Ancient Roman
Ancient Roman
Roman
<p>The ancient Roman period is considered to have begun in the eighth century BCE and to have ended in the fifth century CE, lasting more than a millennium and encompassing three broad historical periods: the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire.&nbsp;In its earliest days, Roman society was centered on agricultural work and military service, but following the Romans’ conquests of other neighboring civilizations during the Republic, they began to develop a strong interest in art, which flourished well into the period of the Roman Empire. Works in the Art Institute’s collection, while offering only a glimpse of the artistic splendor of Roman society, represents the variety of media that these ancient people collected and displayed.&nbsp;</p><p>While Romans admired artworks produced in <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/2601/ancient-greek" target="_blank">Greek styles</a>, they also valued artworks produced by other Mediterranean cultures, many of which they had either absorbed or overtaken in their expansion. These included the Etruscans, native Italic populations, and the <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/37541/ancient-egyptian" target="_blank">Egyptians</a>, then under Ptolemaic rule. Initially, the Romans acquired existing artworks primarily through conquest and by purchase. By the second century BCE, they began to commission entirely new artworks inspired by earlier examples, which were then adapted in form and function for their distinctly Roman settings.&nbsp;</p><p>In the Roman world, artworks were displayed in a variety of contexts, ranging from public buildings such as theaters, amphitheaters, libraries, and bath complexes, to religious settings including sanctuaries and temples. Within a private home, the display of artworks could attest to one’s wealth, status, and cultural refinement.&nbsp;</p><p>Above all media, the Romans preferred sculpture, viewing it as the highest form of art. Life-size and larger marble sculptures, often depicting <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/61600/statue-of-the-aphrodite-of-knidos" target="_blank">deities</a>, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/40593/statue-of-meleager" target="_blank">heroes</a>, and other mythological subjects, were highly prized. Portraiture, a medium that the Romans valued due to the cultural emphasis placed on the head in reflecting one’s personal qualities and virtues, was also very popular. Such sculptures not only transmitted the image of the <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/58135/portrait-head-of-emperor-hadrian" target="_blank">emperor</a> and the imperial family across the empire but were also commissioned by <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/11611/portrait-head-of-a-young-woman" target="_blank">private individuals</a> to demonstrate their economic and social standing. Smaller-scale sculptures made of various materials such as marble, <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/52764/statuette-of-hercules" target="_blank">bronze</a>, and terracotta often served as decoration in private homes or as dedications at religious sanctuaries. Relief sculptures adorning buildings similarly varied in materials, ranging from costly examples carved from <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/56166/relief-of-a-falling-warrior" target="_blank">marble</a> to less expensive, mold-made <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109509/relief-plaque" target="_blank">terracotta reliefs</a> to delicate and fragile reliefs in <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/4706/relief-fragments-depicting-a-winged-woman-and-two-deer" target="_blank">stucco</a> that were made in part with figural stamps. Some of the smallest sculptural works include painstakingly carved <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109604/finger-ring-with-engraved-gemstone" target="_blank">gems</a>, which were often incorporated into signet rings, and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111809/cameo-portraying-emperor-claudius-as-jupiter" target="_blank">cameos</a>, which were frequently produced for circulation among imperial circles.</p><p>The Romans also placed great emphasis on the medium of painting, which survives today primarily in the form of fragments of wall paintings that adorned interior settings. Paintings were also executed on wood panels, but surviving examples are rare, with the exception of Roman-period <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/5519/mummy-portrait-of-a-man-wearing-an-ivy-wreath" target="_blank">mummy portraits</a> that reflect the cross-cultural traditions of Egypt under Roman rule. Such portraits were preserved due to the arid Egyptian climate in which they were buried.