Severus Pius Augustus. Studien zur sakralen Repräsentation und Rezeption der Herrschaft des Septimius Severus und seiner Familie (193-211 n. Chr.)
... 177. Lichtenberger (2011), pp.27-99. 178. ...
To study how the Roman emperors engaged with the imagery and symbolism of Hercules in matters of war requires engaging with the palimpsest of meanings associated with this god and his corresponding cultural manifestations over the long term. Throughout the first millennium BCE, Hercules emerged amongst the varied cultural groups around the Mediterranean as a multifaceted deity representative of many themes pertinent to empire. As a mortal who obtained immortality and who wandered to the limits of the known world siring royal houses and conquering monstrous forces, he epitomized the ideals of imperium and virtus, and it is little wonder why dynasts from the Roman worlds adopted Herculean symbolism in their self-representations. Yet he was also an equivocal figure, who migrated between venerable warrior ancestor, maddened brute, and exotic effete, making him an important counterpoint for ancient authors on the more ambivalent aspects of empire and conquest.
Celem badań jest próba rekonstrukcji autoprezentacji Julii Mamei i roli jaką w jej kreowaniu odegrały emisje monet zawierające przedstawienia VENVS VICTRIX. Przeanalizowano również znaczenie jakie w autoprezentacji Julii Mamei odegrała kampania perska Sewera Aleksandra. Utrzymanie się u władzy Sewera Aleksandra w dużym stopniu było uzależnione od poparcia armii, co znalazło swoje odbicie w mennictwie. Jednym z elementów autoprezentacji Julii Mamei było Imitatio Alexandri jej syna.
The Tetrapylon of Lepcis Magna is possibly one of the most important monuments built under the rule of Septimius Severus. Located in his homeland and in an emblematic place, at the intersection of the city's two most important streets-the cardo maximus and decumanus maximus-it is a vital example of how images were at the service of those in power. Its unique shape, in addition to being an arch lacking epigraphic texts, makes it testimony not only to be studied from a topographical or ideological point of view, but also from an artistic one. On the reliefs the imperial family is widely represented participating in triumphal processions or sacrifices in which the heirs, Caracalla and Geta, together with Septimius Severus himself, play a leading role as guarantors of imperial prosperity and stability. In our specific case study, we will focus on trying to explain the messages that emerge from the presence of the domus divina together with various divinities. To this end, we will not only offer a description of the main iconographic motifs, setting out the theories developed by the main studies, but we will also focus on the political messages derived from the images. We conclude that, although responding to testimony promoted by the city's elites for their most illustrious citizen, it is possible that the princeps was directly involved in its promotion.
If we have to delve deep in the literary sources for details about Severina, numismatic ones, on the other hand, enable us to draw a completely different picture of the empress and one that is decidedly much more precise: indeed, the discovery in the famous Venèra hoard (south of Verona, Italy) of a large number of numerals issued exclusively in the name of Augusta (i.e., empress) has led some scholars to advance the concrete hypothesis of a government held by Severina alone in the period between the death of Aurelian and the rise of Marcus Claudius Tacitus (AD 275). Among the coins from the Venèra hoard, those under the sole name of Severina number as many as 524 between Aureliani and denarii (there are no aurei), and the mints of Ticinum (258 specimens), Rome (198), Siscia (49), Cyzicus (9), Lugdunum (5), and Serdica (4) are represented. The nominals depict the portrait of Ulpia Severina with the legend in Latin and Greek AVG(USTA)/CΕΒ(ΑΣΤΗ). In the year AD 275, at the earliest in the middle of September, Aurelian was assassinated and the empress Severina was to provide the “cover” for an interregnum of about two months until the time when Tacitus took on the insignia of power.
This article examines the important roles played by gods in the friezes of the Columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius and argues that they are treated in a distinctive ‘documentary’ style, comparable in certain ways to accounts of divine action in Roman historiography and designed to produce a compelling narrative effect. First, the Columns and the deities they depict are discussed. The article then looks at cognate descriptions of gods in historiographical texts. Finally, other contemporary monuments that portray the gods are briefly examined to bring out further the distinctive character of the gods on the Columns. This analysis will be seen to have wider implications for our understanding of ‘historical narrative reliefs’ and imperial representation.
The aim of this paper is to propose a reinterpretation of the meaning of the lost colossus of Constantine the Great from the Forum of his name in Constantinople, in the light of the iconography of the emperor on the cameo from the cathedral in the Pomeranian town of Cammin. Although the gem was lost during the last war, it is known to us thanks to archival photographs and the plaster cast housed at Göttingen University. On this basis, Gerda Bruns associated the jewel with the statue of Constantine on the porphyry column in the New Rome, and her identification has since been widely accepted by the scholarly milieu. In recent years one has been able to observe growing popularity of this interpretation among researchers, who however refrain in their studies from pointing to the consequences of such a reconstruction of the statue’s form.
The author of this paper points out that Constantine purposefully chose the iconographical type of Alexander-ktistes as a model for his own representation in order to allude to his great predecessor and the founder of a number of cities which bore his name. The iconography of the statue became then a part of the programme of the celebrations arranged on the occasion of the dedication of Constantinople, in which numerous references to Alexander played the key role. This new understanding of the colossus, placing its significance within the frames of political propaganda, better matches the actual historical circumstances and the ruler’s attitude towards Christendom than traditional interpretations which recognised the statue as Helios or Apollo, and thus introduced an incoherence — difficult to explain — in Constantine’s attitude towards the new religion. This cumbersome question, which baffled the inquisitive minds already in the Constantinople of the Byzantine era, will be considered unsubstantial if we correctly interpret the monument on the Forum solely in the political and propagandistic context.
A tanulmány célja a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum által 1907-ben megvásárolt Septimius Severus vörösréz medalion közlése. A Dunaújvárosban (Fejér m., H, korábban: Dunapentele, római kori Intercisa) előkerült ritka érem említés szintjén szerepelt az irodalomban, azonban részletes közlésére eddig nem került sor. A szórvány-lelet pontos lelőhelyének és lelőkörülményeinek azonosítása nehézségbe ütközik, azonban ikonográfiai háttere és kapcsolata a 20. század eleji (illegális) régiségkereskedelemmel a különleges numizmatikai emlékek sorába emeli.
Cet article propose un examen critique des principales positions soutenues par les philosophes et les historiens au sujet du contexte de production, de la nature et des objectifs des traités néopythagoriciens Sur la royauté, attribués à Diotogène, Ecphante et Sthénidas. Il présente, dans un premier temps, les grandes lignes du débat concernant la datation des traités depuis le début du XXe siècle jusqu’à aujourd’hui et, dans un second temps, les méthodes et les pistes de recherche qui ont été suivies, en cherchant à dégager leurs limites, leur portée et les perspectives à creuser.
This paper contextualises and interprets a text seldom addressed in Anglophone scholarship: De die natali (‘On the birthday’), written by Censorinus to celebrate his patron Caerellius’ birthday in 238 c.e . By exploring both gestation ( natalis ) and time measurement ( dies ), the work seeks to elucidate and isolate Caerellius’ birthday in time; it is the ultimate guide to his dies natalis . Despite a seemingly narrow focus, De die natali is best understood as part of a broad ‘spectrum’ of encyclopaedic texts, exemplifying the ‘totalising’ impetus of knowledge ordering in the Roman Empire, while simultaneously exposing the limits of such efforts. An interlocking set of tensions underlie the text, which resonate with other encyclopaedic projects — tensions between unity and plurality, centre and periphery, and the relationship between nature and culture. De die natali is both a product of, and commentary on, the conditions of human knowledge and the Empire's cultural diversity in the early third century.
84 f) Rezeption der di patrii im Privatbereich?
- . . . Der Kleinkunst
e) In der Kleinkunst.....................................................
84
f) Rezeption der di patrii im Privatbereich?...........
86
1.3. Zwischenresümee...........................................................
89
367 a) Iulia Domna als Artemis
- ..................................... . Lokale Götterangleichungen
Lokale Götterangleichungen.......................................... 367
a) Iulia Domna als Artemis.......................................... 367
b) Iulia Domna als Tyche............................................. 368
c) Iulia Domna als Ceres.............................................. 370
d) Iulia Domna als Athena........................................... 371
e) Zweifelhates............................................................... 375