Cancelleria reliefs
The so-called Cancelleria reliefs are marble relief plates from the last two decades of the 1st century, which were found between 1937 and 1939 during restoration work under the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. The plates were partially leaned against a wall that had encompassed the tomb of Aulus Hirtius . The marble tablets, which were probably reworked at the end of the 1st century and removed and stored from a structure that is still unknown today, consist of two separate relief arrangements.
The reliefs are exhibited in the Museo Gregoriano Profano in the Vatican Museums.
It is generally agreed that the two relief ensembles are referred to as frieze A and frieze B. All panels are 2.06 meters high, with frieze A being 5.08 meters and frieze B 6.08 meters. The interpretation of the content of the two events presented, the partial classification of their characters and the localization of the original location of the reliefs are the subject of controversial discussions in modern research to this day. There is agreement to the extent that the sequences of scenes illustrate relevant events that are to be classified in the Principate of Domitian (81 to 96 AD). After his assassination, this emperor became subject to the Damnatio memoriae , which meant the demonstrative erasure of his memory from the public. In addition to other manual interventions on its monuments, this was apparently accompanied by changes to the Cancelleria reliefs. Thus Domitian's emperor's portrait on frieze A was reworked into that of his successor Nerva .
An examination of the reliefs by the archaeologist Marianne Bergmann led to the interpretation that the portrait of Domitian's father Vespasian on frieze B had also been redesigned from Domitian's original head. A minority opinion also assumes that the portrait of Nero (54 to 68), who, like Domitian , fell under the damantio memoriae after his death, was initially depicted on both relief ensembles , and thus two changes were made.
Frieze A
Frieze A consists of four of a relief ensemble originally consisting of at least five marble slabs. On the missing left panel a flying Victoria and a advancing Lictor were depicted. The acting figures on the four preserved reliefs are represented two-dimensionally, on the one hand indicated flat in the background out of the marble and on the other hand in the foreground, lifted out of the material.
The central figure of the plot is the stoic emperor who stands in the foreground and who, depicted in traveling clothes, has raised his right arm. In front of him are the Roman deities Minerva , Mars and a lictor with fascis and ax in advancing motion. Virtus is presumably walking behind the princeps , who supports the emperor's left forearm with her right hand in order to apparently move him to move on. Next to this are the quiet personifications of the Senate and the people of Rome, namely the Genius Senatus with a scepter and the Genius Populi Romani with a cornucopia. Four armed soldiers follow, the first with a round shield in the foreground and the second in motion in the background. The third soldier in the foreground and the fourth soldier in the background seem to stop moving. In the middle of the scene is indicated a column of soldiers with shouldered pilas , who are led past the emperor by two lictors with fasces without an ax behind the head.
The interpretation of what is shown on frieze A is limited to two possible variants. On the one hand the departure from Rome in a war ( profectio ) or on the other hand the return from a war ( adventus ). Modern research tends, due to the dynamics of the gods presented, especially the insistence of virtus on the standing emperor, predominantly towards the return variant. In the case of a profectio , the forward movement of the figures, in contrast to the static emperor, could appear strange to the viewer, since it could give the impression of the Princeps hesitating .
Due to the two-dimensionality of the relief, with the restless-looking scenery in the foreground and the seemingly ordered marching movement of the soldiers with the lictors in the background, Lorenz E. Baumer assumes two different time levels, both of which thematize an adventus . The time period shown in the foreground lies in the past and the marching column behind the emperor represents the following event, the actual triumphal procession within the city limits of Rome. The imperial lictors in the foreground, in contrast to those in the background, carry the ax in their fasces and are located therefore before the city limits, as they were not allowed to carry the hatchet as a symbol of the death penalty within the pomerium . While the gods, especially Virtus and the military entourage, urge the emperor to triumphal procession, the princeps maintains his demeanor and shows, in addition to his bravery, the modesty ( modestia ) he emphasizes towards the deities and the senate and people of Rome.
Exactly which campaigns carried out by Domitian the relief ensemble refers to cannot be specified by research, as this emperor held several triumphal procession. Baumer therefore assumes that the descriptive representations are intended to emphasize the characteristics of Domitian as exemplum , namely his bravery ( virtus ) and his humility ( modestia ).
Frieze B
The relief group Frieze B consists of several marble slabs, the upper half of which is severely damaged. Analogous to frieze A, the acting figures are reproduced in two dimensions. As in Frieze A, the central figure is the emperor dressed in a toga . With his right hand he touches the shoulder of the young man opposite, who is also wearing a toga ( togatus ). To the right, next to the togatus, stands a lictor with a bundle of rods with armor. Two more lictors can be seen in the background and between the lictor and the togatus in the foreground the Genius Senatus and to the left of him the Genius Populi Romani with a lance and a cornucopia are shown. On the right edge of the picture a fragment of a flying Victoria can be seen holding a wreath of oak leaves over the emperor's head. Next to the emperor a lictor walks with a fasces and an ax. A standing person with a staff or scroll in hand joins. The left edge of the picture is occupied by a group of vestals together with a lictor and the deity Roma .
Despite Bergmann's observation that instead of Vespasian his son Domitian was depicted before, the number of interpretations of the scene interpretation in frieze B is still higher than that of the interpretations of frieze A. In addition to a return to war ( adventus ) des Emperor, among other things, the laying of the foundation stone of the new Capitoline Temple in 70, the establishment of the Sodales Flaviales Titiales and the consecration ( consercratio ) of the temple of Fortuna Redux in 93 are being considered.
Baumer favors in his treatise the implementation of a censorship followed by a lustrum on the Martian field . As with Fries A, he bases this assumption on the consideration that the overall scenery is located in two time levels. In the foreground, the Emperor Domitian carries out the censorship outside the city limits in the presence of the accredited lictor, presumably including a young Roman citizen in the rank of knight . The fact that the scene takes place near Rome is justified by the highlighted depiction of the Vestal Virgins on the relief. In the background the lustrum following the censorship is indicated, with the lictors revolving around the embodiments of the Senate and the people of Rome.
In the year 85 Domitian was the first censor personally to carry out the censorship for life. In addition to the drafting of the senatorial and knightly rank, it was important to him to restore the traditional moral laws. As Pontifex Maximus, Domitian showed a keen interest in unconditional observance of the vestal virgins' vows of chastity. Violations were severely punished by him .
Baumer sees the two relief ensembles in context with one another, since both represent historical events that are intended to emphasize the overriding political and religious position of the emperor as models and examples ( exempla ).
Location of the reliefs
Baumer's hypothesis is based on the interpretation of the scenes in which the relief ensembles are located in the area of the Villa publica . The area with the Villa publica was outside the city limits and served on the one hand as a residence for foreign embassies and on the other hand as a place to conduct the census. The facility was also used as a station for the Flavians who had returned home victorious from the Jewish War . Vespasian and his son Titus awaited the approval of the triumph from the Roman Senate there. No structural remains have been found of the building, which is no longer mentioned in the sources from the second century onwards. Under Domitian, after a suggestion by Lawrence Richardson Jr. , the area including the building was incorporated into a large-scale new complex (Porticus Divorum).
Other possible locations in literature include the site of the Domus Aurea and an arch near the temple of Fortuna Redux.
reception
Since the location and the find situation of the marble slabs do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the original location and there are neither archaeological traces nor reliable sources, the locations that have been established remain unproven.
The representational interpretations of the relief ensembles remain controversial and the subject of scientific debate even after the generally accepted commitment to Domitian as the previously depicted emperor.
literature
- Lorenz E. Baumer: Multi-layered messages: Notes on the composition and interpretation of the so-called Cancelleria reliefs , Antike Kunst, 2007, vol. 50, p. 93-107, (PDF)
- Johanna Leithoff: Power of the Past. To achieve, consolidate and develop the Principate under Vespasian, Titus and Domitian , Göttingen 2014, pp. 129–131, pp. 203, 204, ISBN 978-3-8471-0289-2
Web links
- Reliefs of the Cancelleria - Vatican Museums (online)
- Rome 101, The Cancelleria Reliefs (online, eng.)
- Lorenz E. Baumann, Université de Genève, Unité d'archéologie classique (online, fr.)
- Johanna Leithoff, University of Erfurt, Ancient Culture (online)
Remarks
- ↑ M. Bergmann: To the frieze B of the Flavian Cancelleria relief , in: Marburger Winckelmann-Programm 1981, pp. 19-31
- ↑ Flavius Josephus , Vom Jewish Kriege Buch 7, 123-131 (4–4).
- ^ L. Richardson Jr .: The Villa Publica and the Divorum , in: L. Bonfante-H. von Heintze (ed.), In memoriam Otto J. Brendel. Essays in Archeology and the Humanities (1976) pp. 159-163