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Chapter 7

The Roman Empire

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,

14e

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The Roman World

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Goals

• Understand the great innovations of Roman architecture and how these innovations contributed to the expanse of the Roman Empire.

• Explore Pompeii for its information about Roman art and architecture.

• Examine the types, methods, and subject matter of Roman wall painting.

• Understand what Roman portraiture says about Roman society.• Understand the political nature of Roman art and architecture,

especially as it communicates ideas of power for the emperor and empire.

• Examine changes in Roman art and architecture as a result of expansion of the Roman Empire and the incorporation of the conquered cultures.

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7.1 The Republic (509-27 B.C.)

• The Roman Empire spanned three continents. Within its borders

lived millions of people of different races, cultures, religions and

languages.

• The center of the far-flung Roman Empire was the city on the

Tiber River that, according to legend, Romulus and his twin

brother Remus founded on April 21, 753 bce. Hundreds of years

later, it would become caput mundi , the “head (capital) of the

world,”.

• The Roman Republic vested power mainly in a senate (literally,

“a council of elders,” senior citizens) and in two elected

consuls . Under extraordinary circumstances, a dictator

could be appointed for a limited time and specific purpose,

such as commanding the army during a crisis. All leaders

came originally from among the wealthy landowners, or

patricians , but later also from the plebeian class of small

farmers, merchants, and freed slaves.

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Figure 7-2 Model of the city of Rome during the early fourth century CE. Museo della Civiltà Romana. 1) Temple of Portunus,, 2) Circus Maximus. 3) Palatine Hill, 4) Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 5) Pantheon, 6) Column of Trajan, 7) Forum of Trajan, 8) Markets of Trajan, 9) Forum of Julius Ceasar, 10) Forum of Augustus, 11) Forum Romanum, 12) Basilica Nova, 13) Arch of Titus, 14) Temple of Venus and Roma, 15) Arch of Constantine, 16) Colossus of Nero, 17) Colosseum.

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Roman Architectural Innovations

• The artists and architects of the Roman Republic drew

on both Greek and Etruscan traditions.

• The most impressive and innovative use of concrete

during the Republic was in the Sanctuary of Fortuna

Primigenia (Fig. 7-5), the goddess of good fortune, at

Palestrina.

• The builders used concrete barrel vaults of enormous

strength to support the imposing terraces and to cover

the great ramps leading to the grand central staircase, as

well as to give shape to the shops selling food,

souvenirs, and the like, aligned on two levels.

• In this way, Roman engineers transformed the entire

hillside, subjecting nature itself to human will and

rational order.

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Figure 7-5 Restored view of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina, Italy, late second century BCE (John

Burge).

The most common types of Roman concrete vaults and domes

are:

• Barrel Vaults: is an extension of a simple arch, creating a semi-cylindrical

ceiling over parallel walls. Whether made of stone or concrete, barrel vaults

require buttressing (lateral support) of the walls below the vaults to

counteract their downward and outward thrust .

• Groin Vaults: is formed by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults

of equal size. Besides appearing lighter than the barrel vault, the groin vault

needs less buttressing.

• Hemispherical Domes: a round arch rotated around the full circumference of a

circle. Masonry domes, like masonry vaults, cannot accommodate windows

without threat to their stability. Concrete domes can be opened up even at

their apex with a circular oculus (“eye”), allowing light to reach the vast

spaces beneath (Figs. 7-35 and 7-51)

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Figure 7-6 Roman concrete construction. (a) barrel vault, (b) groin vault, (c) fenestrated sequence of groin

vaults, (d) hemispherical dome with oculus (John Burge).

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c.

b.a.

d.

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Sculpture and Republican Verism

• The patrons of Republican temples and sanctuaries were in almost

all cases men from old and distinguished families. Often they were

victorious generals who used the spoils of war to finance public

works.

• These aristocratic patricians were fiercely proud of their lineage.

• The subjects of these portraits were almost exclusively men (and

to a lesser extent women) of advanced age, for generally only

elders held power in the Republic.

• They requested brutally realistic images with their distinctive

features, in the tradition of the treasured household Imagines.

• Portraits were veristic (true to natural appearance, super-

realistic).

• Scholars debate whether Republican veristic portraits were truly

blunt records of individual features or exaggerated types designed

to make a statement about personality: serious, experienced,

determined, loyal to family and state—the most admired virtues

during the Republic.

7-7 Man with portrait busts of his ancestors,

from Rome, late first century BCE. Marble,

5’ 5” high. Musei Capitolini–Centro

Montemartini, Rome.

