Tomb of Poblicius

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Tomb of Poblicius

The tomb of Poblicius is a Roman grave monument that was erected for the retired Italian legionnaire and social climber Lucius Poblicius and for his family during the first half of the 1st century AD on an arterial road from the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium ( Cologne ). Due to its exceptionally good state of preservation, the building is today a prime example of the grave architecture of well-off Roman families in an early phase of urban development in the Rhineland.

Research history

In 1884, a large number of monumental, carved and sculpted cuboids were discovered on today's property at Chlodwigplatz 24 in the southern old town of Cologne . Even then it was assumed that they could have come from one or more Roman tombs. In April 1965, the young people Josef and Heinz Gens, sons of the textile merchant Heinrich Gens, came across a large number of blocks with relief decorations and figure parts during an exploratory excavation for the extension of their parents' house on Chlodwigplatz. The brothers reported the find and offered the city of Cologne to carry out an official excavation, but the authorities responsible had little time for the discovery. Without official permission - according to other representations with an excavation permit - the brothers and friends excavated stones from up to nine meters deep for around 17,000 hours until 1967 and then presented over 70 cuboids, including the almost complete inscription of the tomb and the pandas that are now on the side walls of the upper floor, in their basement rooms. This "private museum" was noticed with great interest by the public. The archaeologists Otto Doppelfeld and Heinz Kähler recognized the importance of the find and Otto Doppelfeld tried to win the cubes for the Roman-Germanic Museum (RGM) he helped initiate . In 1967, in the exhibition Römer am Rhein , the four first found cuboids, two entablature pieces, a cornice and a pan-relief were presented to the public. In May 1970, the city acquired all the excavated stones from the two finders for 510,000 DM. With about 25 cuboids found in 1884 and the 70 cuboids found by the Gens brothers between 1965 and 1967, almost 100 cuboids were available for the reconstruction of the tomb in the new Roman-Germanic Museum. The architect and building researcher Gundolf Precht was entrusted with the reconstruction of the tomb in the RGM. Its reconstruction from 1974 was based on reconstructions by Josef Gens from 1968 to 1971 and the reconstruction published by Heinz Kähler. Block assignments made by Precht are viewed critically today. For example, the Aeneas group on the top of the tomb, which was not created until the second century AD ... and the free-standing statues that must have stood in niches on a wall, as the flat processing of their backs shows. Otto Doppelfeld and Heinz Kähler deciphered the graveyard. Later, Tilmann Bechert dealt with the inscription again. Attempts to supplement the incomplete text, however, were criticized. In 2017, Hermann Krüssel and Josef Gens presented extensive new research on the Poblicius tomb in the book “The Poblicius Monument - Cologne in Augustan Time”, including an addition to the fourth line of inscriptions.

On September 1, 2012, Josef Gens was honored with the Severins Citizens Prize for services to the Cologne language, culture, art and customs , which the Cologne Severins Citizens Prize Association has been awarding since 1984. The laudation was given by the director of the Roman-Germanic Museum, Marcus Trier .

construction

Poblicius in a toga and with a certificate

The tomb of Poblicius is not unique in its kind, but belonged in its time to the canon of similar large buildings of wealthy Romans. The 14.70 meter high grave tower, built around 40 AD, has been reconstructed in the form of an aedicula . The base of the complex is a monumental, more than five meter high, rectangular base, which has a pseudo-architecture on all sides with fluted corner pilasters of a composite order , an Ionic architrave and a frieze of acanthized wavy tendrils . On its front side, facing the street, there was a five-line inscription that gave information about the builder and his family circumstances. A garland of leaves hanging on four rings was carved from the stone on both the front and the back. Above the base is a structure designed as a prostyle temple of the Corinthian order . The portraits of the three persons named in the inscription were placed between the four pillars of the front: Lucius Poblicius, who built the tomb, his daughter Paulla and his freed slave Lucius Poblicius Modestus. During the reconstruction in 1974, the most completely preserved statue was positioned in the center for reasons of presentation. However, this does not represent Lucius Poblicius, but his released slave Lucius Poblicius Modestus. With his clothes, the toga , and the document in his hand, he emphasizes his status as a Roman citizen. The scrinium on his right-hand side , a cylindrical container for storing scrolls, is supposed to indicate the formation of the dead. To the left of Lucius Poblicius Modestus the remains of a female robe statue were placed, to the right of him the remains of the statue of the tomb painter Lucius Poblicius. The female statue is sometimes interpreted as the wife of Poblicius, sometimes as the daughter of Poblicius. The female figure on the right narrow side is sometimes interpreted as the daughter, sometimes as a released slave, but obviously, due to her republican toga, which identifies her as a young girl, she does not belong to the Poblicius tomb at all, but to its neighboring building. As with the statues on the front, the back of this one has not been worked on either. This suggests that all statues in Roman times were not set up free, but were in niches directly on a wall. According to the archaeologist Henner von Hesberg , it was the task of the aedicule shape to “stage” the deceased facing the passerby. Holes in one of the pillars and on column drums suggest that the vestibule of the aedicula was closed with bars.

