ROMAN STYLE I
Before Rome
-Greeks in southern Italy and Sicily since seventh century BC (e.g., Pythagoras, ~540 BCE, moved to southern Italy and was part of religious colony; also Empedocles, a Pluralist, born in southern Sicily)
-Etruscans probably were in central mainland since eighth century BC
-Rome was between Greeks and Etruscans:
-trade had influence on the culture of Rome
§ Etruscan temple
Sculptures:
4.6)
2) Capitoline She-Wolf (~500 BC): bronze sculpture
Romulus and Remus added in Renaissance
*Rome- the eternal city: Rome in the Soo? (see Humanities Links of Interest)
** The Roman style is a blend of Etruscan, Hellenic, Hellenistic, and original style.
Rome: tries to synthesize the pluralities in ancient society
1) Rome consolidates Hellenistic culture, but it tries to improve upon the latter’s vices
-2) A central concern of Roman rulers: how to bring order
-B/t rich and poor, -B/t slave and free
-B/t learned and unlearned, -B/t ruler and ruled
From the Aeneid: "Let others fashion from bronze more lifelike breathing images- For so they shall- and evoke living faces from marble; Others excel as orators, others track with their instruments the planets circling in heaven and predict when the stars appear. But, Romans, never forget that government is your medium!"
Republican Rome (509 BC-27 BC)
What is a republic?
Conflicts in the Roman Republic
-107 BC: Gaius Marius enrolls non-citizens to army (citizens would often
return from battle to find their land had been taken).
- With a standing army comes new conquests and a new prosperity.
- But new problems are created:
1) Slave labor causes many peasants to lose their land and become unemployed
2) The city of Rome’s population steadily increases
3) The Senate seems out of touch with the masses
Julius Caesar
Explain how Caesar was able to rise to dictator given the political and economic conditions of the time:
Rome as Empire
Augustus Caesar:
Seeks peace for Rome after nearly 100 years of civil war
1) restore civilian morale
2) rebuild city of Rome
Trajan:
Forum of Trajan
-An orderly, triumphant center of city life "for the people"
-What did the plan for the Forum look like?
-Basilica Ulpia
- Trajan’s Column
- Trajan’s Temple
"Amusement art" as a continuation of Hellenistic melodrama
Bread and circuses: how the Roman games were used for political gain…
Question: Does amusement art have any redeeming value?
The Roman Arena: (video)
Explain the origins of the Roman games.
Explain the social and political role of the bread and circuses in the Roman Empire.
Other notes of interest:
Art for the people?
-Athenaeus (~200 AD): "In early times, popularity with the masses
was a sign of bad art; hence, when a certain auolos-player once
received loud applause, Asopodorus of Philus, who was himself still
waiting in the wings, said ‘What’s this? Something awful must have
happened!’ The player evidently could not have won approval with the
crowds otherwise…And yet the musicians of our own day set as the goal
of their art success with their audiences."
-Recall the common view that art aims at the discharge of emotions
-Amusement art: emotions must be discharged, but they are discharged within the exercise of the amusement –and not in practical life.
Examples?: action movies, detective stories, pornography, WWF wrestling, video games, etc.
-In art proper, (non-amusement art)- the emotions excited have a practical function in the affairs of everyday life.
-R.G. Collingwood: "Amusement becomes a danger to practical life when the debt it imposes on these stores of energy is too great to be paid off in the ordinary course of life."
Is this bad for society? What if any crimes are the result of the spillover of emotions from amusement activity?
-But how do we define ‘taste’ (democratic aestheticism?) Who decides?
-Alternative one: eliminate certain tastes
-Censorship? (e.g. Plato’s Republic)
-Alternative two: raise tastes and expectations to new standard
- Bathhouses: high-living for the masses?
-Alternative three: cater to both lower tastes and higher ones
-Trajan’s Column
Roman Architectural Contribution
-Building for use
-Development of the arch and vault as a structural principle (Fleming 112)
-Emphasis on verticality
-Design of significant interiors
Roman Philosophical Contribution
STOICISM
-Marcus Aurelius (Emperor) and Epictetus (Slave)
-Stoicism began in the early Hellenistic period as a response to concerns about how to deal with the pluralism and uncertainty around us.
-It flourishes in Rome because similar concerns pervade Roman life
-The Roman stoics emphasize not withdrawal from public affairs, but the performance of duty within the public sphere.
-Popular Art: Was John Lennon a Stoic?
Roman Ideas
-In architecture
-In expansion of interior space
-Broadening appeal of the arts
-Focus on maximizing happiness
<>-Focus on practicality in engineering and architecture<>-Portrait of a Roman Lady
-Porcia and Cato
Treasures of Rome
Ara Pacis Augustae (Augustus’s Altar of Peace): c. 13 BCE;
-modeled on Altar of Zeus
-high relief sculptured panels
-Imperial Procession
-Tellus
Colosseum: 72-80 CE;
-~50,000 spectators
-utilitarianism, organization, building for use
-4 levels:
Aqueducts
-Pont Du Gard in France
-25 miles long
-brought water from mountains to towns
-arches
Architectural Contribution
Arch and vault as a structural principle
The Pantheon
Forum of Trajan
The Destiny of Rome
The Aeneid
Rome: the Eternal City