Last week's homework assignment was very well done by so many of you! Congratulations on your research and on taking a stand. Remember, there's no reason why politics should intimidate you; it's your RIGHT to have an opinion and to express it freely. If someone else wants to get angry and act childishly that shouldn't convince you to not participate! By backing down you give up your right to participate in the democratic process.
This week's assignment will focus on a less-controversial subject, though. When you think of Ancient Rome it is likely that you picture the incredible architecture and artwork that continues to exist and inspire us today. Your assignment is to follow one of the following links and choose a Roman piece of artwork or architecture to share with us. What was the initial purpose of your topic? Does it exist today? What is special/unusual about it? Why did you choose this specific example?
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/
http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-architecture/index.htm
Take time to choose your selection carefully and share what you've learned!
this week i have chose to do my essay on the Arch of Titus. the arch was actually built at one end of the roman forum in 80 A.D. to remind the roman people of the victories of emporer titus. titus was actually dead when the arch was built and his little brother domitian was currently emporer at this time. he really really wanted the people of rome to remember his brother so he also ingraved his brothers name into the stone.
ReplyDeletei picked this piece of architecture for more reasons than one. my first reason being that the piece of art is simply beautiful i dont know why it caught my eye when i first saw it but i guess there was just something about it, something stunning and breath taking.but my main reason for choosing this piece of art is the story that is behind it. i mean yeah sure its just some random arch to the unknowing person but to someone that has read up on it and one who knows the precious contribution this arch really was it becomes so much more. it makes you realize how close the bond is between two brothers. Domitian was so worried about hid brothers memory being forgotten that he had a massive arch made in his honor.
maybe im wrong and perhaps some may disagree but in my mind this is a magnificent structure. :)
This week I will write over the incredible architecture of Ancient Rome. I choose the awesome building “Colosseum“.
ReplyDeleteThe acient names are Amphitheatrum Novum or Amphitheatrum Flaviu.
It is the largest of the ancient Roman amphitheater built and the largest single
construction of the Roman world in general. Built between 72 and 80 AD, it is now one
of the landmarks of the city and also a testimony to the high architecture of the ancient Romans.
The first stone amphitheater in Rome was built under Augustus in 29 BC.
The Colosseum was the venue of the most gruesome games that were hosted by members
of the imperial family and to which every free people had free access. The last battle was probably between 434/435 AD
I have been twice in the Coliseum and it was incredible.
It is so great and although it is already so old that still get good. This is incredible!
I've chose the Coliseum, because it is the largest single building of the ancient Romans and
of course it is now one of the town's landmark
My sources are :
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolosseum#Sp.C3.A4tantike
I chose to write my essay on the Roman architachtual structure called The Pantheon. I chose the Pantheon mainly because I have heard the name before, but never really known what it is. I've seen pictures from the outside and I thought "Yeah, just another Greek temple." Obviously, I'm not very knoweldgable about ancient Rome...or Greek.
ReplyDeleteThe Pantheon was built around 10 BC by a Roman General named Agrippa. He built the temple in downtown Rome and named it the Pantheon for it was to be a temple to all the gods. Pantheon literally means "all of the gods" in Greek.
The Pantheon is, or was, a fire hazard. It has burned down twice, once in the year 80 AD. After the orginial Pantheon burned down, Domititian built a new temple on the spot. That one also burned. Hadrian built a third and final temple there around 120 AD, the one that still stands to this day. To honor the orginial builder, Hardian left a message on the top of The Pantheon telling that Agrippa built it.
The Pantheon looks like a Greek Temple on the outside with the standard 8 columns. On the inside, however, The Pantheon is actually a giant dome! At the time it was the largest dome in the world. There is a hole in the top of the dome, kind of like a sun roof. The hole, called oculus, lets in sunlight, as well as rain, so the marble floors are occasionally wet.
The Pantheon is still in good shape today because the Roman emperor Phocas gave it to the Popes to use as a Christian church in 609 AD. Since then, it has been the Pope's job to car efor it and keep it in good condition.
Works cited: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/pantheon.htm
This week for my essay i have choosen to write my essay on the Trajan column. The Trajan column was built just after 100 AD to allwayes be there to remind people of the Roman emperopr Trajan's victories in a war in Dacia (modern Rumania). It is places in Trajans Forum in Rome. The beautful piece of art work has pictures of Roman soldiers all around it, you can also see Roman soldiers crossing the Danube river in boats with oars. One of the main purposes of the Trajan column was to show that the Romans were civilized and very very good fighters with organized skill (and that trajan was a great general) But however the Dacians the other army was very unskilled,messy,and confused. Its unusual because not many pieces of art work are as tall and round and full of pictures. It containes pieces of history all over and around it from top to bottom. Not many other art works are like this one most have one picture. I personally picked this piece of art because it is very beautiful and uniqe theres definatley not many art structures like this. So there for i choose the Trajan cloumn.