The back of the tomb is bounded by a rectangular, cella-like apse , which gives the impression of a backdrop -like temple structure. The surrounding architrave shows a gun frieze and is a reminder of the deceased's military profession. According to more recent findings, however, these are gladiator weapons, which could indicate that the tomb painter was a game organizer. According to the traces that have been preserved, there were two antithetically conceived tritons as corner acrotere above the entablature . In addition to their fish tails, the Tritons each shoulder a rudder. The end of the tomb is a pagoda-shaped roof, the scale-like surface of which is intended to suggest roof tiles. It comes together to form a 0.75 meter high Corinthian pillar capital. On top of this is a group found in 1884 with Aeneas , the progenitor of the Romans. The scene shows the hero carrying his old father out of the burning Troy , his little son by the hand. This grave closure is typical for the Rhineland in the early imperial period. He cannot have crowned the grave of Poblicius, as it was built 200 years later. This group of figures belongs to another grave monument. Alternatively, a pine cone is conceivable as the end of the Poblicius monument .

Maenad with a deer cut in half by a sword

The motif on the narrow right side of the base, of which only dancing feet and an animal's paw have survived, could possibly have shown the god Dionysus with a satyr and a panther. A block of motifs was built into the reconstruction on the left, which initially does not seem to fit into the symmetrical concept of the complex. It is located directly below the rear pilaster capital and shows a maenad who is holding the rear part of a deer in her left hand, which she has divided in half. The no longer preserved right hand once wielded the sword with which it killed the animal. The relief block, cut across the corner, was inserted at this point in the reconstruction because its back showed a flat pilaster with the attachment of the leaf garland known from the front of the grave. On this side of the base you can see another relief fragment showing a foot. On the flanks of the cella above there is a frieze with the shepherd god Pan , who was increasingly placed in the environment of the god Dionysus since late Hellenism. The motif of the right narrow side of the aedicula shows Pan with a pedum; a catching stick bent at the top. In his left hand he carries a hunted hare. Above this scene there is a theatrical mask, as is often found on tombs. On the left side of the aedicula, the god Pan is shown with a shepherd's flute (Syrinx) , instead of the mask, Cupid flies over the scene. In both representations, the god walking towards the front of the tomb turns to a laurel tree on which a snake winds its way.

Dating

The dating of the tomb to the first half of the 1st century is mainly based on significant formulas from the inscription. What is striking is the brief form of the client's name, who only gives his family name ( noun gentile ) Poblicius and his first name ( praenomen ) Lucius . If the building had been built in the second half of the 1st century, Poblicius would certainly have given an epithet ( cognomen ), as has been customary since the reign of Emperor Claudius (41-54).

inscription

Reconstructed base with inscription

There have been various attempts to supplement the inscription, which has only been preserved in fragments. There is still a need for discussion about this text, particularly in connection with the statues that have been preserved.

Reading and translation according to Hartmut Galsterer :

L (ucio) Poblicio L (uci) f (ilio) Tere (tina tribu)
vetera (no) leg (ionis) V Alauda ex testamento
et P [a] ullae f (iliae) et vivis
[- - - coniugi]
[et L (ucio)? Poblicio - - - f (ilio)]
[et libertis]
[L (ucio) Poblici] o Modesto L (ucio) P [oblicio - - -].
[H (oc)] m (onumentum) h (eredem) [n (on) s (equetur)]

Translation: "For Lucius Poblicius, son of Lucius, from the constituency of Teretina, veteran of the 5th Legion, the Larks' , built according to his will, and for his daughter Paulla and for the still living [wife and son and the freedmen - - -] Modestus and Lucius Poblicius - - -. This grave does not pass to the heirs. "

Poblicius began his unusual life in the Teretina civic district. This was between Rome and Naples . He joined the 5th Legion "Alauda" as a simple legionnaire. To claim that this legion was established between 9 BC. BC and 69 AD in Castra Vetera near Xanten there is no evidence. His troops were named "Lark Legion" because of their special helmet bushes , which were reminiscent of those of the crested larks. Until he left the army after 25 years, Poblicius remained in the rank of legionnaire. With his handsome settlement, he was able to build a sustainable civil life for himself, but it would never have allowed him to build a tomb of these dimensions and with this equipment. While many veterans became farm owners and supplied the army with grain and other agricultural products, Poblicius ended up in the oppidum Ubiorum , which was not elevated to a city until 50 AD and from which Cologne developed. There he must have come to such wealth through trade that it could not have caused him any major difficulties in financing such an expensive grave.

In the inscription, Poblicius stated that the daughter Paulla and other living relatives ( Et Vivis ) could be buried in the building, but that his heirs were not allowed to decide on the fate of the tomb. Linked to this was the wish that the tomb would be protected from desecration, damage or demolition. The state, too, used strict laws to prevent disturbance of the peace of the dead.

There are several possible interpretations of the incomplete fourth line of inscription. One of these possibilities assumes that the female figure exhibited next to Poblicius today represents his wife, who is not listed in the surviving parts of the inscription, while the smaller statue standing on the side is Paulla. Since the three existing upper blocks of the inscription as well as the missing parts next to the lower inscription block left no space for the mention of a wife, Hartmut Galsterer suggested that between the two existing rows of cuboids with the characters, a possibly lost third should be reconstructed on which the missing ones Information about this woman and a possible son could have been included. In this case, the only fragmentary names in the penultimate line would have been read as those of Poblicius' released slaves. Precht, who was responsible for the reconstruction, resolutely rejected this interpretation, as, in his opinion, there were no indications for a further block position. In addition, another layer of stone would have severely disrupted the overall harmonious structure of the building. In this sense, the inscription presented today has to do without naming the wife. With this approach it can be assumed that Poblicius's wife had died earlier and was resting in her own grave. Therefore, the tomb would only show the donor of the monument with his daughter on the left and the freedman on the right. The preserved smaller woman statue would thus represent a freedwoman or a slave. Such a constellation could also be accommodated in the 4th line of the inscription with a text addition without difficulty.

The current representation of the fourth line of inscriptions and the associated theory about the statues met with strong criticism in the past. The archaeologist Hanns Gabelmann objected that the supposed daughter Paulla in the right-hand intercolumnie would wear an ancient drapery of the toga praetexta , while the two men would be dressed in the latest fashion. However, this would not suit a young woman. Gabelmann stated that toga praetexta would designate this figure as a freeborn. Thus, in his opinion, the fragment of the figure should show the daughter Paulla, who died in her youth. According to Hermann Krüssel and Josef Gens, due to the ancient toga drapery, this statue must have been made during the Republican era, which means that the small woman statue cannot belong to the Poblicius tomb. As early as 2013, Josef Gens demonstrated in his book “Grabungsfieber” that the male person mentioned in the incompletely preserved fourth line of inscription could not have been a son of Lucius Poblicius, because the last letter was definitely not an “F” (as an abbreviation for Filius) and that the additional block position suggested by Hartmut Galsterer is ruled out because of a clearly recognizable offset mark.

The addition to the fourth line of inscription proposed by Hermann Krüssel and Josef Gens in 2017 reads:

Et (iam) * L (ucio) * Poblici o * Modesto * L (ucii) * Poblicii * Liberto translated: and also for Lucius Poblicius Modestus, Lucius Poblicius' freedman

The original location

Poblicius and many other wealthy residents of the Oppidum Ubiorum built their graves on the road leading up the Rhine, around 1.5 kilometers from the city's south gate. The findings of the cuboids during the discovery showed that the rubble was packed close together in layers of clay that sloped eastwards to the banks of the Rhine.

The tomb in later times

In his essay, The Discovery of the Poblicius Tomb Monument in Cologne, Peter La Baume assumed that the tomb would not be forcibly destroyed at a later date because the blocks were still in very good condition. In addition, in his opinion, the high-quality blocks would have been used as building material if the monument had been deliberately removed. But nothing would indicate that either. In particular, La Baume blames another cause for the fairly complete condition: a natural disaster. For example, a flood-bearing stream or a flood of the Rhine could have washed away the foundations and caused the structure to collapse. After the collapse, the floods could have buried parts of the monument under earth, making them safe from access by stone robbers.

