View allAll Photos Tagged classicalart
English: Livia Drusilla, wife of Emperor August. Basalt, Roman artwork, ca. 31 BCE.
Français : Livia Drusilla, femme de l'empereur Auguste. Basanite, œuvre romaine, vers 31 av. J.-C.
Dimensions H. 32 cm (12 ½ in.)
Credit line Fould Collection; purchase, 1860
Accession number Ma 1233 (NIII 1035)
Location Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Denon, ground floor, room 23
Source/Photographer Marie-Lan Nguyen (User:Jastrow), 2007
Gaius (Caligula). AD 37-41. Æ As (12.33 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 40-41. C CAESAR DIVI AVG PRON AVG P M TR P IIII P P, bare head left / VESTA, S C across field, Vesta seated left, holding patera in extended right hand, cradling scepter in left arm. RIC I 38; BMCRE 46; BN 54; Cohen 27.For more on Caligulan Numismatic Articles see:
Related Articles of Caligula from American Numismatic Society Library Search
Library Catalog Search (Preliminary Version)
Full Record: Barrett, Anthony A. The invalidation of currency in the Roman Empire : the Claudian demonetization of Caligula's AES. (1999)
Full Record: Bost, Jean-Pierre. Routes, cits et ateliers montaires : quelques remarques sur les officines hispaniques entre les rgnes d'Auguste en de Caligula. (1999)
Full Record: Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information de Grenoble. Grenoble : Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information : catalogue des monnaies. II. Monnaies romaines. Monnaies impriales romaines. 2. Caligula - Neron . Index. / Bernard Rmy, Frdric Bontoux, Virginie Risler. (1998)
Full Record: Gainor, John R. The image of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from coins / by John R. Gainor.
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Monete romane imperiali del Museo G. B. Adriani. Parte 3, Caius (37-41 d.C.) / Rodolfo Martini. (2001)
Full Record: ACCLA privy to presentation by Richard Baker on Caligula. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 1. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 2. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 3. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. Caligula on the Lower Rhine : Coin finds from the Roman Fort of Albaniana (The Netherlands) / Fleur Kemmers. (2004)
Full Record: Estiot, Sylviane. Le trsor de Meussia (Jura) : 399 monnaies d'argent d'poques rpublicaine et julio-claudienne / Sylviane Estiot, Isabelle Aymar. (2002)
Full Record: Gocht, Hans. Namenstilgungen an Bronzemünzen des Caligula und Claudius / Hans Gocht. (2003)
Full Record: Gomis Justo, Marivi. Ercavica : La emision de Caligula. Estimacion del numero de cunos originales.
Full Record: Sayles, Wayne G. Fakes on the Internet. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. The coin finds from the Roman fort Albaniana, the Netherlands / Fleur Kemmers . (2005)
Full Record: Lopez Snchez, Fernando. La afirmacion soberana de Caligula y de Claudio y el fin de las acunaciones ciudadanas en occidente / Fernando Lopez Snchez. (2000)
Full Record: Besombes, Paul-Andr. Les monnaies hispaniques de Claude Ier des dpôts de la Vilaine (Rennes) et de Saint-Lonard (Mayenne) : tmoins de quel type de contact entre l'Armorique et la pninsule ibrique ? / Paul-Andr Besombes. (2005)
Full Record: Catalli, Fiorenzo. Le thesaurus de Sora / Fiorenzo Catalli et John Scheid.
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Faux deniers de Caligula de la Renaissance.
