ROMAN PERIOD

CONTENT

 Brief history on roman-geographical, climate, society

 Architecture
 ROMAN-GEOGRAPHY

Geography of Rome is characterized by the Seven Hills and The Tiber River.

Rome city situated on the eastern banks of river Tiber has a geographical position of 41° 54' N and 12° 29'
E. Rome lies to the west of the Apennine Mountains that forms the backbone of peninsular Italy. Being
close to the Tyrrhenian Sea, Rome experiences a Mediterranean climate.

Rome is popularly called 'the city of seven hills'. These seven hills namely, Viminal, Quirinal, Palatine,
Esquiline, Capitoline, Caelian, and Aventine were separated by marshy land and the River Tiber. Of these
seven hills, the Caelian, Esquiline, Quirinal and Viminal hills were portions of a volcanic ridge. The Aventine,
Capitoline, and Palatine hills formed the western group of hills. In ancient Rome each of the seven hills had
separate walled cities.

Ancient Rome's geography was in many ways the secret of its future success .Rome's location has more in
common with ancient Etruscan cities which, like Rome, relied on their access to the sea for international
trade. It is Rome's proximity to the sea which explains the relatively low height above sea level, the Tiber
river's meandering bends and the marshy nature of the land.

Being an area of volcanic origins the soil is naturally rich in water springs and minerals. The hills themselves
were (are) largely made up of tufa rock - a sort of
hardened rocky sponge.
 ROMAN- CLIMATE

Rome is situated in a large hilly plain, with the Tyrrhenian coast to the west and the Apennine mountain
foothills to the east. It is situated at an average height of 20m above sea level – note, average. It is
important to note that the various regions of Rome can experience relatively different weather conditions:

The climate of the city can be said to be "temperate", especially given its latitude and proximity to the sea.
The area furthest inland is generally colder than the part lying on the coast. The four seasons show marked
(though rarely extreme) variations in temperatures and rainfall. The spring and autumn are particularly
variable and rainy with thunderstorms.

In Spring winds are predominantly westerly. At the beginning of the season wintery northerly winds will
bring disturbance coupled with Atlantic disturbances travelling North-West to South-East.

Summer, the month of June tends to be a consolidation of May: increased temperatures albeit with
occasional thunderstorms when cold air comes into contact with warm air from the sea. The Azores
anticyclone settles over the region and hence July and August tend towards increasingly warm
temperatures, stable weather conditions, blue skies and weak winds.

Autumn sees the return of instability. Damp Atlantic winds mixed with warm southerly winds ensure
frequent rainfall and a gradual decrease of atmospheric pressure. November is the month with highest
average rainfall.

Winter in Rome is not known for its cold weather although snow can (very infrequently) be seen for very
short spells lasting possibly a day or two. This is particularly true when cold weather systems drive down
the Apennine range .
 ROMAN-SOCITY

Roman society, like most ancient societies, was heavily stratified. Some of the people residents in ancient
Rome were slaves, who lacked any power of their own. Unlike modern era slaves, however, Roman slaves
could win or earn their freedom.

In ancient Rome the population was divided into two groups: patricians and plebeians.

The Patrician

The patrician class were the descendants of the most

ancient and powerful noble families. They were
landowners, lived in large houses and they had political
power in the Senate.

The patricians married and did business only with

people of their own class.

The people who were born in Rome and having Roman

Blood and having numerous wealth and property came
under the category of Upper Class in the Ancient
Roman Hierarchy. The Upper Class was further divided
into two divisions namely the Senatores and the Equites
which is described briefly as below:
  Senatorial Class/ Senatores: This Class was also referred as Noble Class and all the Political and
Royal families came under this category of Ancient Roman Hierarchy. The Head of the family was
the Leader and everyone has to bow before his decisions and orders. Senatores were not even
allowed to do works like trade business, non-agricultural works, public contracts and even day to
day tasks.
 Equestrian Class/ Equites: The Economic Class was considered in this category among the Ancient
Roman Hierarchy. This Class was below the Senatorial Class and they were bound to perform the
tasks which were prohibited for the Senatorial Class to do.

