Exam CLAS108 Slide IDs

Hut urns

Pre-Roman Italy, the Etruscans

8th - 7th c. BCE

Clay or bronze

Central Italy, necropolises

Burial method practiced by the Etruscans. Ash placed in the urn in the style of a house. Reflects what houses would have looked like for both the Etruscans and Romans, used for reconstructions of huts from the Palatine Hill.

Reconstruction of Etruscan temple

500 BCE

Likely perishable material like timber

Akroteria/sculpture on the roof made of terracotta

High podium, frontal stairs, deep pronaos, tripartite cella, prostyle

Veii

Example of typical Etruscan temple features

Etrsucan sarcophagus

Likely mass produced

2.06 m. long

520-510 BCE

Terracotta

Cerveteri

Man and woman depicted together, equal status

Elements rely on the model of Greek Archaic sculpture

Expressive - shows Etruscan interest in accurately portraying the details of nature

Could depict tradition of dining at a funeral

Shows rapid change from small scale urn to the sarcophagus

Theatre of Pompey

Pompey had it built

c. 55 BCE

Stone

Hellenistic style

Celebrates the military victories of Pompey the Great

First permanent theatre in Rome

Includes Temple of Venus Victrix, may have made the senate more amenable to building it as it was historically inappropriate - theatres were usually temporary for certain festivals then taken down

Transitional monument between the Republic tradition of temple construction and the grand patronage of the imperial period

Pompey the Great

30-50 CE

Pompey ruled from 106-48 BCE

Marble

Propagandistic image, mostly idealised and inspired by earlier Hellenistic examples e.g. Alexander the Great for hairstyle

Veristic composition with classicising features

Example of verism, the idealisation of wrinkles, furrows and sagging skin

Shows Pompey’s years of experience, wisdom, character and intelligence. Done so he is easily remembered as a great Roman general.

Julius Caesar: veristic portraits

d. 44 BCE

Marble 

Evidence of the veristic style of portraiture depicted through Julius Caesar 

Idealisation of wrinkles, furrows and sagging skin.

Shows Julius’ years of experience, wisdom, character and intelligence.

Denarius of Julius Caesar

Caesar had it made 

Roman Republic period - Caesar’s reign

47 BCE

Silver

Evidence of Caesar claiming descent from Venus via Aeneas - depicted on the coin, carrying his father and palladium

Ara Pacis of Augustus

Augustus had it built 

Pledged in 13 BCE and inaugurated in 9 BCE

Marble, would have been painted over

Built in the Campus Martius

Features mythological scenes/figures: Roma, Pax/Italia/Venus Genitrix/Tellus, Aeneas and his sons, Remus and Romulus

Features Augustus and his family - connects himself to the mythological figures, establishes dynasty as legitimate part of his rule

Functions as a temple - offerings, sacrifices

Massive propaganda piece for Augustus - commemorates the peace Augustus brought to Rome

Celebrates Augustus’ traditional Roman values: Piety, family, foreign conquest, honouring Rome’s founders

Relief from the altar of the Gens Augusta

1st c. CE

Carrara marble

Carthage, near the temple of the Gens Augusta

Functions as an altar for sacrifices and Augustan propaganda

This side features Aeneas with his father and son - Augustus’ ancestor. Fleeing Carthage. Supposedly went to Carthage

Family line associated with religion - religious stuff delegated to the family of the emperor. Line between religious practice + pious act has become blurred - divine lineage of the Julio-Claudians

Combines with the other imagery on the altar to connect the Imperial family with the divine

Early evidence of the Roman imperial cult in the provinces

Gemma Augustea

19×23 cm 

During Tiberius’ reign 

9-12 AD

Onyx stone

Augustan classicism: Idealised, tranquil, wet drapery

Lower register = Aftermath of a Roman military victory by Tiberius; defeated captive barbarians, Roman soldiers raising a trophy. Scorpio (Tiberius's birth sign) included so may be his victory 

Upper register = Augustus and Roma on a double throne. Augustus has a laurel of victory. Enemy shields and armor at their feet. Eagle under the throne = Jupiter's support. Capricorn, Augustus's birth sign, replaces the sun. 4 deities on the right, personifications of geographical areas. Tiberius steps down from a chariot driven by Victory 

Statement of imperial power and dynasty - Tiberius associating himself with the now-divine Augustus

Porta Maggiore

Built by Claudius

Claudian

52 AD

Travertine stone

Eastern Rome

Rusticated style - blocks look “aged” on purpose, alludes to Republican architecture

Serves as a bridge over the road for the aqueducts

Proclaimed boundaries of the city

Aqueducts announced power and generosity of Claudius

Frescoes of Nero’s Domus Area

Built by Nero

Designed by Severus and Celer

Covered 300 acres, front portico is 1 mile long

64-84 AD

Concrete and brick, colour mixed with water

Preserved throughout ruined underground rooms

Architectural frame - multi-story decorated backdrop

Flavian Ampitheater

Built by Vespasian and Titus

188×156 m. and 50 m. high

Period of the Flavians

Made between 72-80 AD

Concrete structural support, skeleton of travertine blocks

Network of tunnels + stairs freed up space, 45000 spectators to move quickly to and from seats

Conservative and traditional facade

4-story

Half columns carved in the blocks separated the arches – Doric on GF, Ionic on 2F, Corinthian on 3F

Below ground level = cages for animals, gladiators, passageways

Animal hunts, gladiator fights, executions, music

Largest, grandest, most important amphitheater in Rome

Themes: Power of Flavian emperors + their control over empire resources + benefits of the rule over Romans

Arch of Titus

Built by Domitian

Dedicated in 81 AD

Marble 

Rome, on the Sacred Way

Depicts victory parade with menorah (candles)

Plunder from 2nd temple in Jerusalem

Captives carrying the table of showbread

Commemorates Titus’ victory in Judaea

Divine Titus insinuates maybe Domitian is also a god

Going into a triumphal arch - viewer brought into the scene as they are also passing through a triumphal arch.