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Other media served both decorative and functional purposes. Mosaics were a key component of architectural decoration and were most commonly created as elaborate pavements. Examples in the Art Institute reflect the variety of <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/210344/mosaic-floor-panel-depicting-a-bound-rooster" target="_blank">figural subjects</a>, patterns, and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/23276/mosaic-floor-panel-depicting-marine-life" target="_blank">colors</a> that enlivened such compositions. Glass objects, which were made in a seemingly limitless number of shapes, sizes, and colors using different techniques, served an equally diverse array of functions, from tableware for <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/132093/beaker-or-goblet" target="_blank">drinking</a> and <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/184325/dish" target="_blank">dining</a> to <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/49051/alabastron-container-for-scented-oil" target="_blank">cosmetic jars</a> used in personal adornment to <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/152017/urn" target="_blank">burial containers</a> made to house cremated remains. Lamps and other utilitarian objects, which were frequently made of inexpensive terracotta or costly <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/104998/lamp" target="_blank">bronze</a>, could also be embellished with figural or ornamental decoration.</p>
Roman Roman; Levant or Syria Probably Roman Roman, minted in Rome Roman; minted in Nimes, Gaul (now France) Roman, minted in Heraclea Roman, minted in Alexandria, Egypt Roman, minted in Aquileia Late Roman; probably Eastern Mediterranean Roman; Thyatira, Lydia Roman; Syria or Ancient Mediterranean Christian Roman, minted in London Roman, minted in Cyme, Aeolis Roman; Syria Roman or Eastern Mediteranean Roman; probably Syria Probably Ancient Roman Roman, minted in Samia Roman; minted in Eastern Mediterranean (possibly Antioch, Syria) Roman, probably minted in Ephesus Roman, Levant or Syria Roman; Eastern Mediterranean Roman, minted in Ostia Roman, minted in Alexandria Roman; minted in Rome Roman or Byzantine; Eastern Mediterranean Roman, minted in Trier Roman, minted in Siscia Roman; probably Italy Roman, minted in Lyons Hellenistic or Roman; Eastern Mediterranean Roman; coast of Syria or Palestine Roman, minted in Nicomedia Roman; Daphne, Turkey, the House of the Man of Letters, room 2 Roman; minted in Cyzicus Roman, minted in Antioch Roman, minted in Ephesus Roman; minted in Spain, possibly Colonia Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza) or Colonia Patricia (Cordoba) Late Hellenistic or early Roman; eastern Mediterranean, probably coast of Syria or Palestine Roman; Eastern Mediterranean, probably Syria Roman; Syria or Palestine Roman; Homs (Syria) Greek; Teos, Ionia Roman, minted in Cyzicus Roman; minted in Gaul (now France) Roman, minted in Arles Roman, minted in Ticinum Roman or Eastern Mediterranean Roman
Restorations by Alessandro Algardi, 1628 Ancient Italian (Marsic Confederation) Roman; Nazareth (now Israel) Roman, minted in Spain Roman and Egyptian Roman; Smyrna, Ionia (now Izmir, Turkey) Egyptian or Roman Roman; minted in Alexandria, Egypt Roman; Chios, Ionia (now Turkey) Roman; Rome, Italy Roman; minted in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) Roman, possibly minted in Siscia Roman, Eastern Mediterranean Roman; minted in Smyrna, Ionia (now Izmir, Turkey) Greek, minted in Miletus, Ionia Roman, possibly minted in Rome Roman, minted in Antioch ad Maeandron, Caria Roman; minted in Antioch, Syria Roman or Byzantine; Sidon, Lebanon Roman, minted in Amphipolis Roman, minted in Cyzicus (now Turkey) Roman; minted in Antioch (now Turkey) Roman; probably minted in Magnesia ad Sipylum, Lydia Roman, minted in Lugdunum Roman, minted in Cyme, Acolis Roman, minted in Sicily Roman; probably Eastern Mediterranean Roman; Egypt Roman; Volteia Roman, minted in Antioch, Syria Roman and Eastern Mediterranean Roman, minted in Asia Roman, minted in Mediolanum Roman, probably Syria Greek or Roman Roman, minted in Smyrna, Ionia (now Izmir, Turkey) Roman; probably Egypt Roman; minted in Carthage (near modern Tunis, Tunisia) Roman, minted in Carthage Roman; minted in Ilium, Troas (now Turkey) Roman, minted in London or Arles Roman, probably minted in Jerusalem Egyptian Roman; minted in Siscia Roman or Byzantine, Syria Greek, minted in Perga, Pamphylia Islamic ? Greco-Roman Roman, minted in Cyzicus, Asia Minor (now Turkey) Late Roman or Byzantine; Eastern Mediterranean Roman, minted in Catana, Sicily Roman; minted in Ticinum Greek; minted in Chersonesus Ancient Roman Empire (found in Sri Lanka) Roman; minted in Trier, Germany Greek, minted in ancient Macedonia Roman; minted in Antioch (near modern Antakya, Turkey) Roman; probably from the Eastern Mediterranean Greek Roman, probably Palestine or Syria Roman; minted in Lugdunum (now Lyon, France) Roman; Campania, minted in Neapolis Greco-Roman, said to be found in Egypt Roman (After) Roman; Italy Roman, possibly minted in Carthage Late Roman or Byzantine; possibly Eastern Mediterranean Roman, minted in Thessalonike Greek, Ptolemaic Roman, minted in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) Roman, Syria or Palestine Roman; minted in Phokaia, Ionia Roman, minted in Gaul (now France) Roman; Pompeii, Italy Roman, minted in Constantinople Roman, minted in Narbo Roman; minted in Samos (or possibly Pergamum) Roman, minted in Lyon Roman; probably coast of ancient Syria or Palestine Roman, minted in Gallia Transalpina Roman, minted in Lugdunum (now Lyon, France) Roman (cameo) and Italian or French (mount) Roman; Ephesos, Ionia (now Izmir, Turkey) Roman; minted in Pergamum or Ephesus Greek; minted in Thasos, Thrace Roman or Byzantine; Egypt Roman, minted in Aries Roman, minted in Africa Greek or Roman; Laodicea, Phrygia (now Turkey)