Theoretical Roman room furnishings?

[FilmGirl]

Sorry if this isn't the right section. I'm a noob here, but I did read all the rules and I'm trying to get to know this forum as best I can.



So,I had this conversation with my boss:

Me: "You're saying we need info quickly on some cultural and art/artifact things for a specific period in history, and a specific place? We need to ask the people most passionate about that kind of thing."

Him: "Professors?"

Me: "Reenactors. Some of whom are professors anyway."

I work for a small film studio and I am here to get tips and read up on things Roman, as we'll be spending the next two years working on material set in and around Roman Palestine, first century AD. We're recreating some scenes from Biblical New Testament era, specifically some stuff involving Herod "the Great", the Provincial governor of Judea at the time. We need to know a few things about some possible set pieces.

We were wondering if it'd be feasible to have standing torchier/brazier things about eight feet tall or so, probably in an indoor hall/ sitting room setting belonging to Herod himself. If having those would not be totally out of the question, what might they look like?

We're also wanting to put banners in that room, but probably not official government SPQR marching banners, possibly something with Herod's own personal insignia if he had any. This room is not his grand official hall, it's more of a side parlor type space where he'd bring guests to talk face to face. My boss was thinking perhaps a stylized portrait of the man himself in profile such as was put on coins. I wasn't sure if that would make sense to do.

Any info you can give or directions, such as bibliographies or books, you could point me in would be excellent. Thank you so much for your time.

[jvrjenivs]

Well, best start would be to get a couple of the books from Peter Connolly. Especially his 'The holy land' could be of good use. Peter was one of the best artist around making marvellous paintings that are of much inspiration of most re-enactors. His ancient city and Pompeii books also show lots of room furnishing.

[Nathan Ross]

We're recreating some scenes from Biblical New Testament era, specifically some stuff involving Herod "the Great", the Provincial governor of Judea at the time.

Herod the Great actually died about 4BC - do you mean Herod Antipas? He was around at the time of Jesus, but Judea had a Roman governor (praefect) by then, who was based in Caesarea.

The Herods were pretty Romanised - Antipas grew up and was educated in Rome - and like most wealthy people they would have wanted to display their culture with a very 'Roman' style of interior decor. So you're looking for Roman furnishings, basically, and the finds from Pompeii provide plenty of 1st century examples.

We were wondering if it'd be feasible to have standing torchier/brazier things about eight feet tall or so, probably in an indoor hall/ sitting room setting belonging to Herod himself. If having those would not be totally out of the question, what might they look like?

Interior lighting was mainly by oil lamp for the wealthy, or perhaps brazier (on a low tripod, probably). Lamps were usually placed on tables, although for higher lighting there were stands, either plain like this one from Herculaneum, or elaborate multi-branched affairs like this or even this from Pompeii. I don't know how tall the tallest Roman lamp-stands might be, but eight foot is a bit too much - at that height, all you'd be illuminating is the ceiling, and leaving a big pool of shadow below! These lamps, as you'd imagine, didn't throw out a massive flame.

We're also wanting to put banners in that room, but probably not official government SPQR marching banners, possibly something with Herod's own personal insignia if he had any.

Those 'marching banners' are probably military vexilla, like the second from the right here. They were kept in the unit headquarters and regarded as sacred, so it's unlikely they would be used to decorate a room! Herod's interior decor would probably go more towards wall paintings and floor mosaics rather than hangings.

This room is not his grand official hall, it's more of a side parlor type space where he'd bring guests to talk face to face. My boss was thinking perhaps a stylized portrait of the man himself in profile such as was put on coins. I wasn't sure if that would make sense to do.

The Jewish prohibition on graven images meant that portraits almost never appear on Herodian coinage. Similarly, although they were pretty Romanised, the Herods probably wouldn't have human images around their meeting rooms, for fear of offending all their guests! This did break down in later years though - there are plenty of human figures on the mosaics from Sepphoris, and even the synogogue at Dura Europos (3rd century) has a multitude of figures.

For internal decoration generally, though, you'd be best going for a generic Roman look, perhaps with geometric or floral designs rather than human figures on the wall paintings. The two illustrations below give quite a good idea, I think - the first being a priest's house from Jerusalem, and the second a later Romanised villa.

A Priest's House in Jerusalem

Sepphoris Roman Villa

As you can see, furniture is pretty sparse (which fits what we know from Pompeii) and most of the decoration is on the walls and floor.

For a good general background on Roman Judea, with some nice illustrations, you could pick up a copy of the late Peter Connolly's The Holy Land

Hope that helps as a starter! mile: [*Edit - cross posted with Jurjenius!]

[FilmGirl]

Thank you both very much!

I think this particular Herod is the one recorded to have met with by the group of "wise men from the east" some time around the turn from BC to AD, and so may be meant to be either Herod, depending on your view of history and your guesses as to which one of them ordered the infamous "Massacre of the Innocents."

I think the filmmakers have decided that this Herod in the scenes I'm describing will be portrayed as Herod The Great, for various reasons, including the fact that the Herod in the Biblical account is said to have died a Providentially nasty death shortly after his condemnation of local infants. That'd give roughly the right time frame, give or take a few years counting getting botched one way or the other.
Thank you so much for your time and input!!

Anyway, if anyone else has some more good tips on possible furniture of the Herod family, please contribute.

[M. Demetrius]

This Herod would have been the one from whom Joseph, Mary and infant/toddler Jesus fled to Egypt, builder of the Second Temple, and the one called "the Great". Being a Hellenized and "progressively-minded" man, his dress and accoutrements could have been as much Eastern/Greek than Western/Roman, but then, there wasn't as much difference in clothing as people like to think.

We're not as sure of the dates, Nathan, for events like the "slaughter of the innocents" as we are of some other happenings in Judea, but we can conclude from the Bible account that the visit of the Magi was around 2 years after Jesus' birth. It's likely that the oft-suggested date of 7BC is the better choice than the "ZERO" year (which, of course never was). Given that, Herod's death in 4BC would fit right into the timeline.

There was a BBC/PBS special narrated by Roger Moore recently, that explained why the "Slaughter" would not have been recorded in anybody's history. Bethlehem was a small town of around a thousand at that time, and the number of 2 year old and under male children would have been likely a dozen to twenty, if the TV was correct. While devastating to the specific parents, that wouldn't raise too many ancient Roman eyebrows. Despots could execute people for cause, and often did, without any questions being asked. It would be just one more reason that the Israelites would hate Herod in a long list of reasons

And, essentially, NObody used the SPQR banner that many films insist makes things "Roman".

How is the film progressing? Any scheduled release yet?


(*a Providentially nasty death*, indeed. A prolapsed rectum is certainly a risky business, even today. And their level of surgery was not quite as advanced as ours, so that condition would have been almost certainly fatal, unless Providentially healed, which wasn't very likely under the circumstances, right?)
:dizzy: :!: