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Esquiline Treasure

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The Esquiline Treasure is an ancient Roman silver treasure that was found in 1793 on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The hoard is considered an important example of late antique silver work from the 4th century AD, probably about 380 for the major pieces. Since 1866, 57 objects, representing the great majority of the treasure, have been in the British Museum .

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92-644: Two of the most important objects in the treasure are the ornate silver-gilt engraved boxes known as the Projecta Casket and the Muse Casket . The treasure was part of the belongings of a wealthy Roman household of high social status, which can probably be identified. The collection includes 8 plates (4 circular and 4 rectangular), a fluted dish, a ewer inscribed for "Pelegrina", a flask with embossed scenes, an amphora , 6 sets of horse trappings, with furniture fittings including 4 Tyche figures representing

184-412: A palazzo into a church. Three windows on each of three storeys (and the door) alternate regular and segmental pediments; there is no pediment at the top of the facade, just a large cornice, as was usual. In St Peter's Basilica there is a conventional pediment over the main entrance, but the complicated facade stretches beyond it to both sides and above, and though large in absolute terms it makes

276-465: A chlamys . The four panels of the box itself depict bathing and dressing scenes, representing the preparations for a grand Roman wedding. These are placed between columns joined by alternating arches and bottomless pediments , all under a frieze with scrolling vines. In one scene, Projecta is shown sitting on an ornate chair holding a decorated box similar in shape to the Muse Casket. She wears

368-633: A breakage site in Rome, Testaccio , close to the Tiber , the fragments, later wetted with calcium hydroxide (calce viva), remained to create a hill now named Monte Testaccio , 45 m (148 ft) high and more than 1 kilometre in circumference. Amphora is a Greco-Roman word developed in ancient Greek during the Bronze Age . The Romans acquired it during the Hellenization that occurred in

460-438: A characteristic red fabric. It was very heavy, although also strong. Around the middle of the 1st century BC the so-called Dressel 2-4 starts to become widely used. This type of amphora presented some advantages in being lighter and with thinner walls. It has been calculated that while a ship could accommodate approximately 4500 Dressel 1, it was possible to fit 6000 Dressel 2–4 in the same space. Dressel 2-4 were often produced in

552-517: A common mixture in Roman metalwork from the period to about 350, when Early Christian art had not yet devised iconography for essentially secular decoration. Three sides of the Projecta Casket's lid are decorated with pagan mythological motifs – these include the deity Venus on a cockleshell, nereids (sea-nymphs) riding a ketos (a dragon-like sea monster) and a hippocamp (a monster with

644-466: A different palate and taste to their products from those that are available with other aging methods. Pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture , usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel ), or entablature if supported by columns . In ancient architecture, a wide and low triangular pediment (the side angles 12.5° to 16°) typically formed

736-512: A fancy shape for high-quality decorative ceramics, and continued to be produced there long after they had ceased to be used further west. Besides coarse amphorae used for storage and transport, the vast majority, high-quality painted amphorae were produced in Ancient Greece in significant numbers for a variety of social and ceremonial purposes. Their design differs vastly from the more functional versions; they are typified by wide mouth and

828-666: A gap in the cornice for part or all of the space under the pediment. All these forms were used in Hellenistic architecture, especially in Alexandria and the Middle East . The so-called "Treasury" or Al-Khazneh , a 1st-century rock-cut tomb in Petra , Jordan, is a famously extreme example, with not merely the pediment, but the whole entablature , very "broken" and retreating into the cliff face. Broken pediments where

920-697: A general analysis of the Western Mediterranean types see Panella, and Peacock and Williams. Ceramics of shapes and uses falling within the range of amphorae, with or without handles, are of prehistoric heritage across Eurasia, from the Caucasus to China. Amphorae dated to approximately 4800 BC have been found in Banpo , a Neolithic site of the Yangshao culture in China . Amphorae first appeared on

1012-552: A large collection of silver objects during excavation work at the foot of the Esquiline Hill in Rome, which had been the area favoured by the Roman aristocracy for their houses throughout the Roman period. These items were found in the ruins of a Roman building, which was at that time in the premises of the monastery of San Francesco di Paola in Rome . The first official record of the finds was made one year after their discovery by

