Roman artwork is extremely intricate and diverse, however, a lot of what is referred to as Roman art can better be described by the cultures it conquered. The ancient Greeks were the most influential of these cultures, from their temples and sculptures, to their reliefs and paintings. Greece was the first culture to create major programs for sculpture, painting, and architecture. Many of the first Roman artists were of Greek descent as their artwork reflects the Classical and Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece. A lot of what is considered to be Roman artwork is criticized as being mere copies of Greek artwork since they modeled their forms and styles after the Greeks, but other cultures influenced the Romans as well, mainly the Etruscans,
Greek Architecture The Greek culture has had a huge impact on the history of the world. There is something Greek in almost everything, especially in the world’s architecture. Greece no longer had one king, so they focused on building temples for their gods. Architecture began small and plain but evolved into impressive pieces of art. As time passed from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic period, the people of Greece developed a type of formula for their buildings and their pieces of art.
The purpose of festivals was to please the gods and convince them to grant the people's wishes. Such as making the crops grow or bringing victory in war. In addition to religious events athletic competitions and theatrical performances took place at festivals too.. The early Greek architecture, from about 3000 BC to 700 BC, used mainly the post and lintel, or post and beam, system. Their main building material was marble.
Roman culture was very inspired from the Greece culture and they had used very basic ideas to build buildings and temples, to portrait sculpture. They modernized and improved their architectures and sculptures in decorative way and made a separate image in the world. There are differences and similarities between Greek and Roman architecture because the Romans built on the earlier Greek knowledge but invented from there. Roman architecture was highly influenced by Greece, but the Romans also diverged to create a separate identity and uniqueness. Similarities between
The Greeks went through a few periods the geometric period, the archaic period, and the classical period. Throughout these periods the Greek artists learned and advanced in a short period of time. The Greek artists learned rules of perspective, made great progress, and created contrapposto, which is the weight distribution in a sculpture. Art in the High classical period in Greece had a standard, a set of rules the artists followed. Looking at artwork in comparison A, the sculptures both appear to be Greek, although they can be confused for Roman sculptures.
Greek and Roman architecture have long been connected due to the similarities between the temples and other types of constructions that those two civilizations created. Roman architecture was highly influenced by Greece but the Romans also diverge to create a separate identity. Also, both civilizations used in their constructions those three different type of columns: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Greeks tended to use the less ornate Doric columns in their temples compared with the Roman temples which are usually supported by Corinthian columns. An important difference between the Greeks and Romans is that they used in their temples different type of materials.
As the Roman Empire spread, it eventually encompassed the area the Greeks used to control, bringing them in contact with Greek architecture. Closely following the Greek temples, a classic Roman temple is made up of four main components: the steps, the colonnade, the portico and the cella. Greek temples were built with massive steps to be used by the gods, not humans, on all four sides of the temple. Romans borrowed the idea of steps leading up to the temple, but transformed it to fit their own needs by building the steps small enough for humans. This alteration allows the temple to be more accessible by humans, reinforcing the relationship between the members of Roman society and the gods.
Each column consists of a column, base, shaft, capital, and entablature. The entablature consists of the architrave, frieze, and cornice (Summerson). The Romans used columns as ornaments, but the Greeks used the columns for structural stability (Summerson). The Parthenon was a Doric temple (Spawforth 64). The Parthenon was the centerpiece of acropolis renewal (Jenkins 76).
The Tuscan order is what Rome later modified to build their temples. Although the Romans had some inventions of their own in architecture, such as concrete, the majority of their structures developed from the Greek style. Roman art, especially sculptures and paintings, was influenced by the Greeks because when Rome conquered Greece, much of Greek art became collectively mixed with that of Rome. Many of the Classical Greek sculptures that were later seen in Rome depicted a naturalistic representation of humans through portrait busts (Sayre 184). While the Greeks influenced Roman realism, Rome took it to a new level in revealing every wrinkle and wart.
The architectural orders, Doric on the mainland and Ionic in the eastern Aegean, were developed in the archaic temples, and their lasting example tended to make Greek architecture conservative toward changes in design or in building technology. The Archaic period evolv... ... middle of paper ... ...mples had exterior Corinthinan columns, such as the colossal temple of Zeus Olympius in Athens, begun in 174 BCE. In the Ionic order, Hermogenes of Priene evolved new canons of proportion concerning the temple plan and the height and spacing of columns. His writings were also passed down to Roman architects who emulated his designs. Long after the Roman army captured Athens, the principles of Greek architecture continued to govern building designs in mainland Greece and in Anatolia and strongly influenced Roman architecture throughout the empire.