Plebeians

Plebeians were mainly artisans or peasants who worked the patricians' land; they lived in apartments and
they had no political rights.

If they were lucky plebeians could become clients (obedient servants) of a patrician family. They offered
their services in return received the protection of the head of the patrician family, who became their
patron.

They were further categorized as below:

 The Commons: The Commons also referred as the

Vulgus or the Plebs were those Roman citizens who
were born free. Their recognition was their dress which
was the toga. They were allowed to marry another
Roman citizen and have kids who were further Roman
citizen.
 Latins: The people who were born free but in Italy and
some other Roman areas but were not fully citizen of
Rome came under this category.
 Foreigners/ Peregrini: Freeborn from outer areas were
among this category. Freed People/ Libretti: All the
people who were once Slaves to Roman people and
then got their freedom by any reason were among this
category. But they still had limited rights as compared to
other freeborn.
 Slaves: The human beings who were born Slaves or were
sold as Slaves due to any reason were categorized
among this sub division. They were the sole property of
their owner and did not possess any right.
 ROMAN-ARCHITECTURE

It is said about Roman Architecture that "architecture of the Romans was, from first to last, an art of
shaping space around ritual". Ancient Roman architecture was regulated by their custom of a system of
rites. The first Roman architects were priests. The religious leaders wanted a location where they could say
that "whatever happens here is a sign from the gods". However, the first tangible buildings were small huts
for the family. The Romans were taught to build with solid materials during this primitive stage to form
their visions.

By the 2nd century B.C. Roman architecture had emerged as an adaptation of Greek and also Etruscan
traditions and was becoming a major style in its own right. The multiplicity of its origins can perhaps be
seen as a reflection of the multiplicity of culture and society in the unified Roman dominions. The Greek-
inspired systems of the orders were adapted to Roman methods of construction with a new reliance on the
arch and vault, and although even this may have been derived from buildings in the Greek East, Roman
architecture soon developed its own character and cannot be mistaken for that of any other period.
Roman buildings range from the unambiguously practical to the various interpretations of Greek or
Etruscan prototypes (temples, theatres, fountains etc.). By the end of the 1st century B.C. new building
types had appeared, most notably amphitheatres and honorific arches, and Roman architects and builders
also abandoned tradition when they created the multi-storey apartment block or the grand bath complex.
Although famous buildings were never copied and free interpretation seems to have been the rule, Rome
undoubtedly provided the inspiration for many of the buildings erected in the provinces. This applies
especially to the great temple and forum complexes laid out in Rome in the late Republican and early
Imperial periods, and to the enormous bath complexes built in Rome during the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.
The Romans learned most of their architectural techniques by the Etruscans and the
Greeks. From their education, they had two major architectural advances. The first advance
was that the temple, though still opens space, took shape: stairs led to an elevated floor,
lots of columns were added to support a roof, and decorative colours were included. The
second advance was that the huts were transformed into larger and more permanent
houses. With these advancements, the Romans utilised natural materials to form plaster
and brick to make their structures. This mixture of natural materials was called pozzolana,
which is partly volcanic rock and partly rubble. The Romans also connected each building
with a network of streets.

Once Ancient Rome became a dominating world power, a revolution in architecture began.
It was the explosion of being freed from customs that brought this architectural rebirth and
was inspired by Greece. The rebirth of architecture challenged Romans to build with more
imagination and freedom. One of the architectural techniques that came into use by
experimentation was the arch and vault. Later, the Ancient Romans applied these
techniques tremendously to their structures of art. This renewed architecture art also was
the origin of the amphitheatre, monumental avenue, and public baths.

During the first years of the Roman Empire architecture relaxed, and became calmer.
During this time period the theatre, Colosseum, and the racetrack was constructed.
The Colosseum
The greatest of all amphitheatres, the Colosseum is a massive Ancient Roman structure. It was designed to
serve as a location for bloodshed shows. The Ancient Roman community would travel to the enormous
amphitheatre to be spectators of battles between gladiators, combats between men and vicious animals,
and mock naval battles. For the time period the Colosseum was constructed in, its dimensions were
immense. Reaching four stories high (approximately 157 feet) and shaped in an enormous oval, the
Colosseum could seat about 50,000 spectators on marble and wooden benches. Although the overall
structure measured 620 feet long and 510 feet wide, its centre arena calculated to be 285 feet long and
180 feet wide. To separate the spectators from the entertainment, a wall about 15 feet high was included.
Under the arena, a maze of corridors, cells, and equipment was built. It also held trap doors and hidden
elevators to allow animals and men to go up or down.

