Roman Culture - Final Exam

Era: Etruscan

Location: Etruria (Italian Peninsula)

Significance: Etruscan art and culture had a massive influence on Roman art and religion, this is one of many examples of that influence.

Todi Mars

Era: Etruscan

Location: Etruria (Italian Peninsula)

Significance: Example of cultural synthesis (Greek stance, Etruscan alphabet used to inscribe Umbrian language, donor’s name is Celtic)

Bronze Chimera

Era: Etruscan

Location: Etruria (Italian Peninsula)

Significance: Highly technical, awareness of Greek mythology, influenced Roman art to demonstrate that art could depict abstract and fantastical subjects.

Etruscan Fibula

Era: Etruscan

Location: Etruria

Significance: Used to fasten clothing and display wealth - mostly used in burial rituals

Pyrgi gold tablets

Era: Etruscan

Location: Lazio

Significance: Displays more of Etruscan openness to other cultures, providing a Phoenician translation of Etruscan texts so that the two groups could worship a common goddess together.

Funerary Sarcophagus

Era: Etruscan

Location: Etruria

Significance: Emphasize the Etruscan belief in the continuation of relationships in the afterlife

She-wolf

Era: Roman Monarchy

Location: Rome

Significance: depicts the origin story of Rome, done in an Etruscan style

Etruscan style temples

Era: Roman Monarchy

Location: Rome

Significance: Used for religious ceremonies and offerings to the gods, simple

Circus maximus

Era: Roman Monarchy - Republic - Empire

Location: City of Rome

Significance: Location of many public events such as games, chariot racing, and political speeches (especially given by the emperor)

Statues of Olympian Gods

Era: Monarchy - Republic - Empire

Location: Roman Empire

Significance: Typically depicted the gods as larger than mortals, heavily influenced by Greek and Etruscan art

Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus

Era: Roman Republic

Location: City of Rome

Significance: Stolen from the Greeks, half Greek (more detailed and creative, depicts the marriage of Neptune), half Roman (more shallow, less skilled, depicts real-world scenarios)

Aulus Metellus

Era: Roman Republic

Location: Debated

Significance: Was a child of Etruscan parents that was fully Romanized and became a successful statesman

Large Sanctuaries

Example: Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia

Era: Roman Republic

Location: Praeneste

Significance: example of deifying an abstract concept, honors the goddess Fortuna

Portrait Busts of Roman Statesmen

Era: Roman Republic

Location: Rome

Significance: Moving away from only creating art based on the gods or the dead and moving more towards live subjects.

Bust of Gaius ulius Ceasar

Era: Roman Republic

Significance: Can be identified by prominent neck and forehead wrinkles; represents how art was used in Rome for political power and propoganda

Aurelia Philematium

Era: Roman Republic

Location: Rome

Significance: one of the earliest reliefs to honor the marriage of a former slave, shows love and commitment to wife by spending money to have this done

Roman Forum

Era: Roman Republic

Location: City of Rome

Significance: Center of life in Rome, site of civic, religious, commercial, and political affairs

Forum of Caesar

Era: Roman Republic

Location: City of Rome

Significance: Was a part of Caesar’s urban renewal projects and extended the Roman Forum

Basilica Aemilia Sabine Women frieze

Era: Roman Republic

Significance: Describes the rape of the Sabine women, one of the founding stories of Rome in which Roman men abducted women from a neighboring tribe because they had no women of their own. This then gave the Romans a taste of conquest.

Or other portraits of Augustus

Augustus of Prima Porta

Era: Augustan

Significance: Represents the ways that Romans used art for propaganda, expressing strength and connection to the gods. Portraits of Augustus can be identified by his young age, often wearing a toga (heritage) or a mantel over his head (piety)

Portrait of Livia

Era: Augustan

Significance: She represented Rome’s first true matriarch, the ideal form of motherhood and piety, and highly influential style to Roman women

Virgil’s Aeneid

Served as the nation’s epic poem, tracing the Trojan hero Aeneas to Italy where he founded the city and solidifying the Roman identity, written specifically for Augustus.

