Roman Art and Archaeology

The Alexander Mosaic

• Late 2nd c. BC from Italy

• Found in an elite office

• Subject matter: Alexander at the battle of Issus

• Thought to be based off an earlier painting

• Demonstration of wealth and cultural understanding and shows roman elites at this time understood the past

1st = Protocorinthian amphora, 7th c. BC

2nd = Vatican Amphora, 6th c. BC

• Both found in Italy but of Greek production

• shows Italian import and consumption of Greek visual culture

Sarcophagus of the Spouses, 6th c. BC

• Etruscan object

• Hair and faces show similarities with contemporary Greek art

• Shows the pooling of Greek and Etruscan visual cultures

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximum in Rome c. 500 BC

• Built in the blended style of contemporary Greek and Italian architecture

• Greeks would’ve recognised this as a temple

Cicero’s letters to Atticus

• Shows elites actively purchasing Greek art

• Uses a greek word to describe a part of his villa

• Tells us about the way elites thought about Greek art

Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum

• Housed a great library (mostly philosophical works) and sculptures

• Roman houses were places of performance

• shows that roman culture was influenced by greek culture

• library demonstrates his knowledge

• Contained sculptures of Greek Kings and generals of the past and also philosophers

• Garden contained statues of Greek masterpieces adapted for a roman domestic context

State monuments

• Monuments put up by the state to celebrate the emperor

• Approved by the state

• emperor decides what is communicated and where

• carefully controlled images conveying deliberate messages and encapsulating virtues

• designed to be legible to a wide section of the population

Ara Pacis Augustae vowed 13BC and dedicate 9BC

• Set up next to a main road

• next to a sundial - religious connection

• Was a functioning altar - people would’ve seen the imagery whilst honouring the gods

• Connection between religion and state messages

• Vegetation on the lower half symbolises a world free from civil war that can now grow again

• Reliefs showing rome’s origins - Augustus wants to be remembered as reforming the city

Processional relief on the Ara Pacis Augusta 9BC

• Priests and imperial family

• Figures arranged as if queuing - no chaos, fighting = peace

• Augustus slightly taller

• Imperial family first - shows new hierarchies

South east panel on the Ara Pacis Augustae - 9BC

• Tellus?

• Woman with two babies (Romulus and Remus) in abundant landscape amongst allegorical figures

• shows fertility and abundance

• Message that Augustus has brought about an era of abundance and prosperity

Arch of Titus, 1st C. AD

• Put up by Domitian

• celebrates Titus’ victory over Jewish revolts (shows Dom. saw this as the highpoint of his career)

• Includes winged victories

• shows the emperor on the back of an eagle - emperor as god

Scene of triumph from the Arch of Titus, c. 1st c. AD

• Shows Roman soldiers carrying a menorah in triumph

• every roman would know this was the Jewish triumph

Cancellaria reliefs, from lost Domitianic monument 1st c. AD

• Was recarved into Nerva - emperor being recarved shows the messages emperors wanted to convey were often the same

• contain real-life and allegorical figures

• Shows deities encouraging the emperor to go off to fight with senate and people waving him off - Dom. was criticised for fighting silly wars - this was probs his response shows he had support

Trajan’s arch at Benevento, 2nd c. AD

• Arch built where a new road had been built

• depicts civillian and construction themes - shows emperor spending a lot of time building things for his people

Reliefs from the Arch of Trajan at Benevento, 2nd c. AD

• Left: Trajan raises up children as future soldiers - shows Trajan’s policies making Italy a place plentiful of children and therefore military force

• Right: Trajan receiving new soldiers

• Show how Trajans policies benefitted ordinary Italians

Relief from the Arch of Trajan at Benevento, 2nd c. AD

• Shows distribution of alimenta funds for the support of children

• Women wearing crowns represent cities - show that what is happening here is happening in many places

• Alimenta - Trajan gave loans to struggling rural italians to buy plots of land

• If you didn’t know this was happening relief still shows generosity of the emperor

Reliefs of Marcus Aurelius (later reused), 2nd c. AD

• Left shows emperor victorius and barbarians submissive

• middle shows emperor arriving and being met by mars and victory

• right: emperor in triumph

Reliefs of Marcus Aurelius, 2nd c. AD

• Shows emperos clementia and generosity and concern for ordinary people

Imperial portraits

• Portraits were manipulated to portray values but had to be recognisable

• Mostly found on coinage

Portraits of Augustus (full length - Prima Porta Augustus)

• Augustus created a new style of portraiture - partly cos he was young, partly cos he wanted to show a clean break from chaos of the republic

