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Chapter 7
The Roman Empire
Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
14e
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The Roman World
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Goals
• Understand the great innovations of Roman architecture and how these innovations contributed to the expanse of the Roman Empire.
• Explore Pompeii for its information about Roman art and architecture.
• Examine the types, methods, and subject matter of Roman wall painting.
• Understand what Roman portraiture says about Roman society.• Understand the political nature of Roman art and architecture,
especially as it communicates ideas of power for the emperor and empire.
• Examine changes in Roman art and architecture as a result of expansion of the Roman Empire and the incorporation of the conquered cultures.
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7.1 The Republic (509-27 B.C.)
• The Roman Empire spanned three continents. Within its borders
lived millions of people of different races, cultures, religions and
languages.
• The center of the far-flung Roman Empire was the city on the
Tiber River that, according to legend, Romulus and his twin
brother Remus founded on April 21, 753 bce. Hundreds of years
later, it would become caput mundi , the “head (capital) of the
world,”.
• The Roman Republic vested power mainly in a senate (literally,
“a council of elders,” senior citizens) and in two elected
consuls . Under extraordinary circumstances, a dictator
could be appointed for a limited time and specific purpose,
such as commanding the army during a crisis. All leaders
came originally from among the wealthy landowners, or
patricians , but later also from the plebeian class of small
farmers, merchants, and freed slaves.
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Figure 7-2 Model of the city of Rome during the early fourth century CE. Museo della Civiltà Romana. 1) Temple of Portunus,, 2) Circus Maximus. 3) Palatine Hill, 4) Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 5) Pantheon, 6) Column of Trajan, 7) Forum of Trajan, 8) Markets of Trajan, 9) Forum of Julius Ceasar, 10) Forum of Augustus, 11) Forum Romanum, 12) Basilica Nova, 13) Arch of Titus, 14) Temple of Venus and Roma, 15) Arch of Constantine, 16) Colossus of Nero, 17) Colosseum.
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Roman Architectural Innovations
• The artists and architects of the Roman Republic drew
on both Greek and Etruscan traditions.
• The most impressive and innovative use of concrete
during the Republic was in the Sanctuary of Fortuna
Primigenia (Fig. 7-5), the goddess of good fortune, at
Palestrina.
• The builders used concrete barrel vaults of enormous
strength to support the imposing terraces and to cover
the great ramps leading to the grand central staircase, as
well as to give shape to the shops selling food,
souvenirs, and the like, aligned on two levels.
• In this way, Roman engineers transformed the entire
hillside, subjecting nature itself to human will and
rational order.
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Figure 7-5 Restored view of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina, Italy, late second century BCE (John
Burge).
The most common types of Roman concrete vaults and domes
are:
• Barrel Vaults: is an extension of a simple arch, creating a semi-cylindrical
ceiling over parallel walls. Whether made of stone or concrete, barrel vaults
require buttressing (lateral support) of the walls below the vaults to
counteract their downward and outward thrust .
• Groin Vaults: is formed by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults
of equal size. Besides appearing lighter than the barrel vault, the groin vault
needs less buttressing.
• Hemispherical Domes: a round arch rotated around the full circumference of a
circle. Masonry domes, like masonry vaults, cannot accommodate windows
without threat to their stability. Concrete domes can be opened up even at
their apex with a circular oculus (“eye”), allowing light to reach the vast
spaces beneath (Figs. 7-35 and 7-51)
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Figure 7-6 Roman concrete construction. (a) barrel vault, (b) groin vault, (c) fenestrated sequence of groin
vaults, (d) hemispherical dome with oculus (John Burge).
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c.
b.a.
d.
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Sculpture and Republican Verism
• The patrons of Republican temples and sanctuaries were in almost
all cases men from old and distinguished families. Often they were
victorious generals who used the spoils of war to finance public
works.
• These aristocratic patricians were fiercely proud of their lineage.
• The subjects of these portraits were almost exclusively men (and
to a lesser extent women) of advanced age, for generally only
elders held power in the Republic.
• They requested brutally realistic images with their distinctive
features, in the tradition of the treasured household Imagines.
• Portraits were veristic (true to natural appearance, super-
realistic).
• Scholars debate whether Republican veristic portraits were truly
blunt records of individual features or exaggerated types designed
to make a statement about personality: serious, experienced,
determined, loyal to family and state—the most admired virtues
during the Republic.
7-7 Man with portrait busts of his ancestors,
from Rome, late first century BCE. Marble,
5’ 5” high. Musei Capitolini–Centro
Montemartini, Rome.
Reflecting the
importance patricians
placed on genealogy, this
toga-clad man proudly
displays the portrait
busts of his father and
grandfather. Both are
characteristically realistic
likenesses.
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Figure 7-8 Head of an old man,
from Osimo, mid-first century
BCE. Marble, life-size. Palazzo del
Municipio, Osimo.
Veristic (super-realistic)
portraits of old men
from distinguished
families were the norm
during the Republic. The
sculptor of this head
painstakingly recorded
every detail of the elderly
man’s face.
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Figure 7-9 Portrait of a Roman general, from the
Sanctuary of Hercules, Tivoli, Italy, ca. 75-50 BCE.
Marble, 6’ 2” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo
Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
The sculptor based this life-size
portrait of a general on
idealized Greek statues of
heroes and athletes, but the
man’s head is a veristic likeness.
The combination is typical of
Republican portraiture.
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7-10 Denarius with portrait of Julius Caesar, 44 BCE. Silver, diameter ¾”. American Numismatic
Society, New York.
No Roman ruler dared to place his own likeness on a coin until 44 bce, when Julius
Caesar, shortly before his assassination on the Ides of March, issued coins featuring his
portrait and his newly acquired title, dictator perpetuo (dictator for life).
Records Caesar’s aging face and receding hairline in conformity with the Republican
veristic tradition. 14
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Pompeii
• On August 24, 79 ce, Mount Vesuvius, a long-dormant
volcano, suddenly erupted.
• Many prosperous towns around the Bay of Naples (the
ancient Greek city of Neapolis), among them Pompeii, were
buried in a single day. The eruption was a catastrophe for the
inhabitants of the Vesuvian cities but a boon for
archaeologists and art historians.
• When researchers first explored the buried cities in the 18th
century, the ruins had lain undisturbed for nearly 1,700 years,
permitting a reconstruction of the art and life of Roman
towns of the Late Republic and Early Empire to a degree
impossible anywhere else.
Pompeii and Architecture• Tourists still can visit the impressive concrete-vaulted rooms of Pompeii’s
public baths, sit in the seats of its theater and amphitheater, enter the painted
bedrooms and statue-filled gardens of private homes, even walk among the
tombs outside the city’s walls. Pompeii has been called the living city of the
dead for good reason.
• The center of civic life in any Roman town was its forum , or public square.
• The earliest amphitheater known built in Pompeii, it could seat some 20,000
spectators. The donors would have had choice reserved seats in the new
entertainment center. In fact, seating was by civic and military rank. The
Roman social hierarchy was therefore on display at every event. The word
amphitheater means “double theater,” and Roman amphitheaters
resemble two Greek theaters put together.
• In the Pompeii amphitheater, shallow concrete barrel vaults form a giant
retaining wall holding up the earthen mound and stone seats. Barrel vaults
running all the way through the elliptical mountain of earth form the tunnels
leading to the arena , the central area where the Pompeians staged
bloody gladiatorial combats and wild animal hunts. (Arena is Latin for
“sand,” which soaked up the blood of the wounded and killed.)
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Figure 7-12 Aerial view of the forum (looking northeast), Pompeii, Italy, second century BCE and later. (1) forum, (2)
Temple of Jupiter (Capitolium), (3) basilica.
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Figure 7-13 Aerial view of the amphitheater, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70 BCE.
Pompeii’s amphitheater is the oldest known and an early example of
Roman concrete technology. In the arena, bloody gladiatorial
combats and wild animal hunts took place before 20,000 spectators.
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Figure 7-14 Brawl in the Pompeii amphitheater, wall painting from House I,3,23,
Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60–79 CE. Fresco, 5’ 7” x 6’ 1”. Museo
Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
This wall painting records a brawl
that broke out in the Pompeii
amphitheater in 59 ce. The
painter included the awning
(velarium) that could be rolled down to shield the audience from sun and
rain.
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Roman Wall Painting• Roman wall paintings were true frescoes with the colors applied while the
plaster was still damp.
• Toward the end of the 19th century, August Mau (1840–1909), a German
art historian, divided the various mural painting schemes into four
“Pompeian Styles.” Mau’s classification system, although later refined and
modified in detail, still serves as the basis for the study of Roman painting.
• In the First Style or Masonry Style, the decorator’s aim was to imitate
costly marble panels using painted stucco relief.
• Second Style: Second Style painters did not aim to create the illusion of
an elegant marble wall, as First Style painters sought to do. Rather, they
wanted to dissolve a room’s confining walls and replace them with the
illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world.
• In the Third Style of Pompeian painting, artists no longer attempted to
replace the walls with three-dimensional worlds of their own creation.
Instead they adorned walls with delicate linear fantasies sketched on
predominantly monochromatic (one-color) backgrounds.
• In the Fourth Style however, a taste for illusionism returned once again.
This style became popular in the 50s ce, and it was the preferred manner
of mural decoration at Pompeii when the eruption of Vesuvius buried the
town in volcanic ash in 79.
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Figure 7-17 First Style wall painting in the
fauces of the Samnite House, Herculaneum,
Italy, late second century BCE.
In First Style murals, the aim was
to imitate costly marble panels
using painted stucco relief. The
style is Greek in origin and
another example of the
Hellenization of Republican
architecture.
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Figure 7-18 Dionysiac mystery frieze, Second Style wall paintings in Room 5 of the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 60–
50 BCE. Fresco, frieze 5’ 4” high.
Second Style painters created the illusion of an imaginary three-dimensional world on the
walls of Roman houses. The Figures in this room are acting out the initiation rites of the
Dionysiac mysteries.
Dionysos was the focus of an unofficial mystery religion popular among women in Italy at
this time.
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Figure 7-19 Second Style wall paintings (general view left, and detail of tholos right) from cubiculum M of the Villa of Publius
Fannius Synistor, Boscoreale, Italy, ca. 50–40 BCE. Fresco, 8’ 9” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In this Second Style bedroom, the painter opened up the walls with vistas
of towns, temples, and colonnaded courtyards. The convincing illusionism
is due in part to the use of linear perspective.
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Figure 7-20 Gardenscape, Second Style wall painting, from the Villa of Livia, Primaporta, Italy, ca. 30–20 BCE. Fresco, 6’ 7”high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
The ultimate example of a Second Style “picture window” wall is Livia’s
gardenscape. To suggest recession, the painter used atmospheric
perspective, intentionally blurring the most distant forms.
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Figure 7-21 Detail of a Third Style wall painting, from cubiculum 15
of the Villa of Agrippa Postumus, Boscotrecase, Italy, ca. 10 BCE.
Fresco, 7’ 8” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In the Third Style, Roman
painters decorated walls with
delicate linear fantasies
sketched on monochromatic
backgrounds. Here, a tiny
floating landscape on a black
ground is the central motif.
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Figure 7-22 Fourth Style wall paintings in Room 78 of the Domus Aurea (Golden House) of Nero, Rome, Italy, 64–68 CE.
The creamy white walls of this Neronian room display a kinship with the
Third Style, but views through the wall reveal the irrational architectural
vistas that characterize the new Fourth Style.
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Figure 7-23 Fourth Style wall paintings in
the Ixion Room (triclinium P) of the House
of the Vettii, Pompeii, Italy, ca. 70–79 CE.
