As Rome expanded in the centuries before the birth of Christ, it eventually ruled over most of the Western world. Of all the territories Rome conquered, Greece had the greatest influence on the development of Roman arts.
Greek Heritage
Greek colonies flourished in Southern Italy in the fourth century BC. Within two hundred years, southern Italy as well as the Greek peninsula itself had become Roman colonies. Greek arts and artists were embraced by the Romans, imported, emulated, and copied.
The Romans adopted the three Greek architectural orders, copied the great works Greek sculpture (the Discus Thrower, for example, is a Roman copy of the lost Greek original). Roman art in general looks, at first glance, very Greek. For example, the sculpture on the Altar of Augustan Peace reminds us of the Parthenon frieze. Two things, however, make it characteristically Roman: the figures are not idealized but are real portraits, and the message of the altar is very political. Perhaps more than anything else, Roman art was intended to convey the message of Roman power.
Roman Outlook
Although on the surface quite similar, Greek and Roman art presents a strong contrast in social outlook and values. Whereas Greece introduced philosophy, Rome gave us law. While the Greeks were masters of sculpture, the Romans were superior engineers. If the Greeks studied humans and their relation to the world, the Romans studied how to organize that world and make it run smoothly and efficiently. Where the Greek arts celebrated human potential, Roman arts trumpeted political conquests and imperial power.
Roman Innovations in Architecture
Rome's artistic intentions and Rome's practical innovations in engineering combined to produce architecture on a grand scale. The simplicity of Greek buildings (post and lintel construction, carefully cut marble stone) is replaced by arches, vaults, and domes that span vast interior spaces. Lighter and more plastic concrete replaces solid stone, and the lighter material allows Roman buildings to soar to heights impossible for Greek temples.
Characteristically, some of Rome's greatest architectural achievements were practical: the Roman roads that carried armies and merchants to every corner of the empire, and Roman aqueducts that carried water to Roman towns and cities from Iberia to Asia Minor. And Roman roads such as the Sacred Way and the Appian Way and aqueducts such as the Pont du Gard are still in surprisingly good shape 2,000 years later. Great vaulted baths like those of Caracalla in Rome and Bath city in Britain were huge recreational complexes that carried hot and cold running water and were fixtures of nearly all Roman cities and larger towns.
Two great structures that stand in the heart of Rome show a combination of Greek artistic influence and Roman architectural innovation. The Colosseum, the huge amphitheater that could seat 50,000 spectators, combines the traditional Greek orders with the innovative arch.
The Pantheon, the temple sacred to the seven planetary gods, combines a traditional Greek porch with Corinthian columns in front of a massive Roman dome nearly 150 feet high and 150 feet in diameter. The dome opens to the sky through an oculus while enclosing a vast interior space, imparting a sense of both grandeur and wonder to those inside.
The triumphal arches scattered around the Roman world bore witness to power of the emperor, his empire, and his legions. Their size, as well as their decorations and inscriptions, told a story of imperial might and conquest. Examples are the Arch of Titus and the triple Arch of Constantine.
Roman Sculpture
Sculpture during the Republican period was guided by the requirements of truthfulness to the sitter's appearance. Roman Republican sculpture exhibits a frank realism that contrasts sharply with the idealism of Greek classical sculpture. For example, the Head of Pompey tells us clearly that this great Republican was chubby-cheeked, had a bulbous nose, and was having a bad-hair day when he posed for his portrait.
In the early years of the Empire, Augustus turned to a more idealized style, intended to covey the power and glories of emperor and Empire. The Augustus of the Prima Porta captures a heroic emperor in full body armor, and Augustus as Pontifex Maximus shows the emperor as religious leader of the Roman state. Spiritual and temporal authority are thus united in the person of the Emperor. This art of the Augustan period is the first great revival of the classical style in Western civilization.
The Pax Romana (27B.C. – 180 A.D.) was the longest period of relative peace the Western world has ever known. During this period, the Empire was a solid structure built on four supports:
In the third century, the supports began to crumble; by the fifth century, the elaborate structure of empire collapsed in the West. What went wrong? An interwoven series of misfortunes battered the empire.
One problem for Rome after the establishment of the monarchy under Emperor Augustus was its failure to establish a clear process of succession after the death of the emperor. When Marcus Aurelius died in 180, the last of the “good emperors” of the Pax Romana, would-be emperors fought for power, destabilizing the Roman state. Numbers tell the story. In the second century, five men sat on the imperial throne, while in the third century saw several dozen emperors rise briefly to power for brief, chaotic reigns—most removed through violence.
Beginning in the third century, the borders of the Roman Empire were tested by attackers. Germanic tribes from northern Europe (such as the Visigoths, Vandals, Franks, and others) broke through Roman defenses to raid and, later, occupy Roman lands. In the fourth and fifth centuries, fierce Asiatic invaders—principally the Huns--moved slowly westward, entering and disrupting the empire.
Some key milestone in the military collapse of Rome:
§ 378: an army of Visigoths defeated the Romans at the battle of Adrianople
§ 410: the “sack of Rome”--the Visigoths invaded and plundered the city of Rome
§ 450s: the Huns under Attila invade Italy
§ 476: the traditional date for the fall of the empire in the West: the last Roman Emperor (Romulus Augustulus) is dethroned by the German general Odoacer.
Economic Decline
Fierce fighting in the third century along with outbreaks of epidemic diseases (possibly the Black Death) reduced the population dramatically, contributing to the economic decline. Heavy taxation to pay for the Roman soldiers and government bureaucrats drained resources. Taxes became harder and harder to collect, roads were left unrepaired, the infrastructure deteriorated, merchants found it harder to transport goods, trade withered, and wealth declined. Many townspeople fled to the relative safety of the country and sought refuge on the latifundias—great estates of wealthy lords. There, they accepted a serf-like status in exchange for a place to live—trading personal freedom for security. Historians trace the origins of the feudal system of the Middle Ages to this process.
Attempts to Halt the Decline
In the early 300s, two powerful emperors, Diocletian and Constantine, tried to address Rome’s problems. Diocletian imposed a near dictatorship and rigid economic controls. Constantine moved the capital city from Rome in the West to the city of Byzantium—renamed Constantinople--in the East, hoping to capitalize on the greater economic prosperity of the Eastern Empire.
The efforts of these emperors merely slowed but did not halt the decline of the West. Although the Western Empire collapsed in 476, the Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, survived another 1,000 years. The Eastern or Byzantine Empire will finally fall to Turkish invaders in 1453.
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