ReplyDeleteToday I am going to write about one of Rome’s most famous buildings, called the Pantheon. The reason I chose this work of architecture is because I visited it when I went to Rome three years ago. I was impressed by how such early civilizations were able to built complex buildings like this.
ReplyDeleteThe name Pantheon comes from the Greek word Πάνθειον, which means "to every god". This temple was built by the Roman general Agrippa in the year 10 BC.
Unfortunately, 90 years after the construction, the Pantheon was burned down in a fire. A new temple was built, which burned down as well. Around 120 AD Hadrian built a third temple in a, for that time, rather modern style. This is the temple you can see today. But to honor Agrippa, Hadrian left an inscription over the door saying “M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT", which is Latin for “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, Consul for the third time, built this”.
From the outside the Pantheon does not look very spectacular. It is built like a Greek temple with eight columns across the front and resembles the famous Greek Parthenon.
But what the temple is most known is its inside. The Pantheon is a giant dome and still now, almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, and also the largest dome ever built in the world up to that time. The cupola’s diameter is 142 feet, and it is also 142 feet from the floor to the top. To hold up this giant construction, thick walls were necessary. They were made out of bricks and about 20 feet thick.
The Pantheon still exists today and is in very good shape. It was originally built as a sanctuary for all of the Roman gods. In 609 AD, after the renaissance, it was given to the popes and became a Christian church. The Italian painter Raffael, for example, is buried there.
Works cited:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/
I'm going to write about the "Baths of Caracalla".
ReplyDeleteMany Roman emperors built huge public bathes for the people of Rome. The reason why is because most Roman families didn't have their own baths. The "Baths of Caracalla" are built by the Emperor Caracalla about 200 AD. It's the largest one and also very good preserved.
I have chosen the "Baths of Caracalla" because I heard a lot about the great Roman baths.
When you entered the bath, you first came into a big courtyard with changing rooms around it. This courtyard was for exercicing like stretching, jogging, or aerobics. There are two of these rooms. One on each end of the bath. They had black and white mosaic pavements with patterns. There also was a wooden balcony that went all the wy around , so you could watch the people exercising.
If you went through the door, you came to the warm baths (tepidarium). They were all not big enough for swimming, but they were more like a soaking pool.
On the right side were the hot baths (caldarium). Slaves stood in the basement all the time putting charcoal into big ovens to heat up the water, so these baths were very, very hot.
On the left side were the cold baths (frigidarium or natatorium). These were a very big swimming pool.
All the walls were covered with marble and stucco and the swimming pool had mosaics of sea creatures on the bottom. This bath even had his own aqueduct for it'
Works cited:
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/baths.htm
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/bathscaracalla.htm
Jess_megs15,
ReplyDeleteI really, really like your essay. I find the whole story interesting, and I especially love the part about the brother remembering and honoring the brother. I wish today was still like that. Not many people would go to such extremes to remember a loved one, at least not in the form of building something and writing their name on it! Really good essay!!
Simon,
Good essay. I must say, the idea of a public bath is a little creepy, but oh well. The Romans didn't think nothing about it so, ok. Anyhow, I find it cool how they know the color of the tiles of the black and white mosaic patterns. The Romans were really smart to come up with such an idea of the hot tub and swimming pool!! haha Good essay!!
@ Jess-megs15:
ReplyDeleteYou did a really good job on your essay. I like it and find it cool too that the two brothers like each other so much. I learned a lot about the story and the background of the arch.
@ Stella:
Good job! I like your essay and that you have such a good reason to chose this building. I learned that it is still in very good shape and that the walls are very thick to hold the building together. I think it is also pretty cool that it is still the largest reinforced dome. Good job!
This assignment has been particularly interesting to me because of my love for architecture! The Romans were extraordinary architects; they built massive and remarkable buildings, columns, amphitheaters, and so on. Yet, I have chosen to write about Hadrian's Wall. This wall, frontier or borderland, was built to 'separate Romans from Barbarians'.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the wall took 6 years to build it measures twelve feet high, eight feet wide, and 73 miles long. About half of the wall is built with stone and the other half with turf.