The structure itself carried a particular characteristic of Ancient Roman architecture: arches. The
Colosseum's first three stories were basically arches and columns. The decoration on these walls was more
elaborate than the ones on the fourth story which was added later on. The first story was mainly
entrances, but the second and third stories were decorated with a statue in each arch. An interesting fact
about the building is that the fourth-story walls held poles that contained awnings to shade from the sun
and guard from the rain. The entire structure was formed by brick and concrete, a typical ingredient in
Ancient Roman architecture. The Colosseum had 78 entrances for the plebeians and two reserved for the
emperor, giving a total of 80 entrances.
The Pantheon
The Pantheon, its name meaning place for all gods, is a temple built during the reign of the Roman
Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian dedicated the temple to the Roman gods after it was completed. The temple
served as a Christian church after a few hundred years from its completion for a long period of time.

Constructed from brick and concrete, the Pantheon is a circular building. It measures 142 feet in diameter
and has a gigantic dome 142 feet above the floor to its highest point. The roof of the rectangular porch,
which extends from the building's entrance, is triangular and supported by eight Corinthian columns. The
emphasised interior of the Pantheon is a major characteristic of the building, which is decorated by marble
and lit by an opening in the top of the dome.
The Aqueducts
Aqueducts are channels constructed of brick or stone designed to carry water to a location in which it can
be used. Although Rome didn't have the first aqueduct of the world, it was the only major city reasonably
supplied with water and therefore most famous for them. By A.D. 97, a water commissioner named
Marcus Agrippa supplied Rome with 85 million gallons of water from a mountain spring through nine
different aqueducts. Other Roman colonies that were deprived of a water source soon had aqueducts to
supply them with the "source of life".

One very famous aqueduct was the Pont du Gard. The aqueduct carried water from about 30 miles away
and supplied the city of Nîmes with 22,000 tons of water each day.
Typical Houses
In the city of Ancient Rome, only the wealthy citizens could afford a house. The houses had different-
purposed small windowless rooms surrounding a large reception room called an atrium. The atrium would
be brilliantly coloured with wall hangings, paintings, and floor tiles. The colour would be lit with an opening
in the roof and also aired by this same opening. More valuable houses had a second courtyard called a
peristyle. It was planted with natural art of trees, flowers, small shrubs, and a pond. Some houses,
interesting enough, had small shops on the exterior of the house facing the road.
The Legacy of Roman Architecture
Arches

The architectural technique of the arch is a trademark of Ancient Rome. The Romans applied the arch to
many of their buildings for two reasons: support for the weight above it and decoration. Two of the first
structures to carry arches are bridges and aqueducts. Triumphal arches were later constructed to honour
their leaders, and vaults came into practice, which are arched roofs.

Columns

Although not the only empire to practice the architectural legacy of the column, Ancient Rome was still a
major user for them. The columns were utilised as support for the weight above it and decoration. The
Ancient Roman came up with five different types of columns, which are the Tuscan, Doric, Ionic,
Corinthian, and Composite. Most of these, however, were adopted from Greek columns.
The column and colonnade constituted the basic components of building design, especially for temples,
which throughout the period retained their basic layout of a cella (central sanctuary) with a frontal or
peripheral colonnade. One of the chief accomplishments of architects in Roman times was the marrying of
the traditional orders, augmented by the Roman Composite, to the pier and arch constructional system.
There were also developments in the application of the traditional colonnades, increasingly used to line
streets, while ever more elaborate column compositions were employed not only for the stage buildings of
theatres but also for the showpiece façades of fountain buildings and bath complexes. The peristyle, a
rectangular court lined with columns, was used in a variety of constructions ranging from the large paved
city forum to the public courtyards attached to entertainment complexes, and to the gardens of modest
houses. With a roof carried from the columns to the perimeter walls, the peristyle was adaptable to both
moderate and hot climates and was soon used throughout the Empire.

