Classics 51B Final

Map of Italy, Etruscan period

• Period: Early Rome / Etruscan period

• Where: Rome in Latium, Etruscans north, Greeks south, Carthaginians west

• Main idea: Rome developed between Etruscan, Greek, and Punic influences

• Why study: Early Roman culture was not isolated. It borrowed from surrounding peoples.

• Trap: Not a Roman Empire map. Rome is still just one city.

Terracotta Sarcophagus

• Date: late 6th c. BCE

• Culture: Etruscan

• Place: Cerveteri, Italy

• Material: Terracotta

• Visual cue: Reclining couple on couch

• Style: Greek Archaic smiles + Etruscan body/posture

• Main idea: Funerary object showing Etruscan tomb/banquet culture

• Trap: Not Roman, not Greek. Etruscan.

Villanovan hut urn

• Date: 9th–8th c. BCE

• Culture: Villanovan / early Italy

• Material: Clay

• Visual cue: Mini hut shape

• Function: Funerary urn

• Main idea: Links homes + graves

• Trap: Not a real hut, it’s an urn

Capitoline Wolf

• Date: wolf = 11th–12th c. CE; twins added later

• Subject: Romulus + Remus

• Culture/context: Roman founding myth

• Visual cue: She-wolf nursing twins

• Main idea: Mythic origin of Rome

• Trap: Image is iconic for ancient Rome, but the wolf itself is medieval

Reges

• Date: 753–509 BCE

• Meaning: “Kings”

• Period: Roman Kingdom

• Main idea: Rome before the Republic

• Key influence: Etruscan culture

• Remember: monarchy → overthrown → Republic begins

• Trap: Not emperors. Kings come way before Augustus.

Tuscan Temple

• Culture: Etruscan / early Roman

• Date: c. 500 BCE

• Visual cue: Deep porch, front-facing stairs, wide roof

• Decoration: Terracotta roof statues / akroteria

• Example: Portonaccio Temple at Veii

• Main idea: Etruscan temple model influenced early Roman temples

• Trap: Not Greek-style all-around columns. More front-focused.

Akroteria = decorative roof statues/ornaments placed on the top corners or peak of a temple roof.

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

• Date: late 6th c. BCE

• Period: Roman Kingdom / early Rome

• Place: Capitoline Hill

• Gods: Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno, Minerva

• Style: Tuscan/Etruscan temple type

• Main idea: Major state temple, shows Etruscan influence on early Rome

• Trap: Jupiter Optimus Maximus = “Jupiter Best and Greatest,” not just any Jupiter temple

Roman Triumph

• Period: Republic → Empire

• Meaning: Victory procession for a general/emperor

• Visual cue: Chariot, captives, spoils, soldiers, public parade

• Purpose: Celebrate conquest + show Roman power

• Key idea: Military victory becomes public/political spectacle

• Related terms: manubial buildings, spoils, triumphal arches

• Trap: Triumph = event/procession, not just an arch.

Roman Concrete

• Period: Especially Republic → Empire

• Material: Mix used for walls, vaults, domes

• Visual cue: Often hidden under brick, stone, marble, or travertine

• Why important: Allows huge interiors, vaults, domes, flexible shapes

• Examples: Mausoleum of Augustus, Domus Aurea vaults, Tomb of Eurysaces

• Trap: Roman buildings may look stone/marble, but core can be concrete.

Vault

• Meaning: Arched ceiling/roof structure

• Material: Brick or Roman concrete

• Visual cue: Curved ceiling spanning space

• Types: Barrel vault, groin/complex vault

• Why important: Allows large covered interiors

• Related: Concrete, arches, domes

• Trap: Vault = ceiling/roof form, not just an arch.

Praeneste Nile Mosaic

• Date: late 2nd–early 1st c. BCE

• Place: Praeneste, Italy

• Medium: Mosaic

• Visual cue: Nile/Egyptian landscape scene

• Main idea: Hellenistic influence in Roman Italy

• Why study: Shows Roman interest in exotic/Egyptian imagery

• Trap: Not Egyptian-made. Roman/Italian mosaic using Nile imagery.

Tesserae

• Meaning: Small pieces used to make mosaics

• Material: Stone, glass, ceramic, etc.

