romanum

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The History
Begin

The legendary founding of the Roman Republic and
lasted until 330 C.E. Roman art also encompasses a
broad spectrum of media including painting, mosaic,
gems, silver and bronze work, and terracotta,
just to name a few.
The city of Rome was melting pot, and the Romans
had no qualms about adapting artistic influences from
the other Mediterranean cultures that surrounded and
preceded them.
For this reason, it is common to see Greek and
Egyptian Influences throughout Roman art. This is not
to say that all Roman art is derivative, though, and
one of the challenges for specialists is to define what is
“Roman” about Roman art.





Ancient Roman art is a very

broad topic, spanning almost 1,000
years and three continents, from Europe
to Africa and Asia. The first Roman art
can be dated back to 509 B.C.E., with
the legendary founding of the Roman
Republic, and lasted until 330 C.E.
Roman art also encompasses a broad
spectrum of media including marble,
painting, mosaic, gems, silver and
bronze work, and terracotta

just to name a few. The city of Rome
was a melting pot, and the Romans
had no qualms about adapting artistic
influences from the Mediterranean
cultures that surrounded and preceded
them. For this reason, it is common to

see Greek, Etruscan and Egyptian
influences throughout Roman art. This

is not to say that all of Roman art is
derivative, though, and one of the

challenges for specialists is to define
what is “Roman” about Roman art.



II

Roman
Architecture

III