Mosaic Work

The houses in the ancient settlement of Olynthus near the Gulf of Toroni, (mostly of the 5th century B.C.)
are our principle source of information about Roman interiors. At Olynthus, many of the features later to
distinguish all Classical houses are found in embryo. While it appears to have been considered acceptable
even in quite grand interiors to have floors of beaten earth (possibly even coloured), proto-mosaics in the
form of rounded pebbles in simple patterns are found at Olynthus. From these originate the complex later
mosaics which were the glory of Imperial Roman floors, walls and vaults, being composed not of pebbles,
but of thousands of tooth-shaped tesserae, (of marble, clay or glass) whose visible surfaces were often
brilliantly coloured, glazed and gilded. Plin y's description of Greek floors is interesting: he notes that they
introduced the idea to replace painted floors, and describes the famous floor of the `Unswept House' at
Pergamum, where mosaic trompe l'oeil gave the impression of the debris of a dinner party. Such
decoration reached its apogee in Roman and Hellenistic times, and Julius Caesar actually travelled on his
campaigns with a portable floor of this type.
There were three main varieties of mosaic: the coarse opus segmentatum; the widely-used
medium-sized opus tessellatum; and the minute opus vermiculatum, permitting the realisation of refined
design. We know that mosaicists were often commissioned to produce versions of celebrated paintings of
the day. Vitruvius also describes more durable flooring made of bricks laid in a herring-bone pattern.

In the atrium of the House of the Bicentenary at Herculaneum we find red walls coupled with a black-and-
white floor mosaic, which was undoubtedly a common combination. Elaborate combinations of wall
painting in bands of colour, with fine floor mosaics, survive at Hadrian's Villa, near Tivoli. We believe that
the Greeks painted their walls with tempera on plaster, with a binding medium whose exact nature is
unknown; other fine examples of Greek interior decoration, on the Sicilian mainland, are the series of town
houses at Solunto in Sicily. We are told by Pliny (see below) that the famous court painter to Alexander the
Great, Apelles, limited himself to four colours only -"White from Melos, Attic yellow, red from Sinope on
the Black Sea, and the black called `atramentum'".

Wall Treatment

In addition to painted and mosaic-decorated surfaces, marble became increasingly fashionable for wall and
floor revetment (surfacing). Although the saying that Augustus "found Rome all brick and left it all marble"
refers more to exterior architecture, the later Imperial period is distinguished by the importation into
Rome of countless new marble types from all over the Empire, particularly the Aegean area and Egypt. Not
only were surfaces decorated with sheets of plain marble, whether white (possibly from the new quarries
at Carrara) or coloured, but elaborate geometric patterns and pictorial inlays were common; the edges of
marble sheeting were often treated with comple x carved repeat borders.
Walls were often decorated with combinations of materials, including marble sheeting into which mural
painting or pictorial marbles could be set in elaborate stucco frames; all of this was assisted by the
introduction of the new material of the Roman world - concrete. Concrete made its earliest appearance in
small-scale constructions, and in Rome, brick-faced concrete became the norm for most major building.
The correct term for the material was opus caementicium, which consisted of lumps of aggregate mixed
with mortar and laid in horizontal courses. Because of
the high quality mortar, Roman concrete construction
permitted ambitious building forms, regardless of the
final facing hiding the underlying structure. The great
advances of the Augustan and early Julio-Claudian
periods are entirely due to the new material. Whereas
the architecture (and thus interiors) of Greece were
logically based on the system of fairly rigid wall areas
and column supports, Roman architecture after the
acceptance of concrete often came more to resemble
sculpture. Because the basic substance of a building
could now be created in virtually any form by adding
tier to tier of concrete, almost all ambitions of shape
and scale could be realised, and the final outline
dressed in other, more glamorous materials. It was in
this period that the play of convex and concave form,
solids and voids, came into its own, to be rediscovered by Baroque architects like Borromini in the 17th
century.