Full Record: Vermeule, Cornelius. Faces of Empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian). Part II(B), More young faces : Caligula again and Nero reborn / Cornelius Vermeule. (2005)
Full Record: Geranio, Joe. Portraits of Caligula : the seated figure? / Joe Geranio. (2007)
Full Record: Aguilera Hernandez, Alberto. Acerca de un as de Caligula hallado en Zaragoza / Alberto Aguilera Hernandez. (2007)
Full Record: Butcher, K. E. T. Caligula : the evil emperor. (1985)
Full Record: Fuchs, Michaela. Frauen um Caligula und Claudius : Milonia Caesonia, Drusilla und Messalina. (1990)
Full Record: Faur, Jean-Claude. Moneda de Caligula de Museo Arqueologico Provincial de Tarragona. (1979)
Full Record: British Museum. Dept. of coins and medals. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British museum. Vol. I: Augustus to Vitellius / by Harold Mattingly. (1976)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. A Caligula Isotope of Hadrian. (1968)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. The Metamorphosis of an Allegad 'As of Hadrian.' (1968)
Full Record: Bendall, Simon. A 'new' gold quinarius of Caligula. (1985)
Full Record: Cortellini, Nereo. Le monete di Caligola nel Cohen.
Full Record: Guey, Julien. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula "Immensi Avreorvm Acervi (Sutone, Cal., 42,3).
Full Record: Guey, J. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula : Sutone, Cal. 42, 3.
Full Record: Curry, Michael R. The Aes Quadrans of Caligula. (1968)
Full Record: Jonas, Elemr. L'emploi dar "damnatio memoriae" sur l'un des "dupondius" de Calgula. (1937)
Full Record: Julian, R. W. The coins of Caligula. (1994)
Full Record: Donciu, Ramiro. Cu privire la activitatea militara a lui Caius (Caligula) in anul 40 e.n. (1983)
Full Record: Hansen, Peter. A history of Caligula's Vesta. (1992)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Augustus, Caligula oder Caludius? (1978)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Die Organisation der Münzprgung Caligulas. (1987)
Full Record: Johansen, Flemming S. The sculpted portraits of Caligula. (1987)
Full Record: Carter, G. F. Chemical compositions of copper-based Roman coins. V : imitations of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero / G. F. Carter and others. (1978)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. L'atelier de Lyon sous Auguste : Tibre et Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Les missions d'or et d'argent de Caligula dans l'atelier de Lyon. (1976)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Le monnayage de l'atelier de Lyon des origines au rgne de Caligula (43 avant J.-C. - 41 aprs J.-C.). (1983)
Full Record: Nony, D. Quelques as d'imitation de Caligula trouves a Bordeaux (Gironde). (1981)
Full Record: Levy, Brooks Emmons. Caligula's radiate crown. (1988)
Full Record: Poulsen, Vagn. Un nouveau visage de Caligula. (1972)
Full Record: Price, Martin Jessop. Elephant in Crete? New light ona cistophorus of Caligula. (1973)
Full Record: MacInnis, H. Frank. Ego-driven emperor commits excesses. (1979)
Full Record: McKenna, Thomas P. The case of the curious coin of Caligula : a provincial bronze restruck with legend-only dies. (1994)
Full Record: Mowat, Robert. Bronzes remarquables de Tibre, de son fils, de ses petits-fils et de Caligula. (1911)
Full Record: Koenig, Franz E. Roma, monete dal Tevere : l'imperatore Gaio (Caligola). (1988)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. Caligula's coins profile despot. (1993)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. A numismatic mystery : "the Caligula quadrans." (1994)
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Osservazioni su contromarche ed erosioni su assi de Caligula. (1980)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Moneta Imperii Romani. Band 2 und 3. Die Münzprgung der Kaiser Tiberius und Caius (Caligula) 14/41 / von Wolfgang Szaivert. (1984)
Full Record: Boschung, Dietrich. Die Bildnisse des Caligula. Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Jucker, Hans. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Das Romische Herrscherbild. 1. Abt., Bd. 4, Die Bildnisse des Caligula / Dietrich Boschung ; mit einem Beitrag von Hans-Markus von Kaenel ; auf Grund der Vorarbeiten und Marterialsammlungen von Hans Jucker. (1989)
