Let us stop for just a moment and review our chronology for what we've done so far in this online course. We've seen Rome emerge from a simple village of huts on the hills of Rome in the period between 1000 and 675 BCE. And what would later become the Roman Forum was in the 10th and 9th centuries BCE a cemetery known as the Sepulcretum. There were no temples, no large public buildings, and a limited trade network which slowly grew with Greeks in Greece and in the South of Italy. This time is known as the geometric period or what we've called Archaic I, between 1000 and 750 BCE and Archaic II, 750 and 675 BCE. In Archaic III, the Orientalizing Period, 675-600 BCE, the Etruscan civilization developed out of the Villanovans, north of Rome, and eventually conquered Rome itself. Greek colonies developed in south Italy, and the period is marked by increased trade internationally and the spread of more sophisticated art from Greece and Phoenicia. In Etruria, wealthy noble families emerged and built gigantic tombulai or dynastic mound tombs. In Archaic IV, between 600 and 500 BCE, as we have seen, the Romans, after a lengthy period of Etruscan rule restored Latin rule, set up the Roman Republic, and began to develop the Roman forum and all of its important buildings. Once the forum area had been drained and the Cloaca Maxima built, Latin cults such as that of Vesta and Janus, the god of beginnings, emerged strongly at this time. In the so-called Classical period between 500 and 300 BCE, Athens in Greece became the dominant force early on in the Mediterranean world, but was defeated by Sparta in the Peloponnesian wars ending in 404 BCE. And meanwhile, the Latin rulers of Rome developed the Roman forum, and it took its traditional shape featuring temples to Saturn, Castor and Pollux, the cult center to Vesta, the Regia, or office of the Pontifex Maximus. And the government buildings we've seen, including the Curia and Comitium in the northwest corner. And this brings us to what is known as The Hellenistic Period, the middle and later days of The Roman Republic. Between 300 and 100 BC, when the Republic began to fall onto hard times, and end up in rivalries and controversies that would eventually bring it to an end. In this lecture, we're dealing, then, with the period between 300 and 100 BCE, the time when Rome expanded both north and south and even internationally, becoming the most powerful force in the entire Mediterranean. And defeating every enemy in its path, including Greeks, Etruscans, the city state of Carthage in Northeastern Tunisia in a series of what were termed the Punic Wars, but we'll have more about Carthage in the next lecture. The period of this Middle Republic was a time of nearly constant warfare and expansion, during which time the Romans became the masters of all of Italy as well as areas as far away as western Anatolia, Numidia in Africa, and Spain. It also witnessed the extraordinary influence of Hellenic and Etruscan culture on Roman art and architecture. During this time came the development of a particularly Roman Iconography, but with images based largely on Greek models. This period also saw the construction of temples that fused together ideas from Greeks and Etruscans, the establishment of colonies in far-flung regions, and the development of elegant, profitable villas run by the use of slaves for the benefit of the elites in areas outside of Rome. Once the Romans Conquered an area, they would establish settlements of colonies to keep an eye on the potentially rebellious people of the area. Oh a typical example of a Latin colonia, or colony, is Ansedonia, commonly called Cosa, C-O-S-A, located near the Etruscan city-state of Vulci. Founded in 273 BCE to watch out for the recently subjugated Etruscans of the region, it was a fine example of Roman urban planning. The main north streets of it were called cardonais or a cardo is one of them, C-A-R-D-O. The east west streets were called decumani or a decumanus, D-E-C-U-M-A-N-U-S for one of them. In the middle of the second century BCE the forum of Cosa was brought up to date, it became trendy and hip. And a look at Cosa tells us what was hot in architecture among Romans at the time. For example, a large two story public hall or basilica. A covered hall was constructed, which gave shelter from the rain, hosted public feasts known as epulis, and featured artistic displays. Plus, it had a viewing balcony on its upper story that allowed folks to look out over all the activity in the forum below. The basilica idea had been developed from covered halls used by the Greeks in their Agoras, or public meeting places. Another indication of the increasing sophistication of the Romans in architecture was development of building materials that could get around the Romans lack of fine marbles and good stone. The Romans developed the use of concrete, mixing lime and sand and water together to fashion a strong mix, even capable of setting up and becoming firm under water, so that it could be used in the harbor of Cosa for breakwaters. The volcanic sand around Pompeii where the town of Puteoli nearby was particularly valuable, and is known today as Potsulana. Construction took the form of making walls which had a concrete core and a facing of pyramidal shaped stones known as cubilia. The walls were built by, first of all, laying down vertical wooden pieces, usually some 55 centimeters apart, and then placing a concrete fill inside. A facing of the pyramidal stones was made within the concrete. The flat side of the pyramidal stones was placed up against the vertical wooden sheeting, thus ensuring a flat, uniform facade while the concrete was allowed to ooze around the pyramidal stones, holding them in place firmly. These pyramidal shaped stones tapered to a point at the rear and that allowed them a really good purchase to get into the concrete that was placed within the center of the wall, and which was oozing around them. In building structures like this, the cubilia, or the pyramidal shaped stones were laid in a regular fashion with concrete around them, and this kind of facing was known as opus incertum, literally irregular or unsure work. And these structures of concrete could actually be built up to even several stories in height. In the early 1st century BCE, the cubelia began to face the walls in a more regular matter and became known as Opus Reticulatum, which faced the walls in a diagonal arrangement. This started to be used from about 60 BCE on. Until the use of bricks became more widespread early in the first century CE, these techniques in combination with big ashlar blocks of masonry often used to make corners or make major stress points, these were the main construction techniques employed in the middle and later republic. Outside of Rome, in this period, the rest of the Mediterranean increasingly fell under Rome's control, especially Greece, Spain, North Africa, Western Anatolia, temples in the Greek tradition continued to be built under the Roman masters. At Claros, for example, in Western Anatolia, plans were made to build a new temple complex and upgrade the sanctuary to Apollo. It required an elaborate system of quarrying stone far off in the Black Sea, cutting and preparing the stone, and shipping it to the desired site in Western Anatolia, so that the temple could be constructed. Shipping by sea could be dangerous, as a Hellenistic crew of the later second century BCE was to learn off of Kizilburun, Turkey. All of the pieces being shipped to build the temple complex foundered, perhaps in a storm, and sunk to the bottom of the sea. In order to investigate offshore disasters, the new field of underwater archaeology pioneered by scholars such as George Bass at Texas A&M University, was developed. Bass's successor, Deborah Carlson, was once my student, I"m proud to say, and now she's come a long way on her own and she directs the Institute for Nautical Archeology and the Kizilburun excavations.
