Teaching unit:the Roman art

Class: V gymnasiumAge of the students:14-15 years old

Duration: 4 hours

Objective:

• To know the historical coordinates within which to frame the artistic period.

• To individualize the historical-cultural coordinates within which the work of art is expressed.

• To gather the specific aspects related to the technique and to the style of the Roman art.

• To know and to know how to chronologically put the principal sculptural, architectural and pictorial works of the republican period and the imperial period.

• To know the specific terminology. • To know how to contextualise the work in the historical

and partner-cultural circle.

Contained disciplinary:

• Historical signs. • The Romans and the art: the constructive

techniques used by the Romans. • Installations and infrastructures. • The Roman city. • Typologies of the Roman residence (domus,

insula and villa), public and religious buildings (temple, theatre, basilica, amphitheatre, forum, thermal baths, arcs).

• Examination of the more meaningful architectural testimonies. Pantheon and Colosseum.

Methods and tools :

• Frontal lessons. • Graphic-expressive activity done in

relationship to the analysis of the manufactured articles and finalized to the individualization of the characters of the work and their interpretation.

• Interactive lesson. • Use of videocassettes and CD-ROM. • Guided visits.

Tests :

• Types of tests: individual and collective interviews, interrogations, layout of brief essays, questionnaires, graphic exercises regarding the work of art.

Historical signs:The origin of Rome is connected to

the myth of Romulus and Remus :

the two twins, born from the

relationship between Mars and Rea

Silvia, according to the tradition

they were nursed by a she-wolf. In

753 B.C. after killing Remus for

personal contrasts, Romulus

founded upon the Palatine hill the

first installation from which Rome

would have been born.

At its origins, Rome was driven by the famous "seven kings":

• Romolus• Numa Pompilio• Tullo Ostilio• Anco Marzio• Tarquinio Prisco• Servio Tullio • Tarquinio the Superb

Repubblican Rome:

In the 509 B.C., after the last

etruscan king, Tarquinio the

Superb was driven out, the

republic came into being. This

period marked the destruction

of Cartagine as well as the

conquest of Greece, of Sicily and

of the major part of southern

Italy.

Imperial Rome:

After Caesar's killing in 44 B.C. his nephew, Ottaviano Augusto,

established a new monarchy. Since then many emperors

followed. The Roman empire of the west fell in 476 B.C.

under the emperor Romolo Augustolo, after having reached

its maximum expansion during the kingdom of Adriano.

Italy Greek

Portugal

Bulgaria

Turkey

Romania

The Romans and the art: the constructive techniques used by

the Romans.

For Roman art it's intended the art in

the ancient Rome, from the foundation

to the fall of the empire of the west,

both in the city of Rome and in the

rest of Italy and in the oriental and

western provinces.

The Romans, very careful to the practical

and organizational aspects of the common

life, gave their attention to the

architecture. The architects designed

great public buildings (theatres, basilicas,

temples) and important works of

engineering (bridges, roads, aqueducts).

The amphitheatre in Syracuse

The amphitheatre Romano of Syracuse is one of the

most representative building realizations of the first Roman imperial age.

Placed in the monumental area, it was found after the excavations of the duke of Serradifalco in

1839.

The theatre of Afrodisia

The Roman theatre of Afrodisia was

inaugurated in the 27 B.C., but it suffered some changes in the II century,

due to the gladiator games . Following the

collapse of the superior part, caused by the

earthquake of the VII century, it was covered

by earth and residences were built over it. The

theatre had an capacity for 12 thousand people.

The acqueducts

The DomusThe Domus was a typology of

residence used in the ancient Rome. It was an

urban private domicile and it distinguished itself from the suburban villa, which

instead was a private residence situated outside of the boundaries of the city, and from the rustic

villa, situated in the country and endowed with special environments for

the agricultural jobs

The Villa of the Hamlet of Armerina Plaza

The Roman Villa of the Hamlet was built

among the end of the III century and the

beginning of the IV century A.D. it was a

hunting residence made famous by its mosaic decorations , made by the African teachers of Massimiliano Erculeo

the colleague of Diocleziano.

From the Castrum to the city: the Roman urban system

The cities founded by the Romans had all similar

characteristics. The urbanistic scheme adopted

by the Romans in the construction of the city is

characterized by the orthogonally meeting of the roads, (from south to north) and (from west to

east), that divide the city in quadrangular blocks. The inspiring model was the Roman "castrum" or the

military camp.

Cardo

Decumano

The Temples

The Pantheon (temple of all the gods) is a building in ancient Rome, built as a

temple devoted to the divinities of the olimpia. It was built

around 126 A.D. under the emperor

Adriano.

The Panteon

The colosseum

The Colosseum, originally known as

Amphitheatre Flavio. It is situated in the

centre of the city of Rome. Its construction

was initiated by Vespasiano in 72A.D.

and it was inaugurated by Tito in 80A.D., with further

changes brought during the kingdom of

Domiziano