10 characteristics of ancient ROME
The culture of ancient Rome can be described as a span of 1,000 years, and can develop from a small farming community defined by narrow ethnicity to a multilingual, multicultural empire covering an area now occupied by 13 modern nations. To generalize about such diverse chronological and geographic diversity is to dramatically oversimplify.
Rome is known for many important engineering feats, such as the construction of aqueducts and roads and monumental architecture, but the ancient Persian, Mesopotamian, and Egyptian empires also accomplished important engineering feats (and irrigation in the case of Egypt).
Social, cultural and artistic characteristics of ancient Rome
- Roman culture borrowed and improved upon Greek culture and other foreign cultures, making it difficult to adequately point out their distinctive characteristics. It should be noted that sections of the Roman population preserved in Greek features, for example, give preference to the Greek language over the Latin language. Despite this challenge, however, Roman culture has identifiable characteristics that can be effectively associated with culture and era.
- The Romans contributed the arches and domes in their architectural designs and structures. A popular structure with these characteristics, and which also serves as a symbol of Roman culture, is the Colosseum. The Colosseum was used for official ceremonies, but became popular for gladiatorial deathmatches that were held for the entertainment of the public.
- Copies of ancient Greek sculpture. While the general replication of Greek statues indicated a hesitation and lack of creativity on the part of Roman artists, art history could not be more grateful to them for their efforts. In fact, it's fair to say that one of Rome's greatest contributions to art history lies in its replica of the original Greek statues, 99 percent of which have disappeared. Without the Roman copies of the originals, Greek art would never have received the appreciation it deserves, and Renaissance art (and therefore Western Art in general) might have taken a very different course.
- Paint. The greatest innovation of the Roman painters was the development of landscape painting, a genre in which the Greeks showed little interest. His development of a very crude form of linear perspective was also noted. In their effort to meet the enormous demand for paintings throughout the empire, by civil servants, senior army officers, housewives, and the general public, Roman artists produced panel paintings (in encaustic and tempera), murals of large and small scale (in fresco), and masters all genres of painting, including his own brand of "triumphal" story painting. Most of the surviving Roman paintings are from Pompeii and Herculanum, as the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 helped preserve them. Most of them are decorative murals, featuring seascapes and landscapes, and were painted by skilled "interior decorators" rather than virtuoso artists, a clue to the function of art in Roman society.
- The satire it has also been considered a distinctive feature of Roman culture. The style was used in numerous literary works.
- The most distinctive feature of the Roman Empire was the presence of an Emperor. The Emperor was a towering figure in the Empire and even on the world stage, as Rome spread from modern England to North Africa and Eastern Europe and Turkey. The Roman Empire invested a lot of time and energy in creating a code of law. This was undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements. This started in the Republic, but it took big steps during the Empire. Under Theodosius and Justinian, the Roman law codes became impressive. In fact, modern Western law is heavily indebted to Roman law. First-year law students even take a class in Roman law.
- A complex written law code It is considered an important feature of Roman culture, but written law codes date back to Mesopotamia, although Roman law could be said to have been distinguished by its complexity. Roman administration was extremely efficient by ancient standards (but so was ancient Persia). Perhaps, rather than trying to suggest that Rome was unique, it would be better to state that it was one of several great ancient empires (including the Mesopotamian, Mycenaean, Egyptian, and Persian) that lasted several centuries, had complex laws and administration, produced great works cultural and intellectual heritage, impressive feats of engineering and monumental construction, and was militarily strong.
- Presence of many slaves. Arguably, Rome was one of the largest slave-holding places in the history of the world. This is one of the plagues of Rome, but it should also be said that some slaves could become very powerful. There is evidence that some people sold themselves into slavery to move up the social ladder.
- Rome embraced Christianity. This fact helped establish the Roman Catholic Church.
- Religious and funerary sculpture. Religious art was also a popular, though less unique, form of Roman sculpture. An important feature of a Roman temple was the statue of the deity to whom it was dedicated. Such statues were also erected in public parks and private gardens. Small devotional figurines of varying quality were also popular for personal and family shrines. These smaller works, when commissioned from the wealthier upper classes, may include chyselephantine and ivory carving work, woodcarving, and terracotta sculpture, sometimes colour-glazed. When Rome switched from cremation to burial at the end of the first century AD. C., stone coffins, known as sarcophagi, were in great demand: the three most common types are Metropolitan Roman (made in Rome), Attic style (made in Athens), and Asiatic (made in Dokimeion, Phrygia). All were carved and generally decorated with sculptures, in this case reliefs. The most expensive sarcophagi were carved from marble, although another stone was also used, as was wood and even lead. In addition to a variety of different depictions of deceased persons, such as full Etruscan-style sculptural portraits of the person reclining on a sofa, popular motifs used by sculptors include episodes from Roman (or Greek) mythology, as well as genre and scenes. game And garlands of fruits and leaves. Towards the end of the Roman Empire, sarcophagi became an important medium for Christian-Roman art (313 onwards).
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ENCICLOPEDIA DE CARACTERÍSTICAS (2023) 10 characteristics of ancient ROME, en 10caracteristicas.com. https://10caracteristicas.com/en/10-characteristics-of-ancient-rome/ (Consultado el: 23-09-2023)
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