Mutilation and Transformation. Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture

472 Pages·17.317 MB·English

by  Varner E.R.

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isbn 90 04 13577 4 rr.. nn
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Opgegeven en ingestelde rugdikte = 32 mm
MUTILATION AND TRANSFORMATION
MONUMENTA GRAECA
ET ROMANA
FOUNDING EDITOR
H. F. MUSSCHE
VOLUME X
MUTILATION
AND TRANSFORMATION
Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture
BY
ERIC R. VARNER
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2004
On the cover: the four illustrations represent the chronological and conceptual span of the mutilation and
transformation of Roman imperial images. Portraits were routinely reconfigured from the Julio Claudian period
(as evidenced by the image of Nero transformed to Vespasian in Cleveland [top left]) through the Constantinian
period (as evidenced by the colossal portrait of Constantine in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, transformed from a
pre-existing image of Maxentius [bottom right]). Portraits were also attacked and defaced, especially in the late
seond and third centuries (as evidenced by mutilated portraits of Plautilla, in Houston [top right], and Macrinus,
at Harvard [bottom left]).
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 0169-8850
ISBN 90 04 13577 4
©Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
use is granted by Brill provided that
the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
Danvers MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
table of contents v
D M
Ann Varner
vi table of contents
table of contents vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................................ix
Chapter One. Developments, Implications, and Precedents...................................................................1
Chapter Two. Caligula, Milonia Caesonia and Julia Drusilla...............................................................21
Chapter Three. Nero and Poppaea........................................................................................................46
Chapter Four. Other Julio-Claudians.....................................................................................................86
Julia Maior ..........................................................................................................................................86
Agrippa Postumus...............................................................................................................................88
Julia Minor..........................................................................................................................................89
Agrippina Maior.................................................................................................................................90
Nero and Drusus Caesar ....................................................................................................................91
Sejanus ................................................................................................................................................92
Livilla...................................................................................................................................................93
Valeria Messalina................................................................................................................................95
Agrippina Minor.................................................................................................................................97
Claudia Octavia................................................................................................................................100
Claudia Antonia................................................................................................................................101
Julia Livilla, Julia Drusilla, Lollia Paulina and Domitia Lepida......................................................102
Ptolemy of Mauretania ....................................................................................................................103
Chapter Five. A.D. 69...........................................................................................................................105
Galba.................................................................................................................................................105
Otho..................................................................................................................................................107
Vitellius .............................................................................................................................................108
Chapter Six. Domitian..........................................................................................................................111
Chapter Seven. Commodus, Lucilla, Crispina and Annia Fundania Faustina...................................136
Chapter Eight. The Severans A.D. 193-235........................................................................................156
The Rivals Of Septimius Severus: Didius Julianus, Clodius Albinus, and Pescennius Niger ........157
Plautilla .............................................................................................................................................164
Geta...................................................................................................................................................168
Caracalla...........................................................................................................................................184
Macrinus and Diadumenianus.........................................................................................................184
Elagabalus and Julia Soemias...........................................................................................................188
Severus Alexander and Julia Mammaea..........................................................................................195
viii table of contents
Chapter Nine. The Later Third Century (235-285)............................................................................200
Maximinus Thrax, Maximus, and Caecilia Paulina........................................................................200
Pupienus and Balbinus .....................................................................................................................203
Gordian III........................................................................................................................................204
Philip the Arab, Philip Minor and Otacilia Severa .........................................................................205
Trajan Decius, Herrenius Etruscus, and Hostilian..........................................................................207
Trebonianus Gallus...........................................................................................................................208
Aemilian and Cornelia Supera......................................................................................................209
“Celsus”............................................................................................................................................210
Gallienus, Salonina, Valerian Minor, Saloninus and Marianianus.................................................210
Carinus .............................................................................................................................................211
Carausius and Allectus....................................................................................................................212
Chapter Ten. The Early Fourth Century.............................................................................................214
Maximian..........................................................................................................................................214
Maxentius, Galeria Valeria Maximilla and Romulus......................................................................215
Maximinus Daia ...............................................................................................................................220
Prisca, Galeria Valeria and Candidianus.........................................................................................221
Crispus and Fausta............................................................................................................................221
Catalogue of Mutilated and Altered Portraits
1. Caligula.......................................................................................................................................225
2. Nero ............................................................................................................................................237
3. Julio-Claudians ...........................................................................................................................257
4. A.D. 69........................................................................................................................................259
5. Domitian.....................................................................................................................................260
6. Commodus, Livilla, Crispina and Annia Fundania Faustina....................................................270
7. The Severans. Plautilla, Geta, Macrinus, Diadumenianus, Elagabalus, Severus Alexander
and Julia Mammaea ...................................................................................................................275
8. Third Century ............................................................................................................................283
9. Fourth Century...........................................................................................................................286
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................................289
Index of Museums and Collections......................................................................................................307
General Index .......................................................................................................................................317
List of Illustrations and Photo Credits .................................................................................................335
Illustrations
table of contents ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project would not have been possible without the sustained help and encouragement of
innumerable friends and colleagues. A very special debt of gratitude is owed to Diana Kleiner who,
as mentor and friend, has generously shared with me her wide-ranging insights on Roman sculpture
and who has nurtured the project along in its various guises. Many thanks are also due to Pat Erhart
Mottahedeh who originally suggested the topic of damnatio memoriae to me and looked after it in its
earliest incarnation.
In addition, I would like to warmly thank the following: Paolo Arata, Musei Captiolini; Jane Biers,
University of Missouri at Columbia, Museum of Art and Archaeology; John Bodel, Rutgers University;
Sheramy Bundrick, University of South Florida; Maddalena Cima, Musei Capitolini; John Clarke,
University of Texas at Austin; Robert Cohon, Nelson Atkins Museum; Diane Conlin, University of
Colorado, Boulder; Penelope Davies, University of Texas, Austin; Stefano de Caro, Museo
Archeologico di Napoli; Sandro de Maria, Università di Bologna; Jas Elsner, Oxford University;
Harriet Flower, Princeton University; Jasper Gaunt, Michael C. Carlos Museum; John Herrmann,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Tony Hirschel, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Catherine Howett Smith,
Michael C. Carlos Museum; Sandra Knudsen, Toledo Museum of Art; Ann Kuttner, University of
Pennsylvania; Anne C. Leinster-Windham; Paolo Liverani, Musei Vaticani; Susan Matheson, Yale
University Art Gallery; David Minten, Harvard University Art Museums; Mette Moltesen, Ny
Carlsberg Glyptotek; Sarah Morris, University of California at Los Angeles; Michael Padgett, The
Art Museum, Princeton University; John Pappadopoulos, University of California at Los Angeles;
Carlos Picon, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Jerry Podany, J. Paul Getty Museum; J. Pollitt, Yale
University; J. Pollini, University of Southern California; Gianni Ponti, Sovrintendenza Archeologica
di Roma; Gay Robins, Emory University; Peter Rockwell; Brian Rose, University of Cincinnati; V.
Rudich, Yale University; Marion Schröder, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rome; Alan Shapiro,
the Johns Hopkins University; Catherine Simon, Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection; Niall Slater,
Emory University; Alaistair Small, University of Alberta; R.R.R. Smith, Oxford University; Renée
Stein, Michael C. Carlos Museum; Katrin Stump, Deutsches Archäoligisches Institut Rome; Michiel
Klein Swormink, Brill Publishers; Emilia Talamo, Museo Nazionale Romano; Marion True, J. Paul
Getty Museum; Ute Wartenburg, American Numismatic Society; Bonna Wescoat, Emory University;
Susan Wood, Oakland University.
I would also like to thank all of my colleagues and staff in the departments of Art History and
Classics at Emory University, the staff of the Michael C. Carlos Museum, the staff of the Library
of the American Academy in Rome, the staff of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Rome,
as well as my current and former graduate students, Katrina Dickson, Erin Black, John Stephenson
and Brandon Foster for various, sundry and invaluable assistance. As always, heartfelt thanks to
Brad Lapin for help on every level and for putting up with bad emperors (and the bad moods they
have been known to induce) for so long. Ultimately, all omissions, errors, and translations are my
own.