International scientific journal
“Interpretation and researches”
Volume 1 issue 4 (50) | ISSN: 2181-4163 | Impact Factor: 8.2
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ANCIENT ART: ANCIENT ROME
Anvar Allamuratov
Karakalpak State University named after Berdakh Student
Abstract:
Ancient Rome is the state of the ancient Romans in the 8th century
BC - 5th century AD. Its history begins with the foundation of Rome in the 8th
century BC and lasts until the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. The
cultures of the ancient Greeks, Latins, and Etruscans had a very significant impact on
the development of ancient Roman civilization. And for the cultural history of Rome,
the conquest of the Greek cities of Southern Italy was of great importance,
accelerating the introduction of the Romans to the higher Greek culture.
Keywords
: Rome, ornament, Christianity, culture, architecture, landscape,
Pantheon, amphitheater, Replica.
Rome was founded by the Italic tribes near the Tiber River and was initially a
small village. To the north of it lived the Etruscan tribes. According to legend, there
lived the Vestal Virgin Rhea, who by chance gave birth to two sons from the god
Mars - Romulus and Remus. By order of Rhea's brother and father, the
children were
thrown into the river in a basket and washed up on the Palatine Hill, where they were
nursed by a she-wolf.
Ancient Rome built the cultural foundation for European civilization, having a
predetermining influence on medieval and subsequent history.
The modern world has preserved some architectural solutions and forms from
Ancient Rome, Roman law (the cross-domed system, etc.) and a large number of
other innovations - for example, the water mill. However, it can be considered that
the official language of the ancient Roman state was Latin, the religion during the
main part of its existence was polytheistic, the unofficial coat of arms of the empire
was a golden eagle, after Christianity was adopted, labarums with chrism appeared.
In 509 BC, the Romans overthrew the monarchical power and established a
republican form of government. Every year, citizens were elected to the highest
government positions: consuls, praetors, censors, aediles, quaestors. This period
was
quite long, so it is customary to divide it into two parts: the Early Roman Republic
and the Late Roman Republic.
In the first half of the 3rd century BC, Rome subjugated all the peoples of the
Apennine Peninsula and became the sole master of Italy.
1
Heritage of Humanity. The Most Complete Collection. Issue №19, 2011.
2
Lyubimov L.D. Art of the Ancient World. Moscow: OOO Izd-vo Prosveshchenie, 1971. – P. 287 – 319.
International scientific journal
“Interpretation and researches”
Volume 1 issue 4 (50) | ISSN: 2181-4163 | Impact Factor: 8.2
52
The republic was ruled by two consuls from the patrician caste. This state of
affairs could not last long, so the plebeians organized a rebellion. Patricians were
given the privileges of the upper caste from birth, while plebeians were not even
allowed to enter into legal marriages or carry weapons.
They demanded the abolition of debt interest, the right to participate in the
Senate, and other privileges. Due to the fact that their military role in the country
increased, the patricians had to make concessions, and by the end of the 3rd century
BC, the plebeians had the same rights and opportunities as the "upper caste".
As a result of the plebeians' struggle for their rights, the two main classes of the
Romans were equalized in rights and formed a single civil society. From then on, the
Romans became more united.
In the 3rd century BC, Rome began a struggle with Carthage for dominance in
the Mediterranean. During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, Rome won and became the
strongest state in the Mediterranean. Overseas territories were formed - provinces,
which were governed by proconsuls, praetors appointed by the Senate.
Having turned into a powerful slave state, Rome managed to defeat its strong
neighbors - the Macedonian and Pontic kingdoms, suppressed the slave rebellion led
by Spartacus, and subjugated Gaul by force of Julius Caesar's legions.
But in the 3rd century AD, the first signs of the decline of slavery appeared.
Gradually, the exploitation of slaves was replaced by the exploitation of dependent
farmers, and the first shoots of feudal relations appeared. State power weakened.
The Great Empire was divided into two parts: the Western Roman Empire with
its capital in Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) with its capital in
Constantinople.
