Roman Iconography

Nowe odkrycie naukowe dotyczące momentu historycznego, gdy powstała macedońska kolonia nazwana początkowo Pella, a następnie Apamea w Syrii, nad rzeką Orontes. Założycielami okazał się Antypater, regent imperium Macedońskiego, jego syn Kassander oraz Archippos. Miało to miejsce w trzy lata po śmierci Aleksandra Macedońskiego i zaraz po traktacie w Triparadeisos u źródeł Orontesu w 320 r. p.n.e. Badania opirają się na analizie nowego źródła historycznego,jakim jest nieznana mozaika, skradziona z Apamei podczas rabunkowych wykopalisk w okresie działąń wojennych, w 2011 roku.

Associée depuis 1866 au dépôt des naïskoi archaïques figurant une femme assise trouvés rue Négrel en 1863, la sculpture du musée d’Histoire de Marseille, appelée traditionnellement “stèle d’Attis” (inv. 83.7.449), n’a jamais fait l’objet d’une étude approfondie. On tente de montrer ici que la reprise de sa documentation jette le doute sur sa véritable provenance et donc sur cette association. De même, les résultats de l’analyse pétrographique, ainsi que l’étude stylistique et iconographique qui a mené à une nouvelle datation de l’objet à l’époque impériale, vont dans le sens de cette hypothèse.

Since 1866, the piece of sculpture known as the so-called “stele of Attis” (inv. 83.7.449) preserved at the Musée d’Histoire of Marseilles has been associated with the archaic naiskoi with a seated woman found in the rue Négrel in 1863. However, this has never been the subject of extensive research. In this article, we demonstrate – based on available documentation – that the provenance of the object and its association with the archaic naiskoi are uncertain. Moreover, the results of petrographic analysis, as well as the stylistic and iconographic study have led to a dating of the monument from the Imperial Period.

The article discusses the central motif of Orpheus among the animals on the Orpheus monument in Ptuj (Roman Poetovio) and its analogies with the imago that supposedly hung in a private gallery in Neapolis and was precisely described by Philostratus the Younger in his Εἰκόνες. Philostratus’ ekphrasis should (regarding the classification of the motif by Henri Stern) match the relatively rarely represented group II b and Orpheus should belong to the type of the so-called Phrygian Orpheus. According to Stern, an archetype for the whole group would be the panel painting, described by Philostratus the Younger or perhaps the more ancient one that influenced his ekphrasis. The best comparisons so far were pointed out to be the mosaics from Blanzy-lès-Fismes, from the unknown site in northern Syria, and Shahba. Interestingly, some of the animals (lion, boar, wolf, sheep, birds) and other details (branches with the sitting birds above the scene), especially mentioned in Philostratus’ description, are also present in the Orpheus stele in Poetovio. Nevertheless, his posture also corresponds completely to almost all of the representatives of group II b, as well as to the Philostratus’ ekphrasis.

The aim of this paper is to explore Ovid’s depictions of two different triumphs of Tiberius, the real triumph ex Illyrico (13 AD) and a future triumph over Germania awaited before Augustus’ death (cf. Tristia 4.2 and Ex Ponto 2.1 and 3.4), and to compare them with the Roman triumphal iconography. The constituent elements of the pompa triumphalis (oppida, flumina, nationes) in the Ovidian poems are mostly generic, but they witness both the repetitive nature of the ceremony, and the high sensitivity of the poet for its visual aspects. Therefore, the image of the erection of a trophy above the prisoners recalls the lower register of the Gemma Augustea, and the insistence on the images of the captives suggests a comparison with the contemporary iconography of them in the public monuments. However, Ovid sometimes reformulates also the usual iconographies in a pathetic sense, as in the case of the river Rhenus with broken horns. Finally, the display of an image of the battles in the forests (proelia in altis silvis), emblem of the barbarian fraus locorum, was an important novelty, because it introduces a symbolic representation of a hostile landscape that will have a great fortune in the imperial ‘historical’ reliefs (cf. the frieze of the Trajan column).

One of the largest Hellenistic cities, Apamea, whose ruins are located in modern day Syria, was founded in the autumn of 320 BC, determined Marek Titien Olszewski from the University of Warsaw. and Houmam Saad (DGMA) Until now, researchers only theorised when it had happened.

New reading and interpretation of a votive inscription kept at Tejeda de Tiétar, Cáceres (Spain) (Hep 3, 1993, 139). After direct examination, the authors (SA, MCG and MR) identify a hitherto unknown divine name Duitera, and propose a new lecture of the religious iconography. The linguistic analysis carried out by PdB identifies and archaic Celtic epithet *Dubitera meaning "the dark(er) one", that may have characterized a night goddess.

