Clothing
In ancient times the clothing was predominantly made out of wool and occasionally linen. It was imperative that the clothing was simple as sewing had to be kept to a minimum as the tools (like needles) were large and hard to work with. This had a knock on effect and meant that any kinds of clothing had to be held together by brooches or clasps.
One aspect of dress which I’m sure everyone wonders about but never voices is the ever important undies... Romans would were a simple loin cloth knotted on each side, it is said that this garment had several names, the reason for this is believed to be because of the various shapes – much like today we have underwear but then we also have boxers, thongs, hotpants, jockeys and two ways.
For bras, woman would wear a simple band tightly tied around the body. This was worn in two fashions. Either it was across the bust and under the clothing or it was under the bust and over the clothing.
The tunic was the most basic garment and was worn by most Romans and slaves. Mens tunics would reach roughly the knees whilst womens would be longer, sometimes to the floor. It took until the 3rd cent AD for it to become acceptable for men to have long sleeves. Before that it was considered highly feminine.
The Toga could only be worn by free Romans. Basically it was a large circular expanse of material that could be up to 5m long in some areas. In order for such a large amount of fabric to look elegant and drape correctly, lead weights would be attached at the hem (this helped when one stood up...) or the slaves would leave planks of wood on the material to create folds. (Today we have the iron). Togas were made out of wool and the richer you were the better wool you could use.
Stolla and Palla: The basic female garment was the Stola. Essentially it was a long tunic. It was generally worn over another tunic. The Palla is basically a toga but on a smaller scale and draped only over the shoulders
Children wore belted tunics.
Random about fashion: The idea of shaving for men only came into being at around 300BC and it was the Greeks who introduced the idea to the. However it was not a pleasant occurrence as the steel they used was of low quality so blunted quickly so the barber would resort to wax and tweezers... So the Romans became known as well groomed, clean shaven men until the reign of Emperor Hadrian. It is believed that he either adopted the Greek tradition of wearing a well groomed beard or the more popular belief is that he had a disfigured face.
Brooches were a big part of roman dress and were also the most popular form of jewellery. Although this is most likely because everyone needed one to hold their clothing together...
It was just an ornamental safety pin but the Romans made them into works of art, the main way that they did this is by being far ahead of their time with jewellery by being amongst the first to have diamonds from India and sapphires from Sri Lankas in their work.
Decorated with enamel
Inlaying of glass and also enamelled
This brooch was one of the artefacts uncovered when the A1 (a highway in Rome) was being upgraded. They believe that this site might be the lost 9th Legion. There is a standard joke amongst the Romans which that when you dig in Rome you will uncover something...
Art
The Early Roman art is said to have been heavily influenced by the Greeks and some even say that the Romans merely copied it. But in frank, the Romans over simplified it and thereby came up with their own style. Another aspect that one must consider is the fact that many Greeks moved into Rome and carried on their work there.
Early Roman art tended to be more representational and realistic. Portraits were typically detailed and unidealised although as time passed and governments took hold the Romans became aware of the propaganda value and would try to convey political messages through poses and subject matter.
Called Mummy Portraits or Fayum. These are hot wax painting and are on the caskets of the deceased. They depict the Roman at their finest – finest clothing, jewellery and the person is always depicted at their youngest regardless of their age that they died.
Mosaic was also a big part of art in the Roman culture and civilisation.
Most of the surviving paintings come from Pompeii and Herculaneum as the eruption of Vesuvius actually helped to preserve them. The artworks are often purely decorative. Another reason for not many paintings surviving the ages is that the paintings were done using secco or fresco methods. These methods are when pigment is ground in water and then tempered with either a full egg or only the egg yolk. The paint is the applied to wet plaster. Because secco is done dry it is far less durable.
Sculpture
The sculptures were heavily influenced by the Greeks statues. Their sculpture was designed to be public art and so the sculptors knew that the impact on the viewer was important. They were designed to impress the public and to convey the power and majesty of Rome. Statues would be solemn and faces unsmiling. Even as Rome grew confidence and it became less important to show off there might, there was always that underlying tone of power...
What is important to look at is the detail, its simple but one must look at the fabric, it is hard to imagine that this is in fact carved from stone!
Politics
-Romans were really into politics because they are the ones who introduced the census which the counting of the people.
-Introducing laws to its people like the word Democracy which is actually telling people how to live and metropolis was a city in Rome law binding citizens and that’s were the word Policy comes from.
-Adapting Greek lifestyle from how they lived to the armies they organised.
-everything they did was classed even soldiers that served emperors were classed depending on the wealth they had. Like if you were “rich” you would be armed with a warrior helmet, a round or square shield, greaves and a breast plate which was made out of bronze with a spear and a dagger, and if you were from a lesser class you would be armed with lesser armour and it goes as far as being armed with a sling.
-and that was decided by politicians.
Wars
-One of the biggest battles that ever occurred was with the Greek named Pyrus who took a fleet of 150 ships over the Mediterranean to fight the Romans, he won the war returning with only 2 ships.
-That’s were the saying comes from “WINNING THE WAR DOESN’T MEAN THE BATTLE WAS WON”, since he lost so many men that the only thing he had left was his honour and the glory of what’s left of the Greek army. And that was when the Romans were under the emperor Rumulus who is known to be their first emperor.
-In the 4th century BC the Romans were completely humiliated by the Gauls which Romans called Savages. They strategically took out roman soldiers attacking in waves.
