Finest Of The Preserved Imperial Villas example essay topic

Suburban villas, such as those owned by the statesman and orator Cicero and other famous Romans, often incorporated fields, lakes, shrines, and thermal complexes. The finest of the preserved imperial villas is that (begun AD 118) of Hadrian at Tivoli. The first emperor, Augustus, who reigned from 27 BC to AD 14, lived in a relatively austere residence on the Palatine Hill in Rome, but under Domitian a great imperial palace (begun c. AD 81, dedicated 92) was constructed nearby by the architect Rabirius (flourished AD 63-100).

Domitian's Domus Augustana also served as the headquarters of succeeding emperors; it had grand reception halls, public dining areas, fountains, and a garden in the form of a stadium, in addition to a residential wing. City dwellers of the imperial period who could not afford private residences lived in insula e, multistory brick and concrete structures strikingly similar to modern apartment houses. The best-preserved examples are at Ostia, the port of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber River, and date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Chief among these are the honorary, or so-called triumphal, arches erected in all parts of the empire. Although almost none of the great statuary groups (often chariot groups) that once crowned these arches have survived, the original purpose of such monuments was solely to support honorific statuary; the arches were very plain. Under Augustus and succeeding emperors, however, the arches themselves became more and more elaborate.

They eventually developed into veritable billboards covered with extensive series of relief panels advertising the victories and good deeds of the emperors. The reliefs often recounted specific historical events, but frequently allegorical scenes were also depicted in which an emperor might appear in the company of the gods or receive the homage of kneeling personifications of conquered peoples. Among the most important preserved arches in the capital are the Arch of Titus (about AD 81), in the Roman Forum, and the Arch of Constantine (AD 315), near the Colosseum. In two panels on Titus's arch the triumphal procession of the emperor is represented, complete with the spoils from the sack of the great temple in Jerusalem.

The arch erected in honor of Constantine the Great presents a mixture of reliefs reused from earlier monuments and new reliefs made specifically for the arch. The panels and friezes depict a host of subjects, including scenes of battle, sacrifice, and the distribution of largess. In the reused reliefs the head of Constantine the Great was routinely substituted for those of his predecessors. Such reuse and refashioning of older reliefs was not uncommon in imperial Rome; the monuments of dead emperors who were officially condemned by the Senate (damnation memoria e) were either altered or destroyed. Richly decorated arches are also found outside Rome. At Benevento in southern Italy a grand arch with 14 panels honoring Trajan was put up about ad 114.

At Orange in France, the Arch of Tiberius (AD 25) is covered with representations of military trophies and bound captives, scenes of Romans fighting Gauls, and panels of captured arms and armor. Historiated columns were also occasionally erected, with spiral relief friezes narrating in great detail the successful military campaigns of the Romans. The first and greatest of these was put up in the Forum of Trajan (AD 113) in Rome by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus; it recounts the activities of the Roman army in its war against the Dacian's on the northern frontier (modern Romania). Historical reliefs also adorned great altars.

The finest is the Ara Pac is Augusta e (Altar of Augustan Peace, 13-9 BC, Rome), the reliefs of which celebrate the initiation by Augustus of the Pax Romana, the great era of Roman peace and prosperity.