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Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication and analysis of two bronze jugs from the Sarmatian burials of the Don basin. As the analysis showed, the jugs under discussion found in the burials most likely dated to the last third of the 1st century AD (Sokolovskii Burial-mound no. 3/1970) and even to the 2nd century AD (Chuguno-Krepinka, Burial-mound no. 2/1984), are items of extraordinary high artistic level of the first half, possibly the first third of the 1st century AD. In the first case, along with the jug, a no less high-quality bronze basin with a medallion was found, probably chronologically close to the jug, which could initially belong to the same set with it. In the second case the jug clearly stands out against the background of a fairly standard set of imported bronzeware, typical to the late 1st — first half of the 2nd century AD, which is not surprising, since at the time of the burial it was an antiquarian item of about 100 years age.

The aim of this brief article is to present a new archaeological find from the year of 2010, a small scaled, unexpectedly unearthed marble relief, showing three nymphs in a niche. The relief was found near a village called Fevziye in Kulu, in the district of Konya, in Roman Galatia. From the early 2nd century A.D. reliefs and statues of nymphs, holding a shell-shaped water basin in front of them became popular in Asia Minor as well as elsewhere in the Imperium Romanum. In this paper further examples of nymph reliefs are discussed and a date for the relief niche
from Kulu is suggested.

El presente trabajo pretende estudiar el fenómeno de difusión de la imagen del toro en la moneda provincial acuñada durante el imperio de Tiberio en el valle del Ebro. Para ello, presentamos un detallado análisis acerca de los aspectos materiales e iconográficos relacionados con la imagen monetaria, intentando determinar su posible actuación dentro de un proceso de proyección emblemática en la zona.

This paper intends to approach a study about the phenomenon of diffusion of the bull ́s image in the provincial coinage fabricated during the period of government of Tiberius in the Ebro valley region. To achieve this objective we present a detailed analysis about the material and iconographic aspects of the image, attempting to determinate its operation within a process of emblematic propaganda in the area.

The article deals with Roman bronze amphoras found in the burials of Sarmatia – they originate primarily from Burial-mounds of the Lower Don area, but also from the Kuban and the Lower Volga basins. A special attention among the amphoras with egg-shaped body (Eggers 129, Raev 2, Tassinari A3220) attracts the find from the Burial-mound no. № 14/1961  near Kudinov Farmstead in the Lower Don basin (also called as Bagaev Burial-mound no. 14). The shape and decoration of the handles and especially the images on their lower attachments are analyzed in detail. In contrary to the opinion of the scholars who dealt with the attribution of the amphora, the author basing on the detailed study of the image with its attributes comes to the conclusion that not the Maenad, as considered before, but the personification of Africa (less probably that of Egypt or Alexandria) are depicted on the lower handle attachments. One can hardly treat these images as portraits of Cleopatra VII or her daughter Cleopatra Selene II, as supposed by some scholars regarding a typological similar image on the medallion of a silver phiale from Boscoreale. In any case the circles of parallels both to the shape of the vessel and to the decoration of its handles and their attachments could hardly give the ground to date the amphora later than the first half of the 1st century AD.
In general, a significant number of bronze amphoras found in the burials of the nomads of Asian Sarmatia attracts attention. Such vessels occur very rare both among the finds from the Roman legion camps of the time of the  Julio-Claudian dynasty and among the imported bronze vessels of the 1st  – early 2nd century AD, found in the central European barbaricum. Perhaps only in the territory of Thrace there was found a comparable (in relation to the total number of Roman bronze vessels) number of bronze amphoras. The occurrence of such a relatively large number of bronze amphoras to the nomads makes us to think that, obviously, they enjoyed a certain demand among the latter.