It is amazing to say that this wall is a lasting monument, surviving 2,000 years. Thanks to the Roman legionaries, soldiers who belonged to the 2nd, 6th and 20th legions, Rome still today has the wall.
I chose Hadrian's Wall because we studied it last week and it was what I knew least about.
The Roman Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122 A.D. Rome was having trouble because of it's vast expansion. Emperor Hadrian was the first to introduce the thought of consolidation in the Roman Empire. He was not interested in expansion or invasion of new territories. The Romans were having trouble in the Northern part of Britain with a tribe called the Picts.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of Hadrian's wall was to separate the Romans from barbarians. It was built not just to prevent movement, but to control the movement of the Picts. It was built across one of the narrowest parts of England. Hadrian's Wall measured 73 miles long.The 42 miles of the Eastern section was the first to be built using stone. The 31 miles Western section was initially built using turf to hasten the completion of the barrier. The highest point was 12 feet high,it's width 8 feet. The wall took 6 years to finish. Every mile the Romans built a milecastle. This housed up to 60 troops. The Milecastle were used to control people who passed through the walls. A huge fortified gate was used for Roman soldiers to go on patrol to the north of the wall. At regulaat intervals between the mileccastles turrets were built. Sixteen Roman forts were built along the wall these forts could house up to 800 Roman troops. The forts consisted of a Commanders headquarters, houses, hospital, workshops, barracks, granaries, stables and a prison. Ruins still stand after 2000 years. You can take a walking tour in Britain of the wall.
After the Romans left Britain stones were taken from the wall to build great monasteries and local buildings. I chose this topic because it sounded interesting and reminded me of the great wall of China.
Something that has always amazed me the religion of ancient Rome. By that I was really interested with their place of cult. So I decided to talk about temples of gods and goddesses in ancient Rome.
ReplyDeleteThis essay will be specifically on the temple of Venus and Roma two goddesses of the ancient roman empire. The special thing about this temple is that it is for to goddesses. Most of the temples were for only one god or goddess.
First of all, it was located on the far east side of the Forum Romanum near the Colosseum. The goddess Venus was the goddess bringer of good fortune and Roma was of eternal Rome. The architect was the emperor Hadrian and the construction began in the year 121 and was finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius.
The temple was consisted on two main chambers, one for each of the goddesses. They were arranged symmetrically back-to-back. Roma's chamber faced west, looking out over the Forum Romanum, and Venus' chamber faced east, looking out over the Colosseum. For what I read on a few sites, there was a lot of columns and statues in this temple.
As an additional clever subtlety by Hadrian, Venus also represented love (Amor in Latin), and "AMOR" is "ROMA" spelled backwards. Thus, placing the two divinities of Venus and Rome back-to-back in a single temple created a further symmetry with the back-to-back symmetry of their names as well. Within Venus' chamber was another altar where newly wed couples could make sacrifices. Directly adjacent to this altar stood gigantic silver statues of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina The Youngher.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Venus_and_Roma
Elena, I enjoyed reading your essay and I really liked your choice of topic. The Romans were very exact people who planned even their temples to the smallest detail. I was really intrigued by the fact that even the names of the two goddesses the same in reverse. They must have either had great respect for their gods or they had an enormous fear of them. This motivated them to please them to the highest degree.
ReplyDeleteBiggin, your article was very interesting. It is amazing to me that even 2000 years after the construction was concluded portions of the wall still remain. The Romans were really incredible architects and used their skills to diligently protect their empire. It is a shame that their diligence did not pay off and the Roman Empire eventually crumbled. But their work was not wasted. The stones which the wall consisted of could be used again to build other important buildings.
I have always loved to look at different kinds of architecture and great pieces of art. This made our assignment quite enjoyable for me, except for the fact that pretty much all of Ancient Rome's achitecture and art was and still is very fascinating so it was hard for me to choose which particular thing to talk about. I came up with the solution that I would talk mostly about the temples. Although, my two favorites were the temples and the Coloseum (famous amphitheater), which is very amazing in itself, especially to think they built this back around 72 AD, Im still gonna tell about the great temples.
ReplyDeleteThe foundation of all the temples was very important to the Emperors simply because two main things that were very much allied in the Roman world were religion and politics. The building of a temple by an emperor was a testament of his dedication to the traditional customs of Roman society, also know as pietas. Some qualities and descriptions of these temples is that they are raised on a podium and have a front staircase. They have columns along the sides being attached or engaged for easy identification of Roman temples. They are very impressive.