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1104-560: A long-sleeved tunic under a colobium or short-sleeved tunic. A smaller inscription on the front rim of the lid gives the weight as "XXII-III", meaning "[Pondo] XXII,III [Unciae],S[emuncia]" or "Twenty-two pounds, three and one-half ounces" in Roman units . The casket has travelled abroad to several international exhibitions: New York in 1977–1978, Rimini in 1996, New Delhi in 1997, Mumbai in 1998, Trier in 2007, Paris in 2009 and most recently Chicago in 2012–13. Another ornate object in

1196-417: A neck amphora, the handles are attached to the neck, which is separated from the belly by an angular carination. There are two main types of neck amphorae: There are also some rarer special types of neck amphora, distinguished by specific features, for example: In contrast to the neck amphora, a belly amphora does not have a distinguished neck; instead, the belly reaches the mouth in a continuous curve. After

1288-544: A relatively small impression. Many later buildings used a temple front with pediment as a highlight of a much wider building. The St Peter's facade also has many small pedimented windows and aedicular niches, using a mixture of segmental, broken, and open pediments. Variations using multiple pediments became very popular in Baroque architecture , and the central vertical line of church facades often ascended through several pediments of different sizes and shapes, in Rome five at

1380-436: A relief for tears. She lived 16 yrs., 9 mos., 25 days, (and) was buried Dec. 30, in the consulship of Flavius Merobaudes and Flavius Saturninus. The translation here of "PROIECTAE FVERAT PRIMO QVAE IVNCTA MARITO" as "Projecta, who had been the wife of Primus" continues to be hotly discussed; primus , meaning "first" was a Roman male name, but other possibilities are that Projecta had a "first" husband, or that her unnamed husband

1472-479: A ring base, with a glazed surface and decorated with figures or geometric shapes. They normally have a firm base on which they can stand. Panathenaic amphorae were used as prizes in the Panathenaic Festivals held between the 6th century BC to the 2nd century BC, filled with olive oil from a sacred grove. Surviving examples bear the inscription "I am one of the prizes from Athens", and usually depict

1564-407: A rope harness, the amphora has two expansive handles joining the shoulder of the body and a long neck. The necks of pithoi are wide for scooping or bucket access. The necks of amphorae are narrow for pouring by a person holding it by the bottom and a handle. Some variants exist. The handles might not be present. The size may require two or three handlers to lift. For the most part, however, an amphora

1656-578: A ship for the Tyche of Alexandria, and a male swimmer personifying the Orontes River at the feet of the Tyche of Antioch . The so-called Projecta Casket (M&ME 1866,12–29,1) is one of the most famous and magnificent examples of silver craftsmanship from late antiquity in Rome. It is partially gilded to highlight some areas, and was made by the repoussé technique – that is the ornamented relief

1748-416: A woman of that name who died in 383, shortly before her 17th birthday, written by Pope Damasus I (r. 366-84) that was once displayed in the church of San Martino ai Monti , close to where the find was made. Though only nine lines long, and described by Alan Cameron as "typically lame and frigid" (for a composition by Damasus) and "a tissue of tags and clichés shakily strung together and barely squeezed into

1840-489: A wreath held by standing erotes (or putti in modern terms) and an inscription which reads: "SECVNDE ET PROIECTA VIVATIS IN CHRI[STO] ('Secundus and Projecta, may you live in Christ'). The attire of the two figures is clearly that of an affluent couple from late antiquity. The woman is wearing a long-sleeved tunic with a large necklace. In her hands she holds a papyrus roll. The man is in a long-sleeved tunic that he wears under

1932-611: Is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land or sea. The size and shape have been determined from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products, both liquid and dry, but mostly for wine. They are most often ceramic , but examples in metals and other materials have been found. Versions of

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2024-410: Is based primarily on the study of modern amphora production in some areas of the eastern Mediterranean. Amphorae often were marked with a variety of stamps, sgraffito , and inscriptions. They provided information on the production, content, and subsequent marketing. A stamp usually was applied to the amphora at a partially dry stage. It indicates the name of the figlina (workshop) and/or the name of

2116-401: Is no other evidence to go on. Another couple of a Turcius and Pelegrina has been tentatively suggested, though how their dates would relate to Projecta and Secundus is unclear. While Projecta was evidently Christian, her husband, if he was L. Turcius Secundus, was a member of a prominent family many of whom remained pagans until the end of the century. The ivory Symmachi–Nicomachi diptych from

2208-641: Is the Parthenon , with two tympanums filled with large groups of sculpted figures. An extreme but very influential example of the Roman style is the Pantheon, Rome , where a portico with pediment fronts a circular temple. In ancient Rome , the Renaissance , and later architectural revivals , small pediments are a non-structural element over windows , doors , and aediculae , protecting windows and openings from rain, as well as being decorative. From

2300-401: Is the triangular area within the pediment, which is often decorated with a pedimental sculpture which may be freestanding or a relief sculpture. The tympanum may hold an inscription, or in modern times, a clock face. The main variant shapes are the "segmental", "curved", or "arch" pediment, where the straight line triangle of the cornice is replaced by a curve making a segment of a circle,

2392-678: Is typically not used for these; they are often called a "canopy". From the Renaissance onwards, some pediments no longer fitted the steeply pitched roofs and became freestanding, sometimes sloping in the opposite direction to the roof behind. When classical-style low triangular pediments returned in Italian Renaissance architecture , they were initially mostly used to top a relatively flat facade, with engaged elements rather than freestanding porticos supported by columns. Leon Battista Alberti used them in this way in his churches:

2484-557: The Church of the Gesù ( Giacomo della Porta 1584) and six at Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi ( Martino Longhi the Younger , 1646), the top three folding into each other, using the same base line. This facade has been described as "a veritable symphony in repetitious pedimentry, bringing together a superimposed array of broken pediments, open pediments and arched pediments". The Gesù is

2576-529: The Linear B Bronze Age records of Knossos , 𐀀𐀡𐀩𐀸 , a-po-re-we , at Mycenae, and the fragmentary ]-re-we at Pylos, designated by Ideogram 209 𐃨 , Bennett's AMPHORA, which has a number of scribal variants. The two spellings are transcriptions of amphiphorēwes (plural) and amphorēwe (dual) in Mycenaean Greek from which it may be seen that the short form prevailed on the mainland. Homer uses

2668-526: The Museo Nazionale in Naples (a jug in the form of a women's head). The four silver Tyches (which were iconic versions of a presiding tutelary deity of Classical Greek mythology governing the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny) are represented with different attributes: military attire for the Tyche of Rome, a cornucopia for the one of Constantinople , sheaves of corns and the bow of

2760-683: The Pergamon Museum in Berlin , has a pediment that retreats in the centre, so appears both broken and open, a feature also seen at the Al-Khazneh (so-called "Treasury") tomb at Petra in modern Jordan . The broken pediments on each of the four sides of the Arch of Septimius Severus at Leptis Magna in Libya are very small elements, raking at an extremely steep angle, but not extending beyond

2852-684: The Phoenician coast at approximately 3500 BC. In the Bronze and Iron Ages amphorae spread around the ancient Mediterranean world, being used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as the principal means for transporting and storing grapes , olive oil , wine , oil , olives , grain , fish , and other commodities . They were produced on an industrial scale until approximately the 7th century AD. Wooden and skin containers seem to have supplanted amphorae thereafter. They influenced Chinese ceramics and other East Asian ceramic cultures, especially as

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2944-682: The Roman Republic . Cato is the first known literary person to use it. The Romans turned the Greek form into a standard -a declension noun, amphora , pl. amphorae . Undoubtedly, the word and the vase were introduced to Italy through the Greek settlements there, which traded extensively in Greek pottery. It is remarkable that even though the Etruscans imported, manufactured, and exported amphorae extensively in their wine industry, and other Greek vase names were Etruscanized, no Etruscan form of

3036-595: The Tempio Malatestiano (1450s, incomplete), Santa Maria Novella (to 1470), San Sebastiano in Mantua (unfinished by the 1470s), Sant'Andrea, Mantua (begun 1472), and Pienza Cathedral c.  1460 ), where the design was probably his. Here the cornice comes out and then retreats back, forming the top of pilasters with no capitals, a very unclassical note, which was to become much used. In most of these Alberti followed classical precedent by having

3128-531: The broken pediment where the cornice has a gap at the apex, and the open pediment , with a gap in the cornice along the base. Both triangular and segmental pediments can have "broken" and "open" forms. Pediments are found in ancient Greek architecture as early as 580 BC, in the archaic Temple of Artemis, Corfu , which was probably one of the first. Pediments return in Renaissance architecture and are then much used in later styles such as Baroque , Neoclassical , and Beaux-Arts architecture , which favoured