• Visual cue: Tiny colored cubes/tiles

• Used in: Floor/wall mosaics

• Main idea: Many tesserae form one image

• Quick cue: “Mosaic pixels”

Commemorative Painting

• Meaning: Painting made to record/celebrate an event

• Usually: Victory, triumph, public achievement

• Visual cue: Narrative scene, battle/procession/event

• Purpose: Preserves memory + promotes status

• Main idea: Art as public memory/propaganda

• Trap: Not just decoration. It commemorates something.

Suovetaurilia

• Meaning: Sacrifice of pig, sheep, bull

• Offered to: Mars

• Object: Paris Reliefs

• Date: late 2nd–early 1st c. BCE

• Context: Manubial buildings, Campus Martius

• Visual cue: Procession of sacrificial animals

• Main idea: Roman ritual sacrifice + military/religious power

• Trap: It’s the ritual, not the monument itself.

Roman Imago / Wax Imagines

• Meaning: Ancestral portrait masks

• Material: Wax, cheap, easy to mold, realistic detail

• Used in: Elite Roman funerals

• Visual cue: Realistic ancestor faces

• Main idea: Family status + ancestry

• Related: Republican portraiture, verism

• Trap: Not regular portraits. They’re ancestor masks.

Domus

• Meaning: Roman elite house

• Example: House of the Faun, Pompeii

• Date: late 2nd c. BCE

• Visual cue: Atrium + peristyle plan

• Main idea: House shows wealth/status

• Famous detail: Alexander Mosaic

Key Rooms (Fauces, Atrium, Impluvium, Tablinium, Triclinium, Taberna, Peristyle)

• Fauces: entrance hallway

• Atrium: main central room

• Impluvium: rainwater pool in atrium

• Tablinum: office/reception room

• Triclinium: dining room

• Taberna: shop/front room

• Peristyle: columned garden/courtyard

Mosaic from House of the Faun

• Date: late 2nd c. BCE

• Place: Pompeii

• Medium: Floor mosaic

• Visual cue: Theatrical masks, garlands, fruit

• Material unit: Tesserae

• Main idea: Elite domestic decoration

• Trap: Mosaic = made of tiny pieces, not painted floor.

Alexander Mosaic

• Date: late 2nd c. BCE

• Place: House of the Faun, Pompeii

• Medium: Mosaic, tiny tesserae

• Technique: Opus vermiculatum

• Scene: Alexander vs. Darius III

• Battle: Issus, 333 BCE

• Main idea: Elite Roman interest in Greek/Hellenistic history

First Style Wall Painting

• Date: 2nd c. BCE

• Example: Samnite House, Herculaneum

• Characteristics: imitation stone blocks, raised stucco, marble-like colors

• Visual cue: Wall looks like expensive cut stone/masonry

• Stucco: plaster-like material shaped on wall

• Main idea: Fake luxury marble/stone

• Trap: Not real marble. Paint + stucco imitate it.

Second Style

• Date: 1st c. BCE

• Characteristics: illusionistic depth, fake architecture, opens the wall

• Visual cue: columns, arches, landscapes, 3D space

• Megalographic: large-scale human figures

• Examples: Villa at Boscoreale; Dionysiac Frieze, Villa of the Mysteries

• Main idea: Wall becomes an illusionistic world/scene

• Trap: Not fake stone blocks like First Style.

Otium / Negotium

Otium

• Meaning: Leisure / free time

• Associated with: Villas, philosophy, art, elite relaxation

• Main idea: Cultivated leisure, not just laziness

Negotium

• Meaning: Business / public duties

• Associated with: Politics, work, law, civic life

• Main idea: Active public life

Villa of the Papyri

• Date: buried 79 CE

• Place: Herculaneum

• Type: elite Roman villa

• Key features: library, papyrus scrolls, peristyle garden, statues

• Style: many sculptures were Neo-Attic

• Main idea: elite otium: leisure, learning, Greek culture

• Modern link: Getty Villa modeled after it

• Trap: Famous for carbonized papyri + sculpture collection. Not just a normal house.

Drunken Satyr, Villa of the Papyri

• Date: 2nd c. BCE

• Place: Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum

• Material: Bronze

• Visual cue: Reclining drunk satyr on wineskin

• Style/theme: Hellenistic, Dionysiac

• Main idea: elite otium + Greek cultural taste

• Trap: Roman villa object, but Greek/Hellenistic style.

Priesthoods (Flamen/Flamines, Pontifex/Pontifices)

• Flamen / Flamines: priests for specific gods

• Example: Flamen Dialis = priest of Jupiter Optimus Maximus

• Pontifex / Pontifices: oversaw public religion

• Role: advised magistrates, sacred law, kept records

• Main idea: Roman religion was tied to state/politics

• Trap: Priests were not separate from public life. Religion = civic duty.