• Hairstyle identifying factor, larger ears

Tiberius’ post-accession type

• Tiberius was not a blood relative of Augustus so had to show relatedness in some way in his portraits

• Like Augustus Tiberius adopted a youthful, idealised style

• SImilarities in his facial features (esp. large ears, nose)

Left: Tiberius, Right: Gaius

• Idea of showing similarity became a tradition

• Tiberius and Gaius are a good example of this - they were also not related

Gaius (Copenhagen)

• All portraits would’ve been painted originally which could’ve further been used to show similarity

• People have often used this to show his craziness but forget that they would need to apply this to Tiberius too due to the resemblances

Left: Claudius wearing the corona civica (Copenhagen)'; right: Clauius (Rome)

• Claudius was the first emperor forced to show an image different to his predecessor as he was 51 at accession so could’nt pull off the youthful look

• Also after the critisiced reign of Gaius he would’ve wanted to portray himself as different

• Less idealised portrait but still definitively Julio-Claudian (big ears)

Claudius with the attributes of Jupiter from Lanuvium

Gemma Augustea, 1st c. AD

• High end imagery showing dynastic succession

• shows tiberius being delivered to Augustus on a chariot driven by Victory

Nero’s four portrait types

• 1st type - prince in the imperial household - Julio-Claudian type hair

• 2nd type - when he became emperor - still youthful, but more distictly Julio-Claudian

Left: Nero’s type 3 portrait (Rome) Right: Nero’s type 4 portrait in bronze (Atlanta)

• Nero was the first to explore facial hair

• Image on right is often used to depict him as crazy but we need to remember that he chose to have this circulates so what virtues was he trying to convey: fat - he is well fed, everyone is happy and well fed, beard - similair to Hellenistic portraits

Vespasian - right Copenhagen, left London

• Vespasian emerged victorious after the year of 4 emperors but as he did this by withholding grain from Rome and starving them he can’t flaunt his victories (conveniently his son Titus quelled Jewish revolts)

• Challenge of portraiture - does he depict himself similair to Julio-Claudians although Nero was so unpopular; he is also 60

• Moves back to traditional roman veristic portraiture - away from Nero’s hellenistic flamboyance to his steady, safe, military qualities

Left: Titus from Herculaneum, right: Domitian, Rome

• Vespasian is fortunate as he has two sons

• therefore they don’t need to emphasise relatedness on portraits

• similair features probs genuine

• Titus’ reign was short but successful'

• Domitian so unpopular his images were destroyed so we don’t have many examples

Trajan: left: bust from Rome dateable to his reign; right: posthummous from Ostia

• Came to power in 98 in his prime and as a successful military leader, well respected by army and elites and his imagery emphasises this

• 45 at accession - not interested in youthful portraiture but also doesn’t want to be seen as old

• Distinctive hair of the military at this time - wants to show he is comfortable serving in the army as well as being emperor

• Left: strap shows he would’ve had a sword if it was full length - militaristic

Hadrian (Rome)

• Adopted by Trajan

• Hadrian has a distinct portrait type (beard)

• Beard: many people in this period were adopting beards (was always fashionable in Greek speaking places) - shows him keeping up with trends and showing he was a man of culture

• Resemblances between Trajan and Hadrian show they also wanted to emphasise relatedness

• Large number of portraits of Hadrian surviving

• found all across the empire - he travelled more than any predecessors and made a point of visitng local cities which would’ve put up statues in honour of his visit

• Local statues would’ve been based on official portraits but carry local flavours

Left: Hadrian wearing a Toga (Tirana); right: Hadrian wearing a himation (Adana)

• Toga - uniform of a citizen, what senators wear, shows emperor as law maker - emphasised by his holding a scroll. he is wearing a toga in the eastern part of the empire

• Himation - worn in the east to communicate citizenship

Left: Hadrian nude (Vaison-la-Romaine); right: Hadrian wearing a cuirass from Crete

• Left: nude emphasises heroism, athleticism, and proximity to divinity - more common for posthummus statues where emperors are gods

• Right: emperor in full military dress, crushed barbarian under foot - not real military uniform but what mars would wear - reference to Hadrian’s patronage of Greece

Great Antonine Altra, Ephesus 2nd c. AD

• Commemorates the adoption of Antoninus Pius by Hadrian and the adoption of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verrus by Antoninus Pius

• Shows Hadrian creating a dynasty

• Antoninus’ portrait similair to Hadrians

The Antonines show similarities in portraiture to Hadrian, commodus continues this tradition

Left: Marcus Aurelius (Louvre); right: Lucius Verrus (Louvre)

• Hair and beard have grown to accomodate local fashion

Marcus Aurelius (Capitoline)