Celebrating themselves

Depiction of Roman triumph - spoils being carried around Rome - one of the only ones existing

Domitian uplifting his own image by uplifting that of Titus

Bound Dacians

Trajan likely had them made

Trajan’s period

Built 105-107 AD

Inaugurated 112 AD

Marble

Forum of Trajan

Trajan had military victories in Dacia in 101-102 and 105-106 AD - sculptures of Dacian captives were placed in his forum to commemorate them

Trajan’s Markets

Built by Trajan

Designed by Apollodorus of Damascus

Trajan’s period

100-112 AD

Brick-faced concrete terraces

Six levels of streets rising up the side of the Quirinal Hill

170 rooms 

Fenestrated sequence, so well-lit

Series of groin vaults

Architecturally ambitious - used a massive amount of concrete to keep the dirt in place, if not a landslip would’ve occurred below the Quirinal

Pantheon

Rededicated to Agrippa

c. 125 AD

Concrete containing basalt, floor and walls decorated with marble veneer

Porch: monolithic granite columns in Corinthian order - Greek influence

Main building (cella) - cylindrical domed drum - Roman structure

Functions as temple to all the gods

Walls are 6.1m thick

Lighter materials used from bottom to top

Relieving arches

Light through oculus travels in a beam across the dome - sun

Dome becomes vault of the heavens

Each coffer had a gold rosette + exterior of the dome was gilded

Column of Antoninus Pius

Built by Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

Dedicated to Antoninus Pius

Antonine period

Dedicated in 161 after his death

Marble

Built in Campus Martius

Base of the column

Relief sculpture depicting infantry in a parade activity - riding in a circle, infantry in the center

Italic style - shows shift from classical styles preferred by other Roman emperors - people want something new, so move away from Classicizing

Bird’s-eye-view + shown in profile = 2 different perspectives in the same scene

Rocks underneath figures so it doesn’t look like they’re floating

Horses + costumes = High-class

Cape = general

Centurion = breast plate = higher status

Commodus

Commodus likely had it made 

During Commodus’ rule, 180-190 AD

Marble

Commodus depicted as Hercules - Lion skin, apples of Hesperides, club

Example of using art/sculpture as propaganda

Severan Tondo

Severan dynasty period

c. 200 CE

Wooden panel

Likely Egypt

Depicts Septimius Severus with his family - wife Julia Donna and children Caracalla and Geta

Geta’s face has been removed by Caracalla - evidence of damnatio memoriae, “condemnation of memory”

Valerian and Persian Emperor Shapur I

During crisis of the 3rd century

260s AD 

Rock relief

Shiraz, Iran

Depicts emperor Valerian as a captive, paying homage to the Persian Emperor Shapur I

This was shameful for Rome as this has never happened to an emperor before, reflects the struggle of the 3rd century

Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

Diocletian had it built

 During crisis of the 3rd century

c. 300 AD

Granite - poryphory

Depicts the 4 tetrarchs - Diocletian promoting the system of tetrarchy - he subdivided the Empire into 4 sections

2 Augustae, 2 Caesars

Shows their equal standing + look the same = emphasises their power and strength as a collective

Arch of Constantine

Constantine had it made

During Constantine’s reign

312-315 AD

Brick-faced concrete, marble

Found in Rome, along the ancient Triumphal Route next to the Flavian Amphitheatre

Built largely of spolia (materials intentionally taken from older monuments), mostly imperial.

Rectangular panels taken from other monuments 

Bound Dacians at the top are from Trajan

Scenes of other emperors re-carved to look like Constantine - Trajan, Hadrian, Vespasian and Titus. Taking their powers and achievements

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

c. 360 AD

Marble

Found in the Vatican Hill necropolis

Junius Bassus = prefect of Rome 

Christian language on grave materials  

Inscription: Only lived to be 42 years old. Went to God as a recent convert to Christianity. Openly celebrating that fact 

Imagery = stories from the Bible e.g. Adam and Eve, Daniel and the lions, Abraham and Isaac 

Mayor of Rome (not an imperial capital anymore) celebrating himself through the series of biblical images 

Missorium of Theodosius I

Made in a workshop

388 AD

Giant silver disk

Weighs 19kg

Almendralejo, Spain

Commemorates the 10-year anniversary of Theodosius’ reign

Ceres depicted on the bottom - Christian art/language not well-documented in this age so it didn't matter that a figure from a pagan religion was being depicted, so this was an acceptable artwork and wasn’t yet considered blasphemy