6. Roman Sculpture in the 3rd century CE

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En provenance du cours de University of Arizona

Roman Art and Archaeology

282 notes

University of Arizona

Roman Art and Archaeology

282 notes

The objective of this course is to provide an overview of the culture of ancient Rome beginning about 1000 BCE and ending with the so-called "Fall of Rome". We will look at some of the key people who played a role in Rome, from the time of the kings through the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. We will also focus on the city of Rome itself, as well as Rome's expansion through Italy, the Mediterranean, and beyond.

À partir de la leçon

Crisis and Conclusion (3rd to 7th centuries CE)

What does it mean to talk about the fall of Rome? The far-flung empire collapsed in varying degrees in different places at different times. In the fourth century enormous earthquakes caused such devastation that in the Roman east the whole fabric of ancient religious belief was called into question. In central Italy along the Tiber River an epidemic of malaria, a virulent new-mutated strain from North Africa, left many dead. The legacy of Rome, however, continued into the Carolingian and Byzantine empires. And yet the city of Rome underwent a major revival in the later Middle Ages, continuing through the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Romantic Periods, playing a major role in the foundation of our own country.

1. The Years of Crisis2:45

2. The Baths of Caracalla10:18

3. The "Soldier Emperors"4:51

4. Ostia, The Port of Rome3:14

5. Diocletian7:01

6. Roman Sculpture in the 3rd century CE5:12

Rencontrer les enseignants

David Soren
Regents Professor of Classics and Anthropology
Classics and Anthropology

The sculpture of the third century CE is a curious mix of

deteriorating classicism and ultra realism.

In the late Severan period,

super realistic portraits became increasingly popular.

So that in the case of Caracalla for example.

We can clearly see, reveal the brutal and

frightening individual that he must have been.

It was a return in artistic style to the varistic portraiture of

the first century B.C.E. And the later days of the Roman republic.

The hybrid art that resulted in the first half of the third century

drew on the Greco-Roman tradition.

But infused it with an increasing emphasis on eyes, gestures, and frontality.

To the detriment of plasticity of the human form.

This vogue may have reached a peak in popularity.

Because Rome was approaching its alleged 1,000 birthday.

And there was a wave of nostalgia.

Of trying to go back to the good old days of the Republic

that were becoming a distant memory, now.

At the same time now, portraits were being produced which seemed on the one hand

ultra realistic or veristic.

But also had an other worldly dematerialization of the body.

Which took the form of huge, deep drilled wide open eyes.

And an increasing reliance on geometric forms in the portraits.

This dematerialization of sculptural form had been growing

since the Hadrianic period.

And the concept,

its concept of pictorialism which we discussed in an earlier lecture.

The new mixture of the realistic and

the popular art traditions has come to be known as Neo-Verism.

A good example of Neo-Verism is the portrait of

the Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax.

Now in the Capital Line Museum.

Now Maximinus was supposedly seven feet tall.

And he came from Thrace in what is now Bulgaria.

Like so many others he had been a troop commander.

In his case, on the Rhine.

When he felt the urge to rule the empire and he lasted a few years,

typically, from 235 to 238.

His portrait Is a combination of the veristic and the other worldly.

Typical of this style was the 5 o'clock shadow look of the beards,

which was in vogue from about 230 to 260 CE.

By the time of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy in 285 CE.

The tendency towards dematerialization had reached a crescendo.

A portrait of the four rulers of the empire, Constantius,

and Galerius, the Caesars.

And Diocletian and Maximian, the ruling Augusti.

A porphyry statue group probably stood in the center of Constantinople originally.

The figures are simple, blocky, and squat.

They look to the modern eye like frightened little puppets.

And yet they must have been viewed differently by their contemporaries.

Classicism in imperial art was still occasionally present, but

here it has given way to a simplified look.

The leaders keep their hands on their long swords and

are ready to draw them out to save the empire.

They seem to huddle in an embrace.

And their rich cloaks show abundant evidence of patterning.

Their special caps are typical of the date, circa 300 CE.

Each face is bilaterally symmetrical and

virtually indistinguishable from its counterpart.

But each has an over large head and hands.

This is the ubiquitous form of Imperial art, now,

as the empire reaches it's late antique period.

The figures are more like symbols,

more like icons that one appreciates or even venerates.

Rather than being depictions of reality, concept has trumped physical likeness.

It will pave the way for the art of the 4th century.

The Tetrarchs sculpture was probably made in Egypt near Mons Claudianus and it's.

It was removed in 1204, during the fourth crusade, and

brought to Venice to rest in one corner of St. Mark's Cathedral.

Where tourists still visit it today.

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