A painted exemplum at Rome's temple of liberty

Journal of Roman Studies

Volumn 92, Issue , 2002, Pages 33-48

  Koortbojian, Michael ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67549117501     PISSN: 00754358     EISSN: 1753528X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0075435800032147     Document Type: Review

References (143)

1. Livy 24.14-16
2. 2 Sempronius 51 (F. Münzer)
3. T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (3 vols, 1951-86), 1.260
4. Livy 25.6.22 and 25.7.3. For the dramatic drop in the number of assidui qualified to serve in the legions during this period, see the figures adduced by M. H. Crawford, The Roman Republic (1982), 100-1
5. see A. N. Sherwin White, The Roman Citizenship (1973), 324-5, who notes, citing Livy's hint at 10.21.4, that the liberti were of more limited use as soldiers, 'probably due to their age'
6. There is some debate about the difference between a libertus and a libertinus: cf. S. Treggiari, Roman Freedmen in the Late Republic (1969), 37 n. 5 and 68
7. and see, for the terminological problem, J. Cels Saint-Hilaire, 'Les libertini, des mots et des choses', DHA 11 (1985), 331-79
8. Val. Max. 7.6.1
9. Livy 23.14.3
10. Livy 22.11.8; 23.35; 24.11.3, 14, 18.2; 25.24; 27.38; 28.36.14. Not only the troops needed replenishing. M. Aemilius, pr. 216 B.C., proposed the bestowal of citizenship on the Latins so as to increase the pool from which senators might be chosen - a measure that was flatly rejected (Livy 23.22.1ff.). The lectio Senatus of 216 B.C. (Livy 23.23.1-6) needed to fill 177 vacancies, and the newly-chosen dictator, M. Fabius Buteo, bestowed senatorial status not only on curule magistrates who had not yet been elected to the Senate, but on the plebeian aediles, the tribunes of the plebs, quaestors, as well as on many who had never held proper magisterial office before, including those 'who had spolia affixed to their houses or had received the corona civica' - that is, 'those who had distinguished themselved in war': P. Willems, Le Sénat de la république romaine: sa composition et ses attributes (2 vols, 1885), 1.289
11. also P. Devlin, 'The Atinian plebiscite, tribunes, and the Senate', CQ 28 (1978), 141-4, esp. 143
12. A long-standing tradition: see Pliny, Ep. 10.29-30, for a discussion of the problem and the death penalty as its remedy
13. further, H. Wallon, Histoire de l'esclavage dans l'Antiquité (1847; 1988), 541-5 and 919
14. Livy 22.57.11 and 59.12: slaves probably accounted for two of four legions under Gracchus' command (cf. Livy 25.6.10, servorum legionibus), since a Roman legion totalled roughly 4,000 men (Polybius 6.20, 32)
15. Val. Max. 7.6.1
16. J. D'Arms, 'Between public and private: the epulum publicum and Caesar's horti trans Tiberim', in M. Cima and E. La Rocca (eds), Horti Romani (1998), 33-43
17. 2 (1992), 659-89
18. L. Landolfi, Banchetto e società romana delle origini al I secolo a.C. (1990)
19. T. Hölscher, 'Römische Siegesdenkmäler der späten Republik', in Tania. Festschrift R. Hampe (1980), 351-71, at 352
20. = 'Monumenti di vittoria romani della tarda repubblica', in Hölscher, Monumenti, 52-74, at 53
21. P. J. Holliday, 'Ad triumphum excolendum: the political significance of Roman historical painting', The Oxford Art Journal (October, 1980), 3-8
22. F. Coarelli, 'Cultura artistica e società', in Storia di Roma (4 vols, 1990), 2.1, 159-85, esp. 171-7
23. A. Rouveret, 'Les lieux de la mémoire publique: quelques remarques sur la fonction des tableaux dans la cité', OPUS 6-8 (1987-89), 101-24
24. The Aventine temple was, technically, Temple of Iuppiter Libertas: see LTUR III s.v. (M. Andreussi)
25. on the historical character of the setting, cf. E. Gruen, Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome (1992), esp. 94
26. T. Hölscher, 'Römische Nobiles und hellenistische Herrscher', in Akten des XIII. Internationalen Kongresses für klassische Archäologie, Berlin 1988 (1990), 73-84
27. In this sense, Sempronius Gracchus acted with the authority of a consul: see Polybius 6.12 for the consular prerogative to punish troops; see also Livy 1.26-8, on the desertion of Mettius Fufetius' Alban troops and their commander's brutal punishment (cf. the discussion of A. Feldherr, Spectacle and Society in Livy's History (1998), 155-63)
28. RE, s.v. 'Pileus' (R. Kreis-von Schaewen)
29. The story is accepted by, inter alia, A. H. Bernstein, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus: Tradition and Apostasy (1978), 25
30. so too, Nicolet, World, 94f.
31. K. Latte, Römische Religionsgeschichte (1960), 256, vaguely refers to the Temple of Liberty painting as 'ein Bild der Libertas' and, while this does seems to suggest a personification of the cult-goddess, it is not altogether unthinkable that Latte intended an allegory
32. So E. Strong, Art in Ancient Rome (1928; reprint 1970), vol. 1, 58
33. implicit in Zinserling, 'Historiendarstellungen', 405
34. and also K.-W. Welwei, Unfreie im antiken Kriegsdienst, III: Rom (1988), 9-10
35. contra G. Rodenwaldt, RM 36/37 (1921-22), 81
36. Res Gestae 19.2, gives fecit
37. cf. A. Ziolkowski, The Temples of Mid-Republican Rome and their Historical and Topographical Context (1992), 85-6
38. and M. Andreussi in LTUR III, 144, who both say that Augustus 'restored' it. The temple's Aventine site is noted by Festus 108 (Lindsay)
39. Varro, Res Rust. 1.2.1 = Zinserling, 'Historiendarstellungen', no. 2
40. Varro, De Ling. Lat. 7.57 = Zinserling, 'Historiendarstellungen', no. 7
41. Pliny, HN 35.19
42. similarly, Zinserling, 'Historiendarstellungen', 405
43. cf., however, A. Giuliano, 'Rilievi con scene di banchetto a Pizzoli', StMisc 10 (1963-64), 37: 'Quale fosse l'aspetto di questa tavola non possiamo sapere'
44. P. H. von Blanckenhagen, 'Narration in Hellenistic and Roman art', AJA 61 (1957), 81
45. cf., idem in Augustan Villa, 44 and n. 88 ('There is simply no way of producing a complete pictorial record of events within their settings other than a representation in bird's eye perspective')
46. B. M. Felletti Maj, La tradizione italica nell'arte romana 1 (1977), 311-12
47. Note G. Becatti, Arte e gusto negli scrittori Latini (1951), 7-8, who suggests - surely incorrectly - that pictures of this period probably had little artistic merit
48. Cartographic form: T. Mikocki, La perspective dans l'art romain (1990), 90-3
49. E. Pfuhl, Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen (1923), vol. 3, 888
50. C. M. Dawson, Romano-Campanian Mythological Landscape Painting, Yale Classical Studies 9 (1944), 51-2
51. M. Torelli, Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs (1982), 120-2
52. Von Blanckenhagen, Augustan Villa, 44: 'Bird's eye view is not Greek. Combinations of people and settings in Hellenistic art, though not infrequent, conspicuously avoid bird's eye perspective; instead, they demonstrate various attempts at congruity in the fusion of the two elements.'
53. Contra, G. Wataghin-Cantino, 'Veduta dall'alto e scena a volo d'uccello. Schemi compositivi dall'ellenismo alia tarda antichità', RivIstNazArch 16 (1969), 30-107
54. V. Sampaolo in A. Donati (ed.), Romana pictura: la pittura romana dalle origini all'età bizantina (1998), 306
55. B. Bergmann, 'Introduction: the art of ancient spectacle', in Ancient Spectacle, 15
56. E. La Rocca, 'L'affresco con veduta di città dal colle Oppio', in E. Fentress (ed.), Romanization and the City: Creation, Transformations, and Failures, JRA Suppl. 38 (2000), 57-71
57. Another example is provided by the famous Torlonia cityscape relief from Fucino, which, although it does contain a few very minor figures, attests the same tradition: see D. Facenna in Il tesoro del lago. L'archeologia del Fucino e la collezione Torlonia (2001), 34-40 (I owe this reference to one of this journal's anonymous readers)
58. G. Wilpert, 'Le pitture dell'ipogeo di Aurelio Felicissimo presso il Viale Manzoni in Roma', MemPontAcc 1.2 (1924), 5-43, esp. 40ff. with fig. 9 and tav. 22
59. Bird's eye view of banquets: painting at the first-century Tomb of Vestorius Priscus, Pompei, with one triclinium (illustrated and discussed in F. Ghedini, 'Raffigurazioni conviviali nei monumenti funerari romani', RdA 14 (1990), 35-62, fig. 1)
60. painting in the fourth-century A.D. Hypogaeum of Vibia, Rome, with one stibadium (illustrated and discussed in K. M. D. Dunbabin, 'Triclinium and stibadium', in W. J. Slater (ed.), Dining in a Classical Context (1991), 121-48, fig. 29)
61. a fourth-century A.D. mosiac of an outdoor banquet, with one stibadium (Detroit Institute of the Arts: see C. Kondoleon, Antioch: The Lost City (2000), cat. 68). More than one triclinium/stibadium: Mausoleum of Clodius Hermes at S. Sebastiano (Ghedini, fig. 7)
62. Large group of figures seated at multiple tables: late fourth-century A.D. mosaic in Carthage (K. M. D. Dunbabin, Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World (1999), fig. 36)
63. T. Hölscher, 'Die Geschichtesauffassung in der römischen Repräsentationskunst', JdI 95 (1980), 265-321, at 270, early third century
64. and most recently, K.-J. Hölkeskamp, 'Fides - deditio in fidem - dextra data et accepta: Recht, Religion, und Ritual in Rom', in C. Bruun (ed.), The Roman Middle Republic. Politics, Religion, and Historiography, c. 400-133 B.C., Acta Instituti Romani Finlandiae 33 (2000), mid-third century
65. thorough discussion in P. G. P. Meyboom, The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina. Early Evidence of Egyptian Religion in Italy (1995)
66. cf. A. Steinmeyer-Schareika, Das Nilmosaik von Palestrina und eine ptolemäische Expedition nach Äthiopien (1978)
67. F. Coarelli, 'La pompé di Tolomeo Filadelfo e il mosaico nilotico di Palestrina', Ktema 15 (1990), 225-51 =
68. F. Coarelli, REVIXIT ARS. Arte e ideologia a Roma. Dai modelli ellenistici alla tradizione repubblicana (1996), 102-37
69. Pl. VII illustrates a procession from the so-called Tomb of the Typhon at Tarquinia (second century B.C.): see M. Moltesen and C. Weber-Lehmann, Etruskische Grabmalerei (1992), 43-6 and fig. 1.37
70. and for the imagery and its context, P. J. Holliday, 'Processional imagery in late Etruscan funerary art', AJA 94 (1990), 73-93, at 82
71. An historiated third-century B.C. Latin cista in Rome's Villa Giulia, and its comparanda: see A. Kuttner, 'A third century BC Latin census on a Praenestine cist', RM 98 (1991) 141-61
72. Basilica Aemilia frieze: see D. Arya, 'Il ratto delle Sabine e la guerra romano-sabina', in A. Carandini and R. Cappelli (eds), Roma: Romulo, Remo e la fondazione della città (2000), 303-19
73. F. Albertson, 'The Basilica Aemilia Frieze: religion and politics in late Republican Rome', Latomus 49 (1990), 801-15
74. P. Kranzle, 'Der Fries der Basilica Aemilia', Antike Plastik 23 (1994), 93-127
75. Louvre census relief: A. Kuttner, 'Some new grounds for narrative: Marcus Antonius's base (the Ara Domitii Ahenobarbi) and Republican biographies', in P. J. Holliday (ed.), Narrative and Event in Ancient Art (1993), 198-229
76. M. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History of Rome (1926), 184
77. B. Ashmole, A Catalogue of the Ancient Marbles at Ince Blundell Hall (1929), 108-9)
78. For the tradition, see J. Berlioz and J.-M. David, 'Rhétorique et historie. L'exemplum et le modèle de comportement dans le discours antique et médiéval', MEFRA 92 (1980), 15-31, with extensive bibliography. Zinserling, 'Historiendarstellungen', 416-17, notes 'dass ein thema wie dieses [i.e., a genre scene] in dieser Zeit ungewöhnlich ist'
79. K.-J. Hölkeskamp, 'Exempla und mos maiorum. Überlegungen zum kollektiven Gedächtnis der Nobilität', in H.-J. Gehrke and A. Möller (eds), Vergangenheit und Lebenswelt. Soziale Kommunikation, Traditionsbildumg und historisches Bewußtsein (1996), 301-38
80. eadem, 'Ut Graeco more biberetur: Greeks and Romans on the dining couch', I. Nielsen and H. S. Nielsen (eds), Meals in a Social Context, Aarhus Studies in Mediterranean Antiquity 1 (1998), 81-101
81. eadem, 'Dining and convivial spaces in the Roman villa', JRA 9 (1996), 66-80
82. Livy 25.6.22, speaking of the volones' reward for service: 'operae pretium habent libertatem civitatemque'; see C. Wirszubski, Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome during the Late Republic and Early Principate (1960), 3-5, on the relationship between civitas and libertas
83. cf. the general discussion of the phenomenon of signalling social status in F. Kolb, 'Zur Statussymbolik im antiken Rom', Chiron 7 (1977), 239-59
84. and the broad treatment of R. Brilliant, Gesture and Rank in Roman Art. The Use of Gestures to Denote Status in Roman Sculpture and Coinage (1963)
85. for the full panoply of Livy's usage, see T. J. Moore, Artistry and Ideology: Livy's Vocabulary of Virtue, Athenaeum Monografien: Alterumswissenschaft Bd. 192 (1989), 5-13
86. Inter alia: J. M. Denzter, Le motif du banquet couché dans le proche-Orient et le monde grec du VII au IV siècle avant J.C. (1982)
87. J. M. C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World (1971)
88. cf. M. Jaeger, Livy's Written Rome (1997), 106: 'the distinction between ex-slave and freeborn soldier [is perceived] only through the filter of the officially recognized distinction between courage and cowardice'. This only grasps half the story, and thoroughly misses the point of the banquet scene and Gracchus' order to stand
89. cf. L. Pietilä-Castren, Magnificentia Publica. The Victory Monuments of the Roman Generals in the Era of the Punic Wars, Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 84 (1987), who does not, however, discuss the Aventine temple
90. E. M. Orlin, Temples, Religion, and Politics in the Roman Republic (1997)
91. and R. Stewart, Public Office in Early Rome. Ritual Procedure and Political Practice (1998), both works with extensive bibliography
92. Ritual impropriety: Livy 23.31.7ff., with J. Linderski, 'The auspices and the struggle of the orders', in W. Eder (ed.), Staat und Staatlichkeit in der frühen römischen Republik (1990)
93. now reprinted in J. Linderski, Roman Questions. Selected Papers (1995), 42-3
94. Political motivation: discussion and bibliography in R. Devlin, 'Religion and politics at Rome during the third century BC', JRH 10 (1978-79), 3-19
95. J. E. A. Crake, 'Roman politics from 215 to 209 BC', Phoenix 17 (1963), 123-7
96. Citizenship: see the discussion of P. A. Brunt, Italian Manpower, 225 B.C.-A.D. 14 (1971), 121-35, on the progressive decline in Italy after 200 B.C. of the 'old Italian stocks' concommitant with the rise in citizen population. Curule magistracies: to take merely the most significant example, in 227 B.C. the number of praetorships was increased to four (Livy Per. 20), and in 197 B.C. to six (Livy 32.27.6)
97. the rise of the novi homines provides the more august parallel to the political problem posed by Gracchus' manumitted slaves: see T. P. Wiseman, New Men in the Roman Senate, 139 B.C.-A.D. 14 (1971)
98. and J. Linderski, 'The augural law', ANRW II.16.3 (1986), 2184-9
99. cf. E. Levy, 'Libertas und civitas', ZRG 78 (1961), 142-72
100. A. von Stylow, Libertas und Liberalitas. Untersuchungen zur Innenpolitischen Propaganda der Römer (1972), esp. 9-12. The connection between these two concepts emerges clearly from Livy's discussion of patrician-plebeian relations in 445 B.C. (4.6, esp. at 11)
101. detailed commentary in J. Linderski, 'Silver and gold of valor: the award of armillae and torques', Latomus 60 (2001), 3-15
102. Finally, in the late Republic, it was the strategy of the senatorial class 'to limit the political impact of libertas by reconciling it with the concept of dignitas': see the recent discussion in H. Mouritsen, Plebs and Politics in the Late Roman Republic (2001), esp. 10-12
103. See S. Tondo, 'Il "Sacramentum Militiae" nell'ambiente culturale romano-italico', Studia et domumenta historiae et iuris 29 (1963), 1-123
104. idem, 'Sul sacramentum militiae', SDHI 34 (1968), 376-96
105. F. Hickson Hahn, 'Vergilian transformation of an oath ritual: Aeneid 12.169-174, 213-215', Vergilius 45 (1999), 22-38, is of little relevance to our problem
106. A. Momigliano in JRS 57 (1967), 253-4
107. and idem, 'Aulu-Gelle et les serments militaires', in Au miroir de la culture antique. Mélanges offerts au Président René Marache par ses collègues, ses étudiants et ses amis (1992), 287-301, at 292
108. and Hinard, 'Sacramentum', 252
109. J. Rüpke, Domi militiae. Die religiöse Konstruktion des Krieges in Rom (1990), esp. 70-84
110. idem, 'Foedus and sponsio', PBSR 41 (1973), 6
111. acknowledging the correct dating to 216 B.C. by R. Thomsen, Early Roman Coinage (1961), II, 255-87, esp. 285
112. similarly, J. Bleicken, 'Coniuratio: Die Schwurszene auf den Münzen und Gemmen der römischen Republik', Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 13(1963), 51-70
113. most recently, M. Krumme, Römische Sagen in der antiken Münzprägung (1995), 60-4, 160-3
114. A. Burnett, 'The iconography of Roman coin types in the third century BC', NumChron 146 (1986), 67-75, does not discuss these coins
115. Jus Imperium Auctoritas. Études de droit romain (1990), 245
116. RRC, 2.715
117. H. U. Istinsky, 'Schwurszene und Coniuratio', Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 14 (1964), 83-7, at 86
118. So too, A. Alföldi, 'Hasta-summa imperii. The spear as embodiment of sovereignty in Rome', AJA 63 (1959), 1-27, at 20
119. Gems: A. Furtwängler, Die antiken Gemmen (3 vols, 1900), pl. 27, no. 34 (Berlin) and pl. 46, no. 2 (Vienna)
120. Lanx: B. Svoboda, 'The silver lanx as means of propaganda of a Roman family', JRS 58 (1968), 124-5, with plates
121. and idem, 'Die Penaten, Aeneas, und Latinus', RM 78 (1971), 1-52, esp. 16-22
122. T. Hölscher, 'Mythen als Exempel der Geschichte', in F. Graf (ed.), Mythos in mythenloser Gesellschaft: Das Paradigma Roms, Colloquia Raurica 3 (1993), 67-87, at 75
123. Crawford, RRC 20, 1, with Livy 10.23.n-12
124. T. P. Wiseman, Remus. A Roman Myth (1995), 72-6
125. C. Parisi Presicce, La lupa capitolina (2000), esp. 21
126. Servius ad loc.; similarly discussed by A. Kuttner., Dynasty and Empire: The Case of the Boscoreale Cups (1995), 125, although this is not a scene of sacrifice (see above, n. 91); nor does Vergil's armati necessarily signify that both figures appeared 'in armour' - as the coins so clearly demonstrate
127. cf. Coarelli, Il Foro Romano, 1.52. Dionysius, 2.46.3 also associates the story with the Via Sacra
128. Costumes: central to the interpretation of Crawford, RRC, 2. 715, n. 5
129. cf. the doubts voiced by E. Rawson, 'The antiquarian tradition: spoils and representations of foreign armour', in W. Eder (ed.), Staat und Staatlichkeit in der frühen römischen Republik (1990), 158-73, at 172
130. Ritual action: these are not the fetial priests one might expect from an association with Livy 1.32.6, on which see A. Magdelaine, 'L'acte juridique au cours de l'ancien droit romain', BIDR (1988) = Jus
131. Crawford, RRC, rejects an association with the coniuratio of 216 B.C.; this holds solely for a specific iconographical interpretation of the oath-scene as an illustration of Livy
132. L. Breglia, 'L'oro del giuramento e i denari romani e italici del Ić sec.', Numismatica 13 (1947), 67-79, has been largely superseded
133. Cf. the recent discussion of A. Meadows and J. Williams, 'Moneta and the monuments: coinage and politics in Republican Rome', JRS 91 (2001), 27-49, at 38
134. for the myriad prosopographical problems related to the moneyer T. Veturius, see E. Badian, 'Sulla's augurate', Arethusa 1 (1968), 26-46, esp. 34-5
135. The concept outlived the form of the Republican image: see P. G. Hamberg, Studies in Roman Imperial Art (1945), 27, for a Trajanic coin showing the emperor, in priestly garb, joining hands with his soldiers over a burning altar, signalled by the legend as FIDES
136. G. Rodenwaldt, 'Über den Stilwandel in der Antoninischen Kunst', Abhandlungen der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 3 (1935), 1-27
137. cf. C. Reinsberg, 'Das Hochzeitopfer - eine Fiktion', JdI 99 (1984), 291-317, at 315
138. eadem, 'Der Balbinus-Sarkophag - Grablege eines Kaisers?', Marburger Winckelmann-Programm (1985), 3-16
139. N. B. Kampen, 'Biographical narration and Roman funerary art', AJA 85 (1981), 47-58
140. most recently, H. Wrede, Senatorische Sarkophage Roms (2001)
141. T. Hölscher, 'Die Anfänge römischer Reprä sentationskunst', RM 85 (1978), 349 = 'Gli inizi dell'arte di rappresentanza romana', in Monumenti, 43
142. idem, 'Die Bedeutung der Münzen für das Verständnis der politischen Repräsentationskunst der späten Republik', in Actes du 9ème Congrés international de numismatique, Berne (1982), 269-82 =
143. 'L'importanza delle monete per la comprensione dell'arte di rappresentanza politica della tarda repubblica romana', in Monumenti, 75-89