I chose to talk about this because #1. because I thought these buildings of temples were massive and beautiful buildings. Second, I was thinking, Jesus went and taught at places very similar to these. He taught at temples all the time so I though it was cool and knew Id enjoy researching it. Today, some of the temples are still mostly intact but there are also those that are just ruins or even just memories. What I found most interesting/ fascinating about these temples was that an architect named Pierre-Alexandre Vignon based his building distinctly from the Roman temples. This architect is known for the great Madeleine Church in Paris, France. This church looks very much like the Ancient Roman temples, and I found that to be pretty special.
www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/.../roman_architecture.html
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/
I had a lot of fun searching for which architecture to write about. I found Constantine’s Arch and knew instantly that’s what I wanted to learn about. I love arches’, just the way they look amazes me.
ReplyDeleteFor the victory of Constantine’s army there was a beautiful arch built as a reward for Constantine. In 315 AD it was dedicated to him. Constantine believed his win over Maxentius was because of the help from the Christian God. Of course this ending the persecutions and made Christianity the official religion for the Roman Empire.
The arch was about 85 feet wide and 69 feet tall. The majority of the arch was put together from other structures that were older; of course, this was common during that time period. The decorations in the middle and lower part of the arch were created exclusively for Constantine’s Arch.
One particular thing I found truly interesting is the fact that the decorations made in Constantine’s time for the arch are lower quality than from before in the era of Hadrian and Trajan. It is shocking to me that the artistic skill lowered in the future than went up. In the article, it states that this was symbolic to the decline of the Roman Empire.
I chose to do my essay on Hadrian’s Wall. The article started out by defining what architecture is and I like that so here is the definition. Architecture is “the 'art and science of designing and erecting buildings'.” Hadrian’s Wall was built in England around the beginning of the second century. The reason that the wall was built was to separate the Roman controlled south from the barbaric tribes that lived in the north. The wall is about seventy three miles long. The wall was built in two parts. The first is made of stone and the second is turf. Now I didn’t really get how you can build a wall out of turf so looked up some pictures of the wall. All the ones that I found were of what appeared to be a mound of dirt that had a trench in front of it. I imagine that it was a little more intimidating almost 2000 years ago when the weather hadn’t affected it so much. The wall does still exist and is tourist stop in England. One of the most unusual thing about the wall is the fact that half of it is made of turf. Another cool fact is that every 5000 feet there is a Milecastle. There are eighty total. These buildings were used to house the soldiers that guarded the wall. I chose this example because I have been curious about it since Mr. Akers mentioned it in class.
ReplyDeleteFor this weeks essay I decided to go to roman history for kids because of the choices from that website we had. I chose the section I have always been interested in the roman mythology or roman religion. As I am sure everyone knows the Romans are polytheist, or they believe in many gods. Event though the Romans did believe in thousands of gods they all had their family’s favorites and then there were those every one knew. Such as the two main gods in the Roman religion Zeus the father of the gods, or Poseidon the god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses. The religion wasn’t much like the religion of Christianity but more like stories that were passed down generation to generation like a family heirloom. I , like many kids through out world’s history, have been intrigued by the stories of the Ancient Roman people love learning about their culture and the myths. In fact its my favorite part of literature we read through in and out of school. The roman people actually did not create the majority of the gods they “worshiped” but they adopted the gods and their myths from the Greeks because they enjoyed the myths so much.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am talking about the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. I know this was not on the following pages we were suppose to use, but this building is so impressive, and I thought I just had to write about it.
ReplyDeleteThis church is the biggest of the major basilicas in Rome, but it is not the Cathedral of the Pope. St. Peter's Basilica is the center of the independent state of the vatican city.
The previous building (Old St. Peter), was built by Constantine the Great in 324, for the Holy Sepulcher over the suspected grave of the apostle Simon Peter, which is dedicated as a patron.
The Basilica holds 20,000 people and is one of the lagest church buildings in the world.
The magnificant dome makes this church even more special. It was designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti. In the dome, you can admire several large and impressive artworks and when you walk into this church, it makes you feel so small!
I went to Rome and I saw this church, I can tell it is so impressive and you just have to see it. This building exists and thousands of tourists visit this church per year. I would say, the special thing is just, it is so large and there are so many artworks in this church that you can not even see all of them when you spend a couple of hours in this building.
I hope it was ok that I wrote about this, but I thought it was something that is typical for Rome today and in the past!!
