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Timelines (11)

• • Central Europe (including Germany), 500–1000 A.D.
• • France, 500–1000 A.D.
• • Great Britain and Ireland, 500–1000 A.D.
• • Iberian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • Iberian Peninsula, 1–500 A.D.
• • Italian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • Italian Peninsula, 1–500 A.D.
• • Italian Peninsula, 500–1000 A.D.
• • The Eastern Mediterranean, 1–500 A.D.
• • Western and Central Europe, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • Western and Central Europe, 1–500 A.D.

Thematic Essays (15)

• • Barbarians and Romans
• • The Byzantine State under Justinian I (Justinian the Great)
• • Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
• • Greek Gods and Religious Practices
• • List of Rulers: Byzantium
• • List of Rulers: Europe
• • List of Rulers: Roman Empire
• • Roman Egypt
• • The Roman Empire (27 B.C.–393 A.D.)
• • Roman Glass
• • Roman Inscriptions
• • Roman Portrait Sculpture: Republican through Constantinian
• • Romanesque Art
• • The Severan Dynasty (193–235)
• • The Year One

Maps (2)

• • World Map, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• • World Map, 1–500 A.D.

Index Terms (18)

Art Movement/Style

• • Byzantine art
• • Byzantine art, Europe

Geography/Place

• • Europe, Central Europe (including Germany)
• • Europe, France
• • Europe, Great Britain and Ireland
• • Europe, Low Countries
• • Rome (Ancient)

Material and Technique

• • Enamel
• • Glass
• • Glass, Europe
• • Metalwork, Bronze
• • Metalwork, Bronze, Europe
• • Metalwork, Silver
• • Metalwork, Silver, Europe

Object

• • Personal Ornament
• • Personal Ornament, Brooch

Subject Matter/Theme

• • Trade and Travel (1–500 A.D.)
• • Warfare

The Roman empire's cultural, economic, and population centers were the great cities of the east. With the exception of Rome, the west was largely rural and agricultural. The wealthy elites of the western provinces of Gaul (now France, Switzerland, and Belgium) and Britain, many of whom owned estates worked by slaves and free Celtic peasants, patronized the workshops of local artists. They not only had a taste for luxury goods drawn from the Roman tradition, like silver (47.100.33) and glass, but appreciated the enamelwork that had long been the specialty of Celtic craftsmen.

Citation for this page

Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters. "Provinces of the Late Roman Empire (1–500)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gaul/hd_gaul.htm (October 2000)

Suggested Further Readings Find these publications in a library

Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
Strong, Donald, and David Brown, eds. Roman Crafts. New York: New York University Press, 1976.

Related exhibitions and online features
    Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)

    The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West

Related information by department

The Cloisters: Features and Exhibitions; Collection Database