0:00:05 > 0:00:08I'm on the third and final leg of my mission
0:00:08 > 0:00:11to dispel a 2,000-year-old myth.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18That the Romans were great conquerors and engineers,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22but when it came to art, they were second-rate.
0:00:24 > 0:00:30Around the turn of the third century AD, Roman art began to change,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33edging imperceptibly away from the classical tradition
0:00:33 > 0:00:36which had sustained it for hundreds of years.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39As a result, later Roman art often gets it in the neck.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44It's derided as being a symptom of a civilisation in decline.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46Now, whether or not you think that's true,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48and I'm not particularly sure that it is,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51why it did change has always been a bit of a mystery.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01One solution to the problem may lie here on the coast of Libya,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05where a magnificent Roman city is being preserved
0:01:05 > 0:01:08just on the other side of these sand dunes.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12And for centuries, Rome had subjugated the lands
0:01:12 > 0:01:15all around the Mediterranean, including North Africa.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19But as far-flung provinces like this one started gaining power
0:01:19 > 0:01:25and flexing their muscles, the Empire began to strike back.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Ultimately of course, that would spell disaster for Rome.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31But it benefited Roman art,
0:01:31 > 0:01:36enriching and invigorating it with exotic new styles and ideas.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45After the demise of the so-called good emperors of the second century,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Rome was in meltdown.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51But her art remained resilient, as our ten treasures,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56many of them discovered in surprisingly distant provinces, will prove.
0:01:56 > 0:01:57She's really beautiful.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05We'll encounter never before seen masterpieces of unparalleled refinement,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09as well as several often overlooked works of art
0:02:09 > 0:02:11imbued with a robust and rugged magic.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18This method of painting didn't occur again
0:02:18 > 0:02:21until the Italian renaissance.
0:02:22 > 0:02:28Finally, we'll see how an obscure cult from the near east triumphed,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30signalling the end of the Roman Empire
0:02:30 > 0:02:34and setting the template for western art for nearly two millennia.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04Libya may be around 600 miles from Rome as the imperial eagle flies,
0:03:04 > 0:03:06but this, I believe, is the best place
0:03:06 > 0:03:09to start my exploration of later Roman art.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15There had been a city on this site
0:03:15 > 0:03:18in the Roman province of Tripolitania
0:03:18 > 0:03:20since at least the time of Augustus,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23but Leptis Magna, as it was called,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27really came into its own at the beginning of the third century AD
0:03:27 > 0:03:31when it rapidly expanded into a gleaming metropolis
0:03:31 > 0:03:35bedecked with marble and all manner of wonderful works of art.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39It rivalled the great classical African cities
0:03:39 > 0:03:41of Carthage and Alexandria.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50What makes Leptis Magna so special today,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54is that it's remarkably well preserved.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58You can still get a sense of its grandeur during its heyday.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00When it had a population of 100,000
0:04:00 > 0:04:04living off its lucrative olive oil trade.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10The fascinating thing about this upsurge in the city's prosperity
0:04:10 > 0:04:14is that it was heavily linked to the fortunes of a single man.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Born to an aristocratic family here in Leptis,
0:04:17 > 0:04:21this was a local boy done very, very good
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and his name was Septimius Severus.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Severus was a military man who forced his way to power
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and was proclaimed emperor in AD 193.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38As Roman emperors go, he wasn't really all that Roman,
0:04:38 > 0:04:43he came from Africa, and he married a Syrian.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48So Severus embodies a shift in the history of the Empire,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51as the focus widened from the centre, to the periphery.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55And you could even say that this place is the cradle
0:04:55 > 0:04:58of later Roman art.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00On the surface,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Leptis Magna may appear to be a miniature version of Rome,
0:05:03 > 0:05:08but take a closer look and it is Roman, but with a twist.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10An African twist.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15What could be more Roman than a triumphal arch, you might ask.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20This one was dedicated to Septimius Severus around AD 204.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Over in Rome, another one was dedicated to him
0:05:24 > 0:05:27about the same time, in the Forum.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30It's a classic piece of imperial tub-thumping.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33This one, though, is quite different.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41It's a strange fusion, this arch, between the classical,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45the Roman, and then the indigenous, the new, the later Roman art.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49You can see on either side of the arch, these winged victories,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52quite sensuous bodies, quite old-fashioned,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54quite old Roman iconography, but also,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58you can see above these Corinthian columns on either side of the arch,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02these very distinctive quite strange, angled pediments.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Now, some people think that these elements
0:06:05 > 0:06:07are actually not really Roman at all,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09potentially quite indigenous to Northern Africa.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13And so these could be an allusion to local building practices.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21The top of the arch, the attic, is decorated with four reliefs,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24each of which depicts the emperor himself, Septimius.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29There's no sense of space and depth
0:06:29 > 0:06:32as earlier classical artists try to achieve.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Instead you can see the bystanders have been arranged
0:06:34 > 0:06:38in these two sort of rows, so the ones who are further away
0:06:38 > 0:06:42appear rather awkwardly to be standing on a platform
0:06:42 > 0:06:44just behind the near ones.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47And the way that the drapery has been created is very distinctive.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51So you see lots and lots of grooves and folds,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54none of which really look the way they would look in reality.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Instead they're quite interestingly creating a linear effect,
0:06:57 > 0:06:58a sense of patterning.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Have a look at the emperor himself in the chariot.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07He's not facing in the direction of travel, he's completely frontal.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09He's facing the viewer full on.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11And this is something that would become
0:07:11 > 0:07:14increasingly common in Roman art. From this point on,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17the emperor could be considered as divine within his own lifetime.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23Situated at a crossroads, the arch at Leptis Magna
0:07:23 > 0:07:27points in the direction of the future of Roman art.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29It is a recognisably Roman monument for sure,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33but its vision of Rome is viewed through the prism of the provinces,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37so that the art of Rome was starting to become
0:07:37 > 0:07:39the art of the Roman world.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46As I explore this wonderful place,
0:07:46 > 0:07:51it becomes clear that the story of late Roman art
0:07:51 > 0:07:53isn't one of cultural decline,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56but of crossing exciting new aesthetic frontiers.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03I feel very lucky
0:08:03 > 0:08:07because I've basically got this whole site to myself.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12And this section of Leptis is really stunning.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Septimius Severus created one huge new complex,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18involving a temple to his family, a big forum,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21and also, through here, the basilica.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Originally covered by a roof,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32the basilica was one of the most important buildings in the city.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35It was where citizens met or did business
0:08:35 > 0:08:39and it also served as a court house.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43And you can see it's one enormous rectangular space.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46Part of the reason why this is an exciting place
