HSAR 252: Roman Architecture
Lecture 12 - The Creation of an Icon: The Colosseum and Contemporary Architecture in Rome. Professor Kleiner features the tumultuous year of 68-69 when Rome had four competing emperors. Vespasian emerged the victor, founded the Flavian dynasty,
and was succeeded by his sons, Titus and Domitian. The Flavians were especially adept at using architecture to shape public policy. Professor Kleiner demonstrates that Vespasian linked himself with the divine Claudius by completing the Claudianum and
distanced himself from Nero by razing the Domus Aurea to the ground and filling in the palace's artificial lake. In that location, Vespasian built the Flavian Amphitheater, nicknamed the Colosseum, thereby returning to the people land earlier stolen by Nero.
Professor Kleiner discusses the technical and aesthetic features of the Colosseum at length, and surveys Vespasian's Forum Pacis and Titus' Temple to Divine Vespasian. The lecture concludes with the Baths of Titus, Rome's first preserved example of
the so-called "imperial bath type" because of its grand scale, axiality, and symmetry.
(from oyc.yale.edu)
| Lecture 12 - The Creation of an Icon: The Colosseum and Contemporary Architecture in Rome |
| Time | Lecture Chapters |
| [00:00:00] | 1. The Year 68-69 and The Founding of the Flavian Dynasty |
| [00:11:42] | 2. The Claudianum or The Temple of Divine Claudius |
| [00:19:53] | 3. The Colosseum: Icon of Rome |
| [00:33:18] | 4. The Colosseum as a Post-Antique Quarry |
| [00:44:30] | 5. The Forum or Templum Pacis |
| [01:01:39] | 6. The Imperial Baths of Titus |
| References |
| Lecture 12 - The Creation of an Icon: The Colosseum and Contemporary Architecture in Rome Instructor: Professor Diana E. E. Kleiner. Resources: Lecture 12 - List of Monuments and Credits [PDF]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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