Chapter 7 Questions
What is a triumphal arch? Discuss the decorative program of the Arch of Titus.
A triumphal arch is a freestanding arch that commemorates a wide variety of events and is usually crowned by gilded bronze statues. The Arch of Titus is a typical triumphal arch in having one passageway. Engaged columns frame the arcuated opening. The capitals are Composite capitals, an ornate combination of Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus leaves. Reliefs depicting personified victories fill the spandrels and a dedicatory inscription stating the Senate erected the arch to honor the god Titus dominates the attic. In the vault of the passageway is a relief showing Titus's ascent to heaven.
What is an amphitheater? Discuss the use of the amphitheater in ancient Rome.
An amphitheater was a roman entertainment center. It could seat 20,000 spectators; the donors would have had the choice reserved seats. The seating was by civic and military rank meaning the hierarchy was displayed at every event. The word means double there and roman amphitheaters resemble two Greek theaters put together .They were on natural hillsides, but to support its continuous elliptical cavea an artificial mountain was built using concrete. In the Pompeii Theater shallow concrete barrel vaults form a giant retaining wall holding up the earthen mound and stone seats. Barrel vaults running all the way through the elliptical mountain of earth, form the tunnels leading to the arena where the Pompeian staged bloody gladiatorial combats and wild animal hunts.
The Romans were the first to use concrete in architectural construction. What were the advantages of this material?
Concrete revolutionized architectural design. Roman builders mixed concrete according to a changing recipe of lime mortar, volcanic sand, water, and small stones. The advantages of concrete were not only cost, but it was possible to fashion concrete shapes unachievable in masonry construction, especially huge vaulted and domed rooms without internal supports. The new medium became a vehicle for shaping architectural space and enabled roman architects to design building in revolutionary ways. The most common types of Roman concrete vaults and domes were: barrel vaults, groin vaults, and hemispherical domes.
Why was the Pax Romana so significant for Roman Art?
During the time of the Pax Romana, emperors commissioned a huge number of public works throughout the Empire: roads and bridges, theater, amphitheaters, and bathing complexes, all on an unprecedented scale. The erection of imperial portraits states and monuments covered with inscriptions and reliefs recounting the rulers' great deeds reminded people everywhere that the emperors were the source of peace and prosperity. These portraits and reliefs often presented a picture of the emperors and their achievements bearing little resemblance to historical fact. Their purpose was not to provide an objective record but to mold a public opinion.
The art of two distinct cultures influenced the art of Ancient Rome. Identify the two cultures. How so?
Exposure to Greek sculpture and painting and to the splendid marble temples of the Greek gods increased as the Romans expanded their conquests beyond Italy. After Greece became a Roman province, the last king of Pergamon willed his kingdom to Rome. Although the Romans developed a virtually insatiable taste for Greek antiques, the influence of Etruscan art and architecture persisted. The artists and architects of the Roman Republic drew on both Greek and Etruscan traditions.
What structures were found in the Forum of Trajan?
In the Forum of Trajan, there was a huge basilica and the temple stood behind it facing two libraries and a giant column. A larger than life size gilded bronze statue of the emperor stood at the center of the great court in front of the basilica and statues of captive Dacians stood above the columns of the porticos. The Basilica Ulpia was a large basilica that stood in front of the libraries and led to the forum where the statue of Trajan was.
Discuss the most interesting architectural features of the Golden House of Nero.
The Golden House of Nero had many remarkable rooms adorned with frescoes in Fourth Style and either marble paneling or painted and gilded stucco reliefs and an octagonal hall that stands apart from the rest. The octagonal hall's ceiling is a dome that modulates from an eight sided to a hemispherical form as it rises to the circular opening that permits light into the room. Rising out from the five inner sides are small rectangle rooms, three covered by barrel vaults and two by concrete groin vaults. This is the first time architects have thought of the walls and vaults not as limiting space but as shaping it.
Discuss the mixing of Greek and Etruscan forms in the Roman Temple of Portunus.
The mixing of Greek and Etruscan forms is the primary characteristic of the Roman Temple of Portunus. Its plan follows the Etruscan pattern with a high podium and a flight of steps only at the front. The six free standing columns are all in the deep porch. The structure is stone (local tufa and travertine) overlaid originally with stucco in imitation of Greek marble. The columns are ionic, complete with flutes and bases, and there is a matching ionic frieze. In an effort to approximate a peripteral Greek temple yet maintain the basic Etruscan plan, the architect added a series of engaged Ionic half columns to the sides and back of the cella- a pseudoperipteral temple.
Discuss the significance of equestrian statues in the Roman world.
The significance of equestrian statues in the Roman world is that they were covered with inscriptions and reliefs recounting the rulers' great deeds which reminded everyone that the emperors were the source of peace and prosperity. The portraits and reliefs presented a picture of the emperors and their achievements. Their purpose was to old public opinion.
What is the significance of the Ara Pacis and how is this conveyed through its decoration?
The significance of the Ara Pacis is that it is a significant achievement, the establishment of peace. Earth, sky, and water are all elements of peace and fertility in the Ara Pacis. A panel on one end of the altar enclosure depicted a seated matron with two babies on her lap. This matron may be Tellus (Mother Earth), Pax (Peace), Ceres (goddess of grain), or Venus. She embodies the fruits of the Pax Augusta, all around her earth is in bloom, and different animals live peacefully side by side. Personifications of refreshing breezes blank her and one rides a bird and the other, a sea creature.