Foundation Tales

Written by Livy

Examples: Romulus and Remus, Rape of Lucretia

Era: Augustan

Significance: Provide tales of origin for the City of Rome, displaying acts of violence as reasons to bring about change and give the city ties back to the gods.

Temple of Deified Julius

Era: Augustan

Significance: Was a cult center, a public meeting place, and a place to spread propaganda. It was dedicated by Augustus to strengthen his ties to Julius

Forum of Augustus

Era: Augustan

Significance: Second Imperial forum to be built, meant to rival Julius’, Included the Temple of Mars

Golden House of Nero

Era: Julio-Claudian

Significance: Was built by Nero after a portion of the city burned down. Demonstrated the aesthetic of Imperial styles of architecture and was a feat of innovative engineering.

Found in Pompeii

Examples: bars (thermopolia), graffiti, Indian goddess ivory

Era: 1st Century AD

Significance: indicated that even the commoners were educated well enough to write. Signify the existence of trade between India and the Roman Empire

Lararium

Era: 1st Century AD

Significance: Shrines to household gods (lares) responsible for protecting the estate/home

Unswept floor mosaic

Era: 1st Century AD

Significance: Way of showing off wealth - not only could they afford to waste food, but they could afford to have the art on the floor.

Phallic Motifs

Era: 1st Century AD

Significance: believed to bring luck and fertility, also thought to draw the Evil Eye and protect from harm.

Colosseum

Era: 1st Century AD

Significance: Symbol of Roman power, location of hunts, gladiator battles, and social activities

Public Baths

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: location for social activities, place where all people regardless of class could go for free.

Mystery Cult Gods

Examples: Isis, Mithras, Bacchus, Cybele

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Shrouded in secrecy, members participated in sacred rites, sacrifices and offerings, and commissioned shrines to honor the deity and gain spiritual enlightenment.

Trajan’s Forum

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: Celebrates Emperor Trajan’s military victories and showcases the Roman Empire’s power

Aqueducts

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Feat of engineering that allowed Romans a steadier supply of water from distant sources and improved public health by preventing contamination

Trajan’s Market

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: The first covered shopping mall in existence, contained shops, administrative offices, apartment complexes, and space for community gatherings.

Trajan’s Column

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: Provides a visual history of the Dacian Wars and commemorates the Roman Empire’s victory, extremely detailed and located in the Roman Forum

Hadrian’s Villa

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: Incorporating architectural aspects and art from places that had most impressed him during his travels, allowed visitors to experience something they had never seen anywhere else in the world.

Pantheon

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: had many purposes throughout Roman history, including as a temple, fortress, mausoleum and church, depicting the evolution of Roman culture.

Portraits of Antinous

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: He was a lover of Hadrian, after his death, Hadrian commissioned portraits of him depicted in a similar fashion to Apollo.

Hadrian’s Wall

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: Most visible of the Roman frontiers, also shows how the Romans organized military zones and shows defensive techniques and strategies.

Artifacts from Vindolanda

Letters between Wives

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: Roman soldier’s wives were literate enough to write to each other despite not being upper-class

Regina Tombstone

Era: 2nd Century AD

Significance: Freedwoman married to a more privileged man who had this expensive tombstone created for her that shows his love for her.

Emperor Portraits (tetrarchs)

Era: 3rd Century AD

Significance: displays the political instability and division of power during the late Roman Empire

portraits of Constantine

Era: 4th Century AD

Significance: Marks the first Christian emperor of Rome and the shift in political and religious history; can be distinguished because he is looking up (toward the heavens)

Stylus and Tablets

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Used for writing and record keeping, especially useful for education

Depictions of Married Couples

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Depicts Roman social and marital relationships, often used in funerary art.

Artifacts associated with banqueting

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Central to Roman dining customs and highlights the importance of feasting

Roman Theatrical Masks

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Used in theatrical performances and highlighting the vibrant culture of Rome

Early Christian artifacts and Motifs

Example: Chi-Rho, Fish

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Represents the spread of Christianity and its early art and symbols

Asclepius Statue

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Reflects the importance of health and healing, God of Medicine, related to the Hippocratic oath

Hercules Sarcophagus

Era: Roman Empire

Significance: Illustrates the myth of Hercules and symbolizes strength and heroism, used in funerary art