3220-457: The equilateral triangle , and the enclosing cornice has little emphasis; they are often merely gable ends with some ornament. In Gothic architecture pediments with a much more acute angle at the top were used, especially over doorways and windows, but while the rising sides of the cornice is elaborate, the horizontal bottom element was typically not very distinct. Often there is a pointed arch underneath, and no bottom element at all. "Pediment"

3312-505: The 1760's onwards. Very often there is a vase-like ornament in the middle, between the volutes. Non-triangular variations of pediments are often found over doors, windows, niches, and porches. The pediment is found in classical Greek temples, Etruscan, Roman, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, and Beaux-Arts architecture. Greek temples, normally rectangular in plan, generally had a pediment at each end, but Roman temples, and subsequent revivals, often had only one, in both cases across

3404-655: The 2nd and the 1st century BC due to the distribution of land to military veterans and the founding of new colonies. Spanish amphorae were widespread in the Mediterranean area during early imperial times. The most common types were all produced in Baetica and among these there were the Dressel 20, a typical olive oil container, the Dressel 7–13, for garum (fish sauce), and the Haltern 70, for defrutum (fruit sauce). In

3496-462: The 4 main cities of the Roman Empire : Rome, Constantinople , Antioch and Alexandria , two hands clenching bannisters, and an assortment of jewellery. Although a number of large late Roman hoards have been discovered, most are from the fringes of the empire (such as Roman Britain ), and very few objects from the period can be presumed to have been made by silversmiths in Rome itself, giving

3588-469: The 5th century pediments also might appear on tombs and later non-architectural objects such as sarcophagi . In the Hellenistic period pediments became used for a wider range of buildings, and treated much more freely, especially outside Greece itself. Broken and open pediments are used in a way that is often described as "baroque". The large 2nd-century Market Gate of Miletus , now reconstructed in

3680-814: The Esquiline Treasure a "special significance". This major hoard is displayed in room 41 of the British Museum alongside the Carthage Treasure and near the British finds of the Mildenhall Treasure , Hoxne Hoard , Water Newton Treasure and the Corbridge Lanx . It has been observed that the majority of the major surviving late Roman silver hoards are in the British Museum. In the summer of 1793 workers encountered

3772-576: The Maña C1 and C2, later renamed Van der Werff 1, 2, and 3. In the Aegean area the types from the island of Rhodes were quite popular starting from the 3rd century BC due to local wine production which flourished over a long period. These types developed into the Camulodunum 184, an amphora used for the transportation of Rhodian wine all over the empire. Imitations of the Dressel 2-4 were produced on

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3864-723: The Tarraconensis region the Pascual 1 was the most common type, a wine amphora shaped on the Dressel 1, and imitations of Dressel 2–4. North-African production was based on an ancient tradition which may be traced back to the Phoenician colony of Carthage . Phoenician amphorae had characteristic small handles attached directly onto the upper body. This feature becomes the distinctive mark of late-Republican/early imperial productions, which are then called neo-Phoenician. The types produced in Tripolitania and Northern Tunisia are

3956-477: The amphorae were one of many shapes used in Ancient Greek vase painting . The amphora complements a vase, the pithos , which makes available capacities between one-half and two and one-half tons. In contrast, the amphora holds under a half-ton, typically less than 50 kilograms (110 lb). The bodies of the two types have similar shapes. Where the pithos may have multiple small loops or lugs for fastening

4048-457: The black-figure technique for centuries after the introduction of red-figure vase painting . Some examples bear the inscription "ΤΩΝ ΑΘΗΝΗΘΕΝ ΑΘΛΩΝ" meaning "[I am one] of the prizes from [the goddess] Athena". They contained the prize of oil from the sacred olive tree of the goddess Athena for the winners of the athletic contests held to honour the goddess, and were evidently kept thereafter, and perhaps used to store wine, before being buried with

4140-457: The bottom. The giant curving volute or scroll used at the sides of the middle zone at Sant'Agostino was to be a very common feature over the next two centuries. As in Gothic architecture, this often reflected the shapes of the roofs behind, where the nave was higher than the side-aisles. Sant'Agostino also has a low, squashed down pediment at the top of the full-width section. This theme

4232-443: The capitals of the columns. Here the whole temple front is decoration applied to a very solid wall, but the lack of respect for the conventions of Greek trabeated architecture remains rather disconcerting. Conventional Roman pediments have a slightly steeper pitch than classical Greek ones, perhaps because they ended tiled roofs that received heavier rainfall. In Carolingian and Romanesque architecture pediments tended towards

