page_title: Roman Republican art
section_title: Spoils of war
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Republican art / Spoils of war
caption_attribution_description: English: Discobolus in National Roman Museum Palazzo Massimo alle Terme Français&#160;: Copie romaine de l'époque impériale d'après un original grec du premier classicisme.
context_page_description: Roman Republican art is the artistic production that took place in Roman territory during the period of the Republic, conventionally from 509 BC to 27 BC.
  The military, political and economic development of the Roman Republic did not coincide with the development of an autonomous artistic civilization. In the Republican period at least three artistic moments can be distinguished: the first as a continuation of archaic culture, where production in the city did not manifest any stylistic characteristic of its own; a second linked to the conquest of Greece and the arrival of huge spoils of works of art; and a third phase starting during the reign of Sulla, when specifically Roman artworks began to appear.
context_section_description: In 280 BC, the army of Pyrrhus of Epirus clashed with the Romans in Italy, the first large direct contact between Romans and Greek people. After the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, Rome cemented itself as a powerful force on the Mediterranean. This was followed in 272 BC by the capture of Taranto,  the capture of Reggio in 270 BC, and the league with Syracuse during the first Punic war (264 - 241 BC). The admission of the Romans to the Isthmian Games in 228 BC was equivalent to the entry of Rome into Greek civilization.
  The capture of Syracuse in 212 BC was decisive, following which Marcus Claudius Marcellus brought back a huge number of Greek works of art to Rome. This marked a turning point in Roman culture and artistic practice. Even then there were those who reproached Marcellus "for having filled with idleness and chatter and for having led to urban discussion of art and artists [...] those people accustomed to fighting and cultivating the fields, avoiding any softness and frivolity.".
  After Syracuse, the opportunities to import Greek art were continuous and frequent. This includes the victory against Philip V of Macedonia (194 BC), the war against Antiochus III,  the capture of Magnesia ad Sipylum in Asia Minor (198 BC), the victory over Perseus of Macedon, and the capture of Corinth (146 BC). This also marked the arrival of architects in Rome such as Hermodorus of Salamis and sculptors such as Polycles. While the admiration for Greek works was vast, the understanding of the artistic and historical value of these works remained a rare prerogative of the city's elite.
  In less than a century, Rome was home to a large group of wealthy art collectors. They themselves, as Cicero testifies in the Verrine, had a certain modesty in publicly confessing their appreciation for art, knowing that society viewed it negatively. Many frowned upon the implied superiority of Greek culture. The controversy on the subject focused on contrasting positions of the Scipionic Circle, open to Hellenic cultural suggestions, and the conservatism of Cato and his followers.
  After the victory against Antiochus III, the quantity of Greek works in Rome was so large that Livy wrote: "[was] the end of the wooden and terracotta simulacra in the temples of Rome, replaced by imported works of art." 
  The first white marble buildings in Rome were two small constructions, a somewhat "shy" debut: the temple of Jupiter Stator and the temple of Juno Regina, enclosed by an arcade, one of which was the work of Hermodorus of Salamis, whose statues of divinities were sculpted by artisans from Delos. In 136 BC, Hermodorus built a temple in Campo Marzio, which contained two colossal statues of Mars and Aphrodite. Among the best preserved remains of that era is the Temple of Hercules Victor.
caption: Roman copy of the Greek Discobolus of Myron
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