Teaching unit:the Roman art
Class: V gymnasiumAge of the students:14-15 years old
Duration: 4 hours
Objective:
• To know the historical coordinates within which to frame the artistic period.
• To individualize the historical-cultural coordinates within which the work of art is expressed.
• To gather the specific aspects related to the technique and to the style of the Roman art.
• To know and to know how to chronologically put the principal sculptural, architectural and pictorial works of the republican period and the imperial period.
• To know the specific terminology. • To know how to contextualise the work in the historical
and partner-cultural circle.
Contained disciplinary:
• Historical signs. • The Romans and the art: the constructive
techniques used by the Romans. • Installations and infrastructures. • The Roman city. • Typologies of the Roman residence (domus,
insula and villa), public and religious buildings (temple, theatre, basilica, amphitheatre, forum, thermal baths, arcs).
• Examination of the more meaningful architectural testimonies. Pantheon and Colosseum.
Methods and tools :
• Frontal lessons. • Graphic-expressive activity done in
relationship to the analysis of the manufactured articles and finalized to the individualization of the characters of the work and their interpretation.
• Interactive lesson. • Use of videocassettes and CD-ROM. • Guided visits.
Tests :
• Types of tests: individual and collective interviews, interrogations, layout of brief essays, questionnaires, graphic exercises regarding the work of art.
Historical signs:The origin of Rome is connected to
the myth of Romulus and Remus :
the two twins, born from the
relationship between Mars and Rea
Silvia, according to the tradition
they were nursed by a she-wolf. In
753 B.C. after killing Remus for
personal contrasts, Romulus
founded upon the Palatine hill the
first installation from which Rome
would have been born.
At its origins, Rome was driven by the famous "seven kings":
• Romolus• Numa Pompilio• Tullo Ostilio• Anco Marzio• Tarquinio Prisco• Servio Tullio • Tarquinio the Superb
Repubblican Rome:
In the 509 B.C., after the last
etruscan king, Tarquinio the
Superb was driven out, the
republic came into being. This
period marked the destruction
of Cartagine as well as the
conquest of Greece, of Sicily and
of the major part of southern
Italy.
Imperial Rome:
After Caesar's killing in 44 B.C. his nephew, Ottaviano Augusto,
established a new monarchy. Since then many emperors
followed. The Roman empire of the west fell in 476 B.C.
under the emperor Romolo Augustolo, after having reached
its maximum expansion during the kingdom of Adriano.
Italy Greek
Portugal
Bulgaria
Turkey
Romania
The Romans and the art: the constructive techniques used by
the Romans.
For Roman art it's intended the art in
the ancient Rome, from the foundation
to the fall of the empire of the west,
both in the city of Rome and in the
rest of Italy and in the oriental and
western provinces.
The Romans, very careful to the practical
and organizational aspects of the common
life, gave their attention to the
architecture. The architects designed
great public buildings (theatres, basilicas,
temples) and important works of
engineering (bridges, roads, aqueducts).
The amphitheatre in Syracuse
The amphitheatre Romano of Syracuse is one of the
most representative building realizations of the first Roman imperial age.
Placed in the monumental area, it was found after the excavations of the duke of Serradifalco in
1839.
The theatre of Afrodisia
The Roman theatre of Afrodisia was
inaugurated in the 27 B.C., but it suffered some changes in the II century,
due to the gladiator games . Following the
collapse of the superior part, caused by the
earthquake of the VII century, it was covered
by earth and residences were built over it. The
theatre had an capacity for 12 thousand people.
The acqueducts
The DomusThe Domus was a typology of
residence used in the ancient Rome. It was an
urban private domicile and it distinguished itself from the suburban villa, which
instead was a private residence situated outside of the boundaries of the city, and from the rustic
villa, situated in the country and endowed with special environments for
the agricultural jobs
The Villa of the Hamlet of Armerina Plaza
The Roman Villa of the Hamlet was built
among the end of the III century and the
beginning of the IV century A.D. it was a
hunting residence made famous by its mosaic decorations , made by the African teachers of Massimiliano Erculeo
the colleague of Diocleziano.
From the Castrum to the city: the Roman urban system
The cities founded by the Romans had all similar
characteristics. The urbanistic scheme adopted
by the Romans in the construction of the city is
characterized by the orthogonally meeting of the roads, (from south to north) and (from west to
east), that divide the city in quadrangular blocks. The inspiring model was the Roman "castrum" or the
military camp.
Cardo
Decumano
The Temples
The Pantheon (temple of all the gods) is a building in ancient Rome, built as a
temple devoted to the divinities of the olimpia. It was built
around 126 A.D. under the emperor
Adriano.
The Panteon
The colosseum
The Colosseum, originally known as
Amphitheatre Flavio. It is situated in the
centre of the city of Rome. Its construction
was initiated by Vespasiano in 72A.D.
and it was inaugurated by Tito in 80A.D., with further
changes brought during the kingdom of
Domiziano