Roman Syria:

early Roman province, annexed to the Republic in 64 BC by Pompey (Third Mithridatic War) after  defeat of Armenian King Tigranes the Great.  Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom into tetrarchies (6 AD) Roman Syria annexed Iturea & Trachonitis.  During the early empire, the Roman army in Syria accounted for 3 legions defending the border with Parthia.  Syrian forces fought in the Great Jewish Revolt of 66–70 AD.  In 66 AD a Syrian Army was ambushed & destroyed at the Battle of Beth Horon.  Vespasian then took on the task.  In 69 AD, supported by Syrian units, he launched a bid to become Emperor.  He defeated Vitellius & went on to rule for 10 years.  The Romans had to deal with the Jews again in the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 135 and Syrian forces were again involved (132-136).  Following the defeat of this rising, Roman Syria & Roman Judea were merged forming Syria-Palaestina.  The governor of Syria retained the civil administration of the entire large province as well as commanding 4 legions.  These powers were diminished when Hadrian (76-138 AD) took 1 of the legions; later Severus would withdrew military command from the governor.  He also ordered the partition of the province.

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Panthenon (master mason):

Apollodorus of Damascus was a Syrian-Greek engineer, architect, designer & sculptor from Damascus, Roman Syria; flourished during the 2nd century AD; the architect of the 3rd rebuilding of the Pantheon.  His building began in 114, under Trajan, 4 years after the Pantheon of Agrippa was destroyed.  A favourite of Trajan, for whom he built Trajan's Bridge over the Danube (for the 105–06 campaign in Dacia).  He also designed Trajan's Forum, the Temple of Trajan &Trajan's Column in Rome, beside several smaller projects, as well as the triumphal arches of Trajan at Beneventum & Ancona.

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Imperial Fora (master mason):

Trajan's Forum was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in Rome; the architect was Apollodorus of Damascus.  Built on the orders of Trajan from the spoils of war (from the conquest of Dacia, which ended in 106).  It was probably inaugurated in 112, while Trajan's Column was erected and then inaugurated in 113.  It consisted of a vast portico-lined piazza measuring 980 feet x 607 feet, with exedrae (semi-circular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's façade or is free-standing on 2 sides).  The main entrance was at the N. end of the piazza, which was cobbled with rectangular blocks of white marble & decorated with a large equestrian statue of Trajan.  On either side of the piazza were markets, also housed by the exedrae. 

 

Eastern border of the Empire: * see Endnote <A>

see map of Roman Empire in 14 AD and see Endnote D below.

This frontier included the cities of Alexandra & Byzantium but not Armenia, the Parthian Empire, Axum or S Arabia.

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Riegl: * see Endnote<B>

1858-1905, Austrian art historian, member of the Vienna School of Art History; major figure in the establishment of art history as an academic discipline. 

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Strzygowski:

1862-1941, Polish-Austrian art historian, promoted idea that art of the Near East had a major impact on European medieval art.  In his 2 -volume The architecture of the Armenians and Europe (1918) he claimed to have traced the origins of Gothic architecture to Early Christian Armenian architecture.  He was a member of the Vienna School of Art History.  He travelled widely in Greece & Russia, developing knowledge of Byzantine & Russian art; appointed to the faculty of University of Graz (1892), 1894-95 lived in Cairo, studied early Byzantine & Islamic art of Egypt, compiled catalogue of Coptic art in the Cairo Museum.  On his return engaged in intense scholarly study & published The Orient or Rome: contributions to the history of late antique and early Christian art (1901).  Using diverse materials (Palmyrene art & sculpture, Anatolian sarcophagi, late antique ivories of Egypt, Coptic textiles, he argues that style changes in late antiquity was the product of an overwhelming "Oriental" or "Semitic" influence.  This work attacked Die Wiener Genesis (1895) by Viennese art historian Franz Wickhoff, who had posited a Roman origin for the late antique style, a thesis pursued further by Alois Riegl in his Late Roman art industry (1901).  In 1909 he was appointed as Wickhoff’s successor at the University of Vienna.  His breadth of geographical interest helped establish Islamic & Jewish art as legitimate fields of study

 

conspectus:

general or comprehensive view; survey; a digest; summary; résumé.

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philological:

the study of literary texts and of written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning.

 

late Classical period

see above page 207

 

Early Christian period

see above page 207

 

Islamic art:

Spengler’s term for the Magian Culture, art of

 

Armenia: * see Endnote <C>

S Arabia: * see Endnote <C>

Axum: * see Endnote <C>                

Persia: * see Endnote <C>

Byzantium:* see Endnote <C>

Alexandria: * see Endnote <C>