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Imperial Image-Making: Zissos/A Companion to the Flavian Age of Imperial Rome
Abstract
The Flavian dynasty faced formidable challenges at its inception, stemming in no small part from its relative ignobilitas. This chapter explores a number of important themes of Flavian image-making: victory and triumph; peace, restoration and renewal; dynasty; and public benefaction, framed as a reversal of Neronian self-indulgence. The most fully preserved and understood imagery of Flavian victory in the Judean war is found on the relief decoration on the Arch of Titus, dedicated in 81. The chapter also considers the three Flavian emperors as individuals, briefly examining some of the distinctive ways that each fashioned his own public persona within these broader thematic tendencies. From the outset Vespasian was presented as an outstanding general who was not aiming for power but was chosen by fate and by Rome's soldiers. Vespasian's portraiture, which marks a clear rejection of Julio-Claudian classicism, participates in the generation of this public persona.
... 3 SeeLeithoff (2014) 134-147 on Nero as a negative exemplum under the Flavians. Cf.Penwill (2003) 358-359;Gallia (2016);Tuck (2016).Nauta (2010), focusing on Domitian and Nero, points out that at least Domitianic literature was unmistakably negative about Nero, and that other media show no clear intention of recalling Nero. However, Nero's portrait was reused throughout the Flavian period; seeWood (2016) 132-133; cf. ...
... 3 SeeLeithoff (2014) 134-147 on Nero as a negative exemplum under the Flavians. Cf.Penwill (2003) 358-359;Gallia (2016);Tuck (2016).Nauta (2010), focusing on Domitian and Nero, points out that at least Domitianic literature was unmistakably negative about Nero, and that other media show no clear intention of recalling Nero. However, Nero's portrait was reused throughout the Flavian period; seeWood (2016) 132-133; cf. ...
... On Flavian soberness in relation to Neronian luxuria, see also Kragelund (2000), who discusses Neronian luxuria in Tacitus, as well as Moormann's contribution to this volume. 11 Tuck (2016). 12 See Kramer and Reitz (2010) and Bönisch-Meyer et al. (2014) as well as Cordes (2017), who discusses the literary and visual strategies used in the 'recoding' of imperial representations of Nero and Domitian. ...
Pax y concordia fueron dos conceptos, virtudes y deidades que representaron distintas facetas de la paz en la política y mentalidad romana. Su valor, significado y representación visual evolucionaron según las circunstancias, necesidades e intereses en el periodo republicano y el Alto Imperio. Ambas se representaron con forma y cuerpo de mujer, y compartieron símbolos, pero adquirieron matices diferentes en su significado, ámbitos de proyección, así como en los posibles agentes para su logro. Desde una perspectiva de género este trabajo pone el foco en la relación desigual de ambos conceptos con mujeres y hombres, y en cómo las distintas funciones y roles de género determinaron que la concordia formase parte de las posibilidades de agencia de las mujeres, mientras que el logro de la pax se proyectó como potestad de los varones. En este artículo se analizan fuentes escritas, epigráficas, iconográficas y numismáticas para ofrecer una visión en conjunto de cómo las mujeres se proyectaron en el espacio público y político desde el papel de género que era esperable de ellas, con unas funciones muy vinculadas al mantenimiento de la concordia.
Tokens are underutilised artefacts from the ancient world, but as everyday objects they were key in mediating human interactions. This book provides an accessible introduction to tokens from Roman Italy. It explores their role in the creation of imperial imagery, as well as what they can reveal about the numerous identities that existed in different communities within Rome and Ostia. It is clear that tokens carried imagery that was connected to the emotions and experiences of different festivals, and that they were designed to act upon their users to provoke particular reactions. Tokens bear many similarities to ancient Roman currency, but also possess important differences. The tokens of Roman Italy were objects used by a wide variety of groups for particular events or moments in time; their designs reveal experiences and individuals otherwise lost to history. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
The Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum has long been held as the definitive illustration of Rome’s conquest of Judaea and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The relief decoration of the plundering of the Temple, Titus’s triumphal journey into Rome and his eventual apotheosis have become synonymous with our knowledge of events and the devastation wrought upon the city. However, the inscription from the lost Arch of Titus in the Circus Maximus arguably contributes more to our understanding of how the Flavian dynasty themselves perceived their victory, and how they used it to advertise their military might and establish their rule as the rightful heirs to the Augustan legacy of conquest and dominion. This article considers the lost Arch of Titus and its inscription, and its role in the establishment of the Flavian legacy in Rome. It argues that the text must be read in conjunction with the other triumphal monuments of Vespasian and Titus – the Colosseum, Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum and the Temple of Peace – whose reality, visibility and prominence collectively gave strength to the claim that the lost Arch commemorated: the exceptional nature of the Roman victory in Jerusalem.
