Publius Cipius Polybius

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Publius Cipius Polybius was an ancient Roman Toreut (metal sculptor) from Campania , most likely from Capua .

The largest number of signed works has come down to us by Publius Cipius Polybius. In the meantime, just over 100 pieces have been found that were signed by him or provided with his stamp. These are casseroles and bowls made of bronze . They are widely distributed and have been found in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia , which speaks for well-developed and well-functioning long-distance trade structures.

End of a casserole handle marked CIPI , possibly a piece from the workshop of Publius Cipius Polybius, North Lincolnshire Museum (160614)

Heinrich Willers described the importance of Publius Cipius Polybius and Lucius Ansius Epaphroditus , of whom the second most pieces (40) have survived, in 1901 with the words “According to the findings, the two manufacturers [...] had the largest companies and with theirs Were dominated the world market ”. In addition, both come from important Campanian families who made such products. Between the 1900s and the 1980s, when the number of finds doubled, there was an approximately even percentage increase in new finds from both companies compared to the material already known to Willers, which is why it can be assumed that the amount of finds roughly reflects the size of the companies. Other well-known gates from Gens Cipius include:

In addition, there are five other signature stamps, which have only been preserved in fragments, for which it is not always clear whether they might be identical to other cipers. So it is not unlikely that the people behind the stamps Cipius A (.) C (…) , Cipius Au (…) , Cipius Auc (…) and Cipius Aug (…) are the same person. Another stamp names a Cipius Am (...) . Three finds have only the signature Cipius , it can be an individual person, or it can be assigned to each of the other gate slaves in the family. In any case, it can be assumed that the workshop of Publius Cipius Polybius was the most important of its kind in Campania at its time.

The signed shapes were dominated by three shapes: saucepans with round holes, trifolian saucepans (clover leaf saucepans) and bath bowls. It is unknown whether other shapes were produced in large numbers, although other shapes apart from trowels were generally only rarely signed. It may also be an indication of a very specialized workshop. It is at least striking that among the pieces of Cipius Polybius there was an extremely small number of the two most famous forms from Capua, namely those of the swan's head casseroles or the casseroles with semicircular holes. Almost all of the signed bath bowls were found within Italy, so they weren't as successful in exports as the saucepans. So far there have been no finds in the so-called “ Barbarikum ”. It is also unknown how the pieces were distributed. Many pieces were certainly negotiated, but it can be assumed that some of the pieces, especially those found in military contexts, also traveled with the owners due to troop movements in the Roman Empire. There are civil found circumstances mainly from the Italian motherland. It was probably the case that such high quality products could only be paid for by wealthy customers, and outside Italy that was mainly the military. There are no finds from Hispania and the Asian parts of the empire, but also from Africa. This has nothing to do with the circumstances of the find, but with local metalworkers based in Africa and Hispania. Only the missing finds in North Africa cannot yet be explained.

Apart from the finds themselves, there is no further literary or epigraphic information on Cipius Polybius, but the Cipier family is documented several times in Capua. Heinrich Willers tends towards a comparatively early date in the reigns of Emperors Claudius and Nero , Aladár Radnóti sets the duration of the workshop longer, from the Claudian to the Flavian period. Robert Carr Bosanquet dated between 50 and 90/100, Peter Schauer from the first third of the first century to the Flavian period. Julian Bennett and Robert Young tend to date back to the period between 60/65 and 85. Both the production and the circumstances of the find all point to the first century, no find from the Trajan period or later is known from secured find circumstances . Since ten of the pieces were found in the Vesuvius cities, primarily Pompeii and Herculaneum , the workshop must have been in operation before it was buried in 79, rather earlier, as it can be assumed that it will be used every day. The finds from the Scottish camp at Cardean , which was only occupied between the ages of 81 and 85, are reasonably certain . Litter finds from Pannonian camps also all point to Domitian times. However, all of the data only allow an imprecise classification, as it is not known how long they were in circulation.

The cognomen Polybios indicates a Greek origin, so one can assume that he was a freedman . The stamped signature was not always the same, sometimes it read correctly POLYBI , sometimes it was POLIBY or POLIBI . In addition, the outdated form POLVYBI is used . This probably had no deeper reasons, but it was simply not entirely unproblematic and also not handled uniformly how to translate Greek names into Latin . It is unclear what practical position Cipius Polybius held. Whether he was just the owner and the signatures are to be understood as brand names or whether he also actively worked in the production, which would make it real manufacturer's signatures, has to remain unclear. References to the first variant are the different signature stamps. At least 19 different ones were identified for Cipius Polybius, made by at least four different die cutters, which also explains the different forms of the name in the signature.

literature

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ^ Robert Carr Bosanquet: Notes on the Roman forts at Rough Castle and Westerwood. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland , Volume 62, pp. 243-297.
  2. ↑ Peter Schauer: Two Roman bronze saucepans from Heddernheim (Nida). In: Find reports from Hessen , Volume 6 (1966), pp. 49-77.
  3. ^ Julian Bennett, Robert Young: Some New and Some Forgotten Stamped Skillets, and the Date of P. Cipius Polybius. In: Britannia , Vol. 12 (1981), pp. 37-44.
personal data
SURNAME Cipius Polybius, Publius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Polybius, Publius Cipius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Roman Toreut
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century or 2nd century