Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 9

Zanker Urban Space!

- Initially, Pompeii was studied aesthetically only no attention to its spacing overall!
- Unlike Romans, Pompeiians encountered no political, etc. obstacles to luxury!
- Around 100 BC, Pompeiians were rich, there was lots of trade and connection with
the Hellenistic world showed in town because of the proliferation of private homes,
etc.!

- Huge influence of Greek culture, which Pompeiians were okay with!

!
- Theaters!
- Most public buildings from Sammite era reflected the Pompeiians desire to be
influenced by the Greeks!

- Most boys and men of Oscan Pompeii participated in athletic training (amphitheater
activities) !

- Temples with Dionysis and Zeus found Greek monuments in Pompeii placed
close to each other!

- Amphitheater was on the outskirts of Pompeii, with contrasts with most Hellenistic
towns were the gymnasiums and theaters were in the center of the town!

- Donated by towns two major benefactors!

!
- Tombs!
- Lots of self promotion on tombs to commemorate whoever was buried!
- Stories about actual person + other people in his/her life!

!
Foss & Dobbins Pompeian Women!

- Women of Pompeii were privileged members of the upper class, slaves in big
households and businesses, and/or freedwomen working long hours!

- Elite Pompeian women had access to power and prestige!

!
- Women and the Family/ Economy!
- Birth of a girl/ girls were cherished in Roman families (as opposed ____)!
- Death of a girl was a horrible event!
- Terms coniunx, uxor, and concubina used to describe relationships between men and
women!

- Most important role of a woman was to become a mother and produce an heir!
- Most women inherited money or earned money through work!
- Often charged with managing the domestic budget!
- It was common for women to sell property, build tombs, etc. and some influenced
political campaigns with their support!

- More wealthy women influenced politics through money and gift-giving, and there was
a big emphasis on a patron-client relationship!

- Well connected women were able to participate in religious rituals, but normal women
were in charge of religious life in their families!

!
!
!

Kliener Etruscan Art (Interesting Points)!

- Background info on the Etruscans!


- People who occupied Italy in early Roman days also wiped out by later Romans!
- Heartland was territory between the Arno and Tiber rivers of central Italy!
- Were highly skilled seafarers and traded abroad!

!
- Etruscan Art!
- Succesfully mined iron, tin, copper, and silver!
- Villages that were agriculturally based gave way to big trading cities!
- Elite had a taste for luxurious Etruscan art!
-Etruscan Temples!
!

- Temples honoring Etruscan gods vs. Greek gods were very different!

- Stone gable-roofed temples with wood columns and tile- covered wood roofs

almost looks asian?!

- Columns of Etruscan temples resembled Greek Doric columns!


- Etruscan figures similar to Greek vases!
- Later Etruscan Art!
- Golden age for Greeks, but not Etruscans expelled completely by Romans!
- Number of grandiose Etruscan tombs decreased!
- And elites didnt fill tombs with imported Greek vases, gold, etc.!
- Romans began to actually acquire Etruscan land/ cities!

!
!

Kliener - Roman Art (Interesting Points)!

- Roman monuments of art are most numerous of any ancient civilization.!


- Roman temples have afterlife as churches in Middle East, Africa, etc.!
- Architecture!
- 211 BCE was turning point!
- Greek art brought back as spoils of war (armor, weapons, gold, etc.)!
- Craze for Greek everything started!
- Etruscan influences as well as they were ejected from Rome!
- Developed CONCRETE construction different from Etruscans, Greeks, and other
ancient peoples!

- Could fashion concrete shapes unachievable in masonry construction (domes,


vaults, etc.)!

- Roman ancestor portraits (sometimes sculptures) were popular!

!
- Sculpture!
- Verism subjects were mostly men of advanced age!
- Most subjects had power in the Republic of Rome!
- Big desire to illustrate Roman ancestry, so lost of portraits of important figures in
the Republic be can to show up on coins, buildings, etc.!

- Architecture in Pompeii!
- Streets heavily flagstoned (pavements, sidewalks)!
- Big parts of life:!
- Forum!

- Center of civic life, closed to all but pedestrian traffic!