Moving beyond the methodological issues of a literary-based reassessment of the reign of the last Flavian emperor, this article re-reads the principate of Domitian in light of fresh epigraphic and numismatic evidence that has only been discovered or fully understood in recent years. This exploration documents the progressive ingraining into second-century literature of an unfavorable vulgate on Domitian's architectural, moral, and religious policies, the positive impact of which is, however, documented by material sources. In addition to contributing to the ongoing revaluation of Domitian, this article displays the benefits of a cross-fertilizing and interdiscursive reading of literary and material sources.
For over fifteen years before the production of Tacitus's Germania, the title Germanicus had been prominent in Rome, claimed not only by Domitian but also by both Nerva and Trajan. Tacitus famously refutes military success in his account. As this article shows, however, its memory is consistently invoked in its basic structure. Especially through allusions to Caesar, Tacitus introduces a model of historiographical narrative concerning Roman conquest, only to reject it. The result is a tension between the ongoing public presence of Rome's immediate past and its official erasure, forming a commentary on the very process of imperial memory sanction.
The paper deals with civic coinages in the Southern Levant during and after the first Jewish revolt. It traces the increase of mint output and looks at the coin iconography. The impact of the Judaea Capta coins on the local coinages has long been recognized, but this paper discusses less explicit reflections of the revolt. Some of the coinages evoke Roman victory. These images, which have never been systematically studied, underline the regional impact of the conflict. Furthermore, regional variations appear; e.g., the cities on the coast responded differently to the events than cities in Galilee or in the Decapolis.
Elite Romans periodically chose to limit or destroy the memory of a leading citizen who was deemed an unworthy member of the community. Sanctions against memory could lead to the removal or mutilation of portraits and public inscriptions. The author of this book provides the first chronological overview of the development of this Roman practice—an instruction to forget—from archaic times into the second century a.d. She explores Roman memory sanctions against the background of Greek and Hellenistic cultural influence and in the context of the wider Mediterranean world. Combining literary texts, inscriptions, coins, and material evidence, this richly illustrated study contributes to a deeper understanding of Roman political culture.
The Roman emperor served a number of functions within the Roman state. The emperor's public image reflected this diversity. Triumphal processions and imposing state monuments such as Trajan's Column or the Arch of Septimius Severus celebrated the military exploits and martial glory of the emperor. Distributions of grain and coin, public buildings, and spectacle entertainments in the city of Rome all advertised the emperor's patronage of the urban plebs, while imperial rescripts posted in every corner of the Empire stood as so many witnesses to the emperor's conscientious administration of law and justice. Imperial mediation between man and god was commemorated by a proliferation of sacrificial images that emphasized the emperor's central role in the act of sacrifice. Portrait groups of the imperial family were blunt assertions of dynasty and figured the emperor as the primary guarantor of Roma aeterna. Public sacrifices to deified emperors and the imagery of imperial apotheosis surrounded the emperor with an aura of divinity. An extraordinary array of rituals, images, and texts, then, gave visual and symbolic expression to the emperor's numerous functions and publicized the manifold benefits of imperial rule.
Elite Romans periodically chose to limit or destroy the memory of a leading citizen who was deemed an unworthy member of the community. Sanctions against memory could lead to the removal or mutilation of portraits and public inscriptions. Harriet Flower provides the first chronological overview of the development of this Roman practice--an instruction to forget--from archaic times into the second century A.D. Flower explores Roman memory sanctions against the background of Greek and Hellenistic cultural influence and in the context of the wider Mediterranean world. Combining literary texts, inscriptions, coins, and material evidence, this richly illustrated study contributes to a deeper understanding of Roman political culture. © 2006 The University of North Carolina Press. All rights reserved.
