Chritian and Roman Art

 
                                                       Pantheon

The Pantheon is a temple dedicated to the Olympian Gods. After the Battle of Actium, Marcus Agrippa commissioned the building to the Roman gods.  It was built by Hadrian between 118-128 CE. It was built of concrete with Corinthian columns with a dome on top of the rotunda behind it. The front of the building has a rectangular overhang which contains the roman columns. The columns are an art style also seen in the Greek architecture.  The porch opens into the rotunda, the concrete dome. The rotunda is a large circular room. There was an enclosed courtyard around the pantheon. The courtyard hide the rotunda from the public which exaggerated it size and made it surprise walk in thing that was noticed. At the dome’s apex is the oculus which is one of the two light sources in the building. The other light source is the door area. The oculus is 29 feet. It brings about natural light from the sky giving the area a divine heavenly feeling. The ceiling of the dome has five rows of 28 sunken coffers. This work of art has influenced many later to come like Christian churches.

                             Church of Santa Costanza

Church of Santa Costanza

It is a model for Christian tombs, martyrs’ churches and baptisteries. It is a central-plan roman building with vertical axes. This church was build by Constantine for his daughter Constantina. It was build before 350 CE outside the walls of Rome (Stockstad 227).  In 1256, the building became a church dedicated to Santa Costanza. The building has a barrel-vaulted passageway called the ambulatory that enclose the rotunda. The round building is 29 meters in diameter and is separated by twelve column pairs. There are entablature blocks, paired columns, and complex capitals that support the dome. The original building was covered with marble. There are still mosaics and other works of art that survive inside the church like the “harvesting of grapes mosaic.” There are clerestory windows on the second level that shed natural light into the building creating a divine feeling or heavenly one. There are many Christian beliefs found in the church like the green and red colored marble is color coded to point to the cross.

The roman art was used to represent rulers and other deities. The Christian art is based on the Romans like the Roman was based on the Greeks. Many of the Greeks techniques were abandoned by the roman. Each society urges to make its own cultural depiction or style. The Christians were under the power and influence of the Romans, so the picked up the Roman style of art. Christians were being persecuted until the the Christian Emperor Constantine. many roman rulers and other people claimed deitical (godly) characteristics; this can be seen in the roman art. the christian art is based on Jesus, the cruxification, and the 12 disciples.  A great connection between the Santa Costanza church and the Pantheon is the rotundas.  The rotundas are the main feature of both the Roman and Christian church. The Christian churches and the Roman building were built for particular reason like a dedication to the roman polytheistic gods or other religious purposes like story of the Messiah Christ. The roman style was used by the early Christian churches. This shows society connection to the Roman Empire as a leading political power. The Christians added on to the Roman style and used it to represent their ways. The oculus and the clerestory windows are used to create an emotion with the light.  the mosaic of the grape harvest in the church has roman ideas and art like the grape vines. these are things that are of ease to maybe the society back then. I would say that the Christian are is based symbolism trying to send or depict a message rather than the Roman art focus on realism, the physical appearance idea. There were many illiterate people in society back then; the Christian art was a way of presenting the teaching of God that Jesus taught and Jesus life off course. The time shift between the roman art and the developing Christian world went from a polytheistic world to a monotheistic world. Also, it is a shift from mankind to more of a divine or godly focus. This theme is seen throughout Christian churches that were established and are to come later on.

Group Blog: Parthenon Project

The Persians had a lot of influence on the Athenian classical art. They helped shape the Athenian art. The first Persian invasion of Athens was 480 BCE. According to Pollitt, the Persians kept on harassing the Athenian villages (65). They destroyed the sculptures in the Parthenon. They tended to attack the sculptures as if they were real humans. Many of them are beheaded like the one that are at the modern day Parthenon. Persia and Athens never got along very well. The Persians kept on attacking the Athenians so that they can gain more power, but Athena was there to save the Athenians. The old Parthenon was left in ruins as a “reminder of the impiety of the barbarian” (pg 66). Pericle’s later rebuilds the Parthenon as a sign of the status of Athens and as icon of Greek victory over the Persians. Athens achieves high statue with the Persians out of the picture. They make allies incase war was to break out again. Many people were killed and they were given a Pericle’s funeral.  Athens had sufficient funds available after the Athens defeated the Persians and they were no longer at war. So they dedicated the money toward art in building monuments. Evan after the Persian war, the Athenians were still at war with Anti-Athenians. Pericle’s funeral speech points out that man can “shape the word to his own vision of it (67).”  Man is the measure of all things meaning that knowledge is subjective. Example of this is in the Parthenon, the way that the sculptures are sculpted to give an impression. They Greek or Athenian artist tried to create order out of chaos. Their lives were a mess with all the conflict, but they can depict they life that they envision in their work. Many of the sculptures were done during and after chaos, but the artists were able to give it their own impression (72). “Man was the measurer, and things had to be measured in the light of his experience (74). Basically the experience that the Athenians experienced from the Persians helped shape their art. Like creating order out of chaos. The Metopes are great example of creating order out of chaos that the Athenians made. This influenced the classical art enormously especially in the temple and sculptures.

In conclusion, the Parthenon encompasses many fundamentals of the classical period. The Parthenon also has many Athenian aspects incorporated in them as well. Athens olive trees is apart of the Athenian society due it being the major export. It was provided by the Athena, the goddess of wisdom, art, craft and many other things. She helped the Athenians defeat the Persian after they were sacked.  The experience that the Athenians went through by being attacked by the Persians influenced the classical art period. The Athenians made order out of chaos. This could be seen in the Parthenon. The friezes that portray events that happened involved chaos, like the involvement of the gods fighting. Also, dead soldiers are shown. The Friezes portray the history and thanks to the goddess that helped them. Basically, the experiences of their daily lives shaped the classical art elements seen through out the Parthenon.

Parthenon vs. Nike of Samothrace

The Nike of Samothrace is similar to the Parthenon Athena Parthenos. The ancient Greeks symbol for victory was Nike. It was created before the Parthenon around 250 BCE or even earlier. The purpose of the statue was to remind the Greeks visitor of the important roles that the gods play. Athena Parthenos was build as thanks to her for helping the Athenians defeat the Persians. The sculpture portrays the traditional classical style. The Nike is detailed like Athena. There are obvious similarities in the sculpturing of the both Athena and the Nike.  

The Nike’s massive body is stabilized by the powerful backward thrust of her gigantic wings. According to several scholars, the Nike is associated with the victory of the Rhodians against the fleet Antiochus III the Great. It stands on top of a stone ship. It was originally thanks to the deities as apart of a fountain (Lahanas).  Athena served as a protector and deity to the Athenian. She is there to guide and help them. The movement of the large figure, and the strong contrast of light and dark on the on the sculptured figure exemplify classical art. Also the contrasting texture of the feather, fabric and skin symbolize Hellenistic art (Stockstad 156). The statue is missing a head, which can be inferred that the city was also sacked like Athens.

By Abader Almosawi