The English comedy group
Monty Python did a movie in 1979 called The
Life of Brian. At one point in the
movie, there is a meeting being held by some disgruntled Jews wanting to
overthrow the Romans. The leader of the
group asks a rhetorical question, ‘what have the Romans ever done for us?’ To which is answered, in paraphrasing, the
aqueduct, sanitation, roads, irrigation, medicine, education, health, wine,
public baths, and order. In
exasperation, the leader says ‘all right, all right, but apart from better
sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and
roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order… what have the Romans done for us?!?’[1] Through their own comedic mocking way, Monty
Python touched on the large extent of the great achievements that Rome made throughout
their history. These achievements, as
mentioned above, took on many shapes and impacted on many facets of Roman
life. The art and architecture of Roman
society in particular was of considerable note and importance.
The art and architecture of
the Romans, as is the case with all societies, did not remain the same from the
time of its inception in the Republic era to that of the Imperial period. There were some changes to certain aspects of
life in the Roman Empire, and that
subsequently brought about changes in the things that the Romans produced and
the way they saw themselves. Granted,
this doesn’t mean that all aspects of art and architecture were changed
completely from these two time periods; there were some things that remained
very similar throughout the years as well.
This essay will look at some aspects of the art and architecture of the Roman Empire, where and why it originated, and how it
changed or remained the same throughout the years. The funerary monuments, western Greek settlements
in Italy, the comparison of
Hellenistic Greek art to that of the Roman
Republic, and late Roman
portraiture will be looked at.
The Romans had a strong
sense of familial honour and duty. One
way that this is evidenced is by their need to increase the fame and
laudability of the familial name. This
fame could at times increase to the point that a person was regarded (or
regarded themselves) as a demi-god. On
one epitaph is found an inscription comparing a member of the second squad from
Tarsos by the name of Melanippos to Herakles (Hercules)[2]. Citing the myth of Hercules and the twelve
labours that he had to endure and complete to gain admittance into the realm of
the gods[3],
Melanippos is reported to have done the same number, and was killed in doing a
thirteenth. This comparison of
Melanippos to Hercules is drawing fame to Melanippos as well as his family and
is also conveying the message that he was significant in life in that he
completed similar tasks as those done by a legendary demi-god.
Pliny the Elder[4]
talks about the value that was placed on the family as well. Pliny describes the Roman house as having
portraits and models of the ancestors’ faces on display as opposed to statues
and other artwork by ‘foreign artists’.
These models were also used in funeral processions for other family
members, so that a representation of the entire family would be in
attendance. Further to this, the library
of the house was kept with records of al the official careers held by ancestral
family members, as well as large genealogical charts hung on the walls. All of the acts preclude to the Roman pagans
as having a high regard of their own significance in life and death and
ensuring that the appropriate honour and glory were marked.
Another influencing aspect
on the architecture of early Republican Rome was the close settlements of the
Greeks. The colonies of the western
Greek world were founded by more than just the mainland Greeks. This was alluded to by Dominguez when
discussing Acragas and stating that it was of mixed foundation, or people from
different countries.[5] This could help in explaining why Mertens
stated that the first colonists in the seventh and sixth centuries BC had no
established tradition of building and craftsmanship.[6] Further, in talking about the concepts of
form, he states that only the general concepts from the colonists’ homelands
were transplanted to the new country, thereby indicating that there were
multiple origination sites for a singular new
city in the west.
It would stand to reason that the growing population of the
Mediterranean world in the seventh to the fifth centuries BC would begin to
look for more room and new places to settle, so this line of thinking is sound
and plausible. Thus, the presence of
multi-cultural people settling one area or city would create differences and
concessions to how things were developed, made, and designed to that of a
homogenous single country such as mainland Greece.
