Part 53 (1/2)

BASILICAS

Roman basilicas, of which only the ruins are now in existence, were once found in every city. These were large, lofty buildings for the use of judges and merchants. The chief feature of a basilica was the s.p.a.cious central hall flanked by a single or double row of columns, forming aisles and supporting the flat roof. At one end of the hall was a semicircular recess--the apse--where the judges held court. This arrangement of the interior bears a close resemblance to the plan of the early Christian church with its nave, choir (or chancel) and columned aisles. The Christians, in fact, seem to have taken the familiar basilicas as the models for their places of wors.h.i.+p.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF THE ULPIAN BASILICA The hall measured 360 feet in length and 180 feet in width.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR VIEW OF THE ULPIAN BASILICA (RESTORATION) Built by the Emperor Trajan in connection with his Forum at Rome.]

AQUEDUCTS

Perhaps the most imposing, and certainly among the most useful, of Roman structures were aqueducts. [36] There were sixty-eight in Italy and the provinces. No less than fourteen supplied the capital city with water. The aqueducts usually ran under the surface of the ground, as do our water pipes. They were carried on arches only across depressions and valleys.

The Claudian aqueduct ran for thirty-six miles underground and for nine and a half miles on arches. Though these monuments were intended simply as engineering works, their heavy ma.s.ses of rough masonry produce an inspiring sense of power.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A ROMAN AQUEDUCT The Pont du Gard near Nimes (ancient Nemausus) in southern France. Built by the emperor Antoninus Pius. The bridge spans two hilltops nearly a thousand feet apart. It carries an aqueduct with three tiers of ma.s.sive stone arches at a height of 160 feet above the stream. This is the finest and best preserved aqueduct in existence.]

THERMAE

The abundant water supply furnished by the aqueducts was connected with a system of great public baths, or _thermae_. [37] Scarcely a town or village throughout the empire lacked one or more such buildings. Those at Rome were constructed on a scale of magnificence of which we can form but a slight conception from the ruins now in existence. In addition to many elaborate arrangements for the bathers, the _thermae_ included lounging and reading rooms, libraries, gymnasia, and even museums and galleries of art. The baths, indeed, were splendid clubhouses, open at little or no expense to every citizen of the metropolis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE COLOSSEUM]

TRIUMPHAL ARCHES AND COLUMNS

A very characteristic example of Roman building is found in the triumphal arches. [38] Their sides were adorned with bas-reliefs, which pictured the princ.i.p.al scenes of a successful campaign. Memorial structures, called columns of victory, [39] were also set up in Rome and other cities. Both arch and column have been frequently imitated by modern architects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A ROMAN CAMEO Portrait of a youth cut in sardonyx. Probably of the first century A.D.]

CIRCUSES, THEATERS, AND AMPHITHEATERS

The palaces of Roman emperors and n.o.bles, together with their luxurious country houses, or villas, have all disappeared. A like fate has befallen the enormous circuses, such as the Circus Maximus [40] at Rome and the Hippodrome [41] at Constantinople. The Roman theaters that still survive reproduce, in most respects, the familiar outlines of the Greek structures. In the amphitheaters, where animal shows and gladiatorial combats were exhibited, we have a genuinely Roman invention. The gigantic edifice, called the Colosseum, in its way as truly typifies Roman architectural genius as the Parthenon represents at its best that of the Greeks.

ROMAN SCULPTURE

Roman sculpture owed much to Greek models. However, the portrait statues and bas-reliefs show originality and ill.u.s.trate the tendency of the Romans toward realism in art. The sculptor tried to represent an historic person as he really looked or an historic event, for example, a battle or a triumphal procession, as it actually happened. The portrait statues of Roman emperors and the bas-reliefs from the arch of t.i.tus impress us at once with a sense of their reality.

WALL PAINTINGS

Our knowledge of Roman painting is almost wholly confined to the wall paintings found at Rome, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. What has survived is apparently the work of ordinary craftsmen, who, if not Greeks, were deeply affected by the Greek spirit. Most of the scenes they depict are taken from cla.s.sical mythology. The coloring is very rich; and the peculiar shade of red used is known to-day by the name of ”Pompeian red.” The practice of mural painting pa.s.sed over from the Romans to European artists, who have employed it in the frescoes of medieval and modern churches.

100. ARTISTIC ATHENS

ART CENTERS OF ANTIQUITY

Athens and Rome were the artistic centers of the cla.s.sical world.

Architects, sculptors, and painters lavished their finest efforts on the adornment of these two capitals. Here there are still to be seen some of the most beautiful and impressive monuments of antiquity.

ROADS AND SUBURBS OF ATHENS

Athens lies in the center of the Attic plain, about four miles from the sea. [42] The city commands a magnificent view of purple-hued mountains and the s.h.i.+ning waters of the Aegean. Roads approached the ancient city from all parts of Attica. Among these were the highway from Piraeus, running between the Long Walls, [43] and the Sacred Way from Eleusis, where the famous mysteries were yearly celebrated. [44] The suburbs of Athens included the Outer Ceramicus, part of which was used as a national cemetery, and a pleasure ground and gymnasium on the banks of the Cephissus, called the Academy. Another resort, known as the Lyceum, bordered the little stream of the Ilissus.

WALLS OF ATHENS