Consular Imagery

• Date: Republic, example 54 BCE coin

• Visual cues: attendants + fasces

• Fasces: bundle of rods = Roman authority/power

• Represents: consuls/magistrates, Republican state power

• Trap: Fasces are not “emperor” symbols only; they come from earlier Roman authority.

Built Environment: Religious (3 Temples, Regia, Domus Publica, Shrine, Auguraculum, Juno Moneta, Concord)

• Temple of Castor: Dioscuri/Castor + Pollux, Forum

• Temple of Saturn: Saturn, state treasury

• Temple of Vesta: sacred hearth/fire, Vestal Virgins

• Regia: priestly/ritual office, linked to kingship

• Domus Publica: official residence of Pontifex Maximus

• Shrine of Venus Cloacina: Venus + purification/sewer association

• Auguraculum: space for augury/divination

• Temple of Juno Moneta: Juno, warning/memory, mint association

• Temple of Concord: civic harmony/concord

Built Environment - Juridicial (Basilicas, Carcer)

• Meaning: Legal/civic spaces

• Basilicas: law courts, business, public meetings

• Examples: Basilica Sempronia, Fulvia, Porcia

• Carcer: prison/jail

• Main idea: Roman public space organized law + civic administration

• Trap: Roman basilica originally = civic/legal hall, not Christian church.

Built Environment - Civic/Political (Curia, Rostra, Comitium)

• Curia Hostilia: Senate house

• Rostra: speaker’s platform

• Comitium: public assembly/voting space

• Main idea: Forum spaces for politics, speeches, and civic power

• Trap: Curia = Senate building; Comitium = assembly space; Rostra = speech platform.

Laudatio funebris: elite Roman funeral speech praising the dead person’s ancestors, virtues, and public achievements.

Roman Forum

• Main idea: Forum = religion + law + politics in one space

• Trap: Don’t treat Forum as only “political.” It mixes sacred, civic, legal, and commercial space.

#	Monument
1	Basilica Sempronia
2	Basilica Opimia
3	Basilica Porcia
4	Basilica Aemilia / Fulvia
5	Comitium
6	Rostra
7	Shrine of Venus Cloacina
8	Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
9	Tabernae Veteres area
10	Aedes Castorum / Temple of Castor
11	Temple of Vesta

Pompey the Great Coin

• Date: 44–43 BCE

• Minted by: Sextus Pompey

• Shows: his father, Pompey the Great

• Visual cue: portrait head + naval imagery

• Main idea: Family memory + political legitimacy

• Trap: Minted by Sextus Pompey, not Pompey himself.

Gaius Iulius Caesar

• Dates: 100–44 BCE

• Role: Late Republic general/dictator

• Family: daughter Iulia/Julia, born 83 BCE

• Key alliance: First Triumvirate with Pompey + Crassus

• Main idea: Breaks Republican norms, leads toward Empire

• Famous date: assassinated 44 BCE

• Trap: Caesar is not the first emperor. Augustus is.

Coin of Julius Caesar

• Date: 44 BCE

• Evidence type: Numismatic

• Obverse: Caesar’s portrait

• Reverse: Venus Victrix

• Symbol: Corona civica

• Main idea: Caesar links himself to Venus + divine ancestry

• Why important: Living Roman on coin = breaks Republican tradition

• Trap: Caesar is dictator, not emperor.

First Triumvirate

• Date: 60–53 BCE

• Members: Pompey (Military) + Crassus (Money) + Caesar (Politics)

• Type: informal political alliance

• Caesar: elected consul in 59 BCE

• Marriage tie: Iulia marries Pompey in 59 BCE

• Breakdown: Iulia dies 54 BCE; Crassus dies 53 BCE

• Main idea: Elite alliance destabilizes Republic

• Trap: Not official like the Second Triumvirate.

Theater of Pompey

• Date: 55 BCE

• Builder: Pompey the Great

• Type: first permanent stone theater in Rome

• Key feature: temple of Venus Victrix attached

• Main idea: entertainment + religion + political self-promotion

• Why important: Pompey uses public building to display power/status

• Trap: Not just a theater. The temple helped make it acceptable.