At some point in each of our lives we have all seen some grand piece of architecture and or art. Its all around us. The Romans really brought a lot of new and intracate ideas to ancient architecture. They built many beautiful and truely amazing buildings. The temples, roads, aquaducts, arches, palaces, and amphitheathres are just some of the amazing structures they designed and created.
ReplyDeleteI like many of the structures they created but the ones that stand out to me the most are the amphitheatres and more specifically the Colosseum. It is amazing how they designed and put together so many of these beautiful amphitheatres without the modern technology we have today. Many are still standing today. Some are inruin and some are crumbling but it is a wonder that they have lasted this long. They were truely a work of art.
I chose the amphitheatres and more specifically the Collosseum for several reasons. One is because they are so massive and beautiful. And it is so hard to imagine the time and effort put into building one of them. Especially the Collosseum. It seated thousands and was very intracately designed. Another reason is their history although interesting it is also very gruesome. The amphitheatres were for entertaining the people. The roman form of entertainment was not pretty thing. In these theatres many died. The romans held fights in them. People would fight people, and animals. Many Christians were publically tortured and killed there. Many times they were thrown to the wild animals defenseless. Many gladiators fought and died there as the bloodthirsty crowed watched and cheered them on. It was a very barbaric thing. Although they did come up with some very creative ways to make the fights new and more thrilling. Sometimes they would flood the them and have somewhat of a naval battle. I find it amazing that the structure could be flooded and used in this way. The Romans did truely build many amazing well designed structures.
Stella, your did a great job on your research and writting your essay. I think it is amazing that you have had the chance to see this and now have the chance to write about it later. It is cool that you could give a first hand account of what you saw. I love going places and would defintely love to travel to see places like the pantheon if I had the opportunity. Also it really is amazing that after all these years it still exists. The Romans were quite ingeneous for that time and really built their structures well.
ReplyDeleteEmilly, your essay was interesting. I didn't really think about that and really didn't know this about how the artistic skill wasn't as good as before. At first thought it it is shocking and it leaves you wondering why. But maybe the reason could be that as time went on the Roman empire slowly began to fall. So maybe the same thing happened to them as what happened to Egypt. As the empire became weaker the emperors and people in general had less and less time to create the same beautiful artistic structures as before and their work became in a sense cheeper and cheeper as a reasult of a shortage of time, money and resources. Just a thought :)! Good job though.
ReplyDeletethis week for my essay i have choosen to writ my essay on the trajan coloumn.the trajan coloumn was built in 100 AD to always remind people of the roman emperor trajan's victories in a war in dacia (modern romania).it is places in trajan's forum in rome.the beautiful piece of artwork has pictures of roman soldiers,you can also see roman soldiers crossingthe danube river in boats and oars.one of the main purposes of the trajan coloumnwas to showthat the romanswere civilized and very good fighters with organized skillsand that trajan was a good general.but however the dancians,the other army,was very unskilled,messy and confused.its unusaul because not many pieces of artare as tall and big and full of pictures.it contains pieces of history all over and around it from top to bottom.not many other art works are like this one,most have one picture.i picked thi piece of art because its one of a kind and very beautiful.thats why i picked the trajan coloumn
ReplyDeleteI am going to talk about the Colosseum because I think this is the most interested place that I knew in Roman Empire. The Colosseum is probably the most impressive building of the Roman Empire. The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium. It is located in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy,It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. Now the monumental structure has fallen into ruins, but even today it is an imposing and beautiful sight. Emperors used the Colosseum to entertain the public with free games, for gladiatorial contests .and public spectacles . Those games were a symbol of prestige and power and they were a way for an emperor to increase his popularity.
ReplyDeleteGames were held for a whole day or even several days in a row. They usually displays of exotic animals and ended with fights to the death b. These fighters were usually slaves, prisoners of war or condemned criminals. Sometimes free Romans and even Emperors took part in the action. It used “ Bread and circuses ” that was really interesting. Emperors used the Colosseum to entertain the public with free games. The southern side of the Colosseum was felled by an earthquake and stone-robbers in 847.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/romarch.htm
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/colosseum.htm
I really enjoyed researching for this week’s essay. I chose to write mine on the Roman theaters. I find the architecture of the Roman Theater fascinating. We all know that the Romans adopted the Greek religion and made it their own by changing the names of the Greek gods. Well, the Romans did the same with their drama. However, the Roman theater was built slightly different than that of the Greeks, Roman theatres derive their basic design from the Theatre of Pompey. It was normally built on their own foundation. It was enclosed on all sides and made from concrete. The theater was built in a way to have superior acoustics so that wherever you were in the building you could hear exactly what the actors on stage were saying. The theatre itself was divided into the stage (orchestra) and the seating section (auditorium). The seating was stacked along a man made hillside. The auditorium was not roofed; rather, awnings that could be pulled over head to provide shelter from rain. Inside Rome, few theatres have survived the centuries since their construction, providing little evidence about the specific theatres.