Late Fourth Style
murals are often
garishly colored,
crowded, and
confused
compositions with a
mixture of
architectural views,
framed mythological
panels, and First and
Third Style motifs.
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7.2 The Early Empire (27 B.C. – 98 A.D.)
• The murder of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 bce,
plunged the Roman world into a bloody civil war. The
Fighting lasted until 31 bce when Octavian, Caesar’s
grandnephew and adopted son, crushed the naval forces of
Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt at Actium in
northwestern Greece.
• Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and in 30 bce,
Egypt, once the wealthiest and most powerful kingdom of
the ancient world, became another province in the ever-
expanding Roman Empire.
• Historians mark the passage from the Roman Republic to
the Roman Empire from the day in 27 bce when the Senate
conferred the title of Augustus (the Majestic, or Exalted,
One; r. 27 bce–14 ce) on Octavian.
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Pax Romana and Augustus• Augustus brought peace and prosperity to a war-weary
Mediterranean world. Known in his day as the Pax Augusta
(Augustan Peace), the peace Augustus established prevailed for two
centuries. It came to be called simply the Pax Romana.
• During this time the emperors commissioned a huge number of
public works throughout the Empire: roads and bridges, theaters,
amphitheaters, and bathing complexes, all on an unprecedented
scale.
• The erection of imperial portrait statues and monuments covered
with inscriptions and reliefs recounting the rulers’ great deeds
reminded people everywhere that the emperors were the source of
peace and prosperity.
• These portraits and reliefs, however, often presented a picture of
the emperors and their achievements bearing little resemblance to
historical fact. Their purpose was not to provide an objective record
but to mold public opinion. The Roman emperors and the artists
they employed have had few equals in the effective use of art and
architecture for propagandistic ends.
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Figure 7-27 Portrait of Augustus as general, from Primaporta,
Italy, early-first-century CE copy of a bronze original of ca. 20
BCE. Marble, 6’ 8” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.
The models for Augustus’s
idealized portraits, which
depict him as a never-aging
god, were Classical Greek
statues Fig. 5-40). This
portrait presents the emperor
in armor in his role as general.
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Figure 7-28 Portrait bust of Livia, from
Arsinoe, Egypt, early first century CE.
Marble, 1’ 1 1/2” high. Ny Carlsberg
Glyptotek, Copenhagen.
Although Livia sports
the latest Roman
coiffure, her youthful
appearance and
sharply defined
features derive from
images of Greek
goddesses. She died at
87, but never aged in
her portraits.
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Figure 7-29 Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace looking northeast), Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE
Augustus sought to present his new order as a Golden Age equaling that of
Athens under Pericles. The Ara Pacis celebrates the emperor’s most
important achievement, the establishment of peace.
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Figure 7-30 Female personification (Tellus?), panel from the east facade of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE.
Marble, 5’ 3” high.
This female personification with two babies on her lap embodies the fruits
of the Pax Augusta. All around her the bountiful earth is in bloom, and
animals of different species live together peacefully.
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Figure 7-31 Procession of the imperial family, detail of the south frieze of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 BCE.
Marble, 5’ 3” high.
Although inspired by the frieze Fig. 5-50) of the Parthenon, the Ara Pacis processions depict
recognizable individuals, including children. Augustus promoted marriage and childbearing.
The Flavians and The Colosseum
• The Flavians left their mark on the capital in many
ways, not the least being the construction of the
Colosseum, the monument that, for most people, still
represents Rome more than any other building.
• The Colosseum takes its name, however, not from its
size—it could hold more than 50,000 spectators—but
from its location beside the Colossus of Nero Fig. 7-2,
no. 16), the 120-foot-tall statue at the entrance to his
urban villa.
• The Colosseum was the largest and most important
amphitheater in the world.
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Figure 7-36 Aerial view of the
Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater),
Rome, Italy, ca. 70–80 CE.
7-37 Detail of the façade of the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre), Rome, Italy, ca. 70-80 CE.
