ARTH 1130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Etruscan Architecture, Etruscan Art, Ancient Greek Temple
24 Sep 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The Roman Empire
Rome, Caput Mundi
• Multicultural, Religious tolerance, Multilingual
• Roman temples ad basilicas remain today as churches around the world, and their buildings
are still repurposed today- even the roads are still followed
• They invented the western concepts of law and government, the calendar, languages, and even
the coins we use today
• First example of propaganda
• Caput Mundi- capital of the world
• Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus
Republic
• Art was a combo of Etruscan plans and Greek orders,
• This was because the Roman monarchy was Etruscan, and as the monarchy shifted to a
republic, they conquered parts of Greece and gained exposure to their art/architecture
Architecture
• Precedent was first broken by Marcellus in 211BCE when he returned to Rome after
conquering a Greek city and bringing back art- beginning the Roman obsession with the Greek
style
• Art was inspired by both Greek and Etruscan art styles
• Greece became a part of Rome in 133BCE
Temple of Portunus
• Portunus is the Roman god of harbours
• Mixture of Greek and Etruscan architecture
• Proportions of a Greek temple with the style of an Etruscan one
• Used stucco to create imitation marble overlying the stone structure
• Ionic style
Temple of Vesta
• Tholos temple- round
• early 1st century BCE
• Most likely dedicated to Vesta
• Concrete was new
• Corinthian
• Podium is only reachable via a narrow staircase, unlike Greek temples that had stairs all
around
Sanctuary of Fortuna
• Most impressive and innovative use of concrete during the republic
• Goddess of good fortune
• Layout reflects new Republican familiarity with the terraced sanctuaries of the Hellenistic east
• Concrete barrel vaults
• 2 stories of shops and restaurants
Sculpture
• Patrons were all men from old/distinguished rich families
• Victorious generals who used their spoils to finance public works
• Fiercely proud of their lineage
• Portraiture elevated the position of the patrician class in society
Verism
• The subjects of these portraits were almost always old men, because they were the only ones
who held power in the Republic
• They were highly realistic- exaggerated distinguishing features, instead of stylizing or
idealizing the subject
• Veristic- super realistic
• Debated whether they were designed to be blunt representations of individual features or
rather a statement about personality
Tivoli General
• Often the Romans created just busts, and then they were sometimes placed onto bodies where
they couldn’t actually belong- such as in this case
• Semi-nude portrait statue representing a Republican general
• Depicted by the cuirass (leather breastplate) that props the heavy marble statue
• He has an older face, but an extremely youthful body
• Resembles a Greek athlete
• Nude- heroic
• Greek imitation suggested cultural superiority
Julius Caesar
• They put ancestral portraits on coins to be distinguished
• Replaced divinities on coins
• The 1st person to do it was Caesar
• His new title at this point as dictator perpetuo (dictator for life)
• The Roman denarius inspired the penny
• It had an aging portrait of Caesar on it