Selinus was founded on the
southern coast and as such was the westernmost Greek city in Sicily.[7] The colonial poleis of Sicily
and Magna Graecia were very proud of where
they had placed themselves as well as the elaborate planned urban arrangement
that was a completely new thing in the ancient world.[8] After Selinus was planned and completed,
there was some type of large-scale destruction, which Di Vita speculates was an
earthquake, which occurred and required the city to be redesigned and
modified. This was carried out around 560
and 460BC. The majority of the work that
was done was carried out in the sacred areas on the acropolis and the eastern
hills. This provides an excellent
example of how the natural landscape was altered in order to accommodate what
they western Greeks wanted to do. The
hill at this time was terraced by way of a 10 metre tall retaining wall that
was backfilled with 25000 – 30000 cubic metres of sand and forming two levels.[9] Clearly then, the natural land didn’t stop
the western Greeks from build what and how they wanted! This carried over into the Roman
Empire and influenced the way that the Romans built their cities
and monuments, which is one possible explanation as to why so many laypeople
have a hard time telling the different cultures ruins apart.
The new geographical and
geological conditions naturally influenced the building techniques and methods
since the materials available were different to that of the mainland.[10] For example, Sicily is poorer when it comes to robust
stone used in building and there is no marble anywhere. This would naturally encourage a different
technique of building and shaping the sacred structures. One such different technique was found with
the discovery of architectural terracottas used in the roof decoration that date
from early 600BC to late 500BC.[11] Terracotta wasn’t just used as a decorative
bit of working on the roofs, however. In
Magna Graecia terracotta gained a place of
particular importance in representative monumental buildings.[12] In the sixth century BC terracotta became the
most important decorative part of the system.
It wasn’t just the
architecture that Rome took its cues from Greece
with. The late art of the Roman republic is synonomous to the last stage of
the Hellenistic art period of Greece.
Most masterpieces of Roman art are Greek. Imitations were common at that time,
due to the Roman admiration of Hellenistic artistry. Roman art greatly
resembled Hellenistic art in both style and convention. As illustrated by the
famous antique sculpture, Laocoön and His Sons. This group was discovered in Rome in 1506. It is
believed to be an original carving of the second century B.C. and it was
thought to have been based on an Hellenistic masterpiece depicting Laocoön and
only one son. It was found in the remains of the palace of the emperor Titus.
Other fragments of Hellenistic groupings were found in a grotto that served as
a summer banquet hall of the emperor's seaside villa at Sperlonga.[13]
Most
of our knowledge of Greek architecture comes from the few surviving buildings
of the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods since Roman architecture
heavily copied Greek.[14] However, the Romans did use concrete and
arches, whereas the Greeks focused more heavily on the columns, balance and
symmetry in forms. The aqueducts and
plumbing that Rome
had also outstripped the knowledge and innovation of the Greeks. So, whilst Rome did copy the Greeks in a lot of respects
to the architecture and building practices in the early days of the Republic,
they were very much more advanced by the Imperial period.
In
comparison, The Romans learned sculpture and painting largely from the
Etruscans and Greeks and helped to transmit Greek art to later ages. Roman art
is the sculpture, pottery, painting, and other art produced in Ancient Rome in
the middle of the Eighth Century BC until the decline of the Roman
Empire by the Fifth Century AD. Ancient Roman art was heavily
influenced by the art of the ancient Greece, and later by the art forms
of countries within its empire, especially Ancient Egypt, or of civilizations
which its empire bordered.[15] The art of the first and second centuries AD
pretty much continued the traditions of portraiture and Greek imitations. Roman
artists added more use of art as propaganda to show what the emperors wanted
people to know or to think. Some examples of this are the Arch of Titus and
Trajan's Column. Roman people were
particularly interested in portraiture, such as making statues that really
looked like one particular person.[16]
Rome it
would seem, then, was a nation that owed much in the way of its architecture
and art to the surrounding nations contemporary to it. The Etruscans and the Greeks settled lands
near Rome and
shared and influenced the building practices and religious beliefs of the
nation, and in turn gave rise to a great civilisation. As the nation grew and aged, so too did it
mature and grow in splendour. When
Augustus took power and began the Imperial period, he set about making many
changes to Rome
herself. As Suetonius wrote: “Urbem
neque pro maiestate imperii ornatam et inundationibus incendiisque obnoxiam
excoluit adeo, ut iure sit gloriatus marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam
accepisset. Aware that the city was
architecturally unworthy of her position as capital of the Roman Empire,
besides being vunerable to fire and floods, Augustus so improved her appearance
that he could justifiably boast: ‘I found Rome built of bricks; I leave her
clothed in marble.’”[17]
Bibliography
Cerchiai,
L., Jannelli, L., & Longo, F.
