Roman Culture and Society
Lecture 1
Rome, the Centre of the World

ROME
?
ROMANS
ROMAN

Rome: Ab Urbe Condita April 21 753BC

The Forum Romanum under
Caesar (golden milestone)

Rome, Golden Milestone

Rome, Navel of the City

Forum Boarium : Before the 6 th C.
BC
Aeneas’ Rome
Rome under the kings (mostly attr.
To the Tarquins)

Cloaca Maxima
(Greatest Drain)
River Tiber
Drain outlet into river

Trajan’s Forum, Reconstruction

The Pantheon built by M. Agrippa in his third consulate.. Or so it says.

Pantheon interior

Baths of Caracalla:
Reconstruction

Reconstructions of the Baths of
Caracalla

Baths of Caracalla:
What remains..
A very special
Chariot

Severan Marble Map (Forma Urbis)
Circus
Maximus
Septizodium
Ludus
Magnus

APPIUS CLAUDIUS & THE AQUA APPIA 312 BC

Pollio’s Aqueduct
Aqueducts
<Pont du Gard
Pollio’s aqueduct, Ephesus

Triumphant
Return
< Siege of
Jerusalem

Romulus’ Hut

King Evander’s Hut on the
Palatine
Vergil’s Aeneid Book VIII. Ll. 360-
370:
… they were coming up to
Evander’s humble home, and there were cattle everywhere, lowing in the Roman Forum and in the now luxurious district of
Carinae … “Come into my poor home and do not judge it too harshly ” With these words he lead the mighty Aeneas under the a roof tree of his narrow house and set him down on a bed of leaves covered wit the hide of a Libyan bear.” 8 th c. BC Villanovan
Funerary urn

Romulus’ Hut: Casa Romuli
Post holes ! If you like reconstructing wattle & daub huts from holes where wood used to be: Archaic Archaeology is for you!

Forum of Augustus, Rome
Temple of Mars the Avenger

Forum of Augustus, model
Julian portico
Temple of Mars the Avenger
‘Great men’

Innsbruck, Hofkirche
Maximilian’s Ancestors Even King Arthur!

Foundation of Rome

Happy birthday, Rome!

The Suckling She Wolf :
A tale of divine conception, a wolf/prostitute stepmother & belligerent twins.
Acquired by Pope Sixtus IV late 15 th c. AD
Twins added in the 15 th c. AD Probably cast in
The 13 th c. AD

Rome, Lupercal ?

The
Lupercal
Cave?
The Lupercal: Plutarch’s Life of Caesar :
This time of year many noble youths and magistrates run up & down through the city naked, for sport & laughter, striking those they meet with shabby thongs… women of rank purposely get in their way, like kids at school presenting their hands
To be struck (high five!)
It was popular until the 5 th c. AD, when it was dismissed as a pagan fete for a randy rabble.. as opposed to the classy affair it had been in Plutarch’s day…..

Rome at the death of Augustus
Campus Martius

Augustus’ meridian instrument

Building in
Republican Rome
Archaic construction
5 th century BC
4 th century BC
3 rd -2 nd Centuries BC
Triumphal route??

Coarelli’s Procession
Beard’s Procession
Largo Argentina:
Temples
Porticus Metelli:
T. Juppiter Stator

Largo Argentina – Area sacra

Temple of Hercules Victor:
Forum Boarium, Rome 100 BC

Vespasian’s Temple of Peace

Flavian Amphitheatre

Flavian Amphitheatre

Arch of Titus ca. 80 BC

Arch of Titus, Rome
Jewish menorah

Trajan’s Forum, Reconstruction

Trajan’s column

Trajan addressing troops

Opus sectile floor of Senate-house

Pyramid of Cestius

Conquest of Egypt

Napoleon Bonaparte 1769-1821