Horace, the most important writer of Odes-lyric poems, he satirized general types rather than specific
individuals

-Ovid, wrote witty and ironic poems (ex. The Amores and The Arts amatoria)

-Catullus, who gave the western world its first body of love poetry.

-Seneca, was a stoic thinker, a statesman, and a dramatist,. Was the tutor of Roman emperor Nero and
became the trusted adviser. His play was written more to be recited than performed.

- Petronius, was saturated in material rather than spiritual values.

Then and now

-Graffiti is an art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface.

-In Pompeii, over 3,500 graffiti have been found.

-The Roman genius for organization and problem solving is among its most significant cultural legacies.

-Their roads, bridges, baths, aqueducts, theaters, forums, walls, palaces and monuments can be found in
more than thirty modern nations.