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7.3 High Empire ( 96 – 192 A.D.)• In the second century ce, under Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, the Roman Empire reached its greatest geographic
extent and the height of it’s power.• Within the Empire’s secure boundaries, the Pax Romana
meant unprecedented prosperity for all who came under Roman rule.
• In time, Trajan, along with Augustus, became the yardsticks for measuring the success of later emperors.
• The Column of Trajan: The reliefs recount Trajan’s two successful campaigns against the Dacians in more than 150
episodes in which some 2,500 Figures appear.• Notably, battle scenes take up only about a quarter of the
frieze.• As is true of modern military operations, the Romans spent
more time constructing forts, transporting men and equipment, and preparing for battle than Fighting. The focus
is always on the emperor, who appears repeatedly in the frieze, but the enemy is not belittled.
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Figure 7-45 Column of Trajan, Forum of Trajan, Rome, Italy,
dedicated 112 CE.
The spiral frieze of Trajan’s Column
tells the story of the Dacian wars in
150 episodes. The reliefs depicted all
aspects of the campaigns, from battles
to sacrifices to road and fort
construction.
7-1 Detail of three bands of the spiral frieze of the
Column of Trajan, Forum of Trajan, Rome, Italy,
dedicated 112 CE.
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Hadrian
• Hadrian was Trajan’s chosen successor and fellow
Spaniard, was a connoisseur and lover of all the arts, as
well as an author, architect, and hunter.
• Hadrian, who was 41 years old at the time of Trajan’s
death and who ruled for more than two decades, always
appears as a mature man, but one who never ages. His
likenesses more closely resemble Kresilas’s portrait of
Pericles Fig. 5-41) than those of any Roman emperor
before him.
• The models for Hadrian’s artists were Classical statues of
bearded men. Hadrian’s beard was a Greek affectation at
the time, but thereafter beards became the norm for all
Roman emperors for more than a century and a half.
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7-48 Portrait bust of Hadrian, from Rome, ca. 117-120 CE. Marble, 1’ 4¾” high. Museo Nazionale Romano-
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.
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Architecture of the High Empire
• Soon after Hadrian became emperor, work
began on the Pantheonthe temple of all the
gods, one of the best-preserved buildings of
antiquity. It also has been one of the most
influential designs in architectural history.
• The interior space can be imagined as the orb
of the earth and the dome as the vault of the
heavens.
Figure 7-49 Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118 – 125 CE.
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Figure 7-50 Restored cutaway view (left) and lateral section (right) of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy, 118–125 CE.
Originally, the approach to Hadrian’s “temple of all gods” was from a columnar
courtyard. Like a temple in a Roman forum Fig. 7-12), the Pantheon stood at one
narrow end of the enclosure.
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Figure 7-51 Interior of the Pantheon, Rome, Italy,
118–125 CE.
The coffered dome of the
Pantheon is 142 feet in
diameter and 142 feet high.
Light entering through its
oculus forms a circular
beam that moves across the
dome as the sun moves
across the sky.
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Late Roman Sculpture and Painting
• We see a break with the past occur in the official portraits of
Marcus Aurelius, although his images retain the pompous
trappings of imperial iconography.
• Perhaps more than any other statuary type, the equestrian
portrait expresses the Roman emperor’s majesty and
authority.
• Portraits of aged emperors were not new, but Marcus’s were
the first ones in which a Roman emperor appeared weary,
saddened, and even worried. For the first time, the strain of
constant warfare on the frontiers and the burden of ruling a
worldwide empire show in the emperor’s face. The Antonine
sculptor ventured beyond Republican verism, exposing the
ruler’s character, his thoughts, and his soul for all to see.
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Figure 7-59 Equestrian statue of Marcus
Aurelius, from Rome, Italy, ca. 175 CE.
Bronze, 11’ 6” high. Musei Capitolini,
Rome.
In this equestrian portrait of
Marcus Aurelius as omnipotent
conqueror, the emperor
stretches out his arm in a
gesture of clemency. An enemy
once cowered beneath the
horse’s raised foreleg.
