The Roman Debt to Greece - Art Explora Academy

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The antique Rome

This time we’re off to Rome, the heart of Ancient Roman civilisation, which began during the Greek Archaic period and continued well beyond the end of the Hellenistic period.

Like Greek civilisation, Ancient Rome is in some ways the birthplace of our Western civilisation today, and we’ll see straight away that although the Romans were the authors of many inventions, they also copied their Greek neighbours a great deal.

In a nutshell

The conquests of Ancient Rome were greatly inspired by Ancient Greek culture.

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The Roman gods

Let’s start with what has been copied: the gods, for example! They’re almost the same as the Greek gods, just with different names. Zeus becomes Jupiter, Athena Minerva and Poseidon changes his name to Neptune…

A short focus on three of them:

Venus of Arles,

late 1st century BC, marble, 76.4 inches (height), Louvre Museum, Paris. Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5

Venus

Distinctive Sign: Often naked, with a seashell or a dove
Profession : Goddess of love and beauty
Key fact: She has numerous extremely beautiful children, including Eneus, not always by her husband, because she and Mars are lovers.

Hermes,

Roman copy of a Greek original, marble, Capitoline Museums, Rome

Mercury

Distinctive Sign: A small round hat, wings on his ankles and a sceptre known as caduceous
Profession : God of travellers, merchants… and also robbers!
Key fact: While he was still a baby, he very craftily stole his half-brother Apollo’s flock

Colossal Statue of Mars,

Second century, Capitol Museum, Rome. Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY 3.0

Mars

Distinctive Sign: His armour, a sword, sometimes with a dog or a wild boar
Profession : God of war, violence and bloody crimes
Key fact: The Romans reserved special honour for him. He was never far from his friends Discord, Terror or Grief.

In a nutshell

The Romans revered almost the same gods as the Greeks, but with new names such as Venus, Mars or Mercury.

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The Roman copies

Do you remember all those lost Greek sculptures that we only have copies of? It’s actually often thanks to the Romans!

Since they were highly partial to Greek art, the Romans did, in fact, order a great many copies of the most famous works, sometimes with slight variations. They used them to decorate their gardens or public buildings, such as gymnasiums or thermal baths.

Hercules Farnese,

Third century AD, Roman copy of an original by Lysippus, 125 inches (height). National Museum of Archaeology, Naples. Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5

Hercules at rest,

Third century BC or Roman copy (1st century), bronze, 17 inches (height), Louvre Museum, Paris

In a nutshell

The Romans, who were great lovers of Greek art, made a large number of copies, which came down to us.

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Cameo art

The Romans also got another technique from the Greeks: very fine engraving on mediums ranging from stone to shell, which is why it is known as cameo.

All of the craftsman’s talent consists of using the different layers of colour of his materials to give an impression of relief, depth or details. Some of them were works of real technical genius!

Blacas Cameo

14 – 20 AD, Sardonyx, 5 x 3.7 inches, British Museum, London

Grand Cameo of France,

First century, sardonyx, 12.2 x 10.4 inches, Coins, Medals and Antiques Department of the French National Library, Paris. Photo: Jastrow, CC BY-SA 3.0

Esterel Agathe

In a nutshell

The Romans adopted the Greek technique of cameo art, finely engraved on stones or shells and consisting of layers of colour.

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The Mosaics

It’s true that the Greeks were already creating superb mosaics, but the Romans were going to be both incredibly creative in their choice of subjects, and also spread this decorative technique across the whole empire!

How do you do a mosaic?

You need tessera. These are tiny coloured fragments of stone or glass.
These tessera are then laid out on a surface (a floor or a wall) to represent patterns or characters
To set them securely, don’t forget to use glue or another surface coating.

Panel of the Horse Mosaic,

Fourth – Firth centuries, mosaic, archaeological site of Carthage. Photo: Rais67, CC0

Gnosis, Stag Hunt Mosaic,

Fourth century BC, mosaic, Helen’s Rapture House, Pella

Plato Academy Mosaic

First century BC, mosaic, Pompei, National Archaeology Museum, Naples

In a nutshell

The Romans created mosaics everywhere, by creating patterns on a surface using little coloured fragments.

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Pompey

Some mosaics that have been well preserved from the Romans come from Pompey. It should be said that in 79 BC, the eruption of the neighbouring volcano covered the city with ashes, preserving it until the present day.

Pompey is a real time-capsule and tells us a lot about the Romans’ daily lives, their urban planning and their art. It is really a very rare occurrence to find antique paintings, which are more delicate than sculptures and have therefore not withstood the passing of the centuries. In Pompey they have been incredibly well preserved.