(2004). ‘The Gulf of Naples’
in The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily. Pp. 36 – 61.
Cotterell, A., and Storm,
R. (2005) The
Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Mythology.
London.
Di
Vita, A. (1990). ‘Town planning in the Greek colonies of Sicily from the time of
their foundations to the Punic wars.’ in
Greek Colonists and Native Populations:
Proceedings of the First Australian Congress of Classical Archaeology Held in
Honour of Emeritus Professor A. D. Trendall, Sydney, 9-14 July 1985,
Descoeudres, Jean-Paul. Pp. 343 – 363.
Dominguez,
A. (2006). Greek
Colonisation: An Account of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas,
Vol. 2. Edited by Tsetskhladze, G.,
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands,
Pp. 253 – 357.
Hanfmann, G. M. A. (1975). The Problem of Roman Art. A Modern Survey of
the Art of Imperial Rome.
(Little, Brown and Company) New
York. pp. 15-19, 24-26
Harding, M. (2003). "Graeco-Roman religion (extract)" in Early Christian Life and Thought in Social Context: A Reader , pp. 175-191
Life
of Brian. (1979). Jones, T.
Sony Pictures.
Mertens,
D. (1990). ‘Some principal features of West Greek
colonial architecture.’ in Greek
Colonists and Native Populations: Proceedings of the First Australian Congress
of Classical Archaeology Held in Honour of Emeritus Professor A. D. Trendall,
Sydney, 9-14 July 1985, Descoeudres, Jean-Paul. Pp. 373 – 383.
NewDocs
– Book of Readings
HST250 – Pagans, Jews, and Christians. Macquarie University, Study Period 3, 2011.
Suetonius. (1995).
The Twelve Caesars. Trans.
Graves, R. Penguin Classics,
Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England.
Stockstad,
M. (2005). Art
History-Combined Volume. New Jersey:
Pearson Education
Witcombe,
C. (2007). ‘Art History Resources on the Web.’ http://www.witcombe.sbc.edu
[1]
Monty Python Life of Brian, 1979
[2]
NewDocs IV #1
[3]
Cotterell & Storm (2005:50-51)
[4]
Harding (2003:178)
[5]
Dominguez, Greek
Colonisation: An Account of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas,
p. 280
[6]
Mertens, ‘Some principal
features of West Greek colonial architecture’, p. 374
[7]
Dominguez, Greek
Colonisation: An Account of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas,
p. 299
[8]
Di Vita, ‘Town planning in
the Greek colonies of Sicily
from the time of their foundations to the Punic wars’, p. 352
[9]
Di Vita, ‘Town planning in
the Greek colonies of Sicily
from the time of their foundations to the Punic wars’, p. 355-356
[10]
Mertens, ‘Some principal
features of West Greek colonial architecture’, p. 374
[11]
Cerchiai, ‘The Gulf of Naples’, p. 39
[12]
Mertens, ‘Some principal
features of West Greek colonial architecture’, p. 375
[13]
Halfmann, G. Problem of Roman Art
[14]
Stockstad, Art History, p. 700
[15]
Stockstad. Art History Combined Volume,
p. 700
[16]
Witcombe, Art History Resources on the web.
[17]
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars,
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