4324-508: The centre. These were presumably to hold perfumed oils for toiletries. An apparently identical casket is carried by a female servant on the back panel of the Projecta Casket, suggesting that both were commissioned for the same wedding. This casket is also well-travelled, exhibited in New York in 1977–1978, Rome in 2000, Milan in 2003, Paris in 2009 and most recently Chicago in 2012–13. The British Museum follows Kathleen J. Shelton in dating

4416-477: The ceramic ateliers in Marseille during late Augustan times. The type Oberaden 74 was produced to such an extent that it influenced the production of some Italic types. Spanish amphorae became particularly popular thanks to a flourishing production phase in late Republican times. The Hispania Baetica and Hispania Tarraconensis regions (south-western and eastern Spain) were the main production areas between

4508-572: The early history of ancient Greece, but were gradually replaced by the one-piece type from around the 7th century BC onward. Most were produced with a pointed base to allow upright storage by embedding in soft ground, such as sand. The base facilitated transport by ship, where the amphorae were packed upright or on their sides in as many as five staggered layers. If upright, the bases probably were held by some sort of rack, and ropes passed through their handles to prevent shifting or toppling during rough seas. Heather and reeds might be used as packing around

4600-477: The entablature for the columns below. There are two faces to each pediment, both carved, with one lying parallel to the wall of the monument, and the other at right angles to that. The Arch of Augustus in Rimini , Italy (27 BC), an early imperial monument, suggests that at this stage provincial Roman architects were not well practiced in the classical vocabulary; the base of the pediment ends close to, but not over,

4692-473: The epitaph and the other of the casket, and supporting "Primus" as the name of the husband in the epitaph. The epitaph for Projecta gives her father's name as Florus, who may be the important and pious Iberian official of that name who was close to Theodosius I (himself Iberian), and given great appointments at just this period. He was part of a coterie of Iberian Christians close to the emperor, most seemingly related, which included Pope Damasus. Florus may be

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4784-636: The exceptional amphora deposit uncovered in Rome in Castro Pretorio at the end of the 1800s, he collected almost 200 inscriptions from amphorae and included them in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum . In his studies of the amphora deposit he was the first to elaborate a classification of types, the so-called "Dressel table", which still is used today for many types. Subsequent studies on Roman amphorae have produced more detailed classifications, which usually are named after

4876-774: The famous Italian classical archaeologist and later head of the Capitoline Museum Ennio Quirino Visconti . The treasure passed through many hands before eventually being acquired by the French collector and one-time ambassador to Rome the Duc de Blacas . In 1866 his collection was sold in its entirety to the British Museum. However, two other items in the treasure can be found in the Musee du Petit Palais in Paris (a highly decorated trulla or saucepan), and

4968-534: The figure of that name depicted with Damasus and a Simon and Peter in a gold glass cup in the Vatican Museums and in another with Simon (Simon appears in a further glass with Damasus), suggesting "a circle of friends, or at least associates". Two pieces of silver plate, a rectangular dish and a circular one were inscribed with a monogram that has been translated as standing for Projecta Turci. Based on this evidence, some scholars have suggested that Projecta

5060-425: The front quarters of a horse and the tail of a fish). The mixture of Christian and pagan inscriptions and symbols may have been a compromise reflecting the affiliations of the bride and groom's families, described in the previous section. Amphora An amphora ( / ˈ æ m f ər ə / ; Ancient Greek : ἀμφορεύς , romanized :  amphoreús ; English pl.   amphorae or amphoras )

5152-532: The gap is extremely wide in this way are often called "half-pediments". They were adopted in Mannerist architecture , and applied to furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale . Another variant is the swan's neck pediment , a broken pediment with two S-shaped profiles resembling a swan's neck, typically volutes ; this is mostly found in furniture rather than buildings. It was popular in American doorways from

5244-513: The home church of the Jesuit order , who favoured this style, which was first seen in many cities around Europe in a new main Jesuit church. Pediments became extremely common on the main facades of English country houses , and many across northern Europe; these might be placed over a porch with columns, or simply decorations to an essentially flat facade. In England, if there was any sculpture within

5336-412: The island of Cos for the transportation of wine from the 4th century BC until middle imperial times. Cretan containers also were popular for the transportation of wine and can be found around the Mediterranean from Augustan times until the 3rd century AD. During the late empire period, north-African types dominated amphora production. The so-called African I and II types were widely used from the 2nd until