- Very similar to Etrusco-Roman temples (chief side)!
- Amphitheater!
- After Romans took control of Pompeii!
- Used to fund town, advertisements for events, big meeting place/ celebration
place for Romans of Pompeii!

- Word amphitheater means double theater!


- Were very big in size elliptical shape, and made entirely of concrete because
they were built on natural hillsides!

- Pompeiian Painting!
- Houses and villas were adorned with frescoes/ wall paintings!
- First style (Masonry style)!
- Style was to basically imitate costly marble panels with painted stucco!
- Second style!
- Basically to dissolve a rooms confining walls and create 3-d illusions of grandeur!
- almost the opposite of First style!
- Third Style!
- Artists no longer tried to replace walls with 3-d structures, but covered walls with
linear designs on one-color backgrounds!

- Fourth style!
- Taste for illusionism returned (landscapes, views, people, etc.)!

!
!

New Perspectives on the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale!

- Collection of frescoes in villas revealed aspects of life in Campania.!


- Actual frescoes could not be reconnected with each other, so architectural replica of
buildings were created.!

- Frescoes are considered as actual parts of walls, whereas they are portrayed as
individual pieces in museums why?!

- BIG focus on identification of buildings/ people depicted in wall paintings.!

!
- Other Aspects that influenced Fresco placement!

- The environment of a building/room, length of time that people would spend in the
room, etc. influenced the type of fresco on the walls.!

- Things experienced OVER TIME.!


- Many small areas run by villa rusticae, which were run by families/ looked after by
slaves.!

- Consisted largely of wine making and olive oil production!


- Compared to other villas, Villa of P. Fannius was smaller and less complex!
- Entrance had paintings of trees (outdoors), but inside had painted walls depicting
marble columns, etc.!

- Walls showed the purpose of the room leisure was associated with leaves/ocean
frescoes!

- Floor to ceiling con sited of peristyle walls with different animals, minerals, and
foods importance?!

- Other interesting aspects of Roman homes/villas!


- Romans enjoyed visual paradoxes!
- Large frescoes suddenly ended with wide arch entrances/exits that showed the
actual landscape!

- Some houses in Pompeii area had very high standards of living!


- Villa of P. Fannius had complete sets of bathes with hot and cold water!
- There were wine presses and olive presses in the agricultural area!
- Houses had visual unity, but were both for maintaining a farm and also running a
home.!

- Some rooms had mixture of both people and divine beings depicted obviously
were a big part of Pompeiian life.!

- Three pictures on back wall, one of Venus!


- Very unusual placement of windows that mixed pictures of the outdoors with frescoes
inside the building.!

!
A Basic Feel of: Christensens Piece on Hellenistic Floor Mosaics!

- Main Points!
- Proliferation of floor mosaics in House of the Faun originally started showing up in
Italy following their expansion in Hellenistic palaces and homes of the elite.!

- Background info on the House of the Faun!


- House is well known for large size, grand peristyles, and well-preserved Pompeian
Style wall decorations!

- Originally constructed with two atria and a single peristyle in Doric order. all info
discerned from ruins??!

- The paper basically discusses the appearance of Hellenistic mosaics first in the
House of the Faun followed by an analysis of their role in palaces and elite
residences.!

- Some interesting points are. !


- Decorative flooring was used in dining rooms (Palaces)!
- Vestiules controled access into palaces, and also impressed visitors!
- Some dining rooms were not accessible unless you went through separate
rooms!

- In Alexandrian Palace ruins, no complete walls or floors have been able to be


recovered!

- Total of five mosaics have been found.!


- Warrior Mosaic!
- Dog Fighting Mosaic!
- Rosette Mosaic in dining room!
- Centaur and Stag!
- Erotes Stag Hunt Mosaic (hunting mosaic in East paviolion)!

!
- Interesting aspects of The House of the Faun!
- At north end of atrium is a dancing bronze faun origin of the houses name!
- House was designed to allow guests passing through the house to have different
points of view for the mosaics.!

- (Not related to the House of the Faun, but space theory is the study of how certain
placement of furniture allows entrance/exit into rooms)!

- Tells a lot about the activities that occurred/ what was allowed in the rooms.!
- Author ends with analysis of the meaning of mosaics!
- To impress, to announce the purpose of certain rooms, etc.

You might also like