Full Record: Rosborough, Ruskin R. An epigraphic commentary on Suetonius's life of Gaius Caligula. A thesis...for the...Doctor of Philosophy. (1920)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. A propos de l'aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. Un aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Ritter, Hans-Werner. Adlocutio und Corona Civica unter Caligula und Tiberius. (1971)
Full Record: Kumpikevicius, Gordon C. A numismatic look at Gaius. (1979)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. La coerenza di Caligola nella gestione della moneta / Adriano Savio. (1988)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. Note su alcune monete di Gaio-Caligola. (1973)
Full Record: Stylow, Armin U. Die Quadranten des Caligula als Propaganda-münzen.münzen" aus der stdtischen sammlung zu Osnabrück. (1971)
Full Record: Schwartz, Jacques. Le Monnayage Snatorial entre 37 et 42 P.C. (1951)
Full Record: Rodolfo Martini, ed. Sylloge nummorum Romanorum. Italia. Milano, Civiche Raccolte Numismatiche Vol. 1 Giulio-Claudii / a cura di Rodolfo Martini. (1990)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Zur Julisch-Claudischen Münzprgung. (1979)
Full Record: Vedrianus. The Roman Imperial series. V. Gaius. (1963)
Full Record: Tietze, Christian M. Kaiser Cajus Caesar, genannt Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Wood, Susan. Diva Drusilla Panthea and the sisters of Caligula / Susan Wood. (1995)
Full Record: Sutherland, Carol Humphrey Vivian. Coinage in Roman imperial policy 31 B.C.-A.D. 68. (1951)
Full Record: Sutherland, C. H. V. The mints of Lugdunum and Rome under Gaius : an unsolved problem. (1981)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Familienpropaganda der Kaiser Caligula und Claudius : Agrippina Maior und Antonia Augusta auf Münzen. (1978)
Full Record: Voirol, August. Eine Warenumsatzsteuer im antiken Rom und der numismatische Beleg inher Aufhebung : Centesima rerum venalium. (1943)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Zur Münzprgung des Caligula von Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza). (1973)
Remastered from Alfred von Domaszewski Geschichte der Romischen Kaiser Verlag von Quelle & Meyer in Leipzig 1914.
Date
Source Alfred von Domaszewski Geschichte der Romischen Kaiser Verlag von Quelle & Meyer in Leipzig 1914.
Author Pablo000 cc wiki
Lot 57, torso of an Emperor, Roman Imperial, Julio-Claudian, 1st half of 1st Century A.D., marble, 43 5/16 inches high
By Carter B. Horsley
This June 11, 2010 auction of Antiquities at Sotheby's is small in quality but very high in quality with some very impressive Roman sculpture and some nice Egyptian works.
The most spectacular work is Lot 57, a large, Roman marble torso of an emperior from the Roman Imperiod Julio-Claudian Period in the first half of the 1st Century A.D.
The statue is 43 5/16 inches high and although it is missing a head, arms and legs it is an animated pose. It is, in fact, perhaps more impressive than a naked god or goddess that might have smooth and seemingly surfaces as the torso here is clad in a highly ornate uniform with rich sculptural groupings and a marvelously rippled "skirt." It is in wonderful condition and the top half of the depicted silver uniform has a radiant god flanked by four rearing horses. The lower half has two winged gods with shields. The top of the "skirt" has two rows of highly decorative flaps. The catalogue suggests that the sculpture probably represents Augustus, Tiberius, or Claudius and is carved in two parts and is standing with the weight on his right leg. It is "wearing a tunic, leather corselet with fringed lappets falling at the waist and shoulders, bronze cuirass, and paludamentum falling from the left shoulder over the back and formerly over the extended left forearm, the bronze brestplate decorated in relief on the chest with the god Sol emerging from the waters in a front quadriga and on the adboment with two Victories flanking a trophy and handing shield onto it, a large inverted palmette below with scrolling acanthus and rosettes on eiter side, the upper row of pteryges decorated with alternativing feline heads above lotus flowers and saddorsed rams' heads above palmettes, the lower row with alternativng gorgoneira and palmettes, a bearded head interrupting the sequence on the right hip."
The sculpture is "from one of the Twin Temples on the northeast corner of the forum of Salona in Dalmatia. It is property from an Austrian family collection.
The lot has a conservative estimate of $800,000 to $1.200,000. It sold for $7,362,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.
Cuirass bust of Caligula.
Marble. 37—41 A.D.
Height 51 cm.
Inv. No. 1453.
Copenhagen, New Carlsberg Glyptotek.
educational use only
General:
Type - main designation: Caligula second In addition to type
Roman portrait
Classification: Portrait Kaiserhaus male beardless
Eponymous copy / main example: 8619
Characteristics:
The temple hair is done on both sides of the front, its contact points down. The hair in the ears of the corresponding batch of the same main type. The forelock, however differs from the two known replica series. This is dissolved in thin, tightly strung and shaped curls over the forehead center a small, collapsed pliers. The following strands lie parallel and are thus turned to the middle of the forehead, they end on a laterally sloping line. The movements are different hair at the front corners: are on the outer corner of his right eye after a small fork, two thin curls painted outwards to create an inturned, deep reaching down sickle Locke another collapsed pliers. Including the tips of the temporal hair down. On the left side, however, the temporal hair ends with a small fork on directly to the forehead curls.
Classification:
The design of the temple hair is from 1 In addition to type-dependent, it is not clear whether the group around the statue in Copenhagen first a standalone type or variant of a workshop for Besides type forms (Boschung 62). Time she also belongs to the reign of Caligula.
Dating:
Type / design: iulisch - Claudian, 2nd Third first Cent. AD (37?).
Bibliography:
D. Boschung, The portraits of Caligula. The Roman ruler image I 4 (Berlin 1989) 60 et seq;
F. Johansen, in: Ancient Portraits in the J. Paul Getty Museum 1 (1987) 87 et seq;
H. Jucker ArtVirg 1973, 2, 16 ff;
USED UNDER DAI CC GUIDELINES- arachne.uni-koeln.de/drupal/?q=node/199
This magnificent Victorian marble statue of The Flight from Pompeii resides in the Statuary House of the Ballarat Botanic Gardens.
Inspired by the gift of twelve marble statues to the people of Ballarat by Thomas Stoddart (1828 - 1905), James Russell Thomson (1818 - 1952) left a bequest from which The Flight from Pompeii and five other statues were purchased. They were presented to the people of Ballarat on 3rd August 1888.
Naxian Sphinx (2.3m / 7.5ft tall)
c. 570-560BCE, archaic period
Delphi Museum, Greece
Originally perched atop a 10m (33ft) tall Ionic column next to the Temple of Apollo's retaining wall, this giant sphinx towered above pilgrims climbing the Sacred Way towards the temple and its oracle. Dedicated by the people of the island of Naxos, an inscription on the base reminded viewers that they had promanteia, the right to cut in line when seeking the advice of the Pythia, the priestess who spoke Apollo's oracles.
The style is archaic, characterized by the slightly geometric and stiff posture, almond-shaped eyes and enigmatic smile.
© 2005 Ellen Brundige
Illustration for Ancient Greece Odyssey Part Four: Delphi.
(information on Sphinx from Delphi by Basil Petrakos p. 50)
P.S. Do you enjoy Greek mythology? Check out my Mythical Monsters of Ancient Greece Trivia Quiz!
Epaphroditus: name of two Roman patrons of the literary arts, a courtier and a grammarian. Both were born between 20 and 25 and died in c.96. They are mentioned as sponsors of the careers of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and the Greek philosopher Epictetus.
Tiberius Claudius Epaphroditus
"Epaphroditus" (Επαφροδιτος) was a common name for a slave, and may or may not suggest that the master demanded sexual services from his servant. We don't know who was Epaphroditus' master, but it is likely that he was emancipated by the emperor Claudius (41-54). Because freedmen usually accepted the name of their former master, the official name of Epaphroditus was Tiberius Claudius Epaphroditus, to which Augusti libertus ("freedman of the emperor") could be added.
Epaphroditus was a courtier of Claudius' stepson and successor Nero. He is mentioned as apparitor Caesarum, which means that he was some sort of servant of the imperial family, but his duties are not mentioned. As viator tribunicius he must have served someone with the powers of a tribune, and this can have been none other than the emperor. At some stage, Epaphroditus obtained the position of a libellis, which means that he drafted Nero's replies to petitions. The precise nature of the first two positions is unclear, but the a libellis was one of the most important men at the imperial court.
Nero (Glyptothek, Munich)
It was probably at this stage in his career, in 65, that Epaphroditus learned that a senator named Gaius Calpurnius Piso and many others had organized a coup. Epaphroditus immediately reported it to the emperor and the conspirators were arrested. In this context, the Roman historian Tacitus calls Epaphroditus "Nero's freedman", which does not exclude the possibility that he had not obtained the office of a libellis yet, and reached this position as a reward for saving the emperor's life. On the other hand, the fact that he could decisively intervene suggests that he was already a man of great importance.
After the execution of the conspirators, Epaphroditus received military honors. He was now a wealthy man and owned large gardens on the Esquiline hill, east of the Domus Aurea ("golden house"), which Nero had started to construct after the great fire that had destroyed Rome in 64.
Epaphroditus remained loyal to his emperor until the very end. When Nero was declared a public enemy by the Senate in June 68, Epaphroditus and two or three other freedmen accompanied the ruler on his escape from Rome, and when Nero realized that he should commit suicide to prevent a worse death, Epaphroditus offered a helping hand.
After this, he disappears from our sources. Keeping a low profile, he survived the fall of Nero and the brief reigns of Galba (68-69), Otho (first half 69), and Vitellius (second half of 69). The last-mentioned started to put an end to the influence of freedmen on the imperial bureaucracy, a policy that was continued by Vespasian (69-79), Titus (79-81), and Domitian (81-96), who, according to Suetonius, appointed Epaphroditus as his secretary.
This piece of information may be wrong, because Epaphroditus, while living in retirement, protected the philosopher Epictetus, until Domitian expelled all philosophers from Rome. It is unlikely that the emperor reappointed a man who had been sympathetic to Nero and was connected to the opposition. This also casts some doubt on the story of Epaphroditus' death: according to, again, Suetonius, Domitian had Epaphroditus executed in 95.
Domitian (Museo Arqueológico, Sevilla)
Epaphroditus of Chaeronea
The other Epaphroditus was born in Chaeronea in Greece, probably in 23. He was a slave in the house of Archias, a famous grammaticus (= teacher of Greek literature) who educated the young man. Later, Epaphroditus was sold to and freed by a Roman knight named Marcus Mettius Modestus, who was prefect of Egypt in the fifties and resided in Alexandria. After his emancipation, the freedman was officially called Marcus Mettius Epaphroditus, as can be seen on the little statue in the Palazzo Altieri in Rome.
He settled in Rome, where he founded a school, owned two houses, founded a library that boasted no less than 30,000 scrolls, and published several books. We know several titles:
A grammatical Commentary on Homer, fragments of which survive. Epaphroditus appears to have had an interest in the etymology of place names.
A commentary on the Aitia ("causes") by Callimachus of Cyrene.
A commentary on the Shield of Heracles, which was attributed to the legendary poet Hesiod.
Two other literary works, called the Lexeis ("words" or "literary styles") and the Peri Stoicheiôn (on "first principles of language").
Like his namesake, the grammarian from Chaeronea may have experienced problems during the reign of Domitian, when the Mettius family fell into disgrace. Epaphroditus died during the reign of the emperor Nerva (96-98).
Identical?
It is tempting to assume that the two men are identical. They were both freedmen and masters of the Greek language, and their careers supplement each other: a boy born in Chaeronea can have been a slave in Alexandria, may have been emancipated by Claudius, can have been promoted by Nero, may have changed his name to dissociate himself from the Julio-Claudian dynasty, can have published several treatises during the reigns of Vespasian and Domitian, and may have fallen into disgrace in 95. The sources only contradict each other on the subject of Epaphroditus' death, and this contradiction is not really something to worry about as Suetonius' information may be wrong.
Roman portrait bust, said to be of Flavius Josephus (from Dossiers d' Archéologie, 2001; ©!!!)
Epaphroditus and Josephus
The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus mentions an Epaphroditus as his patron in the Jewish Antiