Early European History Part 54

101. ARTISTIC ROME

DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME

The monuments of Rome, unlike those of Athens, cannot lay claim to great antiquity. The destruction wrought by the Gauls in 390 B.C. and the great fire under Nero in 64 A.D. removed nearly all traces of the regal and republican city. Many buildings erected in the imperial age have also disappeared, because in medieval and modern times the inhabitants of Rome used the ancient edifices as quarries. The existing monuments give only a faint idea of the former magnificence of the capital city.

HILLS OF ROME

The city of Rome lies on the Tiber. Where the river approaches Rome it makes two sharp turns, first to the west and then to the east. On the western, or Etruscan, bank stood the two hills called Vatican and Janiculum. They were higher than the famous seven which rose on the eastern side, where the ancient city was built. Two of these seven hills possess particular interest. The earliest settlement, as we have seen, [54] probably occupied the Palatine. It became in later days the favorite site for the town houses of Roman n.o.bles. In the imperial age the splendid palaces of the Caesars were located here. The Capitoline, steepest of the seven hills, was divided into two peaks. On one of these rose the most famous of all Roman temples, dedicated to Jupiter and his companion deities, Juno and Minerva. The other peak was occupied by a large temple of Juno Moneta ("the Adviser"), which served as the mint. The altars, shrines, and statues which once covered this height were so numerous that the Capitoline, like the Athenian Acropolis, became a museum of art.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, ROME]

WALLS AND OPEN s.p.a.cES

Rome in early times was surrounded by a wall which bore the name of its legendary builder, Servius Tullius. The present fortifications were not constructed until the reign of the emperor Aurelian. [55] The ancient city was closely built up, with only two great open s.p.a.ces, in addition to the Forum. These were the Circus Maximus, in the hollow between the Palatine Mount and the Aventine, and the Campus Martius, stretching along the Tiber to the northwest of the Capitoline Hill.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

Following the map of ancient Rome under the empire we may note the more important monuments which still exist in something like their original condition. Across the Tiber and beyond the Campus Martius stands the mausoleum of Hadrian. [56] The most notable structure in the Campus Martius is the Pantheon. [57] It is the one ancient building in the entire Roman world which still survives, inside and out, in a fair state of preservation. The depression between the Caelian and Esquiline hills contains the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum. [58] It was begun by Vespasian and probably completed by t.i.tus. No less than eighty entrances admitted the forty-five thousand spectators who could be accommodated in this huge structure. Despite the enormous ma.s.s of the present ruins probably two-thirds of the original materials have been carried away to be used in other buildings. Close to the Colosseum stands the arch [59] erected by the Senate in honor of the victory of Constantine over his rival Maxentius. From this event is dated the triumph of Christianity in the Roman state. The ruins of the huge baths of Caracalla lie about half a mile from the Colosseum. Near the center of the city are the remains of the Forum added by Trajan to the accommodations of the original Forum. It contains the column of Trajan [60] under which that emperor was buried.

THE FORUM

The Forum lies in the valley north of the Palatine Hill. It was the business and social center of the Roman city. During the Middle Ages the site was buried in ruins and rubbish, in some places to a depth of forty feet or more. Recent excavations have restored the ancient level and uncovered the remains of the ancient structures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROMAN FORUM AND THE SURROUNDING BUILDINGS (RESTORED)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROMAN FORUM AT THE PRESENT TIME]

APPROACH TO THE FORUM

The Forum could be approached from the east by one of the most famous streets in the world, the Roman Sacred Way. The ill.u.s.tration of the Forum at the present time gives a view, looking eastward from the Capitoline Mount, and shows several of the buildings on or near the Sacred Way. At the left are seen the ruins of the basilica of Constantine. Farther in the distance the Colosseum looms up. Directly ahead is the arch of t.i.tus, which commemorates the capture of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. [61] The ruins of the palaces of the Caesars occupy the slopes of the Palatine.

THE FORUM TO-DAY

The only well-preserved monument in the Forum is the beautiful arch erected by the emperor Septimius Severus. Beyond it are three columns which once formed part of the temple of Castor. They date from the time of Tiberius. In front are the foundations of the Basilica Julia, built by Augustus. Next come eight Ionic columns, all that remain of the temple of Saturn. Near it and in the foreground are several columns in the Corinthian style, belonging to a temple built by Vespasian.

THE FORUM IN ANTIQUITY

These ruined monuments, these empty foundations and lonely pillars, afford little idea of all the wealth of architecture that once adorned this spot.

Here stood the circular shrine of Vesta, [62] guarding the altar and its ever-blazing fire. Here was the temple of Concord, famous in Roman history. [63] The Senate-house was here, and just before it, the Rostra, a platform adorned with the beaks (_rostra_) of captured ships. From this place Roman orators addressed their a.s.sembled fellow-citizens.

THE GRANDEUR OF ROME

How splendid a scene must have greeted an observer in ancient times who, from the height of the Capitol, gazed at the city before him. The Forum was then one radiant avenue of temples, triumphal arches, columns, and shrines. And beyond the Forum stretched a magnificent array of theaters and amphitheaters, enormous baths, colossal sepulchers, and statues in stone and bronze. So prodigious an acc.u.mulation of objects beautiful, costly, and rare has never before or since been found on earth.

STUDIES

1. What is the origin of our words _pedagogue_, _symposium_, _circus_, and _academy_?

2. Make a list of such Roman names as you have met in your reading.

3. Write a letter describing an imaginary visit to the theater of Dionysus during the performance of a tragedy.

4. What did civic patriotism mean to the Greek and to the Roman?

5. Have we anything to learn from the Greeks about the importance of training in music?

6. What were the schoolbooks of Greek boys?

7. What features of Athenian education are noted in the ill.u.s.tration, page 254?

8. How did the position of women at Athens differ from their position in Homeric Greece?

9. Why does cla.s.sical literature contain almost no "love stories," or novels?

10. What contrasts exist between the ancient and the modern house?

11. Describe a Roman litter (ill.u.s.tration, page 263).

12. What differences exist between an ancient and a modern theatre?

13. What features of our "circus" recall the proceedings at the Roman games?

14. How many holidays (including Sundays) are there in your state? How do they compare in number with those at Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius?

15. Describe the theater of Dionysus (ill.u.s.tration, page 264).

16. What is the "Socratic method" of teaching?

17. How did the Greeks manage to build solidly without the use of mortar?

18. Discuss the appropriateness of the terms: _severe_ Doric; _graceful_ Ionic; _ornate_ Corinthian.

19. Can you find examples of any of the Greek orders in public buildings familiar to you?

20. How do you explain the almost total loss of original Greek sculptures?

21. By reference to the ill.u.s.trations, page 279, explain the following terms: _shaft_; _capital_; _architrave_; _frieze;_ and _cornice._

22. Explain the "Greek profile" seen in the Aphrodite of Cnidus and the Apollo of the Belvedere (plate facing page 76).

23. Name five famous works of Greek sculpture which exist to-day only in Roman copies.

24. What is your favorite Greek statue? Why do you like it?

25. "The dome, with the round arch out of which it sprang, is the most fertile conception in the whole history of building." Justify this statement.

26. What famous examples of domed churches and public buildings are familiar to you?