• Terminology: cavea (seating), scaenae frons (backdrop/top), proscaenium (front edge), scaena (stage)

Caesar’s Forum

• Date: 46 BCE

• Builder: Julius Caesar

• Type: forum/public space

• Location: adjacent to the Forum Romanum, near the Curia Julia

• Plan: long narrow open space with porticoes

• Key monument: Temple of Venus Genetrix

• Main idea: monumental competition + political self-promotion

• Trap: Not the old Forum Romanum. It is Caesar’s separate expansion.

Temple of Venus Genetrix

• Date: 46 BCE

• Builder: Julius Caesar

• Location: Caesar’s Forum

• God: Venus Genetrix = Venus as ancestral mother

• Main idea: Caesar claims divine ancestry through Venus

• Material: imported exotic marble + white Italian marble

• Why marble matters: luxury, conquest, status, global reach

• Trap: Not just religious. It’s Caesar’s political self-promotion.

Octavian + Julius Caesar Coin

• Date: 43 BCE

• Material: Gold

• Shows: Octavian + Julius Caesar

• Purpose: Octavian claims Caesar as adopted father

• Main idea: Legitimacy through inheritance

• Political message: Octavian = Caesar’s heir/successor

• Trap: Octavian is not yet Augustus.

Temple of Divus Iulius

• Date: dedicated 29 BCE

• Builder/context: Octavian after Caesar’s death

• Location: Roman Forum

• God/person: Deified Julius Caesar

• Main idea: Turns Caesar into a god, boosts Octavian’s legitimacy

• Political message: Octavian = heir of Divus Iulius

• Related: Octavian gold coin with Caesar; Romulus-style mythmaking

• Trap: Caesar was not emperor, but after death he becomes Divus Iulius.

DIVI F(ILIUS)

• Meaning: “son of the deified one”

• Used by: Octavian / Augustus

• Refers to: Julius Caesar as Divus Iulius

• Main idea: Octavian claims divine legitimacy through Caesar

• Seen on: Octavian coins, back is female personification (28 BCE)

• Trap: Not “son of a god” generally. Specifically Caesar after deification.

Corona Civica (Denarius)

• Date: 27 BCE

• Person: Octavian becomes Augustus

• Front: profile of Caesar Augustus

• Back: oak wreath / corona civica: civic crown, for saving lives

• Text meaning: “For having saved the citizens”

• Main idea: Augustus claims he ended civil war and saved Rome

• Trap: Corona civica = civic crown/oak wreath, not a military laurel.

Prima Porta

Augustus of Prima Porta

• Date: copy from 19 BCE type

• Person: Augustus

• Style: idealized, youthful, Classical

• Pose: contrapposto

• Visual cue: raised arm, cuirass, Cupid at leg

• Main idea: Augustus as military leader + divine descendant of Venus

• Trap: Not realistic/veristic. He is made to look timeless and ideal.

Polychromy

• Meaning: Many colors

• Use: sculpture/architecture was often painted

• Main idea: Ancient marble was not always plain white

• Trap: White marble today ≠ original appearance

Pax Romana

• Meaning: Peace

• Roman goddess/personification

• Augustan theme: peace after civil war

• Related: Ara Pacis = “Altar of Augustan Peace”

• Trap: Pax is political, not just “peaceful vibes”

Portrait of Livia

• Meaning: Ruler presents family as political image

• Augustus: uses family, heirs, marriage, morality

• Main idea: Dynasty becomes public propaganda

• Related: Livia, Ara Pacis procession

• Date: early 1st c. CE

• Person: Livia, wife of Augustus

• Style: Classicized, idealized

• Visual cue: nodus at forehead, bun at back

• Main idea: female virtue + Augustan family image

• Trap: Not realistic/veristic

Nodus

• Meaning: Hair knot/roll at forehead

• Associated with: Livia / Augustan women

• Main idea: modesty, virtue, elite femininity

• Trap: Not Flavian piled curls

Ara Pacis Augustae

• Date: 13–9 BCE

• Person: Augustus

• Location: Campus Martius, near via Flaminia

• Meaning: Altar of Augustan Peace

• Main idea: peace, family, piety, imperial order

• Trap: It is an altar/enclosure, not a normal temple

Ara Pacis Processional Frieze

• Date: 13–9 BCE

• Shows: Augustus, priests, imperial family

• Visual cue: procession of elite figures

• Key figure: Agrippa = hooded figure

• Main idea: family + religion + state power

• Trap: Not random Romans. It is imperial propaganda

Mausoleum of Augustus

• Date: built 25 BCE

• Type: dynastic tomb

• Material: concrete core, travertine/marble facing

• Visual cue: huge circular tomb

• Main idea: Augustus makes his dynasty permanent

• Trap: Tomb, not temple

Res Gestae

• Meaning: “The things accomplished”