Reflecting the

importance patricians

placed on genealogy, this

toga-clad man proudly

displays the portrait

busts of his father and

grandfather. Both are

characteristically realistic

likenesses.

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Figure 7-8 Head of an old man,

from Osimo, mid-first century

BCE. Marble, life-size. Palazzo del

Municipio, Osimo.

Veristic (super-realistic)

portraits of old men

from distinguished

families were the norm

during the Republic. The

sculptor of this head

painstakingly recorded

every detail of the elderly

man’s face.

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Figure 7-9 Portrait of a Roman general, from the

Sanctuary of Hercules, Tivoli, Italy, ca. 75-50 BCE.

Marble, 6’ 2” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo

Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

The sculptor based this life-size

portrait of a general on

idealized Greek statues of

heroes and athletes, but the

man’s head is a veristic likeness.

The combination is typical of

Republican portraiture.

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7-10 Denarius with portrait of Julius Caesar, 44 BCE. Silver, diameter ¾”. American Numismatic

Society, New York.

No Roman ruler dared to place his own likeness on a coin until 44 bce, when Julius

Caesar, shortly before his assassination on the Ides of March, issued coins featuring his

portrait and his newly acquired title, dictator perpetuo (dictator for life).

Records Caesar’s aging face and receding hairline in conformity with the Republican

veristic tradition. 14

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Pompeii

• On August 24, 79 ce, Mount Vesuvius, a long-dormant

volcano, suddenly erupted.

• Many prosperous towns around the Bay of Naples (the

ancient Greek city of Neapolis), among them Pompeii, were

buried in a single day. The eruption was a catastrophe for the

inhabitants of the Vesuvian cities but a boon for

archaeologists and art historians.

• When researchers first explored the buried cities in the 18th

century, the ruins had lain undisturbed for nearly 1,700 years,

permitting a reconstruction of the art and life of Roman

towns of the Late Republic and Early Empire to a degree

impossible anywhere else.

Pompeii and Architecture• Tourists still can visit the impressive concrete-vaulted rooms of Pompeii’s

public baths, sit in the seats of its theater and amphitheater, enter the painted

bedrooms and statue-filled gardens of private homes, even walk among the

tombs outside the city’s walls. Pompeii has been called the living city of the

dead for good reason.

• The center of civic life in any Roman town was its forum , or public square.

• The earliest amphitheater known built in Pompeii, it could seat some 20,000

spectators. The donors would have had choice reserved seats in the new

entertainment center. In fact, seating was by civic and military rank. The

Roman social hierarchy was therefore on display at every event. The word

amphitheater means “double theater,” and Roman amphitheaters

resemble two Greek theaters put together.

• In the Pompeii amphitheater, 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 , the central area where the Pompeians staged

bloody gladiatorial combats and wild animal hunts. (Arena is Latin for

“sand,” which soaked up the blood of the wounded and killed.)

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Figure 7-12 Aerial view of the forum (looking northeast), Pompeii, Italy, second century BCE and later. (1) forum, (2)

Temple of Jupiter (Capitolium), (3) basilica.

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Figure 7-13 Aerial view of the amphitheater, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70 BCE.

Pompeii’s amphitheater is the oldest known and an early example of

Roman concrete technology. In the arena, bloody gladiatorial

combats and wild animal hunts took place before 20,000 spectators.

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Figure 7-14 Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater, wall painting from House I,3,23,

Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60–79 CE. Fresco, 5’ 7” x 6’ 1”. Museo

Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.

This wall painting records a brawl

that broke out in the Pompeii

amphitheater in 59 ce. The

painter included the awning

(velarium) that could be rolled down to shield the audience from sun and

rain.

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Roman Wall Painting• Roman wall paintings were true frescoes with the colors applied while the

plaster was still damp.

• Toward the end of the 19th century, August Mau (1840–1909), a German

art historian, divided the various mural painting schemes into four

“Pompeian Styles.” Mau’s classification system, although later refined and

modified in detail, still serves as the basis for the study of Roman painting.

• In the First Style or Masonry Style, the decorator’s aim was to imitate

costly marble panels using painted stucco relief.

• Second Style: Second Style painters did not aim to create the illusion of

an elegant marble wall, as First Style painters sought to do. Rather, they

wanted to dissolve a room’s confining walls and replace them with the

illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world.

• In the Third Style of Pompeian painting, artists no longer attempted to

replace the walls with three-dimensional worlds of their own creation.

Instead they adorned walls with delicate linear fantasies sketched on

predominantly monochromatic (one-color) backgrounds.

• In the Fourth Style however, a taste for illusionism returned once again.

This style became popular in the 50s ce, and it was the preferred manner

of mural decoration at Pompeii when the eruption of Vesuvius buried the

town in volcanic ash in 79.