One of the first major experiments in this genre was Nero's so-called Domus Aurea or Golden House in
Rome, of 64-68 AD, enough of which survives to reveal its daring inventiveness. Its novel room shapes
permitted surprising effects of space, light and colour, and mechanical devices were introduced to blur
divisions further between real and illusion. No expense was spared to make it the most shamelessly
luxurious and best-known domestic building of its day, and it is said that Nero declared on its completion,
"At last I can begin to live like a human being". Mosaic now transcended its humble origins, and pieces of
glass of all colours, pumice stone, marble chips, painted plaster, shells and other fantastic elements all
appeared to cover every conceivable space where marble or mural painting did not. Many of Nero's
experiments there were followed up less than twenty five years later in the great palace of Domitian, on a
much more daring scale.
Here, a device was introduced which was to be of the greatest importance for subsequent Roman interiors,
and later for the world of Neo-Classicism - the use of widely varying inter-related room shapes and
dramatic vistas and lighting: the final conclusion of such tendencies are seen in the major Roman public
baths.

The glory of grand Roman houses was probably always their mural paintings: the easel pictures which were
regarded by Pliny and others as the summit of achievement in painting have all perished, although their
compositions are often recorded in fixed, mural copies. By the date of the decoration of Nero's Golden
House, what we now refer to as the four `Pompeiian' styles of painting had been evolved. It is often
impossible to know whether Roman mural decorations were carried out by peripatetic Greek or Italian
artists.

The First Style (or `incrustation' style) derives from the Greek ‘masonry’ style already developed by the 4th
century B.C., which often consisted of flat colour washes. The Second, or ‘Architectural’ style of around 80
B.C. introduced such elements as fictive ashlar and columns. The Third rejected representational trompe
l'oeil in favour of combinations of fantastic decorative elements conceived as the setting for mural panels
containing pictures. The Fourth (the one favoured in Pompeii at the time of its destruction by Vesuvius in
79 AD), which we now admire for its sophistication and joyfully complex mingling of elements, consisted of
a juxtaposition of the preceding styles. Its immensely inventive repertoire of pictorial devices includes faux
marbre (false marble) dadoes surmounted by panels of solid colour with inset figure or landscape scenes,
`glimpses' of a fragile, fantastic architecture including columns, pedicules with or without figures, canopies,
garlands, geometrical friezes, grilles, tripods and trellises.
Among the best-known examples of Roman mural paintings are those in the Villa of the Mysteries at
Pompeii, the decorations of the House of the Vetii, Pompeii, the Boscoreale room now in the
Metropolitan Museum and, as an example of the Roman love of landscape murals, the delightful Garden
Room from the House of Livia, the Emperor Augustus's wife, now in the Museo Nazionale, Rome.

In addition to flat, painted decorations in brilliant colour, one of the most significant contributions of
Roman designers was to the evolution of stucco, or plaster decoration, in shallow relief. This was perfected
during the first two centuries AD, and contributed greatly to the luxury of the Roman interior. With an
under structure of brick or concrete, complete internal transformations were rendered possible with
stucco-work, easily and cheaply adding pilasters and other architectural elements to walls, and coffering
and other decoration to vaults. Partly because of later periods' greater knowledge of such decorations in
all Roman building types (such as the many surviving tombs and other underground chambers or grotte,
from which our word `grotesques' derives) stuccoes exercised much greater influence on both the
Renaissance and subsequent periods than Roman mural paintings. Their effect is at once crisper, more
elegant and richer than even the most elaborate two-dimensional painting, and their presence lends
liveliness to any interior.
-ROMAN FURNITURE
 ROMAN-FURNITURE

Roman furniture continued the traditions of the Hellenistic world, although new types appeared, among
them a couch with an elaborate head-piece (fulcrum) often terminating on each side with the head of an
ass; a three-legged table, each leg being embellished with zoomorphic ornament; and an armchair (in
north-western Europe often of basketwork). Remains of wooden furniture are naturally rare and only
occasionally qualify as works of art, but it is clear from these fragments and from representations of
carpenters at work that a high level of skill in turning and joinery was available. Moreover, colossal sums
were sometimes paid for items of furniture, especially when made of citrus wood or even veneered in
citrus.