Discuss the unique features of the Arch of Constantine. How is it the "quintessential monument of its era?"
The unique features of the Arch of Constantine are its reliefs. Sculptors refashioned 2nd century reliefs to honor Constantine by recutting the heads of earlier emperors with his features. The reuse of statues and reliefs are evidence of a decline in creativity and technical skill in the Late Roman Empire. But also these reused sculptures were carefully selected to associate Constantine the good emperors. It is the quintessential monument of its era because it exhibits a respect for the past in its reuse of 2nd century sculptures while rejecting the norms of Classical design in its frieze and paving the way for the ionic art of the Middle Ages.
Where was Constantine's "Colossus" housed? Discuss the features of this structure.
Constantine's "Colossus" is a colossal enthroned statue of the emperor composed of a brick core, a wooden torso covered with bronze, and a head and limbs of marble. The statue held an orb which was a symbol of global power in his left hand. It has a frontal mask with enormous eyes set into the broad and simple planes of the head. The emperor's personality is lost in this immense image of eternal authority. The colossal size, the modeling of the portrait on Roman images of Jupiter, and the eyes directed to no specific thing combine to produce overwhelming power.
How is Emperor Augustus portrayed in the statue "Augustus of Prima Porta?"
Emperor Augustus is portrayed as a general in armor standing like the Doryphoros statue. His right arm is raised to address his troops in the manner of the orator Aule Metele. Augustus's head emulated the idealized Polykleitan youth's head in shape, the sharp ridges of the brows, and the tight cap of layered hair He is not nude and the details of the statue carry political messages
What is a "still life"? Discuss a Roman still life and how it represents objects.
Still life paintings were another genre of Roman mural painters and it represents inanimate objects in an artful manner. A still life with peaces and a carafe a detail of Fourth Style wall from a house in Herculaneum is one of the finest examples. The painter was a master of illusionism and devoted as much attention to the shadows and highlights on the fruit, the stem and leaves, and the glass jar as the objects themselves. Roman still life's of this type are without precedent and have few successors until the 17th century
Discuss the engineering that enables the massive dome of the Pantheon to exist to this day.
The builders of the Pantheon constructed a cylindrical drum level by level using concrete of varied composition. Hard and durable basalt went into the mix for the foundations and at the top of the dome featherweight pumice replaced stones to lighten the load. The dome's thickness decreases as it nears the circular opening and the use of coffers lessened the dome's weight without weakening its structure, reduced its mass, and provided a nice pattern within the dome.
What are the characteristics of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Styles of wall painting which adorned the domestic spaces of Ancient Rome.
The first style or masonry style, aimed to imitate costly marble panels using painted stucco reliefs. This approach to wall decoration is comparable to the modern practice, employed in private libraries and corporate meeting rooms alike, of using cheaper manufactured materials to approximate the look and shape of genuine wood paneling. This is not uniquely roman- they are well documented in Greece. The second style is in most respects the antithesis of the first style. Second style painters did not aim to create the illusion of an elegant marble wall, rather they wanted to dissolve a room's confining walls and replace them with the illusion of an imaginary 3D world. The third style of Pompeian painting, artists no longer attempted to replace the walls with 3D worlds of their own creation nor did they seeks to imitate the appeared of the marble walls of Hellenistic kings instead they adorned walls with delicate linear fantasies sketched on predominantly monochromatic backgrounds. The Fourth style had a taste for illusionism again- the architectural vistas are irrational fantasies. The viewer looks out not on cityscapes or round temples set in peristyle but at fragments of buildings- columns supporting half-pediments, double stories of columns supporting nothing at all- painted on the same white ground as the rest of the wall. Architecture became just another motif in the roman painter's ornamental repertoire.
What were the artworks of Roman freedmen and freedwomen?
The most noteworthy artworks Roman freedmen and freedwomen commissioned are the stone reliefs that regularly adorned their tomb facades. One of these reliefs' depicts two men and a woman all named Gessius. Left- Gessia Fausta and Right- Gessia Primus. They are both slaves of Pubulius Gessius, the freeborn citizen in the center shown wearing general's cuirass and portrayed in the standard Republican superralistic fashions. These stern frontal portraits proclaim their new statues as members of Roman society- and their gratitude to Publius Gessius for granting them that status. Gessia Primus provided the funds for the monument in this will and Gessia Fausta the only survivor directed the work. The relief depicts the living and the dead side by side, indistinguishable without the accompanying inscriptions. Common theme and proclaims that death does not break the bonds formed in life.
What is the layout of a Roman basilica and what was its function?
The roman basilica was the most important religious structure of the forum, it was located at the southwest corner and it was the earliest well preserved building of its kind. Constructed during the late 2nd century BCE, the basilica was Pompeii's law court and chief administrative building. In plan it resembled the form itself: long and narrowed with two stories of internal columns dividing the space into a central nave and flanking aisles. This scheme had a long afterlife in architectural history and will be familiar to anyone who has entered a church.
Discuss the layout of a Roman house, based on the House of the Vetii.
The roman house was not only a place to live but it played an important role in societal rituals. The house of Vettii is a prime example of a Roman house. In a photograph take in the fauces or foyer shows the impluvium in the center of the atrium (the large central reception area), the opening in the roof above not only admitted light but also to channeled rainwater into the impluvium below to be stored for household use, and in the background, the peristyle garden with its marble tables and splendid mural painting dating to the last years of the Vesuvian city.