NOVEMBER 14/15: ROMAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE: THE ART
OF
EMPIRE (Under
construction)
Summary: We will return to key
passages in books 6 and 8 of the Aeneid as
starting points for a discussion of the art and architecture of
Rome, its debt to Greek art, and its use in the service of Rome's
empire. We will examine the ways that, like Virgil's own poetry, Roman
art creatively adapted Greek
art and blended myth and history. We will see how the Romans created an
art of empire, building the infrastructure of power, furnishing the
amenities of urban life, expressing
the ideology of the emperors, and celebrating their achievements.
In contrast with the multiplicity of stories in Ovid, we will see how
Roman authorities tried to portray official versions of history. This
discussion of Roman art will lay the groundwork
for an understanding of the public and didactic functions of Christian
art in the Middle Ages.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: THE AENEID AND THE
ARTS, BKS. 6, 8
-Compare the pageant of Aeneas' Roman descendants in book
six
with Virgil's description of the shield of Aeneas. How are the two
descriptions "visually" organized?
-Explain Anchises' remarks about Rome's "arts" (6.1127-37). Are they
consistent with Virgil's use of Homer?
-COMPARING WORKS>>> Compare Virgil's description of the shield
of Aeneas to Homer's description of the shield of Achilleus. How does
Virgil's description differ? Compared to the shield of Achilleus, is
the shield of Aeneas easier or more difficult to visualize and "read"?
Can you relate it to real works of Roman art?
KEY TERMS
ROMAN EMPERORS
Augustus (27 B.C. - 14 A.D.)
Nero (54-68)
Vespasian (69-79)
Titus (79-81)
Trajan (98-117)
Hadrian (117-138)
Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
Septimius Severus (193-211)
ROMAN IMPERIAL MONUMENTS
-the Ara Pacis (13-9 B.C., emperor Augustus)
-the Augustus of Prima Porta (c. 14 A.D.)
-the Gemma
Augustea (early 1st century A.D.)
-the Arch of Titus (81 A.D.)
-the Colosseum (c. 72-80 A.D., emperor Vespasian)
-Trajan's Forum
(Trajan's markets and Trajan's column
) (100-13 A.D.)
-the Arch of Trajan at
Benevento , Italy (c. 114-17 A.D.)
-the Pantheon (c. 125-28 A.D., emperor Hadrian)
-Hadrian's villa at Tivoli (c. 135 A.D.)
-the Arch of Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna, north Africa (c. 203-04
A.D.)
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES:
MONUMENTS OF
AUGUSTUS
AUGUSTUS OF
PRIMA PORTA
THE
IMPERIAL FORA
THE
COLOSSEUM
TRAJAN'S COLUMN: A SPLENDID SITE AT
http://cheiron.mcmaster.ca/~trajan/index.html
TRAJAN'S COLUMN:
DETAIL
MONUMENTS OF
EMPEROR HADRIAN
ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION AND TOUR OF HADRIAN'S
VILLA (1)
ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION AND TOUR OF HADRIAN'S
VILLA (2)
******************************************************************************
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Roman imperial monuments have introduced you to
imperial iconography, the visual language used to express the power and
policies of the Roman emperors. Personifications, conventional
scenes,
carefully ordered compositions and a standard language of gesture
helped
make these images legible to the Roman public, and their language and
message
would have been repeated on coins and in the pageantry of public
festivals.
Compare the ways in which conventional political imagery is used today
in
political advertisements, public ceremonies and other settings.
******************************************************************************
Revised, August 27, 2006 (still under construction)
NEXT CLASS:
NOVEMBER 20/21: EARLY CHRISTIANITY
SCHEDULE OF READINGS (Monday/Wednesday)
SCHEDULE OF READINGS (Tuesday night)
RETURN TO HUM 2211