• Author: Augustus

• Type: public record of achievements

• Main idea: Augustus controls his legacy

• Trap: Not neutral history. It is self-presentation

Horologium Augusti

• Type: giant solar/time monument

• Feature: obelisk casts shadow

• Function: measures time/year

• Context: Augustus as Pontifex Maximus/calendar authority

• Main idea: Augustus controls time/order

• Trap: Not just decoration

Fasti

• Meaning: Roman calendar/lists of official days

• Use: religious/civic timekeeping

• Main idea: state control of time

• Related: Horologium, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus

• Trap: Calendar = political/religious tool

Forum of Augustus

• Date: 2 BCE

• Builder: Augustus

• Key temple: Mars Ultor

• Meaning: “Mars the Avenger”

• Main idea: vengeance for Caesar + Augustan legitimacy

• Trap: Different from Caesar’s Forum

Caryatid

• Meaning: female figure used as architectural support

• Source reference: Erechtheion in Athens

• Main idea: Augustus borrows Greek prestige

• Trap: Not normal column

Clipeate Protome

• Meaning: head/bust inside a shield-like roundel

• Where: Forum of Augustus attic

• Main idea: decorative elite/heroic imagery

• Trap: Clipeus = shield

Theater of Marcellus

• Date: dedicated 12 BCE

• Builder: begun by Caesar, completed by Augustus

• Named for: Marcellus, Augustus’ nephew

• Type: theater

• Main idea: Augustan completion of Caesar’s projects

• Trap: Not Theater of Pompey

Temple of Apollo Sosianus

Temple of Apollo Sosianus

• Date: 1st c. BCE

• Location: Campus Martius

• Material: marble

• Main idea: transition from Republic to Empire

• Related: Augustan rebuilding/material upgrade

• Trap: Remember Apollo = important Augustan god

Julio-Claudians

• Dates: 27 BCE–68 CE

• Members: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero

• Style: often idealized/classicizing

• Main idea: first imperial dynasty

• Trap: Ends with Nero

Tiberius

• Dates: 14–37 CE

• Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

• Visual cue: follows Augustan idealized style

• Main idea: continuity with Augustus

• Trap: Not related to Augustus by blood, but looks dynastic

• Relation: stepson and adopted son of Augustus

• Name origin: Tiberius was his birth praenomen; later Tiberius Julius Caesar after adoption into Augustus’ family

Caligula

• Dates: 37–41 CE

• Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

• Visual cue: youthful idealized portrait

• Main idea: continuity from Tiberius + youthful contrast

• Trap: Still Julio-Claudian idealizing style

• Relation: great-grandson of Augustus; successor of Tiberius

• Name origin: “Caligula” = “little boots,” nickname from soldiers because he wore miniature military boots as a child

Jupiter as ?

• Date: c. 50 CE

• Person: Claudius

• Pose/body: idealized divine/Classical body

• Face: older, looser, more realistic

• Main idea: emperor shown with divine authority

• Trap: Mixes ideal body + aged face

Classicizing + verism

• Date: 75–50 BCE

• Visual cue: ideal Greek body + veristic Roman head

• Main idea: Greek heroic body, Roman Republican identity

• Trap: Mixed style, not purely Greek or purely Roman

Nero (54-68 CE)

• Dates: 54–68 CE

• Dynasty: Julio-Claudian

• Early portraits: Augustan idealism/youth

• Later portraits: stylistic rupture

• Main idea: Nero breaks from Julio-Claudian image tradition

• Trap: Early Nero and later Nero look very different
  elation: adopted son and successor of Claudius; great-great-grandson of Augustus through the family line

• Name origin: born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; became Nero Claudius Caesar after Claudius adopted him

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Later __

Later Nero

• Date: 1st c. CE

• Visual cue: stepped/sickle-shaped bangs, fuller face, light beard

• Main idea: breaks Julio-Claudian portrait norms

• Term: stylistic rupture

• Trap: Don’t confuse with early Nero

Cameos

• Meaning: carved layered gems

• Material: often sardonyx

• Use: luxury imperial imagery

• Main idea: small object, big propaganda

• Image? Combine with Gemma Augustea/Gemma Claudia

Gemma Augustea

• Date: c. 14 CE

• Material: sardonyx cameo

• Subject: Augustan imperial victory/order

• Main idea: luxury object promotes Augustus’ rule

• Trap: Not a coin. It is a carved cameo

Gemma Claudia

• Subject: Claudius + Agrippina marriage

• Type: cameo

• Main idea: dynasty and marriage as imperial image

• Trap: figures can be ambiguous/mythologized

Sacrifice

• Latin idea: sacrum facere

• Meaning: “to make something sacred”