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Figure 7-17 First Style wall painting in the

fauces of the Samnite House, Herculaneum,

Italy, late second century BCE.

In First Style murals, the aim was

to imitate costly marble panels

using painted stucco relief. The

style is Greek in origin and

another example of the

Hellenization of Republican

architecture.

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Figure 7-18 Dionysiac mystery frieze, Second Style wall paintings in Room 5 of the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60–

50 BCE. Fresco, frieze 5’ 4” high.

Second Style painters created the illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world on the

walls of Roman houses. The Figures in this room are acting out the initiation rites of the

Dionysiac mysteries.

Dionysos was the focus of an unofficial mystery religion popular among women in Italy at

this time.

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Figure 7-19 Second Style wall paintings (general view left, and detail of tholos right) from cubiculum M of the Villa of Publius

Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale, Italy, ca. 50–40 BCE. Fresco, 8’ 9” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In this Second Style bedroom, the painter opened up the walls with vistas

of towns, temples, and colonnaded courtyards. The convincing illusionism

is due in part to the use of linear perspective.

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Figure 7-20 Gardenscape, Second Style wall painting, from the Villa of Livia, Primaporta, Italy, ca. 30–20 BCE. Fresco, 6’ 7”high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

The ultimate example of a Second Style “picture window” wall is Livia’s

gardenscape. To suggest recession, the painter used atmospheric

perspective, intentionally blurring the most distant forms.

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Figure 7-21 Detail of a Third Style wall painting, from cubiculum 15

of the Villa of Agrippa Postumus, Boscotrecase, Italy, ca. 10 BCE.

Fresco, 7’ 8” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In the Third Style, Roman

painters decorated walls with

delicate linear fantasies

sketched on monochromatic

backgrounds. Here, a tiny

floating landscape on a black

ground is the central motif.

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Figure 7-22 Fourth Style wall paintings in Room 78 of the Domus Aurea (Golden House) of Nero, Rome, Italy, 64–68 CE.

The creamy white walls of this Neronian room display a kinship with the

Third Style, but views through the wall reveal the irrational architectural

vistas that characterize the new Fourth Style.

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Figure 7-23 Fourth Style wall paintings in

the Ixion Room (triclinium P) of the House

of the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70–79 CE.

Late Fourth Style

murals are often

garishly colored,

crowded, and

confused

compositions with a

mixture of

architectural views,

framed mythological

panels, and First and

Third Style motifs.

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7.2 The Early Empire (27 B.C. – 98 A.D.)

• The murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 bce,

plunged the Roman world into a bloody civil war. The

Fighting lasted until 31 bce when Octavian, Caesar’s

grandnephew and adopted son, crushed the naval forces of

Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt at Actium in

northwestern Greece.

• Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and in 30 bce,

Egypt, once the wealthiest and most powerful kingdom of

the ancient world, became another province in the ever-

expanding Roman Empire.

• Historians mark the passage from the Roman Republic to

the Roman Empire from the day in 27 bce when the Senate

conferred the title of Augustus (the Majestic, or Exalted,

One; r. 27 bce–14 ce) on Octavian.

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Pax Romana and Augustus• Augustus brought peace and prosperity to a war-weary

Mediterranean world. Known in his day as the Pax Augusta

(Augustan Peace), the peace Augustus established prevailed for two

centuries. It came to be called simply the Pax Romana.

• During this time the emperors commissioned a huge number of

public works throughout the Empire: roads and bridges, theaters,

amphitheaters, and bathing complexes, all on an unprecedented

scale.

• The erection of imperial portrait statues 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, however, 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 public opinion. The Roman emperors and the artists

they employed have had few equals in the effective use of art and

architecture for propagandistic ends.

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Figure 7-27 Portrait of Augustus as general, from Primaporta,

Italy, early-first-century CE copy of a bronze original of ca. 20

BCE. Marble, 6’ 8” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.

The models for Augustus’s

idealized portraits, which

depict him as a never-aging

god, were Classical Greek

statues Fig. 5-40). This

portrait presents the emperor

in armor in his role as general.

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Figure 7-28 Portrait bust of Livia, from

Arsinoe, Egypt, early first century CE.

Marble, 1’ 1 1/2” high. Ny Carlsberg

Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

Although Livia sports

the latest Roman

coiffure, her youthful

appearance and

sharply defined

features derive from

images of Greek

goddesses. She died at

87, but never aged in

her portraits.

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Figure 7-29 Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace looking northeast), Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE

Augustus sought to present his new order as a Golden Age equaling that of

Athens under Pericles. The Ara Pacis celebrates the emperor’s most

important achievement, the establishment of peace.