ReplyDeleteI chose to do my report on the famous Pantheon. Pantheon in Greek means “all gods.” As you can probably tell from the translation this was a temple that was dedicated to all the gods of the ancient roman religion. Most big cities had a temple that was dedicated to their regional deity but there was hardly any temples (if any) that were dedicated to every last one of the roman gods. The Pantheon was built around 10 BC by the roman general Agrippa. It however had some pretty bad luck. The original Pantheon burnt down in 80 BC. After this, Domititian built a new temple at the same location. This one didn’t have any better luck than the first one though. This one just like its predecessor, burnt down to the ground as well. Finally at about 120 AD Hadrian decided to rebuild it yet again. Third time’s the charm I guess, because this one is still standing even today. Hadrian felt the need to honor the original builder of the Pantheon, so he left a message on the top saying that it was built by Agrippa. The reason why the Pantheon is still in such good shape today is probably because of the fact that the Roman emperor Phocas gave it the Popes to use as a Christian church in 609 AD.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen to write about the Roman coliseum, although there are many of Roman peices of architeecture that i find fascinating, and there are very many of them, but i have chosen to write about the Roman Coliseum. The history of the Roman Coliseum is usually thought of as the start of the gladiators, but gladiator fighting started hundreds of years ago before the coliseum was actually built, when Roman citizens started craving the excitement and blood and lust of the gladiatorial games. The earliest date of Rome’s taste for blood dates back to 264 AD and the coliseum wasn’t built till 80 AD but they started in 70 AD, it took them 10 years to build it. The Roman coliseum was originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre. The idea for building the Great Roman coliseum was that of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. He could afford this because they had ransacked Jerusalem. The history of the arena continued through the reign of many of the various emperors. One way the Romans provided for their taste for blood was by having large crowds come and watch them persecute Christians. The craving for this type of entertainment finally ended in the 6 th century. The Roman Coliseum still stands today. I chose to write about this topic because when some says Rome or something referring something Roman, the Roman coliseum pops up in my mind. It is thousands of years old, It is a huge structure, it was built without any machinery, and even though its initial purpose was wrong, it’s a great structure.
ReplyDeletePantheon. It was built by a Roman general named Agrippa around 10 BC in the middle of downtown Rome. Pantheon was built as a temple for all of the gods. It was probably a very magnificent temple, but around 80 AD it burned down in a fire. There was another emperor who built a second temple which also burnt down. Finally, Hadrian built a third temple in 120 AD which is the temple we have today.
ReplyDeleteOn the outside, the temple doesn’t look like much, but on the inside it is one giant dome. It is 142 feet in diameter and 142 feet from the floor to the top. The walls were made of brick and concrete, six meters thick, to support the dome. It was the largest dome in the world until sometime during the 1400’s.
At the top of the dome, there is a hole called the oculus. Some say that because the dome is so high, the rain evaporates before it hits the floor. Of course, that isn’t true. The marble floors do get wet. The temple was given to Christians as a church in 609 AD. Ever since then, the Popes have taken good care of it which is why the temple is still standing today.
to Lauren Dungan, i really liked your essay on Hadrians Wall, it was very interseting and very informative, i learned a whloe lot from it. i did not know that it is 12 feet tall, or that it is 8 feet wide, or that it took 6 years to build, or even that it took 73 years to build, im glad you chose to write about Hadrians wall, i didnt know much about it before this, but know i know a little bi about it. But great job on your essay, i really liked it lauren dungan.
ReplyDeleteto camden, i really liked your essay on Hadrians wall, and i learned a whole lot from it as well. I did not know much about it before i read your essay, but now i know alittle bit more, such as the reason for building the wall was to seperate the roman controlled south from the barbaric tribes that lived in the north. but great job camden, i really liked your essay.
ReplyDeleteThanks Private Elijah for sharing your thoughts on the Pantheon. I can't imagine a building that was built in 120 A. D. still standing after all these years. You think of all the wars that have gone on in Italy, let alone the erosion with pollution it's amazing. The History Channel did a program on "Temple Magic." The priest were loosing customers during the time of the games in the Colosseum. The priest hired certain men to create "temple magic" to lure the people back into the temple. I wonder if this was one of the temples that they used.
