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Greek and roman architecture
Greek and roman architecture
Greek and roman architecture
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1. I choose the Colosseum and the Pantheon. The Roman Colosseum attracts me the most. It’s a grand Roman architecture. I first knew it from high school history, since that time I wish I could go to visit it myself one day. Nero suicide due to his lavish lifestyle, then Vespasian built the Colosseum on the ground, which was Nero’s palace (Section 3.1 Colosseum). Above that, it meant the end of Nero’s reign, or an era of authoritarian tyrant. Citizens did love that. As we all know the Colosseum was a place Roman watched fights shows: people to people, animals to animals, and people to animals. As the biggest events at that time, not only the aristocrats, but also normal people went there to watch the “killing games”. Countless animals and gladiators died there. It sounds so violent, and it truly was.
2. First, Rome did a good job in Portrait Busts. As our textbook points out in 3.1 Cicero and the Politics of Rhetoric, “These are generally portraits of patricians (and upper-middle-class citizens wishing to emulate them) rather than equites. Roman portrait busts share with their Greek ancestors an affinity for naturalistic representation, but they are even more realistic, revealing their subjects' every wrinkle and wart.” As we can see in the picture 3-5, every small wrinkle was true to life.
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The Colosseum, where animals and gladiators fought at the old time, is mainly round shape. Audience watched the fights on the stepped stands. Triumphal Arches, known for triumphant armies walked through it. “It were composed of a simple barrel vault enclosed within a rectangle, and enlivened with sculpture and decorative engaged columns”, nonetheless, it deeply influenced later architecture, especially in Renaissance (3.1 Triumphal Arches and Columns). What’s more, Column of Trajan, the Pantheon and some others, were great representative in Roman
Augustus’s statue portrayed him as an individualistic faction leader and tended to be more idealistic. For example, although he did start ruling as a youth, at the age of 18, his face was, continually, throughout his life, shown with youthfulness and vibrancy. He also had an archetypal body type of a hero and is shown with the omission of his boots, a reference to the ideal heroic statue. Lastly, there is a dolphin riding Cupid at his ankle which reminded the viewer that he was of divine descent. However, there was a limit to which he could exalt himself. He could not promote his individual character and will above the Roman public which would call for distrust and resentment.
Rome’s most famous landmark, Colosseum is a large Amphitheatre that could hold up to 50,000 people seated, which is located in Rome, Italy. The Colosseum was used as a royal treat, entertainment where gladiators would fight with wild beast in front of people, animal hunt, theatre performances and public executions for public entertainment and also the King himself. Most of the public event was held at Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum was built between 69 to 79 CE by the Vespasian emperor.
Pantheon and Hagia Sophia Pantheon and Hagia Sophia are two extremely outstanding architectural pieces of their times. They have been built according to the traditions of those particular times. The materials used to built these buildings and the purpose for which they were used are all very important aspects and have been briefly covered in this report. Pantheon The statesman Agrippa built pantheon in 27 B.C. Then it was completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian. The Pantheon is remarkable for its size, its construction, and its design. The dome was the largest built until modern times. The present structure was probably originally built as a temple for all the pagan gods. We do hear of it as being a law-court and a reception area for Emperor Hadrian meeting his quests too. Some say that the rotunda of the building was once a Roman bath. Due to all this mystery, the Pantheon is often referred to as the Sphinx of Rome. The visitor will probably not appreciate the construction as much as the Flavian amphitheatre, but it is still a great masterpiece of engineering and well worth a visit. Most Roman and Greek temples at the time of the Pantheon's construction were large, colonnaded, rectangular enclosures with sanctuaries situated in their centers. The Pantheon was different. It consisted of a large circular drum topped with a hemispherical dome. It is a masterpiece of both engineering and art a lasting memory of Ancient Rome’s might. Roman architecture is architecture of wall and enclosed tactile space. Individual column with entablature is no longer the basic architectural unity. Spatially, it shows a development from closed, simple space units and regular articulation to more complex spatial relations, more fluid interpenetrati...
The citizens of Rome loved to go to these bloody warfares. In the city of Rome, these events were held in the Colosseum. An arena so large that it could hold 50,000 spectators and host fights between men and animals.
In both of these sarcophagi there are two sets of people the barbarians (away-team) and their own people (home-team). In the Alexander Sarcophagus the Greek (home-team) are sculpted without any clothes this is because the Greek seek to bring out more naturalistic features since they appreciate the human body opposed to the barbarians which are completely clothed and wearing distinguishable Phrygian caps. Romans are similar to Greek in that they differentiate their people and the barbarians. In the Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus Romans are displayed primarily by having a calm and serious look on their faces. In addition, they are more pristine looking as the parts of the marble used are more smooth and less carved in thus having less of that Roman shadow effect on top of having a “wet body” look vs. the Goths (barbarians in Roman art) which are displayed to look more rugged by using deep carvings in their face and hair to create shadows on them furthermore the looks on the Goths faces have more expression open mouths and (in my opinion) in awe or regretful and lastly unlike the Romans their clothes do not have the “wet body” look at all their clothes are more
During the middle and late third century, the Roman republic era gave rise to the arena games and became a great phenomenon for the Romans. An amphitheater, also known as a coliseum, housed these dangerous games that potentially harmed the audience as well as those who participated in them. Gladiatorial combat originated as part of funerals for deceased influential Romans. These large gladiatorial games were held by emperors during funerals of important roman officials, but were also included during other occasions. Over time the connection among the gladiator games and funerals decreased, and the upper class put on the games mainly to raise their social standing and gain favor with the public.
