Hellenistic and Roman Art and Architecture
Hellenistic Period
The Hellenistic period refers to the time between the death of Alexander the Great and the annexation of Egypt to the Roman Empire. It is a new civilization in which Greek elements are combined with Oriental ones. The main centers were major cities, with a hypodamic plan. Architectural characteristics include multi-story buildings, giant columns, and overlapping orders (1st Ionic, 2nd Corinthian). Large Hellenistic art creations were sculpted.
- Athens: Overwhelmed by the economic crisis, it cultivated the portrait of intellectuals.
- Alexandria: Expressed satisfaction with everyday issues and allegories, such as personifications of abstract ideas (e.g., Allegory of the River Nile).
- Pergamum: Preferred pathetic themes of violent feelings (e.g., Ludovisi Gaul).
- Rhodes: Continued this dramatic side, exploring suffering and pain (e.g., Laocoön).
Laocoön: 1st century BC. Created by Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus. Marble. A vivid example of suffering and pain.
Roman Art and Architecture
Arch of Titus
A triumphal arch in Rome dedicated to Titus. It symbolizes the triumph over the Jews. It is a single span. Inside, it depicts two scenes: one in Rome, driving the emperor’s chariot, and the victory parade of Roman troops in Judea.
Commemorative Monuments
Military exploits were commemorated and served as an example for future generations. Propitiatory altars, honorary triumphal arches, and columns were used.
Trajan’s Column
113 AD. Spiral embossing, raised to perpetuate the conquest of Dacia. Trajan erected a forum. It recounts assaults and burnings.
Maison Carrée
A Roman temple. 1st century AD. Dedicated to the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Hexastyle. Raised on a podium with stairs. Sponsored by Agrippa in honor of his family.
Parthenon
A temple dedicated to Athena, the patron of Athens. 5th century BC. Doric. Octastyle (8 columns on the facade), amphiprostyle (columns on two facades), peripteral (surrounded by columns). Portico and open rectangular room. Ionian frieze. It was built to thank the goddess for her victory over the Persians. East Pediment: Birth of Athena. West Pediment: Patron of Attica. Metopes: 92 illustrating 4 mythical cycles: Gigantomachy, Amazonomachy, Centauromachy, and the Trojan War.
Phidias
Athenian sculptor. Marble. Pursued beauty. Notable works of Athena: Promachos, Lemnia, and Parthenos, and the Zeus of Olympia.
Birth of Athena: Pediment. Phidias, figures of the same scale. Wet drapery.
Pantheon
A Roman temple dedicated to all gods. 2nd century AD. Preceded by a colonnade that leads to a large rotunda closed by a dome with an oculus, whose height is equal to the diameter of the base. Mortar, brick, and marble slabs.
Roman Architecture
Discoveries include the apse and the dome, and the overlapping of orders.
Roman City
Hypodamic plan, 2 major streets (Cardo and Decumanus), a central forum, checkerboard pattern, which extended to sewers and underground necropolises. Mortar. Forum, Curia, Basilica, Temple, Circus, Theater (flush floor), elliptical Amphitheater, Thermae (Frigidarium-cold, Tepidarium-temperate, Caldarium-hot). Plebeians lived in rented, 4 or 5-story blocks called insulae, with shops on the ground floor, a communal kitchen and bathroom, and no running water. Patricians lived in single-family domus, paved with mosaics.
Greek Temple
It consists of a rectangular room housing the effigy, an open front porch, and a closed pronaos. Distyle (2 columns), tetrastyle (4 columns), polychromy.
Aphrodite of Knidos
Praxiteles, 4th century BC. Copy, 1st nude. Praxiteles was an Athenian sculptor known for pleasant themes.