ReplyDeleteEmily: Thank you for sharing on Constantin's Arch. The history behind the arch was very interesting. Building an arch from materials from other structures was the norm. But I am in agreement with you. The new material being of lower quality to me would be embarrassing. Constantine did embrace Christianity which changed the history of Rome. But you hoped that he also wanted to improve the quality of architecture.
jess_megs,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your essay. It was very informative and I definitly agree that the Arch of Titus was very outstanding. Just from what I read it seems like it does have quite a neat story behind it and pretty honorable for Titus, even though he was already dead when his brother built that monument for him. Good Job!!
Emily,
ReplyDeleteVery good report. Arches' are pretty fascinating and amazing, as you said. I also think its cool how you said that this arch was put together from other, older structure and I think that it really neat. I didnt know that the art skill lowered rather than inproved as the years went on but it was a little suprising and interesting to find out. I also didnt know that this arch was a reward for Constantine. Im sure he loved it!! Good Job Emily. Very informative and fun to read :P
private elijah,
ReplyDeletei really ejoyed reading your essay like you im not very into this kind of thing but i really liked what you had to say. i think its really cook how you said about the hoke inthe top of the temple like it really interests me that all the way back then they thought to put a whole in the top of it. i would love to find out the reason why they did it. i also really like the idea of it being given to the pope. and i really enjoy the fact that it was turned into a church. well anyways you did a really good job on your essay :)
megan,
after reading your essay i realized that i had actually heard of that collum before maybe in history class i dont know but non the less i find it very intrigueing. i think about how much time it must have taken to build such a detailed master piece. i hope to one day take a trip and see this work of art... the thougt of being up close and personal with it would be quite thrilling. if you think about it, it must have taken some serious talent to make that thing possible. i dont know i just love it all the way around maybe one day i will see it. good job meg its was a good essay :)
Lauren33, Great Essay!! I really do love architecture myself! I think it’s so awesome that walls, building, and others can last for a so long period of time! It’ s a way to show that people at this time were very intelligent. I did not know much about this wall too so thank you for letting me learn something! Again, very good essay!
ReplyDeleteEmily, Very good Essay!! Constantine’s Arch is a really interesting subject! It’ s awesome that just because Constantine won the war, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and also that the persecution stopped! God uses always different ways to make our life better. Like you said in your essay, the lower quality of the decoration is quite surprising I also think that more you do things better they are! But I also think that sometimes, it’ s the opposite. As an example we can take modern buildings and compare them to buildings build at the time of the Ancient Roman empire. Do you think that our buildings will still be there in 2000 years? I don’t think so. And we don’t have all the wars and much more that could make our buildings be destroyed. I hope you see what I mean. Again, very good Essay.
What is one thing that we couldn’t live without today? That’s right. A way to get rid of our own waste. Well the ancient Romans had this problem too; everybody was getting sick and dying because the water was contaminated and they couldn’t just treat it like we do today so they came up with something else. Aqueducts and public toilets with a large system of pipes to carry the sewage out of town into the river. These inventions were to help improve their life. The aqueducts brought down fresh water from the mountains and the intricate systems of pipes to carry their waste out of town. These did help with the sickness and it was a way better improvement on the way they did things before, which was just to put their waste anywhere they wanted. These things still exist today just better. We now have specific companies to deal with these things. We have a water company to give us fresh water and then another one to deal with our waste. The waste is sent to a plant and is treated there. Along with the water, most if not all is treated before it even reaches our homes today. There is nothing really unusual about it. People wanted the sickness to go away so they made a solution. I choose this because it’s interesting to think that the ancient Romans came up with this and not the ancient Greeks.
ReplyDeleteMy info came from
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/romarch2.htm
on Sunday 30
Abbie-
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to think that there were 3 different pantheons. It would be really cool if what they said about that rain was true. I wonder if the dome on top was the inspiration for today’s football domes. Does it really even help or just makes it more fascinating to look at. I also wonder how they get the materials to stand like they do in a perfect cylinder type thing so far up in the air without breaking.
Emma.delaine-
It’s interesting to me how the Romans just took the Greeks ideas and basically never thought of anything new for their religion and plays. If there so great why couldn’t they come up with this stuff by themselves and not have somebody else do the work. I know that in today’s society, we do use their theatre idea. It really does help to be able to project your words to let other people hear what you’re saying. It’s sad that there aren’t any of these things left in the world. Roman buildings could be fascinating at times.