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Figure 7-30 Female personification (Tellus?), panel from the east facade of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE.

Marble, 5’ 3” high.

This female personification with two babies on her lap embodies the fruits

of the Pax Augusta. All around her the bountiful earth is in bloom, and

animals of different species live together peacefully.

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Figure 7-31 Procession of the imperial family, detail of the south frieze of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE.

Marble, 5’ 3” high.

Although inspired by the frieze Fig. 5-50) of the Parthenon, the Ara Pacis processions depict

recognizable individuals, including children. Augustus promoted marriage and childbearing.

The Flavians and The Colosseum

• The Flavians left their mark on the capital in many

ways, not the least being the construction of the

Colosseum, the monument that, for most people, still

represents Rome more than any other building.

• The Colosseum takes its name, however, not from its

size—it could hold more than 50,000 spectators—but

from its location beside the Colossus of Nero Fig. 7-2,

no. 16), the 120-foot-tall statue at the entrance to his

urban villa.

• The Colosseum was the largest and most important

amphitheater in the world.

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Figure 7-36 Aerial view of the

Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater),

Rome, Italy, ca. 70–80 CE.

7-37 Detail of the façade of the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre), Rome, Italy, ca. 70-80 CE.

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7.3 High Empire ( 96 – 192 A.D.)• In the second century ce, under Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, the Roman Empire reached its greatest geographic

extent and the height of it’s power.• Within the Empire’s secure boundaries, the Pax Romana

meant unprecedented prosperity for all who came under Roman rule.

• In time, Trajan, along with Augustus, became the yardsticks for measuring the success of later emperors.

• The Column of Trajan: The reliefs recount Trajan’s two successful campaigns against the Dacians in more than 150

episodes in which some 2,500 Figures appear.• Notably, battle scenes take up only about a quarter of the

frieze.• As is true of modern military operations, the Romans spent

more time constructing forts, transporting men and equipment, and preparing for battle than Fighting. The focus

is always on the emperor, who appears repeatedly in the frieze, but the enemy is not belittled.

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Figure 7-45 Column of Trajan, Forum of Trajan, Rome, Italy,

dedicated 112 CE.

The spiral frieze of Trajan’s Column

tells the story of the Dacian wars in

150 episodes. The reliefs depicted all

aspects of the campaigns, from battles

to sacrifices to road and fort

construction.

7-1 Detail of three bands of the spiral frieze of the

Column of Trajan, Forum of Trajan, Rome, Italy,

dedicated 112 CE.

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Hadrian

• Hadrian was Trajan’s chosen successor and fellow

Spaniard, was a connoisseur and lover of all the arts, as

well as an author, architect, and hunter.

• Hadrian, who was 41 years old at the time of Trajan’s

death and who ruled for more than two decades, always

appears as a mature man, but one who never ages. His

likenesses more closely resemble Kresilas’s portrait of

Pericles Fig. 5-41) than those of any Roman emperor

before him.

• The models for Hadrian’s artists were Classical statues of

bearded men. Hadrian’s beard was a Greek affectation at

the time, but thereafter beards became the norm for all

Roman emperors for more than a century and a half.

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7-48 Portrait bust of Hadrian, from Rome, ca. 117-120 CE. Marble, 1’ 4¾” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-

Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

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Architecture of the High Empire

• Soon after Hadrian became emperor, work

began on the Pantheonthe temple of all the

gods, one of the best-preserved buildings of

antiquity. It also has been one of the most

influential designs in architectural history.

• The interior space can be imagined as the orb

of the earth and the dome as the vault of the

heavens.

Figure 7-49 Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 – 125 CE.

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Figure 7-50 Restored cutaway view (left) and lateral section (right) of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118–125 CE.

Originally, the approach to Hadrian’s “temple of all gods” was from a columnar

courtyard. Like a temple in a Roman forum Fig. 7-12), the Pantheon stood at one

narrow end of the enclosure.

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Figure 7-51 Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy,

118–125 CE.

The coffered dome of the

Pantheon is 142 feet in

diameter and 142 feet high.

Light entering through its

oculus forms a circular

beam that moves across the

dome as the sun moves

across the sky.

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Late Roman Sculpture and Painting

• We see a break with the past occur in the official portraits of

Marcus Aurelius, although his images retain the pompous

trappings of imperial iconography.

• Perhaps more than any other statuary type, the equestrian

portrait expresses the Roman emperor’s majesty and

authority.