• Importance of military accomplishments in military imagery

Commodus as Hercules (Capitoline)

• Bad reputation

• was trying to show he was the obvious successor of his father

• Image often used to convey his bad traits but remember he circulated this

• Shows Commodus looking like his father but dressed as Hercules wearing Numian lion skin (Hercules was greatest of all heroes - a mortal who became a god through his 12 labours)

• Lion doesn’t obscure hair as he needed this to show relatedness

• saying he has the same attributes as the greatest hero

Septimius Severus (right from ROme, left from Munich)

• Severans chose to connect themselves back to the Antonies (but not commodus) and so Septimius presents himself as another Antonine - long beard, curls

Left: Aureus of Septimius Severus, obverse Julia Domna between caracalla and geta

Right: painted tondo of the Severan family from Egypt

• insciption - prosperity/blessedness of the age

• WHen he comes to power severus has the advantage of having sons

• more than any other emperor he emphasises his wife and family

Caracalla

• Adopts a highly militarized portrait - cropped hair, direct gaze

• regularly refered to as evidence of his tyrannical nature

• wanted to emphasise himself as a competent military leader, aware of what is going on (sharp gaze)

Left: Torlonia head, 1st c. BC (Rome); Right: unknown man, 1st c. BC (New York)

• Both unknown men

• funerary portraits

• both presumably elite men, probably erected in a tomb/the family house

• Versitic image

• messages conveyed - serious men, proper romans, reached an advanced age

• in rome you couldn’t reach advanced positions when you were young so age showed success

Left: unknown man, 1st c. BC (Rome); Right: ‘Barberini Togatus’, 1st c. BC (Rome)

• Left: veristic portrait with toga over the head - piety, modesty, what you did whilst sacrificing

• Right: family virtues. veristic image carrying two busts, presumably ancestors. showing both that he is a continuation of his ancestors, but also pious in respecting ancestors and continuing family traditions

Polybius VI.53

• Shows public erection of statues as funerary tradition

• shows they honour the virtues of the deceased

Left: Pseudo-Athlete from Delos, 2nd c. BC; right: statue of C. Ofellius Ferus, c. 100 BC from Delos

• Shows body and head working together

• Veristic style popular in this period

• among roman elites a fashion developed for combining veristic portaits with heroic bodies communicating manliness

Left: Roman aristocrat from Cassino 1st c. BC;

right: Tivoli General from Tivoli, 1st c. BC

Portrait of a roman matron as Venus, 1st c. BC (copenhagen)

• combination of styles to communicate different values

• funerary portrait of an elite woman

• head: expressed fashionable roman elite virtues, ornate hair but serious

• Body: based on female statue type of Venus

• shows her as a good, dutiful elite woman but also as beautiful and loving like Venus

Portaits of Dometeinus and Tatiana from Aphrodisias

• Displayed at the entrance to a council house

• slightly larger than life size

• Dometeinus - wearing himation, scrolls next to feet (made laws?), beard and curly hair (man of culture), hat is a crown with busts of emperors - priest of the imperial cult

• Tatiana - fashionable long dress, hairstyle identical to Julia Domna, crown on head = priestess

• Text for D - shows the family is so elite that his children are in the senate in Rome

• Text for T - she paid for things in the city, cousin of senators

• inscriptions convey what could’ne be shown with portrait alone

Monument of Philopappos, Athens, 2nd c. AD

• funerary monument

• erected in a prominent place

• central statue depicts P. (likely image of a typical greek civilain man wearing a himation that has slipped down to his waist - common for philosophers so busy they’re not gripping it)

• Greek man of culture

• underneath statue is a chariot scene set in Rome

• two identities communicated

• bilingual inscription

• Stresses his local identity and he is a voting memeber of Athenian council

• Latin inscription: shows he is also a roman citizen, consul under Trajan

• Greek inscription - traces lineage back to hellenistic kings - identity athenian elites would’ve been aware of

Columbarium x2 1st c.AD

• for lower class people esp. slaves

• still visible but not as promint

• fit an urn or a small bust

• often belonged to big households so employees could be interred in the same place

• if you belonged to a profession and were part of a guild you could pay montly into a funeral fund and the guild would pay for your burial

Cinerary urns and altars

• Give insight into lower classes

• had inscriptions/imagery

• common in 1st and 2nd c. AD when cremation was common

Tombstone of Cornelia Glyce 1st c. AD

• Gravestones and funerary busts were popular in the east from 4th c. BC and in Italy from 1st c. BC - 2nd c. AD

• Greek name, reference to heritage

• fashionable hairstyle

• shown as good, typical roman matron

Sarcophagi

• Became popular from 2nd c. AD

• poorer people would have smaller/wooden versions

Grave relief of freedpeople

• As grave reliefs were often the only artistic thing people would pay for in their lifetime they were very important

