Roman Art and Archaeology: Week 9

Campania

the region of Italy, specifically the Bay of Naples, where Pompeii is located

Herculaneum

a city destroyed by the flow of mud and gas from the eruption of mount Vesuvius; considered a better single preserved moment than Pompeii

Pompeii

the famous city preserved in the ash from the eruption of mount Vesuvius

Pliny the Younger

son of the famous writer, Pliny the Elder, and writer of the only first-person account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

orthogonal plan

a map of streets at right angles

basilica

a public space used for some court matters and business

hypocaust heating system

really boiling hot furnace creates steam and hot water: air is sent under the floor and water creates HOT bath

Riot with Nuceria

(59 CE) Riot at the Pompeii Amphitheater between Pompeians and Nucerians

earthquakes of Pompeii

62 CE

Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

79 CE

Four Pompeian Styles

not distinct periods of style (they overlap) but “trends” in art and architecture that were popular in Pompeii

First Style

(200-60 BCE) imitates opulancy of different architectural forms such as ashlar masonry (smooth marble blocks) and different colored marble

Second Style

(1st c BCE) “opening” of vistas into imaginary landscapes; inntended to be “voyages of the mind” in nature; less interesting stuff on the floor

Third Style

(20 BCE--20 CE) minimalist color fields and framed floating landscapes; reduction and attenuation of form

Fourth Style

(20-54 CE and beyond) features greek mythological scenes at the “pregnant moment”; intended to interest but not tell the whole story; perspectival architecture

xenia

still life scenes, usually of food

Villa of the Papyri

Villa with preserved texts from the eruption

Fig. 3-10A Plan of the basilica, Pompeii, ca. 80–70 BCE. (1) tribunal, (2) nave, (3) aisle, \n (4) chalcidicum

Fig. 3-11 Plan of the Forum Baths, Pompeii, ca. 80–70 BCE and Augustan

Fig. 3-15 Aerial view of the amphitheater (looking northwest), Pompeii, ca. 80–70 BCE

Fig. 3-18 Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater, from House I,3,23, Pompeii, ca. 60–79 CE

Fig. 3-7 Capitolium and western arch, forum, Pompeii, during the earthquake of 62 CE, as represented in a relief at House of L. Caecilius Iucundus, Pompeii, ca. 62-70

Fig. 3-19 Tombs on the south side of the road outside the Nuceria gate, Pompeii

Fig. 4-3 Atrium of the House of Sallust looking toward the hortus, Pompeii, mid-second century BCE

Fig. 4-13 Corinthian oecus of the House of the Labyrinth, Pompeii, mid-first century BCE

Fig. 4-17 Second Style mural paintings in room 2 of the House of the Griffins, Palatine Hill, Rome, ca. 80 BCE

Fig. 6-25 Perseus and Andromeda, detail of a Third Style mural painting, Villa of Agrippa Postumus, Boscotrecase, ca. 10 BCE

Fig. 11-17 *Perseus and Andromeda*, mural painting from the House of the Dioscuri, Pompeii, ca. 62–79 CE

Fig. 11-18 Still life with peaches, detail of a Fourth Style mural painting, from the House of the Stags, Herculaneum, ca. 70–79. Fresco

Fig. 11-19 The baker Terentius Neo and his wife, mural painting from house VII,2,6, Pompeii, ca. 70–79. Fresco

Fig. 11-21 The old farmer of Corycus, folio 7 verso of the *Vatican Vergil,* ca. 400–420. Tempera on parchment