0:08:46 > 0:08:48to think about later Roman art, is at either end,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52you have these pilasters on either side of the apse,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55sculpted out of white Proconnesian marble,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and what you see, are these peopled scrolls, as they're called.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04With very lush foliage, bursting up from the bottom,
0:09:04 > 0:09:06covering each side of the pilaster.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10It's a really extravagant, luscious work of art.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Whereas lots of earlier Roman reliefs were fairly shallow,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20and quite elegant, these reliefs are very different.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23They're much more robust, they're more vigorous.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Part of that is because whoever made them, as you can see,
0:09:27 > 0:09:28has used a drill.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32And it doesn't sound like the biggest exciting sort of aspect
0:09:32 > 0:09:35of later Roman art, but this drill work
0:09:35 > 0:09:39became a hallmark of the later Roman period in terms of art.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41If you actually look up close, you can see
0:09:41 > 0:09:45the small cylinders where the drill would have gone in initially.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47You then chiselled in between those holes
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and you created a very deep effect.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53And of course, this was really useful here in Africa,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56where the sun when it's high is very, very sharp,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00because it creates this strong quite black and white effect.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02The brightness of the white stone,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and then the dark blackness of the deep shadow,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07which is created by that recess.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10And the effect is stunning.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18There's such a beautiful sense of profusion, of abundance, to that.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20That's why I think it really does feel extravagant,
0:10:20 > 0:10:24as a sense of fertility, rampantly exploding up that pillar.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Rome lasted as long as it did
0:10:29 > 0:10:32not by tyrannically insisting that everybody think,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34behave and see the world in the same way.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39As long as the people were loyal to Rome,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42they could celebrate their indigenous culture and beliefs
0:10:42 > 0:10:45in a surprisingly open fashion.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Leptis was full of really top quality, top-notch art.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53But it was also full of art which belonged to a different tradition,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56the plebeian tradition, the popular tradition.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And here's a good example, which is really quite strange.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04It's a centaur, with an extremely large penis,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07who also has a phallic nose, and he's carrying a trident,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and with the trident, he's poking at this, the evil eye,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13and a snake and a scorpion.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15So he's warding off evil.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21It's hardly high culture, but images like this show
0:11:21 > 0:11:25how by allowing locals to express themselves,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29the Romans paved the way for a new art, for the post-classical world.
0:11:32 > 0:11:38The eclecticism of styles also signals the Romans' political savvy.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Leptis is living proof of how the Romans used art and culture
0:11:42 > 0:11:44to rule the provinces.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52Libyan archaeologist, Hafed Walda, who's excavated Leptis Magna,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54joins me on an outing to the theatre.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58This is magnificent.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03They didn't spare anything to make it really impressive.
0:12:03 > 0:12:08This is one big monument to a nouveau-riche regime.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09Septimius was a big show-off.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13He is a big show-off, and he tarted it up so well.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18And, of course, entertainment is what emperors do to be loved.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22I noticed on coming in that above these sort of doorways to the sides,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24there are very long inscriptions.
0:12:24 > 0:12:25What do they tell us?
0:12:25 > 0:12:28They tell us rich benefactors contributed a lot
0:12:28 > 0:12:30to the renovation of the theatre.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35They themselves have their names half-Libyan, half-Roman.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So, these inscriptions tell us very clearly
0:12:38 > 0:12:42that there were many different cultures coalescing in this space?
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Yes, there were a lot of people here,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48who felt strongly about their religion and culture.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50And what about works of art -
0:12:50 > 0:12:52would there have been works of art here in the theatre?
0:12:52 > 0:12:56It's full of art. There there's no doubt about it.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58Classical works of art, statues of deities,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01statues of emperors' families.
0:13:01 > 0:13:07I think it's a cultural place, it's a focus for the city.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18What Severus achieved here placed Leptis on a par with Rome.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22More than that, one extraordinary recent discovery
0:13:22 > 0:13:27reveals how artists here raised an old art form to new heights.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30The treasure I'm about to see
0:13:30 > 0:13:33has only just been reassembled in the Leptis Museum,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36and is yet to be unveiled to the world.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58In terms of Roman art, this is something of a scoop.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03I'm looking at an epic expanse of mosaic,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05which was discovered not far from here,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07in a villa just outside Leptis Magna.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10What we see in each of the five panels
0:14:10 > 0:14:13is a scene connected with the arena.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17This is a work of art which dramatises Roman bloodlust.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23In the middle, we have a scene set in the hippodrome, the circus.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24It's a chariot race.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27It's quite painful to look at - one horse is actually upside down,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30another horse seems to be crushing underneath the wheels,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33as the wheels of the chariot seem to almost be coming off.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36And then on either side, you have two sets,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38of two scenes which mirror each other.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42You see beasts in the arena, being taunted,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45baited for the enjoyment of the Roman public.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49But the piece de resistance for me are the panels at either end,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51which are gladiator scenes.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53One of the first things that's immediately obvious
0:14:53 > 0:14:56is that the figures in them are practically life-sized.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00There's a great poignancy and sympathy to these gladiator scenes.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02In each one, we see the moment
0:15:02 > 0:15:05where one gladiator has prevailed over the other.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15I think this top panel is extraordinary
0:15:15 > 0:15:17for a number of reasons.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Take one, the figure to the right,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21look at the way that's been composed.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24It is a complicated trick to pull off.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27We're not seeing the man stretching out horizontally,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29this is an example of foreshortening,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31where a sense of depth is created
0:15:31 > 0:15:34because what's in front is bigger than what's behind.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Very few artists, even in the rest of the history of western art,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40attempt something like this.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46There's a sense of realism here,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49an immensity of scale,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51and a sense of psychology,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55which is really fascinating and sophisticated,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57and completely surprising.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03It's a very subtle and affecting, melancholy work of art.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12The mosaic wasn't a North African invention,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14but it is an art form at which they excelled.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21I head out of Leptis
0:16:21 > 0:16:25to go and see what I'm told is one of the most remarkable
0:16:25 > 0:16:28collections of mosaics still in situ.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35Everywhere you go in Libya, there's a reminder of the violent revolution
0:16:35 > 0:16:40that recently overthrew the tyrant, Gaddafi.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46There's a sense of jubilation...
