Ancient Roman Statues

We have all seen the ruins of ancient roman statues and buildings across Rome. Some of them have been severely degraded over time, while others have been well preserved. The statues ranged from those of the roman emperor's to the god's they worshipped on a daily basis. These were often very important to the cities they were built in, and were major parts of everyday lives.

Today we may see a statue and think that it's a great work of art, and then go on about our business. In ancient Rome however a statue was more than just a great work of art. Depending on who was depicted on the statue, and what they were doing it could have various meanings and importance. If the statue was of the Roman emperor it may have great historical value, or be made to commend an event locally.

If the statue was depicting a roman god or goddess it might have been the center of religious worship for the town. They also made statues to be placed in certain areas as a warning. Some were to keep people out, and others were to warn people of dangers. The uses of the statues were many, and we still don't know all of them to date. There are still some roman artifacts, and statues that we still don't know what they were for, or what their function was.

The construction techniques in ancient Rome were far more advanced than those of their counterparts at the time. They built great monuments and buildings, and their city improvements still boggle the minds of our city planners today. A few of their aqueducts are still intact and functioning as they did several centuries ago. The coliseum wasn't so fortunate, but looters and several conflicts are the reason that it fell into such bad condition.

Construction materials at the time were varied, but Rome had one thing that many others did not. It had an early form of concrete that was used to build its buildings and statues. This early form of concrete was studied thoroughly and found to be far stronger than what we use today. This is how the ancient Roman buildings and statues have survived as long as they have.

In fact it was theorized that given 300 years all of our concrete buildings would be severely decayed, and almost destroyed. However due to the quality of the roman concrete they're buildings would only decay slightly more than they have now, and would still be standing. Roman construction techniques were truly a marvel, and almost as awesome as some of the figures they were used to display. Ancient Roman deities are among some of the most beautiful and intricate statues that we have found to date.

The Romans made statues of all of their major gods ranging from Apollo the Sun god, to Mars the god of war. Several of the gods and goddesses that the ancient Romans worshipped were the same gods the ancient Greeks worshipped with different names. The Roman god Jupiter was Zeus, and Dianna was known as Artemis. Craftsman and artists all over the empire were often contracted to make statues of these, and the other deities.