Justinian column

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The Justinian column , which is no longer preserved today, was the most important column monument on the late antique Augustaion ( Augusteum ) in Constantinople . She carried an equestrian statue of the Emperor Justinian (527-565). Its construction is most likely connected with the Roman victory over the Sassanids in the Battle of Dara (530).

As a result of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the monument was destroyed at the beginning of the 16th century and the statue was later melted down.

Late medieval drawing of the no longer preserved equestrian statue of Justinian (drawing, kept in the Budapest University Library (Ms. 35, fol. 144 v.))

Source location and archaeological evidence

Nothing is left of the column or statue today. A reconstruction of their appearance is only possible using literary sources. Among the main authors who comment on the Augustaion and the Column Monument are:

Furthermore, drawings are used that either show the cityscape of Constantinople with its columned monuments or the equestrian statue itself.

Reconstruction of the column

The column was, as all source authors unanimously report, in the middle of the Augustaion, the forecourt of Hagia Sophia. Georgios Pachymeres explains that the column is to the left of the person entering Hagia Sophia .

The column had a base that was formed from steps: there were a total of seven steps, which had a square floor plan. The actual column, which had no additional pedestal, rose on this stepped base (at least nothing of this is mentioned in Prokop). In Pachymeres there is also a description of a cube-shaped plinth made of bricks and clad with marble slabs, which was placed on the step plinth and supported the column. The sides of the cube were provided with four arcades each .

The column shaft itself was made of ashlars , its height was about 30 to 35 meters. In all likelihood it was covered with bronze panels on which scenic representations of unknown content could be seen. When the Crusaders sacked the city while conquering Constantinople in 1204, they tore off the bronze panels.

There was a Corinthian capital on the column . It had two plinths on which the equestrian statue was finally attached. The statue faced east.

Justinian's gold medallion worth 36 solidi , which celebrates “the salvation and glory of the Romans” ( salus et gloria Romanorum ). On the back you can see the emperor on horseback (redrawing).

Reconstruction of the equestrian statue

The equestrian statue of Justinian was placed on the column in 534 at the latest. According to the sources, the reason for this was the above-mentioned military victory of the empire over the Persian Sassanids in 530, with whom the Eternal Peace was made in 532 . The statue reached about three times life size; For example, it can be deduced from the information provided by the source authors that the head was about 90 centimeters high. Here, too, only literary sources and drawings can be used for a reconstruction.

Justinian was depicted as a general with muscle armor , military cloak ( paludamentum ) and plume helmet ( tufa ), he wore Roman soldiers' boots and had raised his rights. According to his contemporary Prokop , the emperor ordered the Persians in the east to keep quiet from now on. In his left hand he held a crossed globe . It is generally assumed that the statue was not newly made, but was usurped by an already existing columned monument : It may have been a former statue of Arcadius - so it is passed down by Johannes Malalas towards the end of the reign of Justinian - or of Theodosius II. as suggested by the drawing of the Budapest manuscript and Cyriacus of Ancona .

literature

  • Albrecht Berger : Investigations on the Patria Konstantinupoleos. Habelt, Bonn 1988, pp. 238-240.
  • Elena Boeck: Justinian's Column and Historical Memory of Constantinople in the Vatican Manasses Manuscript. In: Mitko B. Panov (Ed.): Macedonia and the Balkans in the Byzantine Commonwealth. Proceedings of the International Symposium "Days of Justinian I". Skopje October 18–19, 2013. Euro-Balkan University, Skopje 2014, pp. 13–22 ( online ).
  • Cyril Mango: The Columns of Justinian and His Successors. In: Cyril Mango: Studies on Constantinople. Variorum, Aldershot 1993, Study X, pp. 3-8
  • Julian Raby: Mehmed the Conqueror and the Equestrian Statue of the Augustaion. In: Illinois Classical Studies. Volume 12, 1987, pp. 305-313.
  • Siri Sande : The Equestrian Statue of Justinian and the Schema Achilleion. In: Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia. Volume 6, 1987, pp. 91-111.
  • Rudolf HW Stichel : The Roman emperor statue at the end of antiquity. Investigations into the plastic portrait of the emperor since Valentinian I (364-375 AD). Bretschneider, Rome 1982, p. 11 f. 21. 105–112 (with the older reference and list of sources).
  • Rudolf HW Stichel: On the bronze colossus of Justinian I from the Augusteion in Constantinople. In: Kurt Gschwantler et al. (Ed.): Greek and Roman statuettes and large bronzes. Files from the 9th International Conference on Antique Bronzes Vienna 1986. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 1988, pp. 130–136.

Remarks

  1. ^ Franz Alto Bauer : City, square and monument in late antiquity. Mainz 1996, p. 158.
  2. ↑ Rudolf HW Stichel : The Roman emperor statue at the end of antiquity. Investigations into the plastic portrait of the emperor since Valentinian I (364-375 AD). Rome 1982, p. 110 f.
  3. ↑ Procopius, De aedificiis 1,2,1-12.
  4. ↑ Johannes Malalas, Chronographia 482: 14-17 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Johannes Zonaras, Epitome Historion 16.6 = 63C (Teubner III p. 274, Google Books ).
  6. ↑ Georgios Pachymeres, Ἔκφρασις (Descriptio Augusteonis) ( Google Books )
  7. ^ Petrus Gyllius, De topographia Constantinopoleos, et de illius antiquitatibus. Leiden 1562, p. 104 f. ( Digitized version )
  8. ↑ Stichel 1982, pp. 105-108
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Müller-Wiener : Pictorial dictionary on the topography of Istanbul. Tübingen 1977, p. 249.
  10. ↑ Bauer 1996, p. 159, p. 255.
  11. ↑ Müller-Wiener 1977, p. 248 and Bauer 1996, p. 160.
  12. ↑ Bauer 1996, pp. 159-160.
  13. ↑ Bauer 1996, p. 162
  14. ↑ Johannes Malalas 482:14 (Bonner Corpus, digitized version ).
  15. ↑ Phyllis Williams Lehmann: Theodosius or Justinian? A Renaissance Drawing of a Byzantine Rider . In: The Art Bulletin. Volume 41, 1959, pp. 39-57.
  16. ^ Filippo Di Benedetto: Un codice epigrafico di Ciriaco ritrovato. In: Gianfranco Paci, Sergio Scomocchia (ed.): Ciriaco d'Ancona e la cultura antiquaria dell'Umanesimo. Atti del convegno internazionale di studio, Ancona 6–9 febbraio 1992. Diabasis, Reggio Emilia 1998, pp. 147–167, here pp. 152–154; see also Emanuel Mayer : Rome is where the emperor is. Studies on the state monuments of the decentralized empire from Diocletian to Theodosius II. Mainz 2002, pp. 112–113.