In order to illustrate the power of the Republic and Early Empire the Romans had designed my artworks, monuments, and infrastructure that not only celebrated Roman power but also created the sense of a real empire. One of the most important works that is a great example of using public monuments as imperial propaganda is the marble statue of Augustus of Primaporta. Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian had order the work to be created in order to provide with a monument of Caesar. The statue shows Caesar as a young idealized man instead of his real age, that in a way reflects the influence that Greek had in Roman artwork. The statue also shows the armor that he is wearing, in scripted is his victories over the “barbarians.”
The Colosseum, one of Rome’s most famous structures, is located east of the Roman Forum in Piazza del Colosseo in Rome, Italy. As a gift to the Roman people, Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty commissioned the Colosseum around AD 70-72. Titus, Emperor Vespasian’s son and successor, opened it officially in AD 80. The Colosseum is able to hold roughly 50,000 spectators, making it the largest amphitheater in Rome. The Colosseum is a symbol of how advanced Romans were in architecture and building. This monument represents strength, power, cruelty and violence. Thousands of people, most commonly criminals and professional fighters, even animals, have been killed inside the walls of the Colosseum.
This discussion will first describe a marble statue of the emperor Augustus Caesar (27 BC-14 AD) dating from 15 AD during the reign of his successor Tiberius. It is thought to be a copy of an original statue from 20BC, and is located at the Villa of Livia, the then-home of Augustus’ wife, at Prima Porta. The statue portrays an idealised and youthful version of Augustus, as he is shown to have a full head of hair and young facial features, including the traditional Roman aquiline nose and a rounded mouth. This reflects a Greek style of art and subverts the traditional expectation of Roman statues, which usually portrayed their subject as old in order to convey their experience and conservatism. Therefore, this statue of Augustus is a political
Here, we will be looking at a rendition of the high marble statue of Augustus Caesar known as “Augustus of Prima Porta.” Originating from 1st Century A.D., it is said that there is a possibility that the original sculpture could have been of greek descent. Upon a general overview of the sculpture, one can see that Augustus fulfils a millitarial role of some kind. From his very stance to the garments portrayed on him, Augustus is draped in a decorative cuirass and a tunic, accompanied by a figure of Cupid clutching on to his right calf. After taking the general themes of the work into account, one can then began to start unraveling the many symbolic elements embedded into the sculpture that allude to godly themes. Starting from the crown of his head, the very chiselment and structure of his face gives the work a youthful element to it, even though some say that Augustus was around 40 years old. A recurring theme within Greek and Roman culture is the matter of godliness and immortality amongst idolized figures themselves. This idea is usually depicted by displaying powerful human being in a younger light. This
History 201 Research paper The colosseum Death and fights were the most entertaining events in the roman’s time. Such a cruel and violent entertainment required a complex and well-made building to keep the spectators safe. An enormous and deadly arena was completed in 79 A.D. The Colosseum, still today, stands in the middle of the Eternal City as a symbol and Roman domination.
There were four different genres of such entertainment in the games held in amphitheatres (Amphi-theatres are outdoor arenas. "theatres in the round": Amphi- meaning "round" in Greek.) : Gladiatorial combat, the theatrical execution of foreigners, beast shows, as well as chariot racing. Watching someone or a beast kill another was applauded for the method, skill, or artistry used in the slaughter. The games themselves provided ways for Rome to demonstrate the power of their empire, as huge investments of wealth, time, and emotion was put into the games. Death became a spectator sport with the viewers and the viewed both contributing to a wild and gory performance. Already by the late Republic magistrates were spending huge amounts of money on these games. The Latin word for gladiatorial games is Munus which means obligatory offering. This reflects the origin of these games as funerary offerings to the dead. While magistrates in the Republic may well have put on games to gain popular favour, this was in their private capacity and not as magistrates. Only gradually did the gladiatorial shows come to be assimilated with the games put on by magistrates.
With the technology and the design capabilities of the time, the Colosseum plan and design was a successful one even if the spectators may have had minimal room. The seating was raised all around as so everyone could see the center from all directions, the flow of traffic was sufficient for everyone to travel throughout the arena, and the structure could withstand the massive amount of gravity loads and lateral loads stressed unto it for many years. As I stated earlier, the façade of the colosseum gave viewers and bystanders a clear representation that this structure was for a large number of people to gather for a form of entertainment as well as create an esthetically pleasing sight in the Roman
The Architecture of the Colosseum is very grand, with the capacity to hold up to 80,000 people. The Colosseum is over 160 feet tall, it “has a length of 620 feet and was close to 513 feet wide” (“Colosseum Architecture.”). Because the Colosseum was so big, it would have been very difficult to get so many people in and out of it had it not been for the various arches and stairs built within it. In total there are about 80 arches that each led to various stairways. These stairways then led to all the different levels of the Colosseum, which in turn made it a lot easier and more comfortable for a lot of people to exit it in a short amount of time. The Colosseum also had many arches of which four were “reserved exclusively for royalty and nobles” and the others were for the rest of the people (“Colosseum Architecture.”). Unlike other amphitheaters which had a circular shape, the Colosseum had the unique shape of an oval, which helped the people watching have a better view of the arena. This added to the overall different feel that the Colosseum had.
The Colosseum contained over four stories. The first three contained over 80 entrance arches and contained a complex drainage system. These entrance arches made evacuation extremely fast in case of an em...