Remember: This is a test rather than a research paper, and while reading the chapters in the textbook on ancient Greece and Rome are strongly recommended, you should read them looking for further explanation of the particular ideas we have been discussing in class – read with that as your focus or ‘filter’.
Please observe the same format requirements as on previous essay tests (smallish font, single spaced, one sheet two sides).
1. Compare the Athenian Parthenon with the Roman Pantheon. How are they similar and/or different in form, function and meaning? What does each tell us about the society that created it, going back to environment and geography and their influence on the two cultures, and then to the concerns and attitudes of the two civilizations and how these were expressed in specific design characteristics, from form to content. Use the two buildings as examples or illustrations of the key themes and concepts we outlined for classical Greece and Rome – including classicism itself (what is classicism and how is it seen here in these works?). What do these two works tell us about the two civilizations, their approach to life and to design, and how, very specifically, do they tell us these things?
2. Compare the Theater at Epidauros to the Roman Colosseum (we talked more about the Colosseum than the Theater, and there is a lot to say about it). Again, each illustrates especially well some things about the culture that produced it, and how design can express this. Be sure to address which classical order the Colosseum employs and what that tells us about Roman classicism.
3. Briefly discuss the commercial Greek amphora we talked about (looked at, and risked dropping) in class, and what it tells us about ancient Greek life and culture; then compare the Roman Pont du Gard aquaduct to it as far as what it says (in a parallel way) about Roman life and culture. Be as specific and as complete as possible.
