ARCHITECTURE, MONUMENTS & ART
basilica Aisled halls, often found in the forum of a Roman town, using for banking, law courts, and other civic business.
“bread and circuses” panem et circenses—a shorthand for the emperors’ generosity toward the urban population of Rome through the provision of cheap food and free entertainment.
capital The topmost element of a column, between the shaft and the lower element (architrave) of the entablature. The easiest way to tell Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders apart is to look at their capitals.
catacombs Extensive galleries of underground tombs cut into the rocks around Rome from the second century CE, often by Christian and Jewish communities.
cella The inner chamber of a Roman temple, in which the statue of the god or goddess might be housed.
columbaria Literally “dovecots,” burial chambers whose walls were lined with niches for the burial urns of the cremated poor and middling inhabitants of Rome.
column A vertical load-bearing pillar: the basic unit of classical architecture, developed into different orders.
Composite order A Roman variation of the Corinthian order, combining its foliage with the scrolling volutes of the Ionic.
concrete One of the great Roman contributions to architecture: a versatile, robust material that can be molded into any shape and even made to set underwater.
Corinthian order A columnar order whose elaborate capitals, with (massed) tiers of carved acanthus foliage, are easy to spot. Favored by Roman architects for its elaboration and richness.
Doric order A columnar order consisting of massive fluted columns terminating in a plain capital, with the frieze of the entablature divided between metope panels and a grooved decoration called triglyphs.
entablature The horizontal superstructure running above the column capitals in a Classical building. Each order specified a form of decoration for the surfaces of this element.
fresco Wall decoration painted directly onto wet plaster. Roman houses often featured frescos of mythological scenes, or architectural perspectives.
Ionic order An architectural order whose columns are more slender in proportion to their height than the Doric, with curving scrolled volutes at the corners of their capitals.
On Architecture Ten-book Latin treatise on architecture by Augustan architect Vitruvius. Covers theory, materials, means of construction, the disposition of public and private buildings, and military technology.
manes The Roman spirits of the dead; manes could mean something like the “soul” or “shade” of the departed.
mausoleum An elaborate monumental tomb for an individual or dynasty. Named after the tomb of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey), one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
orders Architectural styles consisting of columns plus their capitals and entablatures. The choice of order—usually Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian—entailed a set of rules of form and proportion and set the “rhythm” or overall style of a building.
piers Masonry supports carrying the weight of a vaulted roof (more massive than columns).
podium The platform on which a temple or other structure might stand, raising it up from ground level.
tesserae The tiny cubes of stone or glass that were laid in patterns to make up a mosaic.
Triumphatores A triumphator was a victorious Roman general who had earned the right to an elaborate victory parade through Rome called a “triumph”—the ultimate celebration of military and political success.
templum Technically not a “temple” building but a space inaugurated by a sacred ritual, in which a shrine might be located.
Tuscan order A plain, simple columnar order, not unlike the Doric.
veristic A style of Roman portrait sculpture that emphasized “warts and all” realism, favoring signs of aging to imply authority.
the 30-second history
Greek temples, such as the Parthenon in Athens, base their whole visual language on the proportions and ornament of the different columnar “orders” (the column and its associated superstructure or “entablature”). Roman architects appreciated this heritage and the rules that governed the use of each order: the sturdy, masculine Doric; the slender, feminine Ionic (Vitruvius writes that its scrolled capitals were like a lady’s “graceful curling hair”); the more elaborate Corinthian, with its carved acanthus-leaf foliage. The Corinthian order and its near-relative, the Composite, particularly appealed to the Roman love of detail. It additionally had the advantage of being totally symmetrical and as a result useful for all sorts of structures. Roman architects therefore made heavy use of these orders, but gradually took the column a long way from its roots. Whereas in Greek architecture the column was a structural element, transmitting the weight of a building’s roof into its foundations, in Roman architecture, massive concrete piers and vaults often carried the weight, meaning columns or columnar elements could be deployed as decorative details—in ever more elaborate arrays—without actually holding anything up.
3-SECOND SURVEY
Roman architects borrowed the columnar orders of the Greeks, but adapted them to their own aesthetic ends, devising new forms like the Tuscan and Composite orders.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Roman architects used decorative tiers of columns on all manner of structures—fountain houses, gateways, and especially theater stage backdrops. The Colosseum is a fine example: here the “engaged” half columns are mere surface decoration, without structural purpose, and a different order (Tuscan, Ionic, or Corinthian) is used on each of the three arcaded stories. In many buildings the use of light and shade, colorful marbles, and novel effects like spiral fluting added further visual effect.