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7.4 Late Empire (192-337 A.D.)• By the time of Marcus Aurelius, two centuries after Augustus
established the Pax Romana, Roman power was beginning to erode. It was increasingly difficult to keep order on the
frontiers, and even within the Empire many challenged the authority of Rome.
• The Late Empire was a pivotal era in world history during which the pagan ancient world gradually gave way to the
Christian Middle Ages.• In 293, Diocletian established the tetrarchy (rule by four).
Together, the four emperors ruled without strife until Diocletian retired in 305. Without his leadership, the
tetrarchic form of government collapsed, and renewed civil war followed.
• In art, if not in life, the four tetrarchs often appeared together, both on coins and in statues. Artists did not try to capture their individual appearances and personalities but
sought instead to represent the nature of the tetrarchy itself—that is, to portray four equal partners in power.
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Figure 7-73 Portraits of the four tetrarchs,
from Constantinople, ca. 305 CE. Porphyry,
4’ 3” high. Saint Mark’s, Venice.
Diocletian established the
tetrarchy to bring order to the
Roman world. In group portraits,
artists always depicted the four
corulers as nearly identical
partners in power, not as distinct
individuals.
In this group portrait, carved
eight centuries after Greek
sculptors first freed the human
form from the formal rigidity of
the Egyptian-inspired kouros
stance, an artist once again
conceived the human figure in
iconic terms. Idealism,
naturalism, individuality, and
personality have disappeared.
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From Constantine to the Modern World
• An all-too-familiar period of conflict followed the short-lived
concord among the tetrarchs that ended with Diocletian’s
abdication. This latest war among rival Roman armies lasted
two decades. The eventual victor was Constantine I.
• Constantine attributed his victory to the aid of the Christian
god.
• Constantine, now unchallenged ruler of the whole Roman
Empire, founded a “New Rome” at Byzantium and named it
Constantinople (City of Constantine).
• For many scholars, the transfer of the seat of power from
Rome to Constantinople and the recognition of Christianity
mark the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle
Ages.
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Figure 7-75 Arch of Constantine (south side), Rome, Italy, 312–315 CE.
Much of the sculptural decoration of Constantine’s arch came from monuments of Trajan,
Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. Sculptors recut the heads of the earlier emperors to substitute
Constantine’s features.
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Figure 7-76 Distribution of largess, detail of the north frieze of the Arch of Constantine, Rome, Italy, 312–315 CE. Marble, 3’4” high.
This Constantinian frieze is less a narrative of action than a picture of actors frozen in time.
The composition’s rigid formality reflects the new values that would come to dominate
medieval art.
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Figure 7-77 Portrait of Constantine, from the
Basilica Nova, Rome, Italy, ca. 315–330 CE.
Marble, 8’ 6” high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.
After Constantine’s victory over
Maxentius, his official portraits
resuscitated the Augustan image of an
eternally youthful head of state.
The most impressive of
Constantine’s preserved portraits
is an eight and-one-half-foot-tall
head one of several fragments of a
colossal enthroned statue of the
emperor
The colossal size, the likening of
the emperor to Jupiter, the eyes
directed at no person or thing of
this world—all combine to
produce a formula of
overwhelming power appropriate
to Constantine’s exalted position
as absolute ruler.
Figure 7-81 Coins with portraits of Constantine. Nummus (left), 307 CE. Billon, diameter 1”. American Numismatic Society,
New York. Medallion (right), ca. 315 CE. Silver, diameter 1”. Staatliche Munzsammlung, Munich.
These two coins underscore that portraits of Roman emperors were rarely
true likenesses. On the earlier coin, Constantine appears as a bearded
tetrarch. On the later coin, he appears eternally youthful.
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Discussion Questions
What are some of the unique elements of Roman art and
architecture that distinguish it from Greek and other art of
the same time period?
In what ways does Roman art and architecture incorporate
the arts of conquered peoples from England to Egypt?
What does the presence of veristic portrait art of the
Romans say about Roman culture?
Why does the art under Constantine begin to move away
from the verism of the High Empire?