0:16:46 > 0:16:48CAR HORNS BEEP AND MEN SHOUT
0:16:48 > 0:16:52..but I can't help but feel that the peace is a little precarious.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57Policed, as it is, by rival militias.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00What I'm about to witness is also testament
0:17:00 > 0:17:05to the precarious state of Libya's Roman heritage.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Adele Aturke is showing me around a seaside villa
0:17:14 > 0:17:16in what feels a bit like the Roman version
0:17:16 > 0:17:19of Location, Location, Location.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25The previous owners of the villa were a family of wealthy merchants,
0:17:25 > 0:17:30exporting olive oil and tuna from Tripolitania to Rome.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32As you can see, this is the back garden.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Comprises of the two main mosaics.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38One is the geometry as you can see it, on that side,
0:17:38 > 0:17:39and then is a nice scene.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Well, these are really quite delightful.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44This is a continuation of this Nile scene,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48and we know it's the Nile scene, cos there's a big crocodile in it.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50One has been eaten by the crocodile,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53and the other one's tried to pull out.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00This is the path.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01And who's this?
0:18:01 > 0:18:02You want to have a shower here?
0:18:02 > 0:18:05I don't really want to shower with these two men.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10There is two type of materials here,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13we have the frescoes, and we have the mosaics.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17And this is in situ, where it was painted,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19- almost two millennia ago.- Yeah.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21This is very interesting, this is the baby room.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23This is the baby room?
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Yes, as you can see, beautiful frescoes.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29- This is great! So we've got a series of cherubs.- Yeah.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31And here he is with a spear and a bow.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35It's all very, very delicate, isn't it?
0:18:36 > 0:18:39- This is the dining room.- What a spectacular place for a banquet.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43- Yeah, this is the... - Looking at the waves.- ..the waves.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Something is very interesting here, I'll show you.
0:18:48 > 0:18:49Oh, wow!
0:18:49 > 0:18:51- So this is like a kind of centrepiece.- Yes.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54This has just been under a piece of crate!
0:18:54 > 0:18:56That's what we need to do, this is the way we protect it.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59What do you mean, protect it? It's just a piece of old wood!
0:18:59 > 0:19:01She's really beautiful.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02Yes, she is.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05I mean, again, look how sort of delicate this is.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Every time I come to see this, I feel really ashamed,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14I feel that we haven't done anything in this,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18not only in this site, it's everywhere.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22All this site has been neglected like this during the Gaddafi regime,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24and if you come another year or so,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27maybe this will be disappear and vanish completely.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31If we don't look after them very urgently.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33I'm really angry.
0:19:37 > 0:19:38This one piece.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44These beautiful mosaics have been criminally neglected.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48And it upsets me to see them decaying like rotten teeth.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54It's thought there are dozens of villas like this,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57buried under the sand along the Libyan coast.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00And however much I'm intrigued to see what treasures lie within,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03for now, they're probably better off left where they are.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14I've been quite surprised by my reaction to Leptis Magna,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19because this really is a city that rivalled parts of Rome
0:20:19 > 0:20:22in terms of its magnificence.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25And it's situated on the North African coast.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28It's nowhere near, in a sense, the Italian peninsula.
0:20:28 > 0:20:34So it really contains, it embodies, that story of the Roman Empire,
0:20:34 > 0:20:40as this one city state, expanded and expanded and expanded,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42until the peripheries of the Empire
0:20:42 > 0:20:45almost became more important than the centre itself.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52I can understand why Gaddafi, in a sense, neglected a place like this,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56because it's so extravagantly monumental.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59And there's so much waste everywhere,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03that if you were a power-mad, brutal dictator,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06a place like this could only be a reminder
0:21:06 > 0:21:10that before long, inevitably, your time would be up.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Libya wasn't the only province
0:21:17 > 0:21:20to enjoy a political and cultural renaissance.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Egypt also exerted a powerfully exotic hold over Rome's imagination,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and some of the most stunning finds of Roman art
0:21:34 > 0:21:39were discovered in Antonopoulos and the Faiyum region south of Cairo.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45They unearthed mummies, but no ordinary mummies.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49The mummies had faces, painted on wooden panels.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56They're so realistic, it's hard to believe they're 2,000 years old.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02You really sense that you're coming face to face
0:22:02 > 0:22:06with people who inhabited the Roman Empire.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13This reconstruction, based on the skull of the mummy,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17proves just how lifelike the painting is.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22If you ever needed a visual symbol of the great melting pot
0:22:22 > 0:22:24that was the Roman Empire, then this is it.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28It dates from the early second century, and we know who's inside,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31thanks to this misspelt inscription on the breast.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Apparently it reads, "Farewell, Artemidorus."
0:22:38 > 0:22:40There he is, you can see,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42very realistic portrait of the deceased man,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45done on this wooden panel, using the encaustic technique
0:22:45 > 0:22:48which mixes pigment, essentially with beeswax.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51And beneath, you've got a whole selection
0:22:51 > 0:22:55of traditional Egyptian funerary motifs, done in gold leaf.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57So what you have is this great melange
0:22:57 > 0:22:59of different styles and cultures.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01There's a Greek inscription,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04there are these traditional Egyptian motifs,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08and there's this realistic portrait done in the Roman style.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12This is one of the chief defining characteristics of Roman art.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Roman artists loved nothing more
0:23:14 > 0:23:19than embracing and employing a whole panoply of different approaches.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30'John O'Carroll is a contemporary painter who works in Egypt,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34'using the same encaustic techniques as the Romans.'