The best evidence for the furniture that the Romans had in their houses is provided by tombstones found
throughout the Empire showing banquet scenes. Related to these is the unique early 3rd-century ad
sarcophagus from Simpelveld which bears on its interior faces reliefs including all the main categories of
furniture to be seen in a wealthy provincial house. The deceased reclines on a couch with a high back and
turned legs. Beside it, against one of the short sides of the coffin, is a basket-chair upholstered with a
cushion. A larger example of such a chair carved at full size was found in a tomb at Weyden outside
Cologne, a remarkable skeuomorph.
On the opposite long side of the Simpelveld
sarcophagus are a dresser, a cupboard with panelled
doors and a three-legged table with lion-head
protomes and claw-feet. The three-legged table is the
most decorative item on the Simpelveld sarcophagus
and the easiest to parallel from surviving material.
Three cypress wood table legs from Kerch in the Crimea
have protomes in the form of hounds emerging from
calyxes (St Petersburg, Hermitage), while another
wooden table of the Roman period from Luxor in Egypt
has legs with swan-head protomes (Brussels).

Most surviving examples are sculpted from marble,

such as the table outside the House of the Deer at,
though in Roman Dorset striking variants were carved
skilfully from Kimmeridge shale and have griffin-head
protomes Couches were employed for diners in triclinia (dining-rooms). They were frequently set with
plaques of bone or ivory and sometimes inlaid with glass, tortoiseshell or even gems. The richest
embellishments are clearly outside the normal range of decoration, such as the tortoiseshell to which Pliny
referred and the amethysts, garnets, citrines, cornelians, lapis lazuli and other stones in rich gilt settings
from the imperial palace in the Lamian Gardens on the Esquiline Hill at Rome which must come from
elaborate furniture if not actually set in the walls of the room.

The finely carved bone fittings of a north Italian

couch display dazzling artistry in the elegant
forms of the winged female deities that
comprise one element of the legs, the plaques
of Apollo playing the lyre at the corners of the
frame and the cupid tondi at the base of the
fulcrum. Other couches were constructed with
metal frames and fulcra, frequently inlaid
(intarsia work).
The lovely bronze fulcrum from Amiternum (Rome) is inlaid with a vintage scene in copper and silver while
at its base is a tondo in high relief showing a satyr. Appliqués of similar quality and high relief to those
found on these couches were also attached to chests, which were generally of wood, sheathed with bronze
sheet; a fine example has been found at Pompeii (Naples). Similar boxes on a much smaller scale and set
with studs in the form of lion heads served Roman matrons as jewel- or work-boxes and are quite often
recovered from burials.

Among the most accomplished examples of metal furniture are the tripods bearing table-tops for food or
drink or mixing bowls for wine. These were portable objects that could be folded away when not required.
An example in silver of the Augustan age (27 BC–ad 14) from the Hildesheim Treasure (Berlin, Antikenmus.)
is very simple; the tray is supported on finials sprouting from the heads of Ammon and the long straight
legs end in claw. Later tripods are more elaborate: examples from the high Empire in bronze from Bavay in
France and Augst in Switzerland incorporate both busts of satyrs and panther-head protomes. The best
tripod of all is one in silver from Polgárdi in Hungary (Budapest), a work of the greatest delicacy and charm.
It is surmounted by three groups of a nereid on a triton and has a cupid on a dolphin at each foot; its pièce
de résistance is a Rococo griffin protome in the centre of each leg.
 ROMAN-ACCESSORIES

Roman Jewellery Design Motifs

Although much of the jewellery produced in early
Rome resembled Greek and Etruscan jewellery, new
motifs were developed or derived from other
cultures, and remained well-established throughout
the ancient Roman period. Initially, Roman jewellery
was somewhat more conservative and austere,
when compared with other Mediterranean cultures,
but relentless plundering soon led to a more
ostentatious lifestyle.

Many Roman
jewellery
items were fashioned by Greek artisans, in the Greek style. An
example of derivative Roman design was the Herakles knot, also
known as the "knot of Hercules," or "marriage-knot," which was
influenced by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. This apotropaic
(amulet and talisman) design was used as a protective amulet to
ward off evil. The "Isis crown" was another motif borrowed from
ancient Egypt, which was used frequently in earrings that were
created during the second century BC.

