Roman imperial statue bases : from Augustus to Commodus

by: Hojte, J.M.

Price: 36,00 EURO

1 copy in stock

About the book
The study of Roman imperial statues has made remarkable strides in the last two decades. Yet the field's understandable focus on extant portraits has made it difficult to generalize accurately. Most notably, bronze was usually the material of choice, but its high scrap value meant that such statues were inevitably melted down, so that almost all surviving statues are of stone.

By examining the much larger and more representative body of statue bases, Jakob Munk Højte is here able to situate the statues themselves in context. This volume includes a catalogue of 2,300 known statue bases from nearly 800 sites throughout the Roman Empire. Moreover, since it covers a period of 250 years, it allows for the first time consistent geographic, chronological and commemorative patterns to emerge.

Højte finds among other things that imperial portrait statues are connected chiefly with urban centres; that they were raised continuously during a given reign, with a higher concentration a couple years after accession; that a primary purpose was often to advertise a donor's merits; and that they increased sixfold in frequency from Augustus to Hadrian, an increase attributable to community dedications.

Contents
Preface ............................................................ 5
List of Figures and Tables .............................. 11
Introduction ................................................... 13
Types of Monuments ........................................ 19
Identifi cation of statue bases ........................................ 19
Th e language of the inscriptions .................................... 25
Types of statue base ................................................. 27
Literary testimony for imperial statue bases and inscriptions ....... 40
Statue types and materials used for imperial statues ................ 43
Th e cost of imperial statues ......................................... 52
Damnatio memoriae and the reuse of statue bases .................. 56
Dating the Inscriptions
from Imperial Statue Bases ............................. 65
Imperial nomenclature and honorifi c titles ......................... 65
Other dating criteria ................................................ 70
Dating by negative evidence ........................................ 72
Reliability of the dating criteria ..................................... 74
Dating accuracy .................................................... 77
Dates chosen for dedicating imperial statues ....................... 78
The Applicability of the Evidence
of the Statue Bases to the Extant Portraits . 81
The Geographical Distribution
of Imperial Portrait Statues .......................... 85
Th e geographical distribution of extant imperial portraits .......... 86
Th e geographical distribution of statue bases ....................... 88
Th e number of sites and the number of bases per site ............... 103
Context ............................................................. 109
Statues Dedicated Before and After a Reign . 125
Pre-accessional dedications ......................................... 125
Posthumous dedications ............................................ 132
Occasions for Erecting Imperial Statues ....... 143
Accession ........................................................... 144
Jubilees (decennalia and vicennalia) ................................ 157
Imperial visits ...................................................... 159
Patterns of chronological distribution during a reign ............... 165
Dedicators of Roman Imperial Statues ........... 167
Statues dedicated by communities or their executive bodies ........ 168
Private dedicators ................................................... 171
Public or private? ................................................... 179
Corporations as dedicators ......................................... 181
Military units as dedicators ......................................... 182
Statue bases without dedicators ..................................... 184
Regional diff erences and developments ............................. 185
Conclusion ...................................................... 189
Bibliography ................................................... 195
Catalogue ................................................... 215
Introduction to the Catalogue ..................... 217
What is included? .................................................. 217
Sorting system ...................................................... 218
Geography .......................................................... 218
Chronology ......................................................... 222
Distribution maps .................................................. 222
Histograms ......................................................... 222
Abbreviations and Bibliography
for Catalogue ................................................. 225
Catalogue of Statue Bases
Arranged According to Emperor ........................ 229
Augustus 229 · Tiberius 263 · Caligula 288 · Claudius 294 ·
Nero 319 · Galba 319 · Otho 330 · Vitellius 330 · Vespasian 330 ·
Titus 344 · Domitian 354 · Nerva 365 · Trajan 373 · Hadrian 404 ·
Antoninus Pius 466 · Lucius Verus 509 · Marcus Aurelius 531 · Marcus
Aurelius or Lucius Verus 569 · Avidius Cassius 571 · Commodus 571
Statistical Analysis, Emperors (Tables SE -) . 591
Augustus 591 · Tiberius 592 · Caligula 593 · Claudius 594 · Nero 595 ·
Galba · Otho · and Vitellius 596 · Vespasian 597 · Titus 508 ·
Domitian 509 · Nerva 600 · Trajan 601 · Hadrian 602 · Antoninus
Pius 603 · Lucius Verus 604 · Marcus Aurelius 605 · Commodus 606
Statistical Analysis, Geographical
(Tables SG -) ............................................... 607
Italy 607 · Northern provinces 609 · Gaul 611 · Spain 613 · Western
North Africa 615 · Greece 617 · Asia Minor 619 · Eastern provinces 621
Statistical Analysis, Comparative
(Tables SC -) ............................................... 623
Chronological Distribution (histograms)
(Figs. C -) .................................................... 633
Augustus 633 · Tiberius 633 · Caligula 634 · Claudius 634 ·
Nero 635 · Vespasian 635 · Titus 636 · Domitian 636 ·
Nerva 637 · Trajan 638 · Hadrian 638 · Antoninus Pius 639 ·
Lucius Verus 639 · Marcus Aurelius 640 · Commodus 641 ·
All emperors 642 · East-West comparison 642
Geographical Distribution (distribution maps)
(Figs. G -) ................................................... 643
Augustus 653 · Tiberius 644 · Caligula 645 · Claudius 46 ·
Nero 647 · Vespasian 648 · Titus 649 · Domitian 650 · Nerva 651 ·
Trajan 652 · Hadrian 653 · Antoninus Pius 654 · Lucius Verus 655 ·
Marcus Aurelius 656 · Commodus 657 · All emperors 658

Roman imperial statue bases : from Augustus to Commodus

by: Hojte, J.M.

• ISBN-13: 9788779341463 / 978-87-7934-146-3
• ISBN-03: 8779341462 / 87-7934-146-2
• Aarhus University Press, Aarhus, 2005

Price: 36,00 EURO

1 copy in stock