In the middle of the 1st century BC, the Christian religion was formed on the
lands of the Roman province of Judea. Having emerged as a religion of the
oppressed, Christianity eventually captured the consciousness of various strata of the
population and spread throughout the empire.
The culture of Ancient Rome is characterized by increasing individualism. The
individual increasingly begins to oppose himself to the state, traditional ancient ideals
are rethought and criticized, and society becomes more open to external influences.
The worldview of the early Romans was characterized by:
I. a sense of oneself as a free citizen, consciously choosing and performing one's
actions;
II. a sense of collectivism, belonging to a civil community, the priority of state
interests over personal ones;
III. conservatism, following the morals and customs of ancestors (ascetic ideals
of thrift, hard work, patriotism);
IV. a desire for communal isolation and isolation from the outside world.
International scientific journal
“Interpretation and researches”
Volume 1 issue 4 (50) | ISSN: 2181-4163 | Impact Factor: 8.2
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The Romans differed from the Greeks in their greater sobriety and practicality.
The Etruscans inhabited these lands from the 1st millennium BC. and created a
developed civilization that preceded the Roman one
It was from the Etruscans that the Romans borrowed the experience of urban
planning, craft techniques, the technology of making iron, glass, concrete, the secret
sciences of the priests and some customs, for example, celebrating victory with a
triumph.
New trends in Roman progressive art appeared with the emergence of
Christianity, especially under the Emperor Constantine, during whose reign the
persecution of Christianity ceased. For political reasons, he moved the capital from
Rome to Byzantium in 330, founding the city of Constantinople.
Thus, the once great city of Rome, the capital of the ancient world, turned into
just a provincial center of the emerging powerful state of Byzantium.
This is where the history of the ancient world ends, but its culture does not
disappear: it is organically woven into the culture of the Middle Ages, which will
create its own, fundamentally different artistic language, born of a fundamentally new
worldview and understanding.
Roman culture formed a new system of thinking in which the aspiration to the
sphere of the spiritual principle, and pragmatism, and rationality triumphed, thereby
preparing the ground for the formation of both the culture of the Middle Ages and the
culture of the New Age.
The architecture of Ancient Rome as an original art, was formed by the time of
the 4th - 1st centuries BC. Urban development and architecture of the Republican era
go through three stages in their development.
In the first (5th century BC), the city is built up chaotically; primitive dwellings
made of adobe and wood predominate; monumental construction is limited to the
construction of temples. At the second stage (IV-III centuries BC), the city begins to
be improved - paved streets, sewerage, water pipes. The main type of structures
become engineering military and civil buildings - defensive walls, roads, grand
aqueducts supplying water for tens of kilometers, sewage canals.
At the third stage (II-I centuries BC), elements of urban planning appear:
division into quarters, design of the city center, arrangement of park areas on the
outskirts.
Under Greek influence, the construction of theaters begins; but if the Greek
theater was cut out of the rock and was part of the surrounding landscape, then the
Roman amphitheater is an independent structure with a closed internal space, in
which the spectator rows are located in an ellipse around the stage or arena.
3
Jepson T. Italy. – Moscow: OOO Astrel, 2010. – P. 43 – 82.
4
Heritage of Humanity. The Most Complete Collection. Issue №15, 2011.
International scientific journal
“Interpretation and researches”
Volume 1 issue 4 (50) | ISSN: 2181-4163 | Impact Factor: 8.2
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The Romans introduced engineering structures (aqueducts, bridges, roads,
harbors, fortresses, canals) as architectural objects in the urban, rural ensemble and
landscape, used new building materials and designs. Triumphal arches are a
permanent or temporary monumental framing of a passage (usually arched), a
ceremonial structure in honor of military victories and other significant events.
The most significant domed structure of the ancient world in terms of size is the
Pantheon.
The Pantheon is a temple in the name of all the gods, personifying the idea of
the unity of the numerous peoples of the empire. The main part of the Pantheon is a
Greek round temple, topped with a dome with a diameter of 43.4 m, through the
openings of which light penetrates into the interior of the temple, striking in its
grandeur and simplicity of decoration.