• No rules on what was included

• Freedmen often chose to include this information though

• ex slaves being able to afford this showed social climg

• Above: typical portrait

Left: bronze mirror from Desborough 1st c. BC-AD

right: gold coin of the Parisii 1st c. BC

• we have a lot of metalwork esp. coins from pre-roman britain that give us an indication of what art was like before roman influence

• emphasis often on pattern and the abstract

Statues of the Genii Cucullati, from various sites in Britain, 1st-4th c. AD

• probs broadly same subject matter

• represent a group of spirits that comes in threes, origin in pre-roman period sculptures probs dont survive

• abstract

Water god/gorgon on the pediment of the temple at Roman Bath 2nd/3rd c. AD

• On one of the biggest public buildings in roman britain

• draws on graeco-roman subject matter (snakes in hair etc.) but is a bearded man not usual female gorgon

• stylised

• shows blending of local and roman art

Monument of M. Favonius Facilis, 1st c. AD, Colchester

• roman military monument honouring a centurion

• influenced by contemporary Julio-Claudian imagery (sticky out ears) but overall carving betrays iron-age influences

• roman soldier in britain but monument probably carved by a local

Bridgeness distance slab, 2nd c. AD

• Slab on the Antonine wall

• set up at regular distances to indicate how much had been built (imperialistic statement)

• roman cavalrymen charging over barbarians - snapshot of what it meant to be a superior roman)

• Sacrifice scene typical of roman militrary sacrifice but the style is more british

• even animals are british looking

Crammond lioness, 2nd c. AD edinburgh

• Originally adorned a roman tomb

• demonstration of roman superiority and a protective marker

• clearly portrays provincial style - stylised teeth

British mosaics

• Elite romans built large villas in Britain and wanted to show themselves cultured - but even this long into roman rule local art still shines through

• show local artistic traditions really mattered

Funerary monument for Regina, freedwoman of Borates, south shields, 2nd c. Ad

• Illustrates the mobility amongst certain populations

• typical roman style funerary relief but unusual for roman britain

• bilingual monument

reliefs from Palmyra, 2nd c. AD left Aramaic inscr. right greek

• Palmyra - extremely wealthy caravan city

• Dominant style of Palmyrene art - frontal gazing, stylised eyes, repeating patterns, emphasis on jewellery - status symbol

• mainly busts, females often wearing elaborate drapery and jeweleryy

• inscriptions often with name and lineage

‘beauty of palmyra’ 2nd c. AD

• Jewelerry

• sytlised face

Mummy portraits from Fayuum, Egypt 2-3rd c. AD

• Egypt had layers of identity to express as it was part of the empire but had been ruled by Greeks and Macedonians as well as local culture

• survive because of dry conditions

• wooden plaques inserted into mummy’s - very egyptian mode of burial - but portraits often displayed other aspects of identity

• Often showed roman fashionable dress

Urban centres in the Roman empire

• Many cities were close together

• roman cities cluster along coastal zones and rivers

• often in places strategic for agriculture and trade

• no real written sources as to populations

• 20-30% of the population probably lived in cities

Priene and the model city in the hellenistic world

• City in Asian minor that shows what Hellenistic city planners considered important

• * Located on coast, founded on base of a hill - easier to defend

• city planners laid out a rectangular grid despite challening typology with a city wall around the outisde

• within the grid there are public building similair to typical roman city buildings even though this was a Hellenistic city

• focus on civic buildings - self governed state so local government had great influence

Trajanic colony at Timgad

• Often called a typical roman city

• created in 2nd c. AD under Trajan

• example of a city established as a military colony with houses given to veterans of the military

• Main part of the city layed out in the regular grid format

• Rounded edges - mimicking a fort?

• Arches define the edges

Left: forum at Timgad; right: fora at pompeii and Sabratha

• forum = agora in greek cities

• public market place, meeting place and where all key civic building are located

basilicas

• One of the important buildings in the forum

• a building with no clear parallels in the Greek world

• meeting place, law courts etc.

Central baths at Pompeii and Baths of Titus at Rome

• bath houses were a key feature of Roman cities

• same across the empire

• Collonaded streets typical of roman cities

• emphasis on the main routes through the city

• main part of the street designed for wheel traffic with pedestrians walking on raised platforms on the side

• woukd’ve been covered to provide shade

Nymphaeae at Ephesos

• Fountains found in both smaller and larger scales

• common feature of citirs

• common in eastern parts of the empire - functional as well as decorative - only elites would’ve had access to running water in their homes