In the Late Antiquity, the so-called cross-bow type fibulae (Germ. Zwiebelknopffibeln), finger-rings, and richly embroidered ceremonial garments (tunica and chlamys) equipped with elaborately decorated belts (baltei, cinguli), in addition to luxurious silver plates (missoria) and ivory consular diptychs constitute an indispensable element of the imperial system of gift-giving, so-called largitio, for the highest-ranking state officials. On account of their importance for the owner, they were very often depicted on pieces of the Late Roman imperial art. The majority of those depictions date from the times of the emperor Diocletian and end in the times of Justinian I (from AD 284 to 565). Cross-bow type fibulae are frequently represented on the Late Antique bas-reliefs, diptychs, mosaics, and missoria. There are a few different categories of the contexts of their occurrence. First of all, they are closely connected with the presentation of the emperor in power, portrayed alone (the Arch of Galerius, Thessaloniki), or together with his state officials, while watching chariot races in the Hippodrome and receiving the tribute of envoys representing conquered Barbarians tribes (the ‘Obelisk of Theodosius I’, Istanbul). Brooches also constitute a characteristic element of the garments of the highest-ranking officials accompanying the imperial couple in sacrificial processions with gifts for Christian churches (the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna). Additionally, they are shown in depictions of already or newly appointed highest-ranking dignitaries during public governance, but also of future pretenders to the highest ranks of Imperium Romanum military and civilian administration. Moreover, they appear as the main decorative element of garments of Christian Catholic church martyrs, e.g. Saint Onesiphorus (Thessaloniki), Saint Vitalis (Ravenna) and Saint Theodorus (Rome), who primarily were Roman citizens and soldiers, and died because of professing Christianity. Cross-bow fibulae constituted a characteristic measure of distinction amid the elite of the Late Roman Empire. They functioned also as indispensable attribute of the ceremonial garment of the emperor and state officials subjected to him. In the literature, throughout all of the iconographic material, only fibulae of types 3/4, 5, 5 or 6, 6, 6 or 7 and 7, according to P.M. Pröttel’s typology, are to be found.

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Az ókori Római Birodalom egyik legfőbb ellensége a germánok voltak, akik ezért sokszor foglalkoztatták Róma vezetőit és lakóit egyaránt. Különösen a velük szomszédos határvidék hétköznapjait befolyásolták erősen a Duna túloldalán lakók. Nem csoda tehát, hogy a germán téma a művészet különböző szintjein is megjelent. A legszebb alkotások bronzban készültek, amelyek legnagyobb koncentrálódása Pannonia területén figyelhető meg. A Római Birodalom és a szomszédos népek viszonya nagyon változó volt, amelyet a történetírók beszá-molóin túl, a régészeti leletanyagon keresztül is egyre jobban ismerünk. A tárgyak viszont nemcsak a források-ban annyiszor említett háborúkra, hanem a békés együttélésre és kereskedelemre is bizonyítékok. Róma és a központi hatalom mindenkori győzedelmességi igényének terjesztése volt a legeklatánsabb módja a barbárok megjelenítésének, amelynek története meglehetősen régre nyúlik vissza (Ostrowski, 1990; Östenberg, 2009). Az idegen népek nyilvánvalóan a határ menti római lakosság hétköznapjait befolyásolták leginkább, akik a leletanyag tanúsága szerint nem egysíkúan ítélték meg a barbárokat. Az idegenekkel való viszony meghatáro-zását a római művészet egyik sajátos csoportján, a barbárok ábrázolásain lehet a legjobban tetten érni. Ezek gyakran nagyon sematikus képek, amelynek legfőbb célja a császár és a római hadsereg győzedelmességének hirdetése volt, ennek megfelelően sokszor a megjelenített ellenség sem bírt különösebb ismertetőjegyekkel. Megelégedtek a civilizált görög-római világ ellentétének toposzokra épülő leképezésével. Érdekes módon azon-ban van ezeknek egy olyan csoportja is, amelyek az idegen népek decens megjelenítései. Ezek közül jelen cikk a germánok kisplasztikában való ábrázolásaival foglalkozik, amelyek elsősorban Pannoniára koncentrálódnak. Brigetioi leletek A téma nem új keletű (Schumacher, 1935; Járdányi-Paulovics, 1945), ám aktualitását az új ásatásokon előkerült darabok adják, amelyek az ELTE Ókori Régészeti Tanszékének komárom-szőnyi tanásatásán kerül-tek elő. A régészeti kutatások az ókori Brigetio polgárvárosában zajlottak, a mai Vásártér területén. Innen az első germánt ábrázoló bronztárgy 2009-ben került elő egy római pincéből egyéb sittel, amellyel azt még az ókorban feltöltötték (Borhy és Számadó, 2010; Bartus, 2011). A 4,75 cm magas és 4,1 cm széles büszt egy szakállas férfit ábrázol, amelyet alul 5 levél ölel körbe. A fej bal oldala szinte teljes mértékben lekopott, a jobb oldali halántéknál jellegzetes germán hajfonat figyelhető meg (Juhász, 2014). A mellkason keresztbe futó vonalak ruhát mintáznak. Az elnagyoltan kidolgozott mellkép egészén erős kopásnyomok figyelhetők meg. A hátoldalon egy 0,4 × 0,4 mm nagyságú négyszögletes lyuk található, amely egy szöggel való felerősítésnek a helye, ám eredeti felhasználási helye ezáltal nem tisztázott.