RELATED HISTORIES
THE COLOSSEUM & CIRCUS MAXIMUS
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
APOLLODORUS OF DAMASCUS
fl. second century CE
Greek engineer and Trajan’s chief architect
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
Use of the column as a decorative, almost baroque feature, although disliked by Vitruvius and other purists, meant that Roman architecture had a distinctive visual identity.
THE COLOSSEUM & CIRCUS MAXIMUS
the 30-second history
Purpose-built structures for entertainment show how seriously Roman leaders took the “bread and circuses” task of keeping their city populations happy. Rome’s buildings for gladiatorial combat (the Colosseum) and chariot-racing (the Circus Maximus) were, appropriately, the largest and finest in the world. The Colosseum was not Rome’s first amphitheater, but once it was built in the 70s CE it became an instant classic; it is still an emblem of the city. Its oval arena overlays complex basements holding combatants, animals, and props for the arena; above ground its tiers of seats reflected Rome’s social structure—the more important you were, the closer to the action you sat. Built by the military-minded emperor, Vespasian, in what had been the private grounds of Nero’s hated palace, this 50,000+ seater stadium was a careful, populist gesture, signaling the new dynasty’s common touch and vigorous Roman tastes. The nearby Circus Maximus fills a long, narrow valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills. Horse- and chariot-racing were held here from the earliest times; by the second century CE the Circus had been successively rebuilt to hold up to a quarter of a million spectators, reflecting the huge popularity of the races (and gambling) that took place there.
3-SECOND SURVEY
Elaborate, purpose-built stadiums for gladiatorial combat and chariot-racing show how emperors cultivated the popularity of the games in Rome.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
The name “Colosseum” comes from a huge statue (or “Colossus”) of the emperor Nero, remodeled into the sun god after his downfall, which eventually lent its name to the huge stadium—officially the Flavian Amphitheater—nearby. Imperial poets dutifully praised the generosity of games-giving emperors, but the racier love-poet Ovid said that the Circus, with its tight-packed seating, was a good place to pick up girls. Both buildings were imitated across the empire by towns eager to boost their reputations.
RELATED HISTORIES
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
CALIGULA
12–41 CE
Emperor (ruled 37–41 CE) notoriously devoted to chariot racing, apparently to the point of trying at one time to make his horse a consul
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
Rome’s two largest venues for staging public spectacles and entertainment were central to the leisure of the populace, and became the model for similar structures throughout the empire.
the 30-second history
Religion permeated the public and private spaces of the Roman world. Homes, workplaces, and crossroads contained shrines and altars, while adherents of some cults (like that of Mithras) met in enclosed, secretive chambers. The principal gods, however, required more substantial, public premises. The Latin word templum actually means a consecrated space: anywhere the senate met, for example, had to be a templum. In general, though, the English word “temple” refers to public buildings erected for the honor and worship of the gods. These, with many variations over time and space, conform to a recognizable architectural pattern. The Romans adopted the Greek template of a rectangular building with a porch, an inner chamber or cella, and a roof supported by rows of stone columns. From their Etruscan neighbors they took the idea of placing the temple on a high podium, approached by a tall flight of steps, often with a sacrificial altar at the front, and much of the priestly ritual that made use of this dramatic architecture. Such sacred buildings gave Roman towns their architectural character: within Rome itself the Forum contained several temples, while from the adjacent Capitoline Hill the great temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus overlooked the city.
3-SECOND SURVEY
Temples provided magnificent, conspicuous public buildings for the worship of Rome’s protecting gods.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Roman architects could experiment with traditional temple forms. The Pantheon in Rome, sacred to all the gods, is a fine example: from the front, this resembles a conventional temple with a columnar porch. But in place of the rectangular cella is an enormous round space, still one of the largest concrete domes in the world: one ancient writer said that it resembled the vault of the heavens. Like several temples, it has been preserved by conversion into a church.
RELATED HISTORIES
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
117–138 CE
Emperor who oversaw the building of the Pantheon
NUMA POMPILIUS
d. 673 BCE
Legendary second king of Rome (ruled 715–673 BCE) to whom Romans attributed much of the city’s ancient religious lore
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
The temple was the focal point of religious worship until the late fourth century CE and is one of the most iconic examples of classical architecture.
the 30-second history
In its earliest phase, Rome was a cluster of hilltop villages. Their inhabitants needed a central place to meet and transact business, and to bury their dead, and chose the marshy area enclosed between four of the hills. As Rome expanded, this area was drained and paved in the seventh century BCE and started to acquire its first monuments, temples, and public buildings. Thus it became the Forum, the city’s center of commercial, civic, political, and religious life. As Rome’s size, wealth, and sense of itself as a capital city grew, shops and houses were gradually cleared to make way for grander public buildings. Contact with the magnificent royal cities of the Greek east resulted in the construction from the second century BCE of Greek-style “basilicas,” colonnaded halls flanking the long sides of the Forum for banking, law courts, and public business. The transition from republic to empire saw another transformation. Julius Caesar began changes completed by his heir, the first emperor Augustus: their grandiose rebuilding schemes posed as respectful restoration, but in reality transformed the Forum into a monumental precinct that honored the new dynasty and cemented its place at the heart of every type of activity conducted there.
3-SECOND SURVEY
The forum was the center of a Roman city, housing many of its chief temples and civic buildings.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Roman towns from Britain to Africa had a forum at their heart. The relatively well-preserved later layers of Rome’s Forum make it hard to perceive its developmental history. Studying the fora of provincial towns, which were often modeled on that of Rome, helps us to interpret how Rome’s Forum was understood and imitated. Over time ambitious provincial towns, including Pompeii followed Rome’s lead, closing their fora to traffic, removing messy commercial activities, and filling the space with imperial monuments, statues, and arches.
RELATED HISTORIES
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
AUGUSTUS
63 BCE–14 CE
Rome’s first emperor, who refurbished the main Forum, completed Caesar’s “imperial Foum,” and added another
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
Rome’s Forum was the communal hub of the city, where business, commerce, religious activities, and the administration of justice was carried out.
Ancient Rome was a man’s world: all offices of state were for men and elected only by the male citizen body; women remained under the nominal control of their father or husband, and women’s work was traditionally confined to the household.
When Rome’s old republican constitution fell apart, replaced by a single emperor, there was therefore no established public role for the women of the imperial house. Subject to intense scrutiny, vested with a degree of informal power through access to and influence over the emperor, and above all necessary to produce the heirs vital to dynastic rule, the role of empress had to be developed more or less from scratch.
It was Augustus’s wife Livia—as wife, mother, grandmother, great- and great-great-grandmother to Rome’s first five emperors—who created the model for later imperial women. By establishing a role for imperial women she also created a public role for women within the state and society more broadly: the statues of hundreds of female patrons and benefactors in Roman towns across the empire all owe something to Livia, both in their appearance and in their very existence as public statements of female power.
Livia was not Augustus’s first wife, and he wasn’t her first husband. When Augustus married her she was already pregnant and had to arrange a hurried divorce. She and Augustus had no children together, leaving his daughter and her two sons to establish the family line—a situation that worked very imperfectly and went through endless changes, exiles, deaths, marriages, and divorces (darkly attributed to her malign agency by later writers) before her son Tiberius eventually became emperor, to no one’s particular joy except hers, in 14 CE.
Although Livia could be ruthless in dispatching family members who fell short or got in the way of her aims (one grandson called her “Ulysses in petticoats”), her steadfast presence at Augustus’s side, her intelligence, tact, and steely determination, made her a formidable partner in his labors, while her unimpeachable public conduct allowed him to present his family as a moral and social model for the Roman world.
As the Julio-Claudian dynasty of emperors continued to unfold over the decades she was seen as its revered ancestress, accorded unprecedented honors in her lifetime and eventually deified in 42 CE more than a decade after her death in 29 CE—after falling out with Tiberius—as “the divine Augusta.”
Matthew Nicholls
Born Livia Drusilla
43–2 BCE
Married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, her cousin
November 16th, 42 BCE
Birth of her first son, the future emperor Tiberius
39 BCE
Divorced her husband, though pregnant, in order to marry Octavian (the future Augustus), which would eventually secure her future as the first empress of Rome
38 BCE
Birth of her second son, Nero Claudius Drusus
31 BCE
Battle of Actium—Octavian becomes sole ruler of Roman world
23 BCE
Death of Augustus’s heir Marcellus
2 CE
Death of Augustus’s heir Lucius Caesar
4 CE
Death of Augustus’s heir Gaius Caesar
9 CE
Potential heir Agrippa Posthumus exiled
14 CE
Death of Augustus and Agrippa Posthumus; accession of Tiberius as emperor. Will of Augustus grants Livia the honorific title of Augusta
16 CE
Becomes first woman to have her portrait appear on provincial coins
19–20 CE
Livia possibly involved in the murky events around the death of Germanicus and the trial and suicide of governor Piso: another attempt to remove a potential rival?
20 CE
Tiberius grants Livia a series of honors. Her continued attempts to influence his rule opened a serious rift between them
26 CE
Tiberius abandoned Rome, allegedly to avoid Livia’s influence
29 CE
Dies. Tiberius forbids her deification
42 CE
Deified by her grandson the emperor Claudius. He bestows the name Diva Augusta on her
the 30-second history
The triumphal arch is a distinctively Roman structure, with no functional purpose except commemoration or the marking of a particular place. Their associations with military victory and imperial power, and their suitability as platforms for sculpture and relief carving, made arches popular among Rome’s rulers and in later ages—Marble Arch in London and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris are based on the Roman arch. Triumphal arches stood over the Triumphal Way in Rome, a processional route through the city that was taken by generals whose victory fulfilled the strict criteria for the award of this most exalted of honors. Triumphatores—after Augustus, always emperors and their families—who wanted a permanent record of their moment of glory could erect an archway over the road, decorated with records of their victory and linking them with their illustrious predecessors. Gradually, such arches came to be part of the wider repertoire of commemorative architecture, and were used to mark the start and end of major roads and bridges, places of religious significance, and boundaries. Covered with relief carvings of battles, deifications, gods, and victory processions, and topped with statues, they confidently projected imperial power.
3-SECOND SURVEY
Set in prominent and significant locations and built on an impressive scale, triumphal arches commemorated Roman victories with elaborate architectural swagger.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
The Arch of Constantine in Rome, adjacent to the Colosseum, is a particularly important one. It bent the rules from the outset, as it was erected in 315 CE to mark Constantine’s victory in a civil war, rather than over a foreign enemy. Its decoration, largely of fine panels removed from earlier imperial monuments, is supplemented by far less skillful contemporary sculpture. Is this a hasty bodge-job, the beginning of the end of “realistic” classical art, or the dawn of a new medieval aesthetic?
RELATED HISTORIES
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
TITUS
39–81 CE
Military commander (later emperor) commemorated by the Arch of Titus
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
145–211 CE
First African Roman Emperor, commemorated by Rome’s second surviving triumphal arch
CONSTANTINE
272–337 CE
The first Christian emperor; his is the most recent of Rome’s surviving triumphal arches
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
What better way to mark military triumph than with a victory arch built to span a road?
the 30-second history
The Romans took the idea of mosaics—like so many other forms of art—from the Greeks, who, since at least the fifth century BCE, had been laying mosaics of pebbles and then of specially cut cubes (tesserae) of colored marble or stone. Rome’s highly developed towns and buildings, its appetite for fashionable decoration, and the pan-Mediterranean extent of its trading networks saw mosaic developed to new heights of sophistication and luxury. At its simplest, mosaic was a hardwearing, relatively cheap floor covering. Made from thousands of tesserae, it could cover a large room in a geometric pattern that would withstand heavy usage and was impermeable to water—ideal, then, for the thousands of bathhouses in Roman towns and cities. Various forms of mosaic were in fashion at different times and places; in imperial Rome and Italy black-and-white geometric patterns were common, whereas many provincial workshops, particularly those of north Africa, developed a taste for spectacular colored mosaics containing pictures of gods, people, gladiators, chariot races, abundant fruit and vegetables, and much else. Mosaic—especially using colored glass, with shells and other additions—could also be used to decorate walls, fountain grottoes, and even ceilings in Roman villas and gardens.
3-SECOND SURVEY
Mosaics, made of stone or glass laid in patterns and pictures, were a common floor covering in the Roman world and could also be used to embellish walls and ceilings.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Although most mosaic was a mass-produced and not particularly prestigious floor covering, at the high end of the market it could be used to create real works of art. Famous examples include painterly images of doves drinking from a fountain or an illusionistic “unswept floor” for dining rooms, showing the remains of a rich banquet.
