Table Of ContentJakob Munk Højte
Roman Imperial
Statue Bases
Augustus Commodus
from to
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JA KOB M U N K HØ J T E
ROMAN IMPER IAL
STATUE BASES
FROM AUGUSTUS
TO COMMODUS
Acta Jutlandica LXXX:2
Humanities Series 78
a AARHUS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Roman Imperial Statue Bases
© Jakob Munk Højte and Aarhus University Press 2005
Cover: Lotte Bruun Rasmussen
Photo: Jakob Munk Højte, Caserna dei Vigili, Ostia,
Statue bases on a podium in the sacellum.
Typeset with Trajan (cover) and Mignon (body)
ISBN 87 7934 906 4
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Preface
This book is an altered and revised version of my PhD dissertation defended at
the University of Aarhus in May 2001. Due to other obligations and a certain
fatigue and nausea at the thought of taking another swing at the large corpora
(they do tend to have a rather musty odour), the manuscript was put in the
drawer. Earlier this year it would remain hidden no longer. Over the sum-
mer and during a stay in Rome in the autumn, the tedious task of checking
the entries in the catalogue and editing the text was carried out. Two major
changes have been made. First of all, the three separate papers that formed
part of the dissertation: The Epigraphic Evidence Concerning Portrait Statues
of Hadrian’s Heir L. Aelius Caesar, Imperial Visits as Occasion for the Erection
of Portrait Statues?, and The Statue Bases of Claudius. A Reassessment of Th e
Portraiture of Claudius by M. Stuart have been published elsewhere, and
are therefore not included here (see bibliography). This meant that a good
number of cross-references had to be sorted out and text supplied where nec-
essary. Secondly, the catalogue of statue bases has been revised and updated.
A number of inscriptions included in the dissertation, as pointed out by the
assessment committee, demonstrably did not belong to statue bases, and have
consequently been excluded. In addition, a number of inscriptions that seemed
too uncertain to include have also been removed. On the other hand, more
material has been published in the intervening period. The catalogue has been
updated to include the bases mentioned in Supplementum Epigraphicum Grae-
cum 2000 and L’Année épigraphique 2001. In the dissertation only a minimum
of information about the individual bases went on paper, while the bulk was
stored on a CD-ROM. Here I have chosen to include more information in
the printed text, which has resulted in a rather voluminous catalogue. It is
Preface · 5
my hope that the expanded format will improve its usefulness and encourage
others to make use of the collected data, which I believe holds potential far
beyond what has been covered in this book.
Since my interest in Roman imperial statue bases was first aroused by reading
Meriwether Stuart’s dissertation from 1938 on the portraiture of Claudius,
which includes the first attempt at systematically compiling and analysing the
epigraphical evidence from statue bases, many friends and colleagues have
commented and made valuable suggestions that have greatly improved the
outcome. Some require particular mention: Ittai Gradel for inspiration and
rewarding discussions. His encouragement is one of the primary reasons why
the study has been brought to completion. Niels Hannestad and Lise Hanne-
stad, my supervisor, for valuable help and advice both during and aft er my
time as a PhD student. Niels’ interest in Roman sculpture and imperial por-
traiture in particular initially got me started on this project. Robert Fleischer,
my external supervisor, for making my much too short stay in Mainz pleasant
and rewarding. More importantly for his comments on the part of my original
project, which will unfortunately have to stay in the drawer for some time
yet, namely an unfinished study of the statue bases for the Hellenistic kings.
The external members of the assessment committee Geza Alföldy and Jane
Fejfer, who gave precise criticism and good directions for both possible and
required improvements far beyond the call of duty. I have tried as best I could
to follow their recommendations. Finally and most dearly I want to thank my
family, who have tirelessly accompanied me on countless journeys in (oft en
futile) search of statue bases.
The book was made possible by generous financial support from the Uni-
versity of Aarhus, the University of Aarhus Research Foundation, Elizabeth
Munksgaard Fonden, Landsdommer V. Gieses Legat, and the Danish Research
Council for Humanities.
Århus, December 2004
Jakob Munk Højte
6 · roman imperial statue bases
Contents
Preface ............................................................ 5
List of Figures and Tables .............................. 11
Introduction................................................... 13
Types of Monuments ........................................ 19
Identification of statue bases........................................ 19
The 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
The 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
Contents · 7
The Applicability of the Evidence
of the Statue Bases to the Extant Portraits . 81
The Geographical Distribution
of Imperial Portrait Statues .......................... 85
The geographical distribution of extant imperial portraits.......... 86
The geographical distribution of statue bases....................... 88
The 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 andvicennalia) ................................ 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 differences and developments............................. 185
Conclusion ...................................................... 189
Bibliography ................................................... 195
8 · roman imperial statue bases
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
Contents · 9
Description: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
