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Public versus Private: The dichotomy of Ancient Rome |
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by joeplumb / 10.24.2005 |
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| Monumental Architecture vs. the Everyday |
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Assignment |
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Roman public space was an elaborately decorated space. It was a space to impress upon the pubic the grandeur of the Roman state. We saw this with many structures, most notably the coliseum and the temples in and around the forum. Since Case Romane del Celio is close to these places, it stands as a good example to contrast public and private space.
First of all Case Romane is very homey, compared to public spaces. The house wastes little space for passageways and door (as I noticed all too well). It was not designed to impress those in it with what was on the walls. This seems most appropriate when thinking about the room that may have been used as a worship room, due to a single figure on the ceiling. While that figure may have had a great purpose, it was clear that the decoration around the room was not meant to be the focus of the room, but was merely meant to accent it. This was this idea behind the private space we saw in Case Romane del Celio. It was a space that was functional. Another great example of this was the relic space, which was set into a wall, instead of the relics we’ve seen incased in gilded reliquaries. It was able all else functional, so that there was not space that would be used up simply for a relic. When the site became important enough for such a space to exist, the church was built on top of the house, making the space public. I think this is the key difference between private and public space: functionality. The space we saw as Roman housing was one where decoration existed, but did not disturb the function of the room, whereas truly public spaces that we’ve seen put the decoration and grand structure ahead of the function.
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