• Portraits of aged emperors were not new, but Marcus’s were

the first ones in which a Roman emperor appeared weary,

saddened, and even worried. For the first time, the strain of

constant warfare on the frontiers and the burden of ruling a

worldwide empire show in the emperor’s face. The Antonine

sculptor ventured beyond Republican verism, exposing the

ruler’s character, his thoughts, and his soul for all to see.

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Figure 7-59 Equestrian statue of Marcus

Aurelius, from Rome, Italy, ca. 175 CE.

Bronze, 11’ 6” high. Musei Capitolini,

Rome.

In this equestrian portrait of

Marcus Aurelius as omnipotent

conqueror, the emperor

stretches out his arm in a

gesture of clemency. An enemy

once cowered beneath the

horse’s raised foreleg.

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7.4 Late Empire (192-337 A.D.)• By the time of Marcus Aurelius, two centuries after Augustus

established the Pax Romana, Roman power was beginning to erode. It was increasingly difficult to keep order on the

frontiers, and even within the Empire many challenged the authority of Rome.

• The Late Empire was a pivotal era in world history during which the pagan ancient world gradually gave way to the

Christian Middle Ages.• In 293, Diocletian established the tetrarchy (rule by four).

Together, the four emperors ruled without strife until Diocletian retired in 305. Without his leadership, the

tetrarchic form of government collapsed, and renewed civil war followed.

• In art, if not in life, the four tetrarchs often appeared together, both on coins and in statues. Artists did not try to capture their individual appearances and personalities but

sought instead to represent the nature of the tetrarchy itself—that is, to portray four equal partners in power.

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Figure 7-73 Portraits of the four tetrarchs,

from Constantinople, ca. 305 CE. Porphyry,

4’ 3” high. Saint Mark’s, Venice.

Diocletian established the

tetrarchy to bring order to the

Roman world. In group portraits,

artists always depicted the four

corulers as nearly identical

partners in power, not as distinct

individuals.

In this group portrait, carved

eight centuries after Greek

sculptors first freed the human

form from the formal rigidity of

the Egyptian-inspired kouros

stance, an artist once again

conceived the human figure in

iconic terms. Idealism,

naturalism, individuality, and

personality have disappeared.

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From Constantine to the Modern World

• An all-too-familiar period of conflict followed the short-lived

concord among the tetrarchs that ended with Diocletian’s

abdication. This latest war among rival Roman armies lasted

two decades. The eventual victor was Constantine I.

• Constantine attributed his victory to the aid of the Christian

god.

• Constantine, now unchallenged ruler of the whole Roman

Empire, founded a “New Rome” at Byzantium and named it

Constantinople (City of Constantine).

• For many scholars, the transfer of the seat of power from

Rome to Constantinople and the recognition of Christianity

mark the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle

Ages.

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Figure 7-75 Arch of Constantine (south side), Rome, Italy, 312–315 CE.

Much of the sculptural decoration of Constantine’s arch came from monuments of Trajan,

Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. Sculptors recut the heads of the earlier emperors to substitute

Constantine’s features.

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Figure 7-76 Distribution of largess, detail of the north frieze of the Arch of Constantine, Rome, Italy, 312–315 CE. Marble, 3’4” high.

This Constantinian frieze is less a narrative of action than a picture of actors frozen in time.

The composition’s rigid formality reflects the new values that would come to dominate

medieval art.

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Figure 7-77 Portrait of Constantine, from the

Basilica Nova, Rome, Italy, ca. 315–330 CE.

Marble, 8’ 6” high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.

After Constantine’s victory over

Maxentius, his official portraits

resuscitated the Augustan image of an

eternally youthful head of state.

The most impressive of

Constantine’s preserved portraits

is an eight and-one-half-foot-tall

head one of several fragments of a

colossal enthroned statue of the

emperor

The colossal size, the likening of

the emperor to Jupiter, the eyes

directed at no person or thing of

this world—all combine to

produce a formula of

overwhelming power appropriate

to Constantine’s exalted position

as absolute ruler.

Figure 7-81 Coins with portraits of Constantine. Nummus (left), 307 CE. Billon, diameter 1”. American Numismatic Society,

New York. Medallion (right), ca. 315 CE. Silver, diameter 1”. Staatliche Munzsammlung, Munich.

These two coins underscore that portraits of Roman emperors were rarely

true likenesses. On the earlier coin, Constantine appears as a bearded

tetrarch. On the later coin, he appears eternally youthful.

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Discussion Questions

What are some of the unique elements of Roman art and

architecture that distinguish it from Greek and other art of

the same time period?

In what ways does Roman art and architecture incorporate

the arts of conquered peoples from England to Egypt?

What does the presence of veristic portrait art of the

Romans say about Roman culture?

Why does the art under Constantine begin to move away

from the verism of the High Empire?