form

1. Power To The
People
The Art of Ancient Rome
Introduction To Art History I
Professor Will Adams

2. The Roman Timeline
§ Roman Republican Period (509-27 BCE): Begins with overthrowing
last Etruscan King and ends with Julius Caesar. Major buildings built more for
political use than for worship
§ KEYWORDS: Temples, Ara Pacis, homage to rulers
§ Early Empire Period (27 BCE-180 CE):
§ KEYWORDS: Wall paintings, concrete, arch, Colosseum
§ The High Empire (180-195 CE): Five Good Emperors (Trajan, Hadrian,
etc.) kept things prosperous and peaceful.
§ KEYWORDS: Column of Trajan, Hadrian’s Wall, Pantheon
§ The Late Empire (195-400 CE): Diocletian had Empire divided into four
parts.
§ KEYWORDS: Tetrarchy, Arch of Constantine
2

3. The Republican
Period

4. The Republican
Period
§ One of the cultures that the
Etruscans had historically
controlled was a tribe of
people known as the Latins,
who inhabited the city of
Rome, which was situated
on the Tiber River in
western-central Italy.
§ However, in 509 BCE, the
Etruscan ruler of Rome,
Tarquin, was deposed from
power by the Latins.

5. The Republican
Period
§ The Latins were inspired to
overthrow their Etruscan
leader after Tarquin’s son
raped a famous and
beloved Latin woman
named Lucretia.
§ Her rape went unpunished
and, in anguish and shame,
Lucretia committed suicide.
§ Lucretia’s death was the
spark needed to ignite the
flame of revolution in
Rome. Titian, The Rape of Lucretia, Oil on
panel, c. 1518 CE

6. The Republican
Period
§ After Tarquin’s expulsion,
the Romans sought to create
a new type of just
government.
§ To do so, they blended the
public participation of Greek
democracy with the
centralized authority of the
previous Etruscans kings.
§ The result was a res publica,
or republic, a government of
the people.

7. The Republican
Period
§ This new government had
three branches:
§ The Executive: The
consulship, headed by
consuls
§ The Advisory: The Senate,
populated by senators
§ The Legislative: The
Assembly, which held two
houses: The Assembly of
Centuries & The Assembly of
Tribes
§ A great blending of others’
ideas!

8. The Republican
Period
The Seven Hills Of
Ancient Rome
1. Quirinal
2. Viminal
3. Esquiline
4. Capitoline
5. Palatine
6. Caelian
7. Aventine

10. The Republican
Period
§ In fact, the Romans were not
just great adopters and
synthesizers of governments –
they did so with many other
areas of culture: mythology,
literature, architecture,
sculpture, or theatre.
§ In each case, the Romans
observed those of other
cultures’, adopted the aspects
that they liked, discarded
those they didn’t, and
eventually formed a blended
culture of their own.
§ This synthesizing of cultures
displays itself most
prominently in the art,
sculpture, and architecture of
Rome, with heavy influence
coming from the Greeks.
§ Many times, this leads the
viewer of an artwork to
wonder:
Is it Greek
or Roman?

11. Is It Greek Or Roman?
11
ELEMENT GREEK ROMAN
Preferred Structure Temples to Glorify Gods
Civic Buildings to honor
Empire
Walls Made of cut stone blocks
Concrete with Ornamental
facing
Trademark Forms Rectangles, Straight Lines Circles, Curved Lines
Support System Post and Lintel Rounded Arch
Column Style Doric & Ionic Corinthian
Sculpture Idealized Gods & Goddesses
Realistic (Verism) humans,
idealized officials
Painting
Stylized figures floating in
Space
Realistic images with
perspective
Subject of Art Mythology
Civic Leaders, military
triumphs

12. Is It Greek Or Roman?
12
Temple of Athena Nike
Classical Greek; c. 427 BCE
Temple of Portunus
Rome, Italy; c. 75 BCE

13. Is It Greek Or Roman?
13
The Parthenon
Athens, Greece; c.
420 BCE
The Pantheon
Rome, Italy; c.
126 CE

14. Is It Greek Or Roman?
14
Polykleitos, Doryphoros,
High Classical Greek
Augustus Of Primaporta,
Pax Romana (Roman)

15. Is It Greek Or Roman?
15
Athena and Alcyoneus Frieze
from the Altar of Zeus at
Pergamon, c.180 BCE,
Hellenistic Greek
Spoils from the Temple
of Solomon, Jerusalem
Relief on the Arch of
Titus; 81 CE, Early
Empire Rome

16. Roman Revolution: The
Arch
Plinth
Pier
Impost
Springer
Voussoirs
Keystone
Spandrel
Intrados

17. Roman Revolution: The
Arch
17
The Roman invention of the true arch with its voussoirs and central keystone
allowed the Romans to create grander arcuated structures than the Greeks
had ever conceived of building with their trabeated style.
Barrel Vault
Groin Vault
Fenestrated Groin
Vault Sequence
Hemispherical Dome
With Central Oculus

18. Republican Art
§ The Temple of Portunus is an
example of Roman synthesis.
§ It follows the Etruscan design
pattern:
§ High podium is accessible
only at the front, with its
wide flight of steps.
§ Freestanding columns are
confined to the deep porch.
§ The structure is built of stone
and was originally overlaid
with stucco in imitation of the
white marble temples of the
Greeks.
18
Temple of Portunus
Rome, Italy; ca. 75 BCE

19. Republican Art
§ The columns are Ionic,
complete with flutes and
bases.
§ In an effort to approximate a
peripteral Greek temple -
while maintaining the
Etruscan plan - the architect
added a series of engaged
Ionic half-columns around
the cella’s sides and back.
§ The result was a
pseudoperipteral
(“peripteral-like”) temple.

20. Republican Art
§ The Romans’ admiration for
the Greek temples they
encountered in their
conquests also led to the
importation of the round, or
monopteral, temple type.
§ The travertine columns are
Corinthian.
§ In contrast with Greek
practice, the cella wall was
constructed not of masonry
blocks but of a new
invention: concrete.
20
Temple of the Sibyl (or Vesta)
Tivoli, Italy; c. 90 BCE

21. Republican Art

22. Roman Concrete
The Recipe
for Roman
Concrete:
1. Pozzolana
2. Lime
3. Water
4. Aggregate

23. Republican Art
§ L’Arringatore (Aulus
Metellus), Hollow-cast
bronze, c. 75 BCE
§ Artists of the Republican
Period sought to create
very realistic images of
their rulers.
§ Dressed in the traditional
draped toga, Aulus
Metellus poses with
authority and
persuasiveness.

24. Republican Art!
§ The sculptural portraits of
prominent Roman Republican
figures are literal reproductions of
individual faces.
§ Republican portraits are one way
the patrician class celebrated its
elevated status.
§ Yet when freed slaves died, they
often ordered portraits for their
tombs.
§ This image depicts former slaves
who have gained their freedom
and right to have their portraits
created.
Funerary Relief with Portraits of the Gessii; Rome, Italy; c. 30 BCE
§ Slaves could not
have portraits,
because, under
Roman law,
they were
property.

25. Republican Art
§ Patrician portraits were
typically of men of advanced
age (generally these elders
held the power in the state).
§ One of the most striking of
these so-called veristic (super-
realistic) portraits is of an
unidentified patrician.
§ We are able to see this man’s
personality: serious,
experienced, determined-
virtues that were admired
during the Republic.
Head of a Roman Patrician,
from Otricoli, Italy; c. 75-50 BCE

26. Persequendum Est...