Posts tagged romans
Take a Step Back in Time
"History is not just found in textbooks. It is the foundation of everything we know." - Victoria Brown
Cardea was the Roman goddess of the door hinge. Her role was to protect the family of the house and keeps evil spirits from crossing the threshold.
When his legions fled in the face of the enemy, General Pompeii ordered decimation - every tenth man would be beaten to death by his comrades. In their next battle, they didn’t flee from the enemy and they won. To decimate now means to kill a large proportion, not just to kill one in ten.
The Battle of Avaricum was a siege between the Gauls and the Romans. The Gauls had a number of tactics including stone walls so the Romans couldn’t break through, ditches and tunnels that would be set on fire. However, during the battle, it began to rain. The Gauls believed rain was a bad sign from the Gods and that they would lose the battle or the sky would fall on them.
Penates are known as the household Gods, although the God Penates was originally the God of Cupboards. Household Gods would be honoured at the family heath.
Crixus was one of the leaders of the slave rebellion during the Third Servile War along with Oenomaus and most famously Spartacus. He met his end in 72BC at the battle of Mount Garganus along with his 30,000 strong army. Spartacus honored Crixus with funeral games where he had 300 Roman prisoners of war fight to the death like glaiators.
People think Caligula was ‘crazy’ because he declared war on the sea, and because he uncovered Alexander the Great’s burial place so he could wear his uniform. However, some things were darker than that. Emperor Caligula was really into incest and would regularly have sex with his sisters. He also enjoyed watching executions in which the criminal would be slowly put to death - “make him feel he is dying”.
The Hanging Marsyas is quite a disturbing statue which shows an execution. He presents a character of myth who challenged the god Apollo to a musical contest which he lost. Apollo ordered him to be flayed alive. Sixty copies of this statue have survived. The marble is a red streaked marble which shows just what the skin might have looked like.
Caligula’s name was actually Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus and succeeded his great-uncle in 37 AD. During his time in the army whilst growing up, he gained the nickname Caligula as he would wear a smaller version of the uniform. The feminine name for the boots they wore were caligulas.
Most statues in Ancient Rome were made from marble taken from the Carrara Quarry in Tuscany, as it was said to have been a purer shade of white than any marble found in Greece, and it is strong. It is also where the marble used for Michelangelo’s David originated. It is the oldest quarry in Tuscany, and the whole mountain is practically marble.
The Capitoline Brutus suggests Ancient Romans were not philosophical characters like the Ancient Greeks, but hard men interested in reality, war, business and politics. It is thought to date from the early republic, possibly a leader. It shows a certain level sophistication and realism in the art form.
This is the Treu Head that proved that Roman statues were painted fully; under lights reminiscence of the different pigments used to create a realistic skin tone are still visible.
The Blacas Cameo depicts an image of Augustus, Emperor of Rome between 27AD and 14AD, the first Roman Emperor. It was carved from a three-layered sardonyx and would have been kept in private. He is shown in a majestic pose. The symbolism represents the goddess Minerva as well as a militaristic, strong, yet young and beautiful emperor.
Ptolemy Philopatra Philometer Caesar, also known as Ptolemy XV, Caesarion and Caesario was the son of Cleopatra and Julius Ceasar, born in 47 BC. When Cleopatra’s husband refused to recognise him as the next Pharoah, she had him killed. He ruled alongside Cleopatra VII from 44BC to 30BC, when he was killed in the Battle of Actium by Augustus.
Ancient Romans admired Ancient Greek statues. However, they were too effeminate for the militaristic, imperial Romans. Each line on Ancient Roman realism shows experience that they were proud of. It depicts a more realistic image of what they looked like. It is known also that when a Roman man was unshaven, it was often a symbol of mourning.
The Vandals were an east Germanic barbarian tribe. They are mainly associated with the ransacking of Rome in 455, in which they plundered the city for two weeks. It is believed this is where the modern term ‘vandalism’ originates.