RELATED HISTORY
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHY
SOSUS OF PERGAMUM
fl. second century BCE
Greek mosaicist named by Pliny the Elder, famous for his realistic, painterly works
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
Painstakingly created mosaics use tesserae to build up realistic effects of color and shadow—some floor mosaics have been found to contain over a million tiny pieces.
the 30-second history
The Romans were deeply interested in commemorating both the living and the dead. The erection of a portrait statue in a suitable place—for example, a forum for a local politician or emperor, a library for an author—was one of Roman society’s highest expressions of honor and success. Over time, many Roman towns acquired a population of marble and bronze figures to supplement their human inhabitants, creating a canon of local and imperial worthies for the ambitious to join. This Roman passion for portraiture probably developed out of the custom of keeping funeral images of illustrious ancestors in aristocratic houses, and parading them at family funerals to show a long and successful lineage. A tendency to invest certain characteristics of appearance with moral qualities meant that portraits could express ideological ideas, as well as simply looking “realistic” (which the best ones certainly did). The choice of whether to look old and wrinkled (like many “veristic” portraits of republican statesmen) or eternally youthful (like Augustus), clean-shaven (like early emperors) or bearded (like second-century CE emperor Hadrian), nude or dressed in military, civilian, or priestly garb contributed to a visually encoded system of messages and morals.
3-SECOND SURVEY
Realistic-looking statues abounded in the Roman world, filling public streets and buildings, private homes, and gardens.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
Not all statues were portraits of named individuals. Rich Romans aspired to collect statues of deities and mythological figures by Greek “old masters,” or at least decent copies; most Greek bronze sculpture is known to us only through Roman copies and versions. There were statues for all tastes and budgets, from bigger-than-lifesize down to small garden ornaments, but for many people the only sculpted image they would commission would be the portrait bust on their tomb.
RELATED HISTORIES
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
PRAXITELES
fl. fourth century BCE
The most famous sculptor of the Greek world, seen as highly collectable by later Romans
ASINIUS POLLIO
ca. 75 BCE–4 CE
Roman politician, man of letters, and the first to make his statue collection public
23–79 CE
Roman encyclopedist whose work forms the basis for much of our knowledge of statues
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
Contact with skilled marble and bronze workers of the Greek world played a part in developing the Roman passion for realistic statuary.
the 30-second history
The sides of roads into Roman towns were densely crowded with tombs, as burial was not permitted within city limits. As in much of Roman life, status and wealth were on display: prominent sites by busy thoroughfares, large, eye-catching tombs, and inscriptions (vital evidence for ancient historians) detailing illustrious careers, were all features of the grandest tombs, imitated down the social scale as resources permitted. Rich carving and arresting designs like pyramids or towers proliferated in the late republic, as leading families jockeyed for position. The aim was to commemorate the deceased and to give their spirits (the manes) a dwelling place, often in a family group, with access to ritual offerings of food and drink. Some commemoration of the life of the deceased also seems to have been an aim: many tombs depict the inhabitant’s profession or trade. Not everyone could afford such luxury in death. The poor, and even some slaves, banded together in burial clubs to finance columbaria (“pigeon-hole” tombs), and later on Christians and Jews excavated the vast warrens of the catacombs: a dignified final resting place was tremendously important for all Romans, though individual beliefs about the existence and nature of the afterlife varied widely.
3-SECOND SURVEY
A final resting place was important, and could provide a last—and lasting—opportunity to show off with a suitable proclamation of status and wealth.
3-MINUTE EXCAVATION
The world of the dead was not immune to fashion or politics. Some elements of burial remained consistent, such as inscriptions giving name, family relationships, and rank or profession. Others changed: Rome shifted from inhumation to cremation early on, and back again in the second to third centuries CE. Changes could be abrupt—Augustus’s enormous mausoleum put an end to elaborate funeral architecture, forcing elite families to avoid charges of competing with the emperor by using simpler designs.
RELATED HISTORIES
3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES
AUGUSTUS
63 BCE–14 CE
Rome’s first emperor
30-SECOND TEXT
Matthew Nicholls
Rome’s cemeteries contain the mortal remains of both rich and poor, but the tombs of the wealthy could be conspicuously immoderate, many with elaborate architectural forms and inscriptions.
