Art and Music

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1 Art
2 Theater
3 Music
4 References:

Art

Ancient Roman Villa

Large Temple Plaza

Roman art was most popular around 750 BC. to 410 AD. It was influenced by the countries they controlled like Etrusca, Greece, Egypt, and Africa. Most art was made to honor gods and emperors. Buildings like the Parthenon were decorated to praise the Roman gods. Some people - depending on their wealth - would have a wood or gold brooch with a god carved into it. Many Emperors would pay to have their face carved into a stone bust.

Artist doing his Business

Sculpture found in Pantheon

In their villas, Romans would put elaborate and beautiful mosaics in their villas. Roman citizens loved to decorate, and since they had so much time on their hands, they would decorate even the smallest things. There were two types of Artists, tradesmen and craftsworkers. Tradesmen were people who made pottery, jewelry, or iron and bronze work. Craftsworkers were people who decorated homes or buildings. They used five different types of columns for buildings, Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Compositor. Three of these were Greek, relating to Rome's gain of culture through other places. Visit the Architecture section to learn more on structures and pillars. A mosaic is many small colored tiles pasted on a wall or floor. Many mosaics were found in the ruined city of Pompeii. Common mosaics [1] were of bears, ducks, horses, cupid, dolphins, boars and medusa. They sculpted things like masters, leaders, gods and goddesses, and generally important people.

Although Roman art was at first was unoriginal and not very good, Leonardo da Vinci was an artist there during the Renaissance. He painted the Mona Lisa. The Renaissance was also influenced by Roman art. Art was used to announce someone’s power or wealth. Instead of actual portraits, people were idealized. Publius Ovidius Naso was a poet in Ancient Rome. Some of his quotes were

“Those things that nature denied to human sight, she revealed to the eyes of the soul.” - Publius Ovidius Naso
“It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.” - Julius Caesar
" Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci

Theater

Theater was made more dramatic and was acted out. Roman theater was very serious about there plays and if the audience want fun, they will get there fun. There are different rooms were they can hang out and drink but there is this one strange room it was called the Vomitorium, it is a room were people can vomit all there food and get some more at the food stands On the stage, the actors acted everything and would make everything serious. Plays were acted in the Amphitheatre. They had these trade routes around the world and the Romans traded olives and wine and they traded those for fireworks from the Chinese. The director went back to Rome and used the fireworks for the grand finale. There were 3 kinds of plays, comedy. tragedy, and mime. the christians felt that the theater was mocking them, like music, so it was banned. The ancient roman plays were influenced by the Oscans, the Greeks and the Etruscans

Actors wore special masks that lifted the volume of their voices and high-heeled shoes to be seen from farther away. Masks were designed to reveal the characters temperament. Animals were sometimes included in plays. When an actor had to die, they brought a criminal to be the actor that would die. The actors got paid but not enough. . The only actors in plays were male slaves The masks that romans wore were to say who was playing what character. Wigs were also used, a gray wig was an old man black wigs for young men and red wigs for slaves. Young men wore bright colors and old men wore whit. This made it easier to determine who was playing what character.

Music

Roman music was very uncreative All their music was all copied from the Etruscans, the Greeks and the oscans. Roman music was also momophomic, meaning it had one melody and no harmony. Very little is known about roman music That is because the christians did not like music. They felt it was mocking the christian religion. When christianity became the dominant religion music was banned. No Written roman music has ever been found. Musicians also appeared at the Amphitheatre. Despite lack of decent music the Romans had many instruments:

Musician

The Tuba: Of course nothing like the modern tuba, it looked more like a french horn. About 1.3 meters long.

The Cornu: A somewhat semi-circular bronze instrument, used in the military, "borrowed" from the Etruscans

The Lyre: Romans played an instrument called the lyre. It’s a harp like instrument about the size of a small dog. The lyre was made by the Greek god Hermes. It was first made out of cow skins and turtle shells. To play it, there are different modes including the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian modes all in the musical key of C. The lyre also appeared in Greek myths. Hermes was the god who made the first lyre.

The Lute: Much like a modern day guitar, thought to be a medieval instrument but was played in ancient rome.

The Kithara: The premier instrument of ancient rome, larger and heavier than a lyre, sweet sound, basically a guitar.

The Drums: Taken from Egyptians, used for backgrounds for rhythmic music and other purposes.

References:

Art: (Build your own Mosaic!) [www.http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/mosaic/mklarge.htm]

Theater: [2]

Music info: [3]

Lerner, Edward R. "Goudimel, Claude (c. 1514-1572)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Suzanne M. Bourgoin. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 17 vols.Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. San Francisco Public Library. December. 2007

"Roman and Greek Cultures Syncretize, c. 175 B.C." DISCovering World History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Thomson Gale. San Francisco Public Library. December. 2007

History Alive!

Stephanie Temple. "Rome." drama 7-2. Live Oak School. Music room, 11/29/07