The "hoop earring" was another important Roman invention,

appearing around 300 BC. Hoop earrings were commonly adorned
with finials depicting animals, Maenads (aka Bassarids, Bacchae, or
"wild, intoxicated women"), slaves, or the Greek god Eros.
Gemstones of Rome
Pearls from the Persian Gulf were a popular gemstone used in ancient Roman jewellery, which were
combined with emerald and peridot from Egypt, and carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, and onyx from Persia.
The gold, pearl and emerald earring in the photo (above, right) was discovered at a 2008 excavation of the
Giv'ati car park in Jerusalem, and dates back to the Roman period, between the first century BCE and the
beginning of the fourth century .

Perhaps one of the first gemstone collectors was a 1st century BC Roman named Marcus Aemilius Scaurus,
starting a collecting frenzy. The madness reached its zenith with Marcus Antonius (aka Mark Antony)
offering a Roman Senator named Marcus Nonius a vast sum for a brilliant opal the size of a hazelnut, which
Antonius wished to give to Cleopatra. When Nonius refused the offer he was told that he could part with
the stone or leave Rome, and he chose the latter.

Perhaps one of the first gemstone collectors was a 1st century BC Roman named Marcus Aemilius Scaurus,
starting a collecting frenzy. The madness reached its zenith with Marcus Antonius (aka Mark Antony)
offering a Roman Senator named Marcus Nonius a vast sum for a brilliant opal the size of a hazelnut, which
Antonius wished to give to Cleopatra. When Nonius refused the offer he was told that he could part with
the stone or leave Rome, and he chose the latter.
Amber
Amber was a favourite gemstone of the Romans who
established the "Amber Route" to transport the precious
gem from Gdansk, which had become the centre of amber
production, to Roman cities throughout the Empire. One of
the most famous expeditions for the acquisition of amber
occurred during Emperor Nero's reign, when a Roman
equites (a member of the Roman equestrian order)
reportedly brought back enough amber to build an entire
stage for the gladiator fights.

The 17th century is considered the golden age of the amber

craft. During this period, distinguished artists created
caskets, statues, chandeliers, and furniture laid with gold, silver, and amber for royalty and the wealthy to
have in their h omes and to give as gifts.

Amber has been used since prehistory (Solutrean) in the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments, and also
in folk medicine. Amber also forms the flavoring for akvavit liquor. Amber has been used as an ingredient
in perfumes.
Laurel Wreath
Wreaths of laurel leaves crowned victors of
athletic competitions of the ancient Olympic
Games. Wreaths of bay laurels were also
awarded at the Ancient Greek Pythian
Games which were held at Delphi in honor of
Apollo (every four years from the 6th century
BC). According to Greek Mythology, Apollo,
the Olympian God and son of Zeus, was in
love with a nymph named Daphne. As the
tale continues, Daphne fled from Apollo,
asking the river God for help; she turned into
a Bay Laurel tree just as Apollo approached
her. Apollo embraced the tree, cut off a
branch to wear as a wreath and declared the
plant sacred. Thus, this myth spurred the
presentation of the laurel wreaths, in honor of Apollo, to the victors of these games.
 The circular shape of interlocking branches is a historic crowning
emblem that resonates victory, power and glory. Since antiquity, the
laurel wreath has been regarded as a powerful symbol of victory.
Interestingly, it is said that the laurel leaf wreath was the forerunner of
the crown itself. Tied historically to classical ancient Greek, Roman and
Biblical times, the laurel leaf has held its esteem for centuries. Laurel
wreath signifies Victory, achievement and status.

The laurel wreath is a common motif in architecture, furniture, and

textiles. The laurel wreath is seen carved in the stone and decorative
plaster works of Robert Adam, and in Federal, Regency, Directoire, and Beaux-Arts periods of architecture.
In decorative arts, especially during the Empire period, the laurel wreath is seen woven in textiles, inlaid in
marquetry, and applied to furniture in the form of gilded brass mounts.