Roman Art

 

I know what you're thinking, just what was the quality of imperial Roman art, the aesthetic sign of that civilization's soul or ethos. Good question and worth asking, not least because it's interesting in itself, and because history rhymes, we can draw lessons from it. 

That said, we don't have much pictorial art to work with, it's mostly gone because of its perishable medium, wood, parchment/vellum and other materials. Still, we have wall art, mostly from the cities entombed by Vesuvius and a few examples elsewhere, like Nero's Domus Aurea, his Golden House. What do we see?

Several dimensions of artistry, from trompe l'oeil architectural painting, to landscapes, depiction of mythic themes, portraiture, military Triumphs and more. Although Pliny decries the descent of art from realism to a kind of impressionist decadence, we're nonetheless left with the impression that Roman artists were concerned with painting things and people as they were, albeit to effect.

And what an effect it was! Heroic, mythic and classical, yes, but also garish to our eyes. They would think us bleak and starved of visual uplift, a drab, monochrome society. We would think them, I think, in bad taste. Too much bourgeois ebullience?

But here's the rub, the Romans, for all Pliny's criticism, produced art to please the eye and uplift the mind. We don't. Our art destroys the eye and depresses the soul. It's filth. So who's the decadent in this equation?

Your call, but don't say Rome.

SPQR,

LSP

A Bit of This And a Bit of That

Everyone knows the Germans gave up their signature spiked helmets years ago but the tradition lives on, in South America. So if you're in the mood to see the infamous pickelhaube (point cap) in action, head over to Colombia or Chile.

Likewise, you're probably wondering about Imperial Roman standards, their Signa and famous Eagles. None of these have survived fully intact, though a gilded eagle (aquila) has been found in Romania. 

Remarkably, a cloth standard (vexillum) has come down to us. This square flag was discovered in Egypt and dates from the third century AD. It features the Goddess Victory but lacks unit designation. 

Vexillum experts tell us the flag would have represented a cavalry or auxiliary force or possibly the subdivision of a Legion, and was a significant if lesser emblem than the illustrious Signum or Aquila.

Speaking of which, it's said that the imperial standards lost at the disastrous battle of Adrianople (378 AD) were recovered by general Belisarius in his war against the Vandals. They were then paraded before Emperor Justinian in 534 AD at Constantinople's Hippodrome during the last Roman Triumph. So too were the treasures of the Jerusalem temple, looted by Titus and Vespasian and brought to Rome, only to be looted again by the Vandal King Gaiseric in the mid fifth century.

As Gaiseric's defeated son Gelimer was led in shame around the Hippodrome under the gaze of thousands of cheering Romans, he quoted scripture, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." But Gelimer wasn't strangled per the custom of old Rome, instead the vanquished Vandal was awarded estates in Galatia. He died in 553 AD.

I find this interesting unlike, say, the bogus impeachment spectacle taking place in the Senate.

Cheers,

LSP