literature

  • Peter La Baume : Finding the Poblicius grave monument in Cologne. In: Gymnasium 78, 1971, ISSN  0342-5231 , pp. 373-387 (not evaluated).
  • Tilmann Bechert : The time of origin of the Poblicius tomb in Cologne. In: Kölner Jahrbücher 12, 1971, pp. 77–79.
  • Gundolf Precht : The tomb of Lucius Poblicius. Reconstruction and construction. Roman-Germanic Museum, Cologne 1975.
  • Brigitte Hintzen-Bohlen: Roman self-portrayal: The tomb of Poblicius, middle of the 1st century AD. In: Wolfgang Rosen and Lars Wirtler (ed.), Sources for the history of the city of Cologne , Vol. 1, Antiquity and the Middle Ages. From the beginning until 1396/97. Bachem, Cologne 1999, ISBN 978-3-7616-1324-5 , pp. 17-22.
  • Josef Gens: “Excavation Fever” - The adventurous discovery of the Poblicius tomb. Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-462-03839-2 .
  • Hermann Krüssel, Josef Gens: The Cologne Poblicius Monument - Secretum Poblicii. Pro Lingua Latina, issue 16, Aachen spring 2015
  • Hermann Krüssel, Josef Gens: The Poblicius Monument - Cologne in Augustan times. Mainz-Verlag Aachen 2017, ISBN 978-3-86317-029-5
  • The Cologne ancient historian Werner Eck is critical of this : Review of: Gens, Josef; Krüssel, Hermann: The Poblicius monument. Cologne in Augustan times. Aachen 2017, in: H-Soz-Kult, October 2, 2017, <www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-28081>.
  • Hermann Krüssel: The importance of Sevir Lucius Poblicius Modestus. Pro Lingua Latina, issue 19, Aachen spring 2018
  • Josef Gens: Logistics and construction technology of Roman works huts - illustrated using the example of the Poblicius tomb. Pro Lingua Latina, issue 19, Aachen spring 2018

Movie

Web links

Commons : Tomb of Poblicius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rudolf Pörtner : When the Rhine and Moselle were Roman. New excavations in the Germania Romana. In: Ancient cultures brought to light. New discoveries in modern archeology. Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf and Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-430-17527-5 , p. 405.
  2. ^ Johannes Helmrath: Sources for the history of the city of Cologne . Volume I. Antiquity and the Middle Ages. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1999, p. 17.
  3. ↑ Helmut Signon: The Romans in Cologne. Antiquities between the Eifel and the Rhine. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1977, p. 131.
  4. ↑ Helmut Signon: The Romans in Cologne. Antiquities between the Eifel and the Rhine. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1977, p. 139.
  5. ↑ Greta Wolff: The Roman-Germanic Cologne. 6th revised edition, Bachem, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1370-9 , p. 25.
  6. ↑ Rudolf Pörtner: When the Rhine and Moselle were Roman. New excavations in the Germania Romana. In: Ancient cultures brought to light. New discoveries in modern archeology. Econ Verlag, Düsseldorf and Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-430-17527-5 , p. 406.
  7. ↑ Peter Fuchs (Ed.), Chronik zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln , Volume 2, 1991, p. 306
  8. ↑ Ancient World 1st year, No. 4, 1970, p. 16.
  9. ^ Gundolf Precht: The tomb of Lucius Poblicius. Reconstruction and construction. Romano-Germanic Museum of the City of Cologne, 1975, p. 46.
  10. ^ Hugo Börger, Helga Schmidt-Glassner : The Roman-Germanic Museum Cologne. Callwey, Munich 1977, p. 31.
  11. ^ Carl Dietmar: Poblicius tomb. Story of a sensational find. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger , 1./2. September 2012, p. 35.
  12. ↑ a b c d Greta Wolff: The Roman-Germanic Cologne. 6th revised edition. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1370-9 , p. 24.
  13. ↑ Henner von Hesberg: Roman grave buildings. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft , Darmstadt 1992, ISBN 3-534-02446-X , p. 203.
  14. ↑ Jeanne-Nora Andrikopoulou-Strack: Grave buildings of the 1st century AD in the Rhine area. Studies on chronology and typology. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7927-0870-1 , p. 124.
  15. ↑ a b c Greta Wolff: The Roman-Germanic Cologne. 6th revised edition. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1370-9 , p. 22.
  16. ↑ Nathalie Marquardt: Pan in Hellenistic and Imperial Sculpture. Verlag Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-7749-2704-9 , p. 370.
  17. ^ A b Greta Wolff: The Roman-Germanic Cologne. 6th revised edition. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1370-9 , p. 23.
  18. ↑ AE 1979, 412 .
  19. ↑ a b Brigitte and Hartmut Galsterer: The Roman stone inscriptions from Cologne . von Zabern, Mainz 2010, ISBN 978-3-8053-4229-2 , No. 279, inscription online. ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  20. ↑ Hanns Gabelmann: Roman children in the 'toga praetexta' . In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . Volume 100, 1985, p. 534.
  21. ↑ Hanns Gabelmann: Roman children in the 'toga praetexta' . In: Yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute. Volume 100, 1985, p. 533.