Roman Fora

In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, two speeches are given to the people of Rome about Caesar's death. In Act 3, Scene 2 of this play Brutus and Antony both try to sway the minds of the Romans toward their views. Brutus tried to make the people believe he killed Caesar for a noble cause. Antony tried to persuade the people that the conspirators committed an act of brutality toward Caesar and were traitors. The effectiveness and ineffectiveness of both Antony's and Brutus's speech to the people are conveyed through tone and rhetorical devices.

The famous historical structure known as the Colosseum is a remarkable piece of architecture that has survived for over nearly two millenniums. It was commissioned by the Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the people of Rome and completed by his son, Titus in the year 70 A.D. (History, 2009). Since then, the Flavian Amphitheater has gone through lifetimes of changes with chronicles of events. It is one of the most impressive ancient structures that still stand today and is extraordinary because of a multitude of reasons. The Colosseum’s advanced function, structural soundness, as well as its impeccable design contributes to its grandeur. Its initial opening performance did not fail to commemorate its existence, lasting

Roman architecture has influenced our modern-day society in many ways. One of the ways is by the construction of the Roman Colosseum in 72 A.D. The Roman Colosseum was the first major stadium or amphitheater to ever be built. Without the planning, construction, and techniques used for Roman Colosseum, we would not have some of the famous stadiums and amphitheaters that exist today.

In the play, Julius Caesar, Caear has recently been betrayed and killed by his Bestfriend Brutus and conspirators. Antony (a friend of Caesar’s) is distraught by his friends death and promises to him in private that he will avenge his killers. Brutus allows for Ceasar to have a funeral arrangement and Antony asks Brutus about speaking in front of the capitol during the ceremony. Brutus allows for this to take place but he tells Antony to promise not to say anything bad about him or any of the conspirators and to only speak about Caesar. Antony accepts this arrangement and heads to the stage of the capitol to give his speech. Brutus also says that he will speak at Caesar’s funeral arrangement so that he can tell the citizens he and the conspirators killed Caesar and explain to them why they did it.

The story of ancient Rome is a tale of how a small community of shepherds in the central Italy grew to become one of the greatest empires in history, and then collapsed. According to Roman legend. Rome was founded in 753 B.C. By 275 B.C., it controlled most of the Italian Peninsula. In the A.D. 100’s, the Roman Empire covered about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the northern coast of Africa. The empire then began to crumble, party because it was too big for Rome to govern.

William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar is one of his most monumental plays that cover Julius Caesar’s death and the fallout after it. He got the material for this play from a Greek writing called the Life of Julius Caesar. This was actually a famous biography written by Plutarch in the first century, I was later translated by Sir Thomas North in 1579. Published in 1599 this play is assumed to be the first to be ever preformed in the famous Globe Theater, it was a smash success that moved audiences. This play has stood the test of time being regarded as a timeless masterpiece and work of perfection. Shakespeare did this by displaying deep moving characters, vibrant and astounding settings, and intriguing points of view in Julius Caesar.

Antony prepares the crowd for his heart wrenching tales of Julius Caesar, and his injustice. “If you have tears prepare to shed them now” (III.ii.166). He goes on later in his speech, saying, “Look, in this place ran Cassius’ dagger through. / See what a rent the envious Casca made. / Through this well-beloved Brutus stabbed; / And as he plucked his cursed steel away, / Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it, / As rushing out of doors to be resolved / If brutus unkindly knocked or no; / For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel” (III.ii.171-178). Antony lets everyone know that Brutus has done so much wrong by Caesar, not only because he killed him, but because he was his trusted friend. “...These are gracious drops. / Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold / Our Caesar’s vesture wounded?...” (III.ii.191-193). Antony tells everyone that it is okay to cry, which evidently makes him look kind, but also sparks up a fire in the citizens. They continue to scream, “Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! / Let not a traitor live!”

Next stone track side seating for politicians was added. Julius Caesar extended the wooden seating to encompass almost the entire track. This is when the first version of the Circus Maximus, as we picture it, was completed. Throughout the five centuries it took to develop the Circus to this point, fire and rot were its biggest opposition requiring constant reconstruction. It is believed that the threat of fire caused Emperor Trajan to rebuild the Circus in the newly discovered concrete, marble, stone, and only the top section in wood. It was he who had the spina built connecting the two metae to represent the broken spine of the enemies of Rome with the obelisk placed by Emperor Augustus as the center piece. This was the final version of the Circus Maximus and was left generally

The most predominate and important aspect In the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare are the speeches given to the Roman citizens by Brutus and Antony, the two main charaters, following the death of Caesar. Brutus and Antony both spoke to the crowd,using the same rhetorical devices to express their thoughts. Both speakers used the three classical appeals employed in the speeches: ethos, which is an appeal to credibility; pathos, which is an appeal to the emotion of the audience; and logos, which is an appeal to the content and arrangement of the argument itself. Even though both speeches have the same structure Antony’s speech is significantly more effective than Brutus’s.

Many centuries before the birth of Christ, the city of Rome grew, prospered, and developed into a thriving Republic. As in most cultures, Rome's buildings became more elaborate and impressive. They developed fantastic building technologies and ideas. The feats of Roman engineers were groundbreaking, and many structures built by this culture still stand today. With knowledge borrowed from the Greeks, Rome made impressive architectural achievements, these were namely major attributes of buildings, colossal structures, and a legacy that would influence later buildings (Cornell and Matthews 11).

Called the “Eternal City,” Rome emerged as the capital city of a powerful Republic at about 508 BC. Roman culture was greatly influenced by that of Greece, and Rome too emerged as a center of art and literature while also making vast contributions to the development of technology, war, law, and architecture in the Western world. With the Roman Empire’s dominance over most of Europe, the city of Rome became and remained the richest, largest, and most politically important city in the Western world for almost a thousand years, clearly defining it as world city that made its mark on the pages of history. This great wealth was demonstrated through the luxurious nature of the society, which included numerous intricate and architecturally stunning public baths. Another example of Rome’s extensive resources and capabilities is the Roman Coliseum, which represented a feat of architecture and engineering at the time and was used for all sorts of spectator events. Rome also became known for its close ties with the Catholic Church, being established as the center of the Church by the Pope and remaining a “holy city” for centuries. Eventually the illustrious Roman Empire declined due to a combination of economic problems, which gradually affected the empire, and invasions, which were its ultimate downfall. With the end of the Roman Empire came the end of Rome’s capital status, which was transferred instead to Milan. Despite eventually losing this

Towards the city’s heavily trafficked center the Roman Forum was constructed for convenient easy access of all the citizens. The foreground of the forum was occupied by a paved square with monuments to famous citizens. The temple to the Divine Julius, dedicated in 29 BCE to the deified Caesar, built in a Hellenistic style, is located in the background on the left; to the right is the temple of Vesta and the house of the Vestal Virgins, guardians of the everlasting flame; further to the right is the temple of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux dedicated in 6 CE Here the office of weights and measures was situated. The podiums of the temples of Caesar and the Dioscuri were often used as orators' platforms and it is in this part of the Forum that the meetings of the comitia took place. On the far right is the Basilica Julia built by Caesar. Its long façade occupies the entire south side of the Forum. (Owens, 154) Semi-circular in plan and having consisted of a tall stage building, theaters were a semi-circular orchestra and tiered seating area. Unlike Greek theatres, which were built on natural slopes, they were supported by their own framework of piers and vaults and so could be built anywhere and not where nature dictated. Amphitheatres (literally, ‘double theatres’) were elliptical in plan; with a central areana. (Bowra, 38)

This new building type differed in striking ways from the traditional Greek theater. The latter consisted of two separate structures: a horseshoe-shaped seating area and a freestanding stage-building. The Roman theater, in contrast, was a fully enclosed edifice, unroofed but often covered with awnings on performance days. The seating area in the Greek theater was supported against a natural hillside, whereas the Roman theater was carried at least in part on concrete vaults, which provided access from the exterior of the building to the cavea. In the Hellenistic world, the stage-building was a relatively low structure, ornamented with painted panels but rarely with large-scale sculpture.

As the story goes, Rome was founding in 753 B.C. by two brothers Remus and Romulus who were raised by wolves. The two brothers started fighting over the leadership of the land. Eventually Romulus killed Remus and took control own his own. The city was only a small settlement

The building of the Coloseum began around 72 AD. under the supervision of the emperor Vespasian. Though he did not live to see his greatest accomplishment, his son Titus, completed his father’s dream around 80 AD.