Simon,
ReplyDeleteGreat essay man! I find it cool how their baths had the huge exercise courtyards. I hope they weren’t changed for the baths when they used these! I don’t really get why they had the wooden balcony around the edges though. They were just exercising. I mean if they were playing a sport I would understand, but why would they want to watch a sweaty guy lift weights or whatever they did back then. The way they had the different pools for different temperature baths way pertty darn cool, and I love the fact they had sea creatures on the bottom!
Eileen,
Amazing essay! You took it further than was required and researched a building that wasn’t even on the list. That deserves extra points! I have also loved the St. Peter’s Basilica. I am very jealous of you being able to go there and admire it in person. I have had to settle with just pictures that I see in books. Again amazing essay!
Jerome,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your essay. You had a lot of facts in it and you described the colosseum really well.You answered all the given questions and you also told us that you have been to the Colosseum to see it yourself. That's cool! I learned about the Colosseum by reading your article, and I think that was your purpose. Keep up the good work!!!
Private Elijah,
your essay was really good. I actually didn't know so much about the Pantheon, so while I was reading your essay and the describtion of the Pantheon I was wondering if I have been to this place before. I still don't know. I liked the way you told us about the history and details from this building! keep up your good work!!!
Alexandria
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your essay because you described a lot of important information about great pieces of art. I think there is a lot of Ancient Rome's architectures and art but I agreed with you that the Colosseum is still the most famous and fascinating and about reasons that built the Emperors because religion and politics. I think all of those thing are absolutely beautiful and interesting .I really like your essay! Good job ;)
Eileen
I like your essay and I really agreed with you about the St. Peter's Basilica .it is a very nice place .I knew that I was really difficult to choose the architecture in Roman Empires because there are a lot of amazing places ,but you wrote about St. Peter's Basilica and that is a really good one so I enjoy reading and it gave me a great information .Well great job !!
Ancient Roman culture today is seen as a mystery, and to me, it is a whole new world of History that is waiting to be unlocked. The piece of Architect that I have chosen to write about “is one of the quietest and loneliest places in Rome,” the Augusteum. The Augustem still exists today, though it’s not very popular. Today it attracts many of the homeless, and not as many tourists as you would think. The last emperor of the Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, used this place as a burial ground for his remains. Sadly when the German barbarians came and destroyed everything else across the Roman Empire, they also ransacked the Augusteum, and so the Augusteum is not a great place of beauty and fertility as it once was. The Augusteum was built during the Empire of Hadrian, the Emperor who built the wall across Britain. The Augusteum was built kind of like a city, with roads and chambers leading all across the undergrounds of what we call now Italy. The reason why I chose this topic is because it is unique and the reason why it is unique is because something that once was beautiful was broken. And this brokenness knew how to adapt, knew how to change and become beautiful once again. But I guess that how God created nature. It breaks down and becomes beautiful again. “Ruin is a gift; ruin is the road to transformation.”
ReplyDeleteReferences:
“Eat, Pray, Love” Minute 46
http://www.discoveringcartagena.com/underground.htm
Jerome - I really enjoyed your essay about the Colosseum. How great that you have actually been to this great Roman architecture. Wow. I've seen movies before about the Gladiators fighting in the Colosseum. It really is gruesome. How great it would be to visit such a place.
ReplyDeleteAbbie - This was a good essay on the pantheon. I learned a whole lot as I read the many facts that you shared. It was easy to see in my mind - including the huge opening in the top and the marble floors below. Great job Abbie!
ReplyDeleteI chose the Roman Aqueducts. The aqueducts were built to give fresh drinking water to the townspeople. Raw sewage had been draining into their water supply and when the people drank it they got sick and died. The design of the aqueduct was done to insure that they could drink their water without harm. The aqueducts were long stone channels that were built from the hills to the town.
ReplyDeleteApparently this was a real challenge for the architects to design - to make sure the water flowed in the right direction and at a pace quickly enough so the water would not sour.
There were many of these aqueducts across the Roman Empire until about 40 A.D. In 40 A.D. the Roman Empire fell and there was not a need for the aqueducts because the towns were much smaller. So they began to rely upon water wells once again.
I enjoyed reading about these aqueducts. The arches are beautiful as well as the whole sructure. I am very interested in being an architect if that is what God wants me to do. Seeing such work inspires me. The Roman architecture was so detailed and beautiful. There is so much to be learned from the different types.