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Insecurity of the Commoners |
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written
by daw84 / 10.24.2005 |
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| Monumental Architecture vs. the Everyday |
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Assignment |
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The greatest common thread through all of the Roman Empire is the incredible insecurity of its rulers. Because their power continually at risk of being stripped away forever, they ruled the empire as in Luke 9:62, “…putting their hand to the plow and looking back.” Consumed by their insecurity, the rulers led the people continually into expansion, all the while burdened with the knowledge that their glorious empire and immense power was held together by thin, fragile threads at risk of being severed. Insecurities of leaders rarely remain solely in leadership; however, and they permeated through every aspect of the Roman Empire, from the wealthiest senator to the poorest peasant.
Entering the house of a common ancient Roman, it still echoes of past insecurities, which drove them to hide the truth behind the façade of a powerful image. The importance of the rooms of a home was made apparent by the walls. Just as posh furniture and dazzling decorations function today, more marble served to convey greater importance of the homeowner. The formula which equated marble to importance stemmed not only from its inherent beauty and longevity, but also from its powerful and effective use by the emperors to coat every square inch of their unbelievable public displays of authority. As more marble meant higher financial status, when visiting another’s home, one would be able to immediately determine exactly where the owner stood socially by simply scanning the room. Aware of this truth, the insecure homeowner would heavily invest in the public spaces of their home in hopes of impressing their guests. And, as they worked their way up the shaky ladder to financial success, their dining room marble would drain their pocketbooks as it made its way up the wall as well.
The commoner’s obsession with appearance stemming from their insecurity did not stop merely with the public space. Traveling deeper into the home, the marble on the walls, now transformed to bare brick due to scavenging long ago, morphs into paint, whose colorful, marble pattern runs high around the room. The effects of such audacious art were two-fold. First, an exploring guest could potentially mistake the feeble impression of marble as real. Also, and more probable, the painting on the wall conveyed to the family the importance of wealth. Its continual presence instilled deep within them an intense desire for more and a sense of discontent with their current financial situation which did not enable them to cover their walls as the wealthier did.
The entire house radiated an intense feeling of insecurity. Even the museum insecurely went out of its way to find something outstanding about the site in order to lure tourists from other larger and more popular attractions of Rome. Due to this, on the tour, we learned much more about the significant church activities at the site—relatively unimportant in the shadow of other churches in Rome—than we did about the normal life of a common Roman. The insecurity of the entire endeavor seemed to run rampant, until the guide pointed out one, obscure wall. Hidden in the corner, it was only briefly mentioned in the presentation. Simple, plain, and small, the wall had a diagonal thatch pattern. Nothing special presented itself about the wall. Its only significance was that it was the oldest wall on the entire tour. But, in its simplicity and longevity could be found a beautiful confidence which showed that at one point, long before powerful emperors were trying to rule the world and corruption had wreaked havoc over the entire empire, some commoners had successfully evaded the insecurities of those above them. Rather than strive for what they could never attain, they chose to be content with their simple small house absent of most luxuries. What they did have though was something more precious than all the gold of Nero’s Golden Palace. They had confidence, contentment, and security, qualities rarely observed even today in our society ruled by a mentality of upward mobility.
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