About the time
Rome was also a large and powerful Empire that controlled the Mediterranean region. Romans also believed in many Gods and had their own set of myths. Many of the Greek Gods have different names in Roman history but have the same stories. When Emperor Constantine conversted to Christianity, the whole Empire was expected to become Christian.
The Art
Roman art looks a lot like Greek art. What really stands out about Roman art is the architecture that the Romans used. What’s great about the city of Rome is that everything is so close together, so you can see all of cool art history sites in one day.
Materials
Roman sculpture and architecture used marble, and the Romans began using concrete for buildings. They also used rock to build.
Examples
The Arch makes a strong base because all of the weight of the stones and the things on top of the arch is sent straight to the ground.
The Romans were famous for creating aqueducts, which are basically pipes to carry water over long distances, and they used rows and rows of arches to move the water over the land. Because they could move water, more villages could farm.
Draw an aqueduct in your notes.
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The colosseum
Check it out on youtube (sound down or headphones please) and answering the following questions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abG-_Oen8oU&feature=related
1. How big is it?
2. What was it used for?
Still interested? If you want to see how it was built
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO1NQy4oyJs
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The Pantheon
This building has an imaginary perfect sphere inside it. It’s made out of concrete with coffers, or sections that are indented. The coffers mean that there’s less concrete so the done is lighter (and won’t fall inwards). The dome was the largest in the world until 1436.
Pantheon means “All Gods” and it was originally made to have statues of the 13 gods of the time in the archways but now it has Christian statues inside of it.
It also has a hole in the center of the ceiling called an oculus where sunlight comes in.
Challenge: What do the words on the front of the building mean?
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Trajan’s Column is almost 100 ft tall and has the story of military victory that is told in pictures around the outside of the column. This started a lot of new war victory art.
Does this remind you of any other periods in art history that you've studied? How?
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Continue to the next lesson, Byzantine and Islamic Art. After that lesson there will be another review test.
