Part II

During the 3d and 2nd centuries before Christ, the Roman armies expanded their conquests and began to bring home exotic booty of every description. The practical Romans developed their culture by capturing it from an earlier civilization. Practically prized were original works of art from Greece. The Greek immigrants in southern Italy had tried to imitate native Greek art, but they had long been influenced by the primitive, naturalistic art of the Etruscans, seen here. So now, genuine Greek masterpieces from Athens became fashionable and were widely sought.

A period of intense unrest ensued during the 1st century BC, due to three main causes: first, the wealth from abroad served only to make the rich richer; it did nothing to alleviate the plight of the poor. Secondly, it became necessary to hire an army from among the Roman’s former enemies because voluntary enlistment didn’t provide enough men for the expanded military operations. The third reason for the unrest was the creation of huge country estates and the importation of cheaper and better produce from abroad – both leading to the ruin of the small farmer. To cope with the increasing turmoil, generals, rather than aristocrats, became more and more powerful public figures. Here is Julius Caesar, the most famous Roman general of all.

When Sulla marched on Rome in 88 BC, the preceding decades of restlessness culminated in all-out civil war. Forty years later, Caesar turned the Republic into a dictatorship. He also made history by invading Britain. No real colonization took place in England for the hundred years following, but there are many Roman ruins dating from the 1st century AD on, such as this Roman theatre, Hadrian’s wall, separating England and Scotland, Roman baths, and these ruins of a Roman building. When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, one of the three men who came to power as a triumvirate was Octavian. Seventeen years later Octavian was officially handed sole executive powers and was renamed Imperator Augustus.

In honor of Augustus’s most important achievement, the creation of peace, the Augustan Ara Pacis altar was erected. Here is the first instance of imperial art being strongly influenced by Greek models. The procession of dignitaries and the regular rhythms of the foreground figures are reminiscent of the Parthenon frieze. Yet, there is a profound difference. The Roman figures are real, everyday people – the little boy tugging on his daddy’s tunic, the woman telling a chattering couple to hush. These homely little touches in the Roman frieze make the comparable Parthenon frieze seem remote, abstract and other-worldly. Yet, for all their realism, the sculptures on the Ara Pacis are much more restrained and dignified than the late Hellenistic sculpture which evolved at the end of the Greek era. Indeed, the Ara Pacis is a perfect reflection of the times – people had confidence in and were proud of their emperor.

As conservatives, they looked back over their shoulders to the Golden Age of Greece for artistic ideals. Compare these figures from the Ara Pacis on the left and the Parthenon on the right. Yet their art also reflected the vivid realism which was the cultural legacy of their Hellenistic and Etruscan ancestors. The Etruscan portrait on the left precedes the Ara Pacis figure by three centuries. Architecture under Augustus also looks back to classical Greece. At first glance, the Maison Carree at Nimes looks very much like a small Greek temple. Yet when you look closely at the Parthenon, many subtle differences are discernable. The front and back are symmetrical, for example, with the freestanding colonnade running majestically around all four sides. On three sides of the Maison Carree, however, the colonnade is reduced to pilasters, columns attached to the wall. This makes the facade of the Roman temple a dramatic and theatrical focal point. Further, the Roman temple is usually part of the urban scene, so it is raised on a high podium to give it emphasis. The Greek temple, on the other hand, does not need this architectural emphasis, for it often sits atop raised and sacred ground. The temple is thus an altar in itself, remote and symbolic in function. Not so the Roman temple. In fact, the front porch often served a practical purpose as a political stage for the emperor. This use of the temple is just one example of how the Romans aggrandized the individual.

Yet actually, in the age of Augustus the personality cult of the emperor was still relatively subdued. Stuck off to the left, where the frieze has unfortunately been damaged, he is given no more importance than anyone else in the procession. But seventy years later, in the Arch of Titus, erected to commemorate Titus’s conquest of Jerusalem, the emperor is now clearly the hero and intended to be worshipped as such. Although the horses appear in profile, the chariot of Titus, on the right, is twisted to a three-quarter view in order to show the emperor in full face.

By the era of Trajan, at the beginning of the 2nd century, the Empire was at the height of its success. Indeed, the age of Trajan has often been likened to the Golden Age of Pericles in Greece. With its magnificent highway system, the imperial government was able to keep close tabs on her colonies. Again, a symbol of an age devoted to organization. No longer were the landed gentry and the rest of the senatorial class entrusted with important affairs of state. Rather, they were sent to govern the colonies while a highly skilled and trusted corps of professional politicians surrounded the emperor. As the self-importance of the emperor continued to expand, so did its artistic expression. Here, in a relief-covered column which commemorates Trajan’s victories over the Dacians, the emperor’s self-esteem is on elaborate display. Standing a hundred and twenty-five feet high, Trajan’s column includes more than one hundred and fifty separate episodes – in many of which Trajan figures largely.

In the Roman tradition, many of the scenes describe the practical down-to-earth side of life. We see the army building bridges and fortifications as well as the grim details of battle. Although no attempt is made to suggest space and proportion realistically, the artist’s techniques do permit incredibly accurate detail of dress, arms, and equipment. Thus, the historical narrative form proved to be perfectly suited to the typically Roman characteristic of describing their leader’s exploits in painstaking detail. So, as a monument to the original Latin elements, in an otherwise secondhand classical culture, the Column of Trajan is unsurpassed.