• Definition: making something property of the gods

• Main idea: ritual exchange with gods

• Trap: Not just “killing an animal”

Religio / Pax Deorum

• Religio: proper religious practice/obligation

• Pax Deorum: peace with the gods

• Main idea: Rome’s success depends on correct ritual

• Trap: Roman religion is civic/state duty, not just belief

Villa Medici Sacrifice Relief

• Date: 1st c. CE

• Material: marble

• Shows: sacrifice in front of temple

• Main idea: public ritual + religio

• Trap: Focus on ritual action, not just temple

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Lar/Lares

• Meaning: household/protective spirits

• Associated with: home, family, crossroads

• Visual cue: small dancing/youthful figures

• Related: lararium

• Trap: Lares ≠ Genius

Spoliation

• Meaning: taking materials from older ruins/buildings and reusing them

• Visual cue: old pieces reused in new monument/building

• Main idea: reuse of physical material

• Example: Arch of Constantine uses earlier imperial reliefs

• Trap: Not memory erasure. That’s damnatio memoriae.

Damnatio Memoriae

• Meaning: official condemnation/erasure of memory

• Visual cue: erased face/name, recarved image, removed inscriptions

• Main idea: punish someone by attacking their public memory

• Example: Geta erased from Severan Tondo

• Trap: Not reuse of materials. That’s spoliation.

Palimpsest

• Meaning: multiple layers of human activity over time

• In archaeology: layers are reused, overwritten, merged

• Main idea: one site/object preserves many histories

• Trap: Not spoliation. Palimpsest = layered history.

Imperium

• Meaning: official power/authority to command

• Held by: consuls, praetors, generals

• Symbol: fasces

• Main idea: political/military authority

• Trap: Fascism later co-opts fasces/imperium imagery.

Fasces

• Meaning: bundle of rods, often with axe

• Represents: magistrate/consular authority

• Related: imperium

• Modern co-option: Fascism

• Trap: For Kingdom-period Roman identity quiz answer was beards, not fasces.

Genius

• Meaning: protective spirit/life force

• In household: Genius of the paterfamilias

• Visual cue: central male figure in lararium

• Main idea: family authority and continuity

• Trap: Genius ≠ Lares

Vicus / Vicomagister

• Vicus: neighborhood/crossroads district

• Vicomagister: local official for neighborhood cult

• Main idea: religion organized local urban life

• Related: Lares at crossroads

• Trap: Not just household religion

Agathodaimon Serpent

• Meaning: protective/good spirit serpent

• Location: household shrine/altar

• Main idea: prosperity + protection

• Trap: Not random snake decoration

Vicomagistri Altar

• Date: 1st c. CE

• Shows: figures carrying emperor’s Lares and Genius

• Main idea: Augustus links household cult to imperial cult

• Trap: Domestic religion becomes political

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Augustan Appropriation: The Household

• Meaning: Augustus absorbs household religious symbols

• Uses: Lares, Genius, local cult

• Main idea: emperor becomes part of everyday religion

• Trap: “Private” household religion becomes imperial/public

Altar of Augustus Pontifex Maximus

Representational Ambiguity

• Meaning: figure can be read as human, divine, or dynastic

• Used in: Julio-Claudian imagery

• Main idea: ambiguity makes rulers seem mythic/divine

• Trap: Don’t force one meaning when image is intentionally layered

Domus Aurea

• Date: 64–68 CE

• Builder: Nero

• Meaning: “Golden House”

• Main idea: imperial luxury/excess

• After Nero: damaged/erased through damnatio memoriae

• Image? Combine with octagonal hall/painted vaults

• Famous features: painted vaults, frescoes, mosaics, octagonal hall

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Fouirth Style Wall Painting

• Date: later 1st c. CE

• Characteristics: mix of illusionism, framed panels, fantasy architecture

• Visual cue: busy, theatrical, layered wall design

• Main idea: combines earlier wall-painting styles

• Trap: More complex/crowded than Third Style