This chapter explores in detail the role of the Flavian victory in Judaea in the physical transformation of the city of Rome. The triumph of Vespasian and Titus ex Iudaeis in June 71 CE was an event made more memorable by Josephus' lavish description of it. The defeat of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple were enshrined in the very fabric of the urban centre and hence in Roman public memory, reminding the inhabitants of the city of the decisive role played by Vespasian and Titus in that victory. The triumphal arches to Titus (erected in 81 and after his death), the Flavian Amphitheatre (inaugurated in 80), and the Temple of Peace (dedicated in 75) were all related to the Flavian victory in Judaea and helped give the dynasty a lasting legitimacy.
We call a monument Ara Pacis without any support from ancient tradition. It was Friedrich von Duhn who first so called it in 1879 and he justified it in the briefest fashion. He considered three sacrificial slabs and three processional slabs. He did not produce any analysis but based his case on the fact that some of those reliefs were discovered in the grounds of the Palazzo Fiano, that is on the Campus Martius, and that the Ara Pacis was built on the Campus Martius. That was all. Nevertheless, his conjecture was enthusiastically received: it was the golden age of classical archaeology, when numberless monuments were assigned to great Greek artists and great historical events and thus the foundations were laid for a more critical and sceptical study of Greek art. This scepticism destroyed many identifications but it never reached the Ara Pacis, and that I believe for special reasons. There was great excitement in the years after 1873 when Carl Humann discovered the great altar of Pergamum ; excavations began in 1878 with sensational results. Friedrich von Duhn made his ‘discovery’ in the following year and it concerned another great altar, but this time in Rome. He was clearly spellbound and so were his contemporaries. They did not ask for proof. In that atmosphere such credulity was natural. Yet however much the altar has been studied during the last eighty years the question has never been asked why it should be the Ara Pacis. My answer is that it is not. My first task, however, is to reconsider the evidence about Pax and I shall do this as if our altar did not exist. I shall return to it in the second part of my paper and end with the interpretation of a specimen relief, the sacrifice of Aeneas which seems to me the most revealing of the reliefs.
The gardens in the first-century c.e. Flavian Templum Pacis are best understood as formal colonial botanical gardens populated with exotic flora of the type catalogued by Pliny in his Natural History. These gardens, along with the spice market (Horrea Piperataria) located next to the Templum Pacis on the Sacred Way in the center of Rome, were monumental statements of imperial power over the world as the Romans knew it. Both the transplantation to and the sacred offering within the Templum Pacis of botanicals that Romans acquired through conquest in the east and long-distance trade with India were ways to assert ideological and economic power within the Indo-Mediterranean network of exchange.
Domitian, dominus et deus? Herrschafts- und Machtstrukturen im römischen Reich zur Zeit des letzten Flaviers
- Jens Gering
Images of Empire: Flavian Fragments in Rome and Ann Arbor Rejoined
- Anne E Haeckl
Flavian Rome: Culture, Image, Text
- Jane M. Cody
Dialogando con il passato: permanenze e innovazioni nella cultura latina di età flavia
- Stefano Maggi
Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome
- Fergus Millar
Le principat d'Auguste. Réalités et représentations du pouvoir autour de la Res publica restituta
- Emmanuelle Rosso
Le thème du triomphe dans le poésie et l'art sous les Flaviens
- Taisne
War and Society in the Roman World
- Greg Woolf
Il Sacello degli Augustali a Miseno
- Alfonso de Franciscis
The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476): Economic, Social, Political, Religious and Cultural Aspects
- Olivier J. Hekster
Roman Imperial Coinage
- I. A. Carradice
- T. V. Buttrey
Divus Vespasianus: il bimillenario dei Flavi
- Tonio Hölscher
Die historischen Reliefs der römischen Kaiserzeit II: Stadtrömische Denkmäler unbekannter Bauzugehörigkeit aus flavischer Zeit
- Koeppel Gerhard
Koine: Mediterranean Studies in Honor of R. Ross Holloway
- Jodi Magness
- Cody
- Flower
- Levick
Magness (2009) provides a survey of Flavian victory monuments at Rome and their meanings. D'Ambra (1993) contextualizes the frieze of theForum Transitoriumwithin Domitian's program of cultural renewal in
- Darwall-Smith