5428-433: The late 4th century AD. Other types from the eastern Mediterranean (Gaza), such as the so-called Late Roman 4, became very popular between the 4th and the 7th century AD, while Italic productions ceased. The largest known wreck of an amphorae cargo ship, carrying 6,000 pots, was discovered off the coast of Kefalonia , an Ionian island off the coast of Greece . Some modern winemakers and brewers use amphorae to provide

5520-417: The long form for metrical reasons, and Herodotus has the short form. Ventris and Chadwick's translation is "carried on both sides." Amphorae varied greatly in height. The largest stands as tall as 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) high, while some were less than 30 centimetres (12 inches) high - the smallest were called amphoriskoi (literally "little amphorae"). Most were around 45 centimetres (18 inches) high. There

5612-697: The meter", the epitaph creates a number of puzzles and has generated much scholarly discussion. The epitaph reads: QVID LOQVAR AVT SILEAM PROHIBET DOLOR IPSE FATERI | HIC TVMVLVS LACRIMAS RETINET COGNOSCE PARENTVM | PROIECTAE FVERAT PRIMO QVAE IVNCTA MARITO | PVLCRA DECORE SVO SOLO CONTENTA PVDORE | HEV DILECTA SATIS MISERAE GENITRICIS AMORE | ACCIPE QVID MVLTIS THALAMI POST FOEDERA PRIMA | EREPTA EX OCVLIS FLORI GENITORIS ABIIT | AETHERIAM CVPIENS COELI CONSCENDERE LVCEM | HAEC DAMASVS PRAESTAT CVNCTIS SOLACIA FLETVS | VIXIT ANN·XVI·M·IX·DIES·XXV·DEP·III·KAL·IAN·FL·MEROBAVDE·ET·FL·SATVRNIN·CONSS. What? should I speak, or be silent? Grief itself prevents speaking out. Thus tomb holds

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5704-542: The mid-5th century BC, this type was rarely produced. The pelike is a special type of belly amphora, with the belly placed lower, so that the widest point of the vessel is near its bottom. The pelike was introduced around the end of the 6th century BC. Another special type is the Panathenaic prize amphora , with black-figure decoration, produced exclusively as prize vessels for the Panathenaia and retaining

5796-458: The owner of the workshop. Painted stamps, tituli picti , recorded the weight of the container and the contents, and were applied after the amphora was filled. Today, stamps are used to allow historians to track the flow of trade goods and recreate ancient trade networks. The first systematic classification of Roman amphorae types was undertaken by the German scholar Heinrich Dressel . Following

5888-492: The particular event they were awarded for. Painted amphorae were also used for funerary purposes, often in special types such as the loutrophoros . Especially in earlier periods, outsize vases were used as grave markers, while some amphorae were used as containers for the ashes of the dead. By the Roman period vase-painting had largely died out, and utilitarian amphorae were normally the only type produced. Various different types of amphorae were popular at different times: On

5980-471: The past in new designs. Part manifesto, part architectural scrapbook accumulated over the previous decade, the book represented the vision for a new generation of architects and designers who had grown up with Modernism but who felt increasingly constrained by its perceived rigidities. Multiple Postmodern architects and designers put simplified reinterpretations of the pediment found in Classical decoration at

6072-418: The pediment occupy the whole width of the facade, or at least that part that projects outwards. Santa Maria Novella and Sant'Agostino, Rome (1483, by Giacomo di Pietrasanta , perhaps designed by Alberti) were early examples of what was to become a very common scheme, where the pediment at the top of the facade was much less wide, forming a third zone above a middle zone that transitioned the width from that of

6164-404: The prize-winner. They depicted goddess Athena on one side (as seen on the second image on this page) and the athletic event on the other side, e.g. a scene of wrestling or running contest etc. By the Roman period utilitarian amphorae were normally the only type produced. The first type of Roman amphora, Dressel 1, appears in central Italy in the late 2nd century BC. This type had thick walls and

6256-515: The same period and milieu in Rome shows pagan iconography; some 70 years after the conversion of Constantine the old religion still had supporters in the Roman elite. The four Tyches of the main cities of the empire suggest they were made for the posts of a great official's chair or litter; members of the Turcii held several such positions. Cameron claims that the helmet of Constantinople is a form not found on Tyche figures of that city before 380, when

