Post on 26-Dec-2015
Ancient Rome:Roman Art History
The Ancient Roman World
Why Study the Romans?
The Romans borrowed many things from the Greeks before them, including the arts.
Many of today’s surviving Greek art pieces are actually Roman copies made by Greek and Roman artists
The Romans also gave us the system of government known as “Republicanism”
They also made many of their own artistic and technological innovations, most notably the arch, which allowed them to create tunnels, domes and aqueducts
The Romans also invented a stronger form of concrete, which allowed them to build larger structures
Why Study Roman Art? Because ancient Rome has passed on many artistic traditions used for thousands of years AND still used today. Most notably, churches continue to reflect Roman architectural innovations
Timeline
950 – 650 BCGeometric and Orientalizing Period
650 - 475 BCArchaic Period
475 - 323 BCClassical Period
GREEKS ROMANS
509 - 27 BCRoman Republic
27 BC - 14 ADAugustan Period
27 BC - 393 ADRoman Empire
It should be noted that Roman society began to flourish even as the Greeks entered their “Golden Age”
The Roman Republic:Architecture
Notice the Ionic columns used in this building
The Temple of Portunus (100-50 BC) is an example of architecture from the Roman Republic period
It continued to use the Greek post and lintel system
This building was very similar to the temples being built in the Greek world
The Post and Lintel System The Post and Lintel system of the Greeks was limited in the weight that it could support and the distance it could span
The Arch The invention of the arch
by the Romans was a major leap forward in architecture
The advantage of the arch was that it could bear more weight above it by transmitting the load around and down to the piers
It could span a greater distance between the piers
Examples of the Roman Arch
The Arch Cont’d The invention of the arch made it possible for buildings
to also feature tunnels and domes
An arch extended forms a barrel vault (or tunnel vault)
Two barrel vaults intersecting at right angles form a groin vault
An arch rotated around a fixed point to form a dome
The Arch Cont’d
The Aqua Appia was the first Roman aqueduct
It was constructed in 312 BC
It was one of the earliest Roman architectural examples to make use of the arch
Buildings featuring the arch really began to flourish during the Roman Empire period (27 BC – 393 AD)
What is an Aqueduct? Ancient Rome had eleven major
aqueducts, built between 312 BC and 226 AD
It has been calculated that when Rome’s population was well over a million, the distribution system was able to provide over one cubic meter of water per day for each inhabitant: more than we are accustomed to use nowadays
Aqueducts were man-made conduits for carrying water
Simply put, aqueducts were used to conduct a water stream across a hollow or valley and provide citizens with water for daily use
Concrete All this was possible because the Romans invented a more efficient
type of concrete
Although invented much before the Romans, the Romans came up with a mixture that was stronger and more durable
With the addition of pozzolan ash from a nearby volcano, the Romans were able to create a concrete that was light weight, dried slower, and could be formed in wet weather
Concrete allowed the Romans to create larger structures and more elaborate buildings
This is why larger buildings, domes, aqueducts and theatres could be built by the Romans