0:23:34 > 0:23:38This is animal glue with just pure pigment, so that's called distemper.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42And that's what the artist would have taken,
0:23:42 > 0:23:47and started his portrait with, just to give him a brief guideline.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55I'm applying this wax now.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57They would have worked from dark to light.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01And this preparation, this sort of background,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05is called a propalasmas, because that is,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09you're putting layers of very thin wax and pigment
0:24:09 > 0:24:13to start to create a moulded face.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15You get a beautiful texture,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20but you have to be careful to eliminate the bumps and lumps,
0:24:20 > 0:24:22so you get quite a smooth surface.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Just sort of putting in the features,
0:24:24 > 0:24:29this is based on one of the portraits, just applying this white.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Also has a little bit of skin tone.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43I'm using it in a very loose sort of contemporary way,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46however, it's the same process.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I'll go and scrape.
0:24:51 > 0:24:59And really, it's just the process of repeating, applying, scraping.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04The thing with the matt wax method is that it's very malleable,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and you can go and work into it repeatedly,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09so it gives you quite a lot of freedom.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15You can get a nice depth of colour.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20This method of painting
0:25:20 > 0:25:23didn't occur again until the Italian Renaissance.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30I'm amazed by the Romans' ability
0:25:30 > 0:25:35to assimilate radically different cultures into the imperial brand.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38To appreciate the full diversity of their art,
0:25:38 > 0:25:43you have to leap from Africa to the opposite end of the Empire -
0:25:43 > 0:25:44to the far north.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52The city of Bath was known as Aquae Sulis to the Romans.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59They built magnificent baths around the sacred hot springs,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02and a great temple to worship Sulis Minerva,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05a Romano-Celtic hybrid goddess.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Her gilded bronze head
0:26:11 > 0:26:15is one of Roman Britain's most beautiful treasures.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The influence of Celtic art is clearly visible here.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23These 14 pieces of carved stone
0:26:23 > 0:26:27were once part of a brightly painted temple facade.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32The centrepiece is a bearded face with snakes for hair.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Could be a Gorgon,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37or even Sol, a Celtic god.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Look, the art here is quite basic, almost naive,
0:26:43 > 0:26:48but it speaks powerfully to both the Roman and the indigenous people
0:26:48 > 0:26:50in this corner of the Empire.
0:26:58 > 0:26:59But there's another surprise
0:26:59 > 0:27:03about the art found in Rome's northern outposts -
0:27:03 > 0:27:07some of the finest decorative silverwork from the ancient world.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12This exquisite hoard from Kaiseraugst in Switzerland
0:27:12 > 0:27:14dates back to the fourth century.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22The silver was given by the Emperor Constans to one of his generals.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Lavish imperial gifts like this
0:27:27 > 0:27:29helped hold the late Empire together,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32and kept its leading subjects loyal.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38And for a conquered people, such art had an ambassadorial function,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42a glimpse of the civilised values that joining the Empire would bring.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50'With art playing such a key role on the military front line,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54'it's no surprise that two of the best examples of Roman silverware
0:27:54 > 0:27:57'have been found in Britain.'
0:27:57 > 0:27:59Well, Alex, I've brought you here to see this,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02which is the Corbridge Lanx.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05It was found in the 18th century up in Northumberland,
0:28:05 > 0:28:06I think near Hadrian's wall.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I mean, it's quite impressive to me, as a layman,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11not knowing anything about how it could be made.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14But for you as a silversmith, how do you feel looking at it?
0:28:14 > 0:28:17It is a very impressive piece of silversmithing.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Once you've got the flat tray,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22you would then proceed to emboss the surface of it,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26using a small hardened metal chisel to hammer the surface.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30If you look at the vine motif around the edge,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33you can actually make out little chatter marks,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37- and they are in fact hammered lines. - So it must take forever to do it?
0:28:37 > 0:28:40It's not a fast piece to make, that's for sure.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I wonder how you feel the technique of this
0:28:43 > 0:28:47compares to maybe the most famous piece of silver
0:28:47 > 0:28:51in the collection at the British Museum, which is just over here.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53This comes from a big hoard of treasure
0:28:53 > 0:28:54known as the Mildenhall Hoard,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58that was discovered in Suffolk during the Second World War,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02and the jewel in the crown is this dish.
0:29:05 > 0:29:06It's highly classical,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09the way that the figures have actually been created.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13Here, the proportions feel much more elegant and correct,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16- if you like...- Mmm.- ..but beautifully sinuous and lithe.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18To me, this suddenly looks like
0:29:18 > 0:29:21it's a different order of skill altogether.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23It's a beautifully rendered composition,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25apart from anything else.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27The drawing of the piece is quite remarkable.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Definitely more subtle in the legs.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32It looks very much as if it could have been engraved,
0:29:32 > 0:29:35which is, you know, using a very sharp, pointed tool
0:29:35 > 0:29:38to paint the little lines across the body.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41I mean, it's a combination of techniques of chasing and engraving,
0:29:41 > 0:29:46and engraving is really very fine, neat and small lines.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Has the artistry that's visible in this dish
0:29:49 > 0:29:52been surpassed by silversmiths since the time of ancient Rome?
0:29:52 > 0:29:56In terms of the grace of composition, pretty hard to beat.
0:29:56 > 0:29:57ALASTAIR CHUCKLES
0:30:01 > 0:30:03Decorative works like these
0:30:03 > 0:30:08suggest that, contrary to the traditional art historical argument,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12the political decline of the later Roman Empire was not matched
0:30:12 > 0:30:14by a creative tailing-off in its art.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24Take the Portland Vase, a cameo glass vessel from the early Empire,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28widely regarded, rightly so, as one of the greatest Roman treasures.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Without doubt, it's a smooth and sinuous masterpiece.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37But as far as glassware goes, I think it's surpassed
0:30:37 > 0:30:41by a work of vigorous poetry from the later Roman period.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55So just describe a little bit, because if you look up close,
0:30:55 > 0:30:59- it looks like it's one piece of glass.- Yes.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01- And what, has it been carved on the outer layer?- Yeah.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Initially it was a much thicker vessel and then it was cut down.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07And then undercut in some places
0:31:07 > 0:31:09so that the figures could stand out from the vessel itself.