6348-469: The same workshops used for the production of Dressel 1 which quickly ceased to be used. At the same time in Cuma (southern Italy) the production of the cadii cumani type starts (Dressel 21–22). These containers were mainly used for the transportation of fruit and were used until the middle imperial times. At the same time, in central Italy, the so-called Spello amphorae, small containers, were produced for

6440-526: The scholar who studied them. For the neo-Phoenician types see the work by Maña published in 1951, and the revised classification by Van der Werff in 1977–1978. The Gallic amphorae have been studied by Laubenheimer in a study published in 1989, whereas the Cretan amphorae have been analyzed by Marangou-Lerat. Beltràn studied the Spanish types in 1970. Adriatic types have been studied by Lamboglia in 1955. For

6532-529: The see of Constantinople was suddenly raised to be second to Rome, above older ones such as Alexandria. It has been suggested that the treasure was buried at the Turcii house on the Esquiline Hill just before the Visigothic attack on Rome by Alaric I in 410 AD. In spite of the Christian inscription on the Projecta Casket, the iconography of the figurative decoration of the treasure is purely pagan ,

6624-409: The segmental variant. A variant is the "segmental" or "arch" pediment, where the normal angular slopes of the cornice are replaced by one in the form of a segment of a circle, in the manner of a depressed arch. Both traditional and segmental pediments have "broken" and "open" forms. In the broken pediment the raking cornice is left open at the apex. The open pediment is open along the base, with

6716-481: The sides. Large pediments with columns, often called the "temple front", became widely used for important public buildings such as stock exchanges , reserve banks , law courts, legislatures, and museums, where an impression of solidity, reliability, and respectability was desired. Postmodernism , a movement that questioned Modernism (the status quo after WW2), promoted the inclusion of elements of historic styles in new designs. An early text questioning Modernism

6808-422: The tears (learn, [reader,]) of the parents of Projecta, who had been the wife of Primus, beautiful in her elegance,content with modesty alone; cherished (ah!) by the love of her [now] most wretched mother. Understand, [reader,]—in few words—(that) soon after the marriage, snatched from the sight of Florus, her father, she departed, seeking to rise to the ethereal light of heaven. These (lines) Damasus offers to all as

6900-594: The temple front for churches, but in the Baroque, and especially outside Italy, this distinction was abandoned. The first use of pediments over windows in the Renaissance was on the Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni in Florence, completed in 1523 by Baccio d'Agnolo . Vasari says the innovation caused ridicule initially, but later came to be admired and widely adopted. Baccio was accused of turning

6992-432: The top element of the portico of a Greek temple , a style continued in Roman temples . But large pediments were rare on other types of building before Renaissance architecture . For symmetric designs, it provides a center point and is often used to add grandness to entrances. The cornice continues round the top of the pediment, as well as below it; the rising sides are often called the "raking cornice". The tympanum

7084-509: The top of their creations. As with other elements and ornaments taken from styles of the pre-Modern past, they were in most cases highly simplified. Especially when it comes to office architecture, Postmodernism was only skin deep; the underlying structure was usually very similar, if not identical, to that of Modernist buildings. In 1984 Philip Johnson designed what is now called 550 Madison Avenue in New York City (formerly known as

7176-661: The transportation of wine. On the Adriatic coast the older types were replaced by the Lamboglia 2 type, a wine amphora commonly produced between the end of the 2nd and the 1st century BC. This type develops later into the Dressel 6A which becomes dominant during Augustan times. In the Gallic provinces the first examples of Roman amphorae were local imitations of pre-existent types such as Dressel 1, Dressel 2–4, Pascual 1, and Haltern 70. The more typical Gallic production begins within

7268-462: The treasure as a whole to the period 330–370; Shelton favours a period of some 20 to 25 years within that range, with the major objects from the same workshop, and probably for more than one generation within a family. Current research suggests that the Projecta Casket and some other items in the treasure (but probably not all of them) were a wedding gift to the newly married couple Projecta and Secundus. Projecta has been associated with an epitaph for

7360-471: The treasure is the Muse Casket (M&ME 1866,12–29,2), which is a domed silver box, suspended on three chains. It is 25.4 cm high and 33 cm across. The outside of the box is decorated with relief panels showing eight of the Nine Muses alternating with decorative motifs. Inside the casket were found a set of five silver lidded bottles, or "four identical silver canisters and one silver flask" in

7452-496: The tympanum, it was often restricted to a coat of arms . Neoclassical architecture returned to "purer" classical models mostly using conventional triangular pediments, often over a portico with columns. Large schemes of pedimental sculpture were used where the budget allowed. In 19th-century styles freer treatments returned, and large segmental pediments were especially popular in eclectic styles such as Beaux-Arts architecture , often overwhelmed by sculpture within, above, and to

7544-588: The vases. Racks could be used in kitchens and shops. The base also concentrated deposits from liquids with suspended solid particles, such as olive oil and wines. Amphorae are of great use to maritime archaeologists , as they often indicate the age of a shipwreck and the geographic origin of the cargo. They are occasionally so well preserved that the original content is still present, providing information on foodstuffs and mercantile systems. Amphorae were too cheap and plentiful to return to their origin-point and so, when empty, they were broken up at their destination. At

7636-400: The whole width of the main front or facade. The rear of the typical Roman temple was a blank wall, usually without columns, but often a full pediment above. This effectively divorced the pediment from the columns beneath it in the original temple front ensemble, and thereafter it was no longer considered necessary for a pediment to be above columns. The most famous example of the Greek scheme

7728-552: The word exists. There was perhaps an as yet unidentified native Etruscan word for the vase that pre-empted the adoption of amphora . The Latin word derived from the Greek amphoreus ( ἀμφορεύς ), a shortened form of amphiphoreus ( ἀμφιφορεύς ), a compound word combining amphi- ("on both sides", "twain") and phoreus ("carrier"), from pherein ("to carry"), referring to the vessel's two carrying handles on opposite sides. The amphora appears as 𐀀𐀠𐀡𐀩𐀸 , a-pi-po-re-we , in

7820-490: Was primus or "first" in the complementary sense of being "the tops". Alan Cameron, who supports the Projecta of the epitaph being the wife of L. Turcius Secundus and the owner of the casket, sees primo as punning wordplay by Damasus – "second" was actually "first" in quality; he says this would be typical of Damasus's style. Kathleen Shelton disagrees, seeing no connection between two different women called Projecta, one of

7912-465: Was a significant degree of standardisation in some variants; the wine amphora held a standard measure of about 39 litres (41 US qt), giving rise to the amphora quadrantal as a unit of measure in the Roman Empire. In all, approximately 66 distinct types of amphora have been identified. Further, the term also stands for an ancient Roman unit of measurement for liquids. The volume of a Roman amphora

8004-419: Was achieved by means of pressing or pushing back the metal surface. The box is 55.9 cm long, 28.6 cm high and 43.2 cm wide and has a weight of 8.2 kg. The base of the box has swinging handles at each end. The five panels on the lid of the box represent three mythological scenes, a double portrait and a bathing scene. On the top panel of the lid are half-length figures of a man and woman within

8096-529: Was by architect Robert Venturi , Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966), in which he recommended a revival of the 'presence of the past' in architectural design. He tried to include in his own buildings qualities that he described as 'inclusion, inconsistency, compromise, accommodation, adaptation, superadjacency, equivalence, multiple focus, juxtaposition, or good and bad space.' Venturi encouraged 'quotation', which means reusing elements of

8188-607: Was developed by Andrea Palladio in the next century. The main facade of his San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice (begun 1566) has "two interpenetrating temple fronts", a wider one being overlaid with a narrower and higher one, respectively following the roof lines of the aisles and nave. Several of Palladio's villas also introduced the pediment to country house architecture, which was to be become extremely common in English Palladian architecture . In cities, Palladio reserved

8280-407: Was married to L. Turcius Secundus, and given her age this must have been not long before 383. However, not all the monograms seem to relate to this couple, and it may well be that the treasure represented the family silver accumulated over more than one generation. A ewer in the treasure is inscribed with the female name Pelegrina, but her identity has not been the subject of equal speculation, as there

8372-437: Was one cubic foot , c. 26.026 L . Roman amphorae were wheel-thrown terracotta containers. During the production process the body was made first and then left to dry partially. Then coils of clay were added to form the neck, the rim, and the handles. Once the amphora was complete, the maker then treated the interior with resin that would prevent permeation of stored liquids. The reconstruction of these stages of production

8464-452: Was tableware, or sat close to the table, was intended to be seen, and was finely decorated as such by master painters. Stoppers of perishable materials, which have rarely survived, were used to seal the contents. Two principal types of amphorae existed: the neck amphora , in which the neck and body meet at a sharp angle; and the one-piece amphora , in which the neck and body form a continuous curve upwards. Neck amphorae were commonly used in

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