Thermae ruler

The ruler of the thermal baths is a large Hellenistic bronze in the best state of preservation. It was found in Rome not far from the Quirinal pugilist discovered in 1885 . The sculpture, which is 2.04 m high from feet to crown , is currently in the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome. It has the inventory number 1049. Both statues were deliberately buried at the end of antiquity and were probably once part of the statuary furnishings of the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal . The dating of the statue is controversial and varies between the 2nd half of the 4th century and the middle of the 1st century BC. BC, with a tendency to date to the 2nd century BC. Chr.

description

After its discovery, the bronze statue was placed in the Baths of Diocletian , from where it got its name. It is an upright Hellenistic bronze statue of a naked man leaning on a lance . With the right hand of the arm, which is led slightly behind the body, he supports himself on the gluteus . The weight is on the right standing leg . The stand motif, especially in its proportions , indicates the stylistic successor to Lysipp . The identification of what is depicted is controversial in research. It is unclear whether it is a Hellenistic ruler, a Roman general who had military successes in the Greek-speaking East, or a mythological figure - such as one of the Dioscuri . The missing diadem , which would clearly identify him as a ruler, is important here . His short, slightly unkempt beard could be interpreted as the beard of a soldier standing in the field. It is therefore assumed that the sitter is not yet a ruler, but a pretender to the throne . There is also the interpretation that the statue made in the Hellenistic style could be an honorary statue for a Roman. So see Stefan Lehmann , who suggests identification with Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus , or Detlev Kreikenbom , who z. B. on the study of Augustus portraits of the so-called Actium type by Paul Zanker . Vinzenz Brinkmann revived a thesis put forward by Phyllis L. Williams in 1945, according to which the statue of the spa ruler shows Polydeukes, which is connected with the pugilist statue of the Quirinal, which he also interprets as the Bebryk king Amykos defeated in a fistfight. The reconstruction as a mythological group was shown in 2018 in the Liebieghaus Frankfurt / Main and put up for discussion.

Similar statues

The ruler of the thermal baths is one of the seven preserved Greek and Great Greek bronze statues. The others are the pugilist from the Quirinal , the charioteer from Delphi , the Poseidon from Cape Artemision , the horseman from Cape Artemision and the bronze statues from Riace . The fragment of the so-called Chatsworth-Apollo should also be mentioned in this context .

literature

Phyllis L. Williams: Amykos and the Dioskouroi. In: American Journal of Archeology . Vol. 49, No. 3, 1945, pp. 330-347, doi : 10.2307 / 499627 .
Nikolaus Himmelmann : ruler and athlete. The bronzes from the Quirinal. Olivetti, Milan 1989, DNB 962711780 , p. 126 ff. And p. 205 ff.
Stefan Lehmann : The ruler of the thermal baths and the footprints of the Attalids. To the Olympic statue base of Q. Caec. Metellus Macedonicus. In: Nürnberger Blätter to archeology . Volume 13, 1997, pp. 107-130.
Andreas Linfert : Bearded rulers. In the yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute . Volume 91, 1976, pp. 157-174 ( excerpts in the Google book search).
Ulrich Sinn : Introduction to Classical Archeology. Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-45401-1 , pp. 134-139 ( excerpts in the Google book search).
Detlev Kreikenbom : Greek and Roman colossal portraits up to the late first century AD (= yearbook of the German Archaeological Institute. Supplementary books . Volume 27). Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-11-013253-2 , ( online in Google book search).
Ulrich-Walter Gans : Attalid rulers portraits. Studies of the Hellenistic portrait sculpture of Pergamon (= Philippika. Volume 15). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-447-05430-1 .
Vinzenz Brinkmann : Back to the classic. In: Vinzenz Brinkmann (Hrsg.): Back to the classic. A new look at ancient Greece. Hirmer, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-7774-2008-0 , pp. 14–57.

Web links

Commons : Thermenherrscher - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

↑ Ulrich-Walter Gans : Attalid rulers portraits. Studies of the Hellenistic portrait sculpture of Pergamon (= Philippika. Volume 15). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-447-05430-1 , p. 50.
↑ Stefan Lehmann : The ruler of the thermal baths and the footprints of the Attalids. To the Olympic statue base of Q. Caec. Metellus Macedonicus. In: Nürnberger Blätter to archeology . Volume 13, 1997, p. 115.

[1] Ulrich-Walter Gans : Attalid rulers portraits. Studies of the Hellenistic portrait sculpture of Pergamon (= Philippika. Volume 15). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-447-05430-1 , p. 50.

[2] Stefan Lehmann : The ruler of the thermal baths and the footprints of the Attalids. To the Olympic statue base of Q. Caec. Metellus Macedonicus. In: Nürnberger Blätter to archeology . Volume 13, 1997, p. 115.