0:31:09 > 0:31:14That seems completely extraordinary because when you look up close,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17I mean, practically, some of these figures
0:31:17 > 0:31:20- are floating off the base of the glass altogether.- Yes.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24How virtuoso would the person who made this have had to have been?
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Incredibly. They were probably used to making cameos or cutting gems
0:31:28 > 0:31:29and that kind of thing.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32So this is really incredible -
0:31:32 > 0:31:35and to be able to do it in such fragile material as well is amazing.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37- Do we know who they are? - Yeah, it's Lycurgus.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40Hence the name is at the front of the vessel
0:31:40 > 0:31:45and then there's Dionysus, he's the god of wine and wine making.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47And then a few of his friends, I suppose?
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Who were supposed to be making fun of Lycurgus, once he'd been trapped in the vines.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54"Making fun," I think it's more than that, they're about to kill him!
0:31:54 > 0:31:58I mean, this guy is about to cast a rock at poor old Lycurgus.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01There is one other aspect, one CHIEF characteristic of this cup,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03which we haven't talked about yet.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06If you block the light from behind the cup there's a dark green colour,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09which is reflected off the surface,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11and then when you allow the light through, it becomes red.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14This is caused by tiny particles of gold
0:32:14 > 0:32:16alloyed with silver, within the cup,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20that allow the red light only to be transmitted through it
0:32:20 > 0:32:23but, yet, at the same time scatter green light from the surface.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25So this is a conscious effect
0:32:25 > 0:32:28- that whoever made this was trying to use?- Yeah.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31- It's COMPLETELY stunning. - Yeah, it's absolutely incredible.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34And it's hard to imagine how they worked out how to do it.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Which gives the whole piece a kind of magic.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46I've returned to the imperial capital.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54During the third century,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58Rome's provinces had more power and influence than ever before
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and that was because Rome herself
0:33:01 > 0:33:04was stumbling from one crisis to another.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10If you were a Roman emperor during the third century,
0:33:10 > 0:33:15then life could be really quite nasty, brutish and very short.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18It was the age of anarchy, it was a time of real crisis -
0:33:18 > 0:33:21economic turmoil, the beginnings of the decline of the Empire
0:33:21 > 0:33:24and all of that would have an extraordinary impact
0:33:24 > 0:33:27upon the art that was being produced in Rome.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33The chaos was caused by the increased power of the army
0:33:33 > 0:33:36as it fought Rome's enemies on the frontiers.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41And the legions tended to proclaim their commanders as emperors.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48This is the Hall of the Emperors in the Capitoline Museum
0:33:48 > 0:33:52and almost every single one is here. There's Hadrian...
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Antoninus Pius...
0:33:54 > 0:33:57there's a scowling Caracalla just over there...
0:33:57 > 0:34:02but I particularly like this contrast between these two busts.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07It shows how the sea change between the so-called soldier emperors
0:34:07 > 0:34:10of the third century AD and their predecessors
0:34:10 > 0:34:13was played out very graphically in Roman art.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Here you have a bust of someone called Alexander Severus.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21He's a bit of a milk sop and well-educated mummy's boy.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23You can see that he's got very boyish features,
0:34:23 > 0:34:24very gentle, he was a pious man
0:34:24 > 0:34:29and the style of the bust harks back to that youthful idealising style
0:34:29 > 0:34:32that was favoured by those Julio-Claudian emperors
0:34:32 > 0:34:34of the first century AD.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Sad thing was he was assassinated by the army,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41erm, and this man took over in AD 235
0:34:41 > 0:34:46with the brilliantly wicked nefarious name, of Maximinus Thrax,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48he'd make a good Bond villain.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52It's completely different style, a much more hard-boiled realism.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53He's a terrifying thug, really -
0:34:53 > 0:34:56you wouldn't want to pick a fight with him -
0:34:56 > 0:35:00and the contrast between them is that of a predator and his prey.
0:35:00 > 0:35:05It's a bit like seeing a killer whale locked onto a wide-eyed seal.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12The importance of the Roman general in the third century
0:35:12 > 0:35:16is reflected in a new vogue in Roman art -
0:35:16 > 0:35:20the sumptuously carved sarcophagus.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25Traditionally, the Romans had cremated their dead
0:35:25 > 0:35:29but burial became more fashionable in the second century AD
0:35:29 > 0:35:32It gave the great and the good a novel way
0:35:32 > 0:35:35of preserving their memory for posterity
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and artists a chance to experiment.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40This is the Portonaccio sarcophagus,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43it was named after the area in Rome where it was found
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and it dates from roundabout AD 180
0:35:46 > 0:35:48and it's extraordinarily dynamic.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52You have to think that friezes on marble sarcophagi like this one
0:35:52 > 0:35:54surely represent a pinnacle of Roman art.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57The detail and the execution are so breathtaking.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06The thing that never ceases to amaze me
0:36:06 > 0:36:09is the skill of the stone carvers who made this
0:36:09 > 0:36:12out of a single slab of marble.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Like the artists in Leptis Magna,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18they used drills to cut deep into the stone
0:36:18 > 0:36:20before carving the details.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26Here at the centre of this melee you have a warrior on horseback
0:36:26 > 0:36:29who's got this very resplendent plume on top of his helmet,
0:36:29 > 0:36:30signifying his rank and authority.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34He's probably the deceased general for whom this would have been commissioned,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36even though his face wasn't actually carved for some reason.
0:36:36 > 0:36:42And you can see him blasting his way through this tumultuous vision of warfare, really,
0:36:42 > 0:36:43as the Romans, an unstoppable force,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46relentlessly crush the barbarians underfoot.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54Strangely, though, the sculptor's chosen to book-end the frieze
0:36:54 > 0:36:57with these two really distinctive eye-catching figures -
0:36:57 > 0:37:02very careworn but very dignified barbarians.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05It might seem strange that a Roman sculptor's almost asking us
0:37:05 > 0:37:08to mentally identify with the enemy
0:37:08 > 0:37:12but the thing about the sarcophagus is that it's broadcasting messages
0:37:12 > 0:37:13about how to be a good Roman.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16And the Romans celebrated clemency
0:37:16 > 0:37:18as much as they celebrated ruthless blood-letting.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20That's the message of the whole piece -
0:37:20 > 0:37:22how to be a decent, upstanding Roman.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24At the top you have this panel,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27which commemorates and records the blissful domestic life
0:37:27 > 0:37:30of the deceased general.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33And it is almost as though the sculptor's saying -
0:37:33 > 0:37:36oblivious to the fact that the general's day job was actually quite gruesome,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39it involved hacking poor barbarians to bits,
0:37:39 > 0:37:40crushing them underfoot -
0:37:40 > 0:37:44kind of didn't matter cos at the end, right up until the very last,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47he remained a good and faithful Roman husband.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06By the end of the third century,
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Rome's leadership crisis threatened to derail the whole Empire.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Desperate measures were needed.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18I've come to Venice to see artistic evidence
0:38:18 > 0:38:20of a remarkable moment in Roman history.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28'The inauguration in AD 293 of the so-called Tetrarchs.
0:38:30 > 0:38:35'These were four generals, each given one corner of the Empire to rule -
0:38:35 > 0:38:40'the idea being that power-sharing would prevent civil war.'
0:38:40 > 0:38:42- Grazie mille!- Bye-bye.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46You stopped at St Mark's Square, thanks. Thank you.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Great. Right, erm, I tell you, that is how to travel.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Now, let's go find some Tetrarchs.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55And I think if we go to St Mark's Square, we'll find them.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02Can't believe I've been to Venice before
0:39:02 > 0:39:06and I missed these Tetrarchs, because, well, here they are.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09They're in the corner of the Basilica di San Marco.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18They probably originally came from Istanbul
0:39:18 > 0:39:22and they're carved from this hard, reddish stone, called porphyry,
0:39:22 > 0:39:24carved round about AD 300.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28You can tell that they're military men cos they're clasping swords.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30You can see their armoured breastplate, their cuirass.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32There isn't a great deal to tell them apart -
0:39:32 > 0:39:35except for one very significant detail.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Two of them have beards, two are clean-shaven.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42The beards signify the more senior emperors,
0:39:42 > 0:39:44who were each known as Augustus.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47The clean-shaven colleagues they are the junior emperors,
0:39:47 > 0:39:48known as the Caesars.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50The sculptor who has made these,
0:39:50 > 0:39:56has been taking great pains to suppress any individual trait whatsoever,
0:39:56 > 0:40:01instead, there's a kind of tendency, much more towards abstraction.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05It's a style of art that looks right forward to the Middle Ages.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09There's a sense that rather than depicting individuals,
0:40:09 > 0:40:10this is a symbol -
0:40:10 > 0:40:12a symbol of solidarity, of the group,
0:40:12 > 0:40:14the togetherness of the Tetrarchs, their brotherhood,
0:40:14 > 0:40:19their power as four rather than one individual emperor.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25Certainly, they're supposed to be forbidding and distant.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28I actually don't really think they look that forbidding at all.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31I think they look quite cute, a bit like those aliens,
0:40:31 > 0:40:32you know, in the Toy Story films,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34who are very lovable, all exactly the same,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37all worshiping The Claw, The Claw.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40And here are these, kind of, similar extraterrestrial figures,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43hugging one another for moral support.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46So, I ask you this, who would you rather be ruled by -
0:40:46 > 0:40:48Augustus, immortalised for ever
0:40:48 > 0:40:51in that mighty, famous statue from Prima Porta,
0:40:51 > 0:40:56or these four Tetrarchs who almost look inhuman?
0:40:56 > 0:40:58I know who I'd rather choose.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Contemporary artist Stephen Cox,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11is the only sculptor since antiquity,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15to work with porphyry from the Roman imperial quarry
0:41:15 > 0:41:17in the Red Sea mountains of Egypt.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23The piece of porphyry he's using for his sculpture, called Dreadnought,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27has chisel marks, left by Roman sculptors.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29It's amazing to be able to work on a piece of stone
0:41:29 > 0:41:31that was worked on by Romans
0:41:31 > 0:41:33probably towards the middle of the fourth century.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37The importance of porphyry,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40its colour...and its hardness,
0:41:40 > 0:41:44was very attractive to the symbolism of power
0:41:44 > 0:41:48that was obviously constantly needing to be represented
0:41:48 > 0:41:49by the emperors
0:41:49 > 0:41:51whose rule spread so wide
0:41:51 > 0:41:53through the ancient world.
0:41:53 > 0:41:54Purple objects, purple sculptures,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57with emperors dressed in imperial purple,
0:41:57 > 0:42:01were sent out to establish a symbol of authority
0:42:01 > 0:42:05and it is extraordinary, really, that they chose this purple stone,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07which is the hardest stone in the world,
0:42:07 > 0:42:09to, if you like,
0:42:09 > 0:42:10outlast any other material
0:42:10 > 0:42:14that might otherwise be abused by people of descent.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17For me, the significance of porphyry
0:42:17 > 0:42:20is something to do with its intractability.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22I suppose, in my nature, it's to work with things
0:42:22 > 0:42:24that are very difficult.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29The amount of energy it requires to transform something into something
0:42:29 > 0:42:30that transcends its parts,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33that's something to do with what it is to make an object of sculpture.
0:42:33 > 0:42:39In particular, for it to resonate is something that leads me forward
0:42:39 > 0:42:43to try and achieve things that maybe weren't done in Roman times.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51The Tetrarch experiment was short-lived
0:42:51 > 0:42:54because it relied upon a spirit of collaboration -
0:42:54 > 0:42:58unsurprisingly absent in most Roman generals.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02Soon the four Tetrarchs were at war.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07One of the great turning points in the history of the Roman Empire,
0:43:07 > 0:43:13was the Battle of Milvian Bridge outside Rome in AD 312.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21An imposing arch was built next to the Coliseum
0:43:21 > 0:43:26to commemorate the victory of this man, Constantine.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Constantine would go on to reunite the Empire under his rule
0:43:33 > 0:43:37and become one of the most influential emperors in Roman history
0:43:37 > 0:43:39but that wasn't all.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45Quite a lot of what you encounter in Rome
0:43:45 > 0:43:49still has the power to overwhelm you, just in terms of sheer scale,
0:43:49 > 0:43:50but...there are a few works of art
0:43:50 > 0:43:53that bludgeon you into submission like this one.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56This is the Colossus of Constantine the Great...
0:43:56 > 0:44:00and you can see fragments... "fragment" is not quite the word,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04of what would have been this colossal seated sculpture of Constantine.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08There's his arm, you can see the throbbing bicep
0:44:08 > 0:44:10and veins that are as thick as a rope
0:44:10 > 0:44:12and then the head itself,
0:44:12 > 0:44:15the most impressive, overpowering element of all.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17It's two and a half metres high
0:44:17 > 0:44:22and it would have been the apex of a sculpture of Constantine seated,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25enthroned as a god - and this is a pagan sculpture.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29He would have been presented as Jupiter, holding an orb in one hand,
0:44:29 > 0:44:32like a symbol of his power over the globe.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35He's got the features, the visage of a god -
0:44:35 > 0:44:39those eyes bulging out, far too big for the face,
0:44:39 > 0:44:42stare off into infinity well above our heads.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45This is art that feels, in a funny way, almost fascistic.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48It's a little bit repellent.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52All of these scraps of sculpture, have the subtlety, if you like,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54of a big old avalanche.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00There's nothing about this statue that gives any hint
0:45:00 > 0:45:02of what he's known for -
0:45:02 > 0:45:05his conversion to an obscure cult called Christianity.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14And the consequences this had for western civilisation and its art
0:45:14 > 0:45:15are still with us today.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23'I've come to the outskirts of Rome for a glimpse of the faith
0:45:23 > 0:45:26'as Constantine would have first encountered it.'
0:45:28 > 0:45:30Oh, there's a stampede of sheep!
0:45:37 > 0:45:38This is the most beautiful thing.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42I've woken up this morning, near St Peter's in Rome,
0:45:42 > 0:45:43come down the Appian Way
0:45:43 > 0:45:47and I feel like I've walked back thousands of years
0:45:47 > 0:45:49and stumbled upon this bucolic wonderland.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51The world of Theocritus and Virgil,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54with all of these sheep suddenly appearing from nowhere
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and somewhere there's a good shepherd beating something.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02It's really quite beautiful!
0:46:04 > 0:46:05'At the start of the fourth century
0:46:05 > 0:46:08'Christianity was still a fringe religion,
0:46:08 > 0:46:11'imported from the eastern corner of the Empire.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17'Only a fraction of Rome's population was Christian...
0:46:20 > 0:46:24'..and they were shunned as outsiders and suffered regular persecution.'
0:46:28 > 0:46:32I really don't know where I am at all but let's try and go down here.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38It's really gloomy and spooky,
0:46:38 > 0:46:40particularly as you go deeper and deeper -
0:46:40 > 0:46:42I want to be back outside in the sunshine!
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Ah, hello.
0:46:48 > 0:46:49MAN MURMURS
0:46:49 > 0:46:51- Hi. Oh, sorry.- OK.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57(He didn't want to talk.)
0:46:57 > 0:47:00(That was a bit eerie.) Shall we carry on?
0:47:03 > 0:47:07I've now descended into this murky netherworld...
0:47:09 > 0:47:14..which is part of this huge complex of the catacombs outside Rome.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16The cemeteries for the Christian dead.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21This one in particular is the catacomb of St Callistus
0:47:21 > 0:47:26who was an early Pope, martyred in AD 222.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29He was decapitated and then chucked down a well.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40And, of course, as you go around the catacombs you see pieces of art.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52Now, this is quite interesting.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54We've got a couple of sarcophagi here
0:47:54 > 0:47:58and rather than being full of pagan imagery, they are Christian.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03This one is roughly, I think it's fourth century AD.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05It dates from the era of Constantine
0:48:05 > 0:48:09and it's decorated with these motifs of the Good Shepherd.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11It's quite interesting,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13we think of Jesus Christ today as a bearded figure on a cross.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Early Christians thought about him in this way, as a youth,
0:48:16 > 0:48:19clean-shaven, bearing a sheep on his shoulders.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22You can actually see there's the grisly remains
0:48:22 > 0:48:25of the Christian who actually was interred.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28And it's quite interesting because if you look at the carvings -
0:48:28 > 0:48:31and this is not good art, in my opinion, at all -
0:48:31 > 0:48:35you know, this is a far cry from the elegance,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37the grandeur of earlier pagan Roman art.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42I mean, you compare it to this, a stubby figure, very simply done.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It feels childlike, it feels naive.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47So, in a sense, you can understand why, for some people,
0:48:47 > 0:48:53late Roman art has a really bad rep but it does have a message,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56a heart, and that's what redeems it, perhaps, as a work of art
0:48:56 > 0:48:57and makes it a treasure.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59It's not materially wonderful to look at
0:48:59 > 0:49:02but it has an immaterial message that's quite beautiful.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06There's something quite robust and simple and humble in itself -
0:49:06 > 0:49:08the simple Christian doctrine,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12which completely changed the Roman Empire for ever.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22From its humble origins, Christian art really took off,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26once it was established as the imperial religion of Rome.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31Constantine may have steered clear of overt expressions of his Christian faith in art...
0:49:34 > 0:49:37..but later emperors were not so coy.
0:49:39 > 0:49:40This bronze colossus,
0:49:40 > 0:49:44in the southeastern Italian city of Barletta,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46is more than five metres tall.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49It's thought to be a late Roman emperor.
0:49:49 > 0:49:50One thing is for sure -
0:49:50 > 0:49:54he's not hiding his Christianity under a bushel!
0:50:01 > 0:50:04One theory is that the colossus originally stood in Ravenna,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07on the Adriatic coast of Italy.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Ravenna today is a charming provincial town...
0:50:19 > 0:50:21..but during the fifth century,
0:50:21 > 0:50:25it was the capital of the western Roman Empire
0:50:25 > 0:50:28and a bastion of the Christian faith.
0:50:29 > 0:50:35One woman presided over the creation of this vision of heaven on earth -
0:50:35 > 0:50:36Galla Placidia.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39She was one of the most extraordinary women in Roman history,
0:50:39 > 0:50:43daughter, wife and mother of a line of emperors -
0:50:43 > 0:50:45she even had a kid with a Goth!
0:50:49 > 0:50:54This modest cross-shaped building takes her name...
0:50:54 > 0:50:56and contains our final treasure.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59CHORAL MUSIC
0:51:14 > 0:51:17'These beautiful mosaics from the 420s
0:51:17 > 0:51:19'reveal the way that Christian art
0:51:19 > 0:51:22'evolved from a very Roman tradition.'
0:51:25 > 0:51:29Claudia, this place is genuinely stunning,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31it's really, really amazing,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35and I can see that, obviously, the imagery is overtly Christian,
0:51:35 > 0:51:40there are crosses everywhere, but really the DNA of it is pagan,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43all of these motifs, are borrowed from Roman art history.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45SHE SPEAKS ITALIAN
0:52:14 > 0:52:15But that is really interesting
0:52:15 > 0:52:20because, I think, in many people's minds, the Romans, the Christians, they're at odds.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23The popular image is of Romans feeding Christians to the lions
0:52:23 > 0:52:26but what you're saying and what we see here,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29- is the two worlds meshed together. - Absolutely.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49What's behind the door that says forbidden access? Can we go inside?
0:52:49 > 0:52:51- You are welcome!- Oh, good, thanks.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55Is this... Are you working on the other side of this door?
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Is this where you're doing the restoration? Presumably.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15This is quite special! You don't normally see it like this, do you?
0:53:15 > 0:53:17The colours are SO bright and intense.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55I feel so delighted that I visited the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
0:53:55 > 0:53:57because the mosaics are astonishing...
0:53:58 > 0:54:01..not least because almost every element -
0:54:01 > 0:54:04the vines, the beautiful scrolling acanthus plants...
0:54:06 > 0:54:08..EVEN the stars swirling,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11swarming up against that rich blue background of the dome,
0:54:11 > 0:54:16they're all recognisable motifs from the pagan Roman world...
0:54:17 > 0:54:20..adapted, recycled to a Christian context.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22It just goes to show that we should be wary
0:54:22 > 0:54:25whenever people arbitrarily try and tidy away history
0:54:25 > 0:54:29into these fussy little boxes because life is never that simple.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34The history books tell us that Ravenna's heyday,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37coincided with the demise of the Roman Empire.
0:54:37 > 0:54:43Rome supposedly was laid to rest in the year AD 476,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46when a Germanic chieftain deposed the last emperor,
0:54:46 > 0:54:50but that doesn't mean that Roman art stopped overnight.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54And visiting Ravenna does remind you of this
0:54:54 > 0:54:57because here you've got a Roman monument.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00It's indelibly associated with the fifth century after Christ,
0:55:00 > 0:55:04i.e. before Rome supposedly fell in 476,
0:55:04 > 0:55:08but just over here, a stone's throw away, is a resplendent church,
0:55:08 > 0:55:10the church of San Vitale, which scholars usually assign
0:55:10 > 0:55:13to a completely different period of art history altogether.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Thing is, I bet you - I haven't been inside yet -
0:55:15 > 0:55:19but I bet you, that the story of how the ancients got from there to there,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23is as much about continuity as it is about dramatic change.
0:55:39 > 0:55:44The mosaics in San Vitale were made in the century after Rome's fall.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48They celebrate Justinian the Great,
0:55:48 > 0:55:51who'd reclaimed Ravenna from the Goths,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53for the so-called eastern Roman Empire.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00Of course, as splendid as, obviously, this is,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03it's no longer Roman art, it's Byzantine,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06but just as the Romans supposedly copied and looted
0:56:06 > 0:56:08the art of the Greeks hundreds of years earlier,
0:56:08 > 0:56:12so what we see here emerged out of the Roman world.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15It's part of one vast continuum that stretches back almost a millennium.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20And I should keep my voice down because I'm in a church
0:56:20 > 0:56:22but that's partly why I get so irritated
0:56:22 > 0:56:24when people are sniffy about Roman art.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27I mean, it's even been questioned whether or not it existed at all,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29which is completely ridiculous.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38Despite that, though, I think it would be wrong
0:56:38 > 0:56:42to avoid the big question marks that still hang over Roman art, even today.
0:56:42 > 0:56:47As Monty Python almost put it, "What has Roman art ever done for us?"
0:56:47 > 0:56:51Well, the answer is, considerably more than most people imagine.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00The Romans gave us the warts-and-all portrait bust...
0:57:01 > 0:57:04..and a passion for realism...
0:57:09 > 0:57:11..they pioneered monumental art...
0:57:17 > 0:57:20..but also celebrated the intimate...
0:57:20 > 0:57:22and the sensual...
0:57:25 > 0:57:27In terms of technique,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31they set standards that wouldn't be matched again for centuries...
0:57:32 > 0:57:35..and in the end they gave us the look of a faith,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39that has dominated western art ever since.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46I've really felt two things very strongly, sort of, overall.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49One is just that the idea that the Romans were
0:57:49 > 0:57:54these incompetent, clodhopping philistines when it came to art,
0:57:54 > 0:57:55is just total nonsense.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57You just have to look around
0:57:57 > 0:58:01and you're confronted by example after example
0:58:01 > 0:58:06of really sophisticated, top-notch, beautiful art.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08The other thing I've felt
0:58:08 > 0:58:13is a tremendous sense of humility and modesty,
0:58:13 > 0:58:15and I've just felt quite little,
0:58:15 > 0:58:21like this dwarf kind of wandering in amongst the world of giants.
0:58:22 > 0:58:27And it's almost humbling to see that nothing lasts for ever, at all.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30Although, on the other hand, a building like the Pantheon, behind me,
0:58:30 > 0:58:35is doing a pretty good job at making a stab for immortality.
0:58:56 > 0:58:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd