Reading about the Romans
Things that I noticed just by flipping through the pages of (A World History of Art, 2009):
- Sculpture’ faces are much more detailed – they even have wrinkles around their eyes
- Sculptures are very realistic (Roman sculptures don’t follow the Greek ideal profile)
- Sculpture’s faces are more realistic and expressions are shown
- Sculpture’s clothes are portrayed more detailed (especially armour)
Architectural details – Colosseum:
- Roman Colosseum – different column orders were used in following order
Doric – Ionic – Corinthian
- Arcades and arches were very significant for Colosseum
- Foundation/walls were made of concrete
- Concrete made it possible to built buildings with spacious inside without needing to put columns everywhere to support the roof
Architectural details – Pantheon:
- Built under Emperor Hadrian
- Was constructed on the side of an earlier temple for all gods
- Two parts (circular + rectangular)
- Was built in a phase of religious insecurity/unknown – people started exploring their beliefs
- It was supposed to symbolise heaven
Research point
Roman occupation in my area (Ost-Westfalen-Lippe – North Rhine Westphalia)
The area that I live in is supposed to be the area where the Varian disaster took place in 9 AD. The Varian disaster is about an alliance of German tribes that destroyed three Roman legions that were led by Publius Quinctilius Varus – and because for the Romans this was a disaster it was called Varian disaster. The Romans were trying to take over Germany and in 9 AD they were stopped by Arminius and his tribe. There is a huge monument/sculpture/statue of Arminius in Detmold showing him in a pose of victory – his sword in the air, standing tall and proud. It is located on the top of a hill and one is able to see it from far away, unless it is foggy or snowy. The “Hermannsdenkmal” has a little brother in America. During the 19th century many Germans immigrated to America and because they wanted to keep the culture, the language and the history alive they decided to build their own “Hermannsdenkmal” – today this is located in New Ulm which is to be found in the west of America.
The monument was built in 1874 and although later historians found out that it didn’t actually take place at the exact spot but instead a few hundred kilometres away in a town called Kalkriese, the monument of Arminius is still a very grand sculpture and the feeling of pride and victory is still all around the place when we visit.
I actually was lucky enough that while I was still in school the cultural year of Varus and his battle took place and my history class and I went on a trip to Kalkriese and were allowed to take a look at the archaeological excavations. Right next to the excavations there was a museum displaying the things they found and had already restored. I remember being not only impressed but intrigued by the Roman ceremonial mask that the archaeologist had found there (I even got it imprinted on a coin and I still have it).
They are still working on the archaeological excavations and with every year more mysteries can be solved but of course others arise. The Varus battle was by far one of the most important and dominant things that happened in Ost Westfalen Lippe where I live. The excavations that they show in the museum are mainly coins, the Roman ceremonial mask (as shown below), skeletons (human and animals), horse skeletons with armour and recently a complete mule skeleton was found.
(Accessed 7 Dec 2011)
In Xanten one would find a great museum about Romans and could look at lots of excavations that are displayed in the museum. The city Xanten is often called the Roman city because of its history and they made it one of their main tourist attractions and built a museum and an open air park. The open air museum shows lots of archaeological excavations and they display partially reconstructed architectural buildings. They are displayed in their full size if possible. As a visitor one could go inside a Roman house, look at furniture, go into the bathroom and look at the wall paintings. The museum even reconstructed a part of the amphitheatre. If one would want to learn about ancient history one would need to go inside the Roman museum of the city Xanten where one would find lots of excavations of Roman houses, footprints, coins, weapons, armours, et cetera.
A big area where you can look at Roman artefacts is the Cologne area, especially the Romano-Germanic-Museum in Cologne city. If one would go there one would find a lot of information about the historic background of each piece they would look at, the Cologne museum has the worldwide largest collection of Roman glass and the miniature portrait of Emperor Augustus in turquoise glass.
(Accessed 7 Dec 2011)
What one can also find in Cologne is a chamber tomb from 2 century AD where one can look at Roman portrait busts, the design of the sacrophagus and of course the chamber tomb itself.
(Accessed 7 Dec 2011)
Walking through the streets of Cologne one would find a piece of the Roman wall that was built around Cologne and there is also a church that has archaeological excavations underneath it to look at. I was very lucky to have been to the Romanic-Germanic Museum in Cologne twice, the Arminius monument a million times and I would really love to go to the museum park in Xanten - that just sounds great!
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