The baths were a complex combination of buildings and rooms associated with
recreation, sports and hygiene. They contained rooms for gymnastics and athletics,
halls for rest, conversations, performances, libraries, doctors' offices, baths,
swimming pools, retail space, gardens and even a stadium. The baths accommodated
about a thousand or more people.
Among the public buildings of Ancient Rome, a large group is made up of
spectacular buildings. Of these, the most famous to this day is the Colosseum - an
amphitheater, a giant oval structure in the form of a bowl. No less important in the
development of Roman culture was the art of Hellenism with its architecture,
gravitating toward grandiose scales and city centers.
But the humanistic principle, noble grandeur and harmony, which form the basis
of Greek art, gave way in Rome to the tendency to exalt the power of emperors, the
military might of the empire.
Hence the large-scale exaggerations, external effects, false pathos of enormous
buildings.
The main advantage of Ancient Roman sculpture is the realism and authenticity
of images.
Unlike the Greeks, Roman masters sought to convey individual, rather than
ideal-generalized features of their models; their works were characterized by greater
prosaic nature.
Gradually, from a detailed recording of the external appearance, they moved on
to revealing the inner character of the characters. In an aesthetic sense, all ancient
Roman sculpture is a replica Greek. The innovation was the combination of the
Greek desire for harmony and the Roman rigidity and cult of strength.
Roman painting, based directly on Greek examples, used various possibilities
for plastic depiction: color and aerial perspective, light and shadows created the
5
Gilbert S., Brose M. Rome. - M .: OOO "Astrel", 2010. - 272 p.
International scientific journal
“Interpretation and researches”
Volume 1 issue 4 (50) | ISSN: 2181-4163 | Impact Factor: 8.2
55
illusion of space. Artists often depicted scenes from everyday life and still lifes. We
can judge the painting of the Roman Empire era primarily by the frescoes that
covered the walls of noble houses.
The art of decoration itself goes back to the Greek tradition of painting walls and
arranging courtyards with sculptures.
Ornamental painting of interiors during the 1st century BC was supplanted by
imitation architectural decor and was eventually reduced to painting and sculpture
"trompe l'oeil", which reflected a penchant for splendor. The frescoes of several villas
in the city of Pompeii are well preserved. They show that the artists were fluent in all
the means of painting - a rich palette, the play of light and shadow, precise drawing,
etc.
Unlike Egypt and Greece, art was used by the Romans not to express lofty
feelings and ideas, but rather to demonstrate wealth, prestige, and status. In Roman
architecture, the wall plays the role of a space delimiter, and it also affects the air in
front of it.
The wall was not a solid, but a space with an imaginary depth, so it served as a
place for depicting nature, history, myths, and was like a "projection screen."
In conclusion, I want to say that the Art of Ancient Rome was nothing less than
a miracle of the entire world. This can be said that all Art historians of Ancient Rome
show the finest details of this miracle with their work.
References:
1. Gilbert S., Brose M. Rome. - M .: OOO "Astrel", 2010. - 272 p.
2. Gangi Giuseppe. Rome. – Roma: Alpa Italia, 2006. – 96 p.
3. Lyubimov L.D. Art of the Ancient World. Moscow: OOO Izd-vo
Prosveshchenie, 1971. – P. 287 – 319.
4. Jepson T. Italy. – Moscow: OOO Astrel, 2010. – P. 43 – 82.
5. Heritage of Humanity. The Most Complete Collection. Issue №1, 2010.
6. Heritage of Humanity. The Most Complete Collection. Issue №15, 2011.
7. Heritage of Humanity. The Most Complete Collection. Issue №19, 2011.
8. Vinnichuk L. People, Morals and Customs of Ancient Greece and Rome. –
M., Higher School, 1988.
9. Mironov V. Ancient Rome. – M.: Veche, 2007. – 752 p.
10. Averintsev S. et al. Ancient civilizations. – M. “Mysl”, 1989. – P. 385 – 452.
11. http://www.megabook.ru/
12. http://www.roman-empire.ru/content/arkhitektura
13. http://www.krugosvet.ru/enc/istoriya/drevni_rim.html