-Only years later when Ceaser was power Romans got power and extra help from allies like the Trish. Gauls were from France, Luxemburg, Belgium and the north of Italy. A tribe of Exonyms was amongst the biggest but a tribe called Aediu help the Romans take-over and introducing a Gallo-roman religion.
-Romans controlling England but could get to Scotland because of the same mentality Gauls had the Celtics.
-Romans built a wall to keep out the Celtics even today traces of the wall remain. It was 39miles long Antonine was the wall named after.
GLADIATORS
-One of Rome’s cruel way of entertaining its citizens since war stories were being told but soldiers returning from battles, people wanted to see the blood spills up-close.
- An Arena was set which is the coliseum were public executions were carried-of from traitors to Christians then went on to actually buying slaves to kill each other.
-Being a gladiator was made to be a glorious thing making slaves believe that to die an honourable death is to die in the Arena.
-Even animals like tigers and Lions were introduced to bring more excitement to the Game.
THE COLLAPSE OF THE EMPIRE
-The empire collapsed out of many reasons actually from the amount of enemies they made from taking over certain villages.
-The transportation when an attack occurred since moving an army was an effort on its own since it was estimated that most of the time the roman army would arrive as late as six days or more depending to where they needed.
-Emperors killing each other for power and that making the empire almost impossible to exist.
-They lived in too much luxury from having a feast and drinking a lot of wine making people of Rome who starve seeing that emperors didn’t care about the people that lived in their city.
- And by all of that happening The Roman Empire couldn’t expand anymore
Architecture
· Romans still influenced by the Greeks.
· Famous for their advancement in architecture and engineering. They built roads of 50000 miles long.
· Romans invented the column and the arch.
· Arch was used for support and power to amaze and glorify.
· Extension of the arch lead to the dome. Largest dome is in the Pantheon. A roman temple, which is now a Catholic church.
· The arch was extended in the Middle Ages to a barrel vault and groin vault.
· Roman arch was rounded, made of bricks; center stone called a keystone and a row of arches is called an arcade. Earliest use was in the Aqueduct. Romans also built Victory arches named Conquering ruler, who was responsible for the Victory. The crown of the arch is to convert the downward pressure into sideways pressure then down into the ground through the pier/wall. This way it can carry much heavier load than a horizontal lintel. They used cement (which they invented), which is a mixture of lime, clay and water.
· Coliseum- used the arch, with concrete
· Was 4 stories high, 50000 seats, air conditioned using a perfumed spray with water, 76 entrances, 4 additional for the Emperor, designed for easy crowd dispersal, entire audience could exit in 5 minutes and had a cloth awning that could be spread over the crowd to protect them from the sun
· Aqueduct- had running water, indoor plumbing, sewerage system to carry away the disease from the city, built with stone, bricks and special volcanic cement called pozzulana, the system relied on various gradient and gravity to maintain water flow. The water flowed into the city in enormous cisterns and was then supplied to houses and fountains.
Jewellery
· Romans used a diverse selection of materials due to their accessibility of natural resources found in European and Mediterranean continents, which they ruled.
· Due to their extensive network they were able to gain access to exotic materials such as gemstones that traveled from Persia, India and the Far East.
· The most common Jewellery item was the brooch or fibula that they used to secure clothing.
· Most Jewelllery resembled Greek and Etruscan Jewellery.
· Roman Jewellery was more conservative compared to other Mediterranean cultures.
· Popular Jewellery was the gold hemisphere used in necklaces, bracelets, rings; they believed it would ward off evil.
· Golden snake represented immortality and was typically used as a bracelet. Swastika in Roman times resembled a solar symbol.
· Gemstones- pearls from the Persian Gulf combined with emeralds, peridot, carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli and onyx from Persia. Amber was a favorite gemstone; they created the “Amber Route” to transport amber from Gdansk. Gemstones were fashioned into cameo or cabochon portraits used in rings and pendants. In the first and second Century they would often wear rings on all 10 fingers in front of their knuckle not behind. The woman had mirrors made of highly polished metal. The woman wore a variety of Jewellery and the men commonly wore one ring a signet ring, made of gold with a cameo semi-precious stone, that would be used with hot wax to seal documents.
· They used enamel, patina, silver, bronze, neillo inlay and glass stone setting. They also used some manufacturing techniques from the Hellenistic period.
· Niello- Latin for nigellus= blackish, black alloy of sulfur, copper and lead used in inlay on engraved metal. The metal surface is brushed with borax, dusted with powdered niello then heated. After cooling, the surface is scraped showing a black pattern in the incised lines.
Christianity
· The Romans were Pagans.
· The first few Centuries AD, Christians were targeted for persecution.
· They were first targeted by Emperor Nero in 64 AD, a massive fire broke out in Rome destroying most of the city. Rumors were that Nero himself was responsible. To turn the attention away from himself he ordered that Christians should be killed. They were torn apart by dogs and burnt alive. They were persecuted for many reasons one of them being that they did not sacrifice to the Roman Gods.
· Under particular Emperors, Christians were less likely to be punished for being Christian.
· The Emperor Constantine 312 AD was the first to convert to Christianity. Christianity was popular amongst the slaves and soldiers. Constantine did not really understand Christianity, but he did understand having a Religion where it is expected to devote oneself exclusively to it.
· Christians treated this moment as a Victory. It increased. There was one Emperor Julian 360 AD, he wanted to revert back to Paganism. The Christians still faced a constant battle with the Pagans.
