Septimius Severus Tondo

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Septimius Severus with his family

The Septimius Severus Tondo from around AD 200 is one of the few preserved panel paintings from antiquity. This is a tempera painting on a round wooden panel ( tondo ) with a diameter of 30.5 centimeters, which is now in the Berlin Collection of Antiquities (Inv.-No. 31329) .

The plaque shows the emperor Septimius Severus with his family: to the left of him his wife Julia Domna , in front of them his sons Geta and Caracalla . All wear solemn regalia and both Septimius Severus and his sons each hold a scepter and wear gold wreaths adorned with precious stones on their heads. Geta's face was removed from the picture, presumably immediately after his brother's murder ( Damnatio memoriae ).

The picture is one of those imperial portraits that were made in large numbers in Roman antiquity to be hung in the office. When the government changed, they were usually removed and replaced with new ones. It is very likely that the old pictures were then ignored and thrown away. Since wood is also a very perishable material, the Berlin Tondo is still the only known work of this type of imperial portrait for official offices that has survived .

Recent research suggests that the picture was originally rectangular or square. You can see this clearly on the bars, which are cut off at the top, but once carried imperial symbols. The round shape is likely modern and was cut to size by dealers for the art market.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Vincent Rondot: Derniers visages des dieux d'Égypte . Presses de l'université Paris-Sorbonne (Pups), Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-84050-857-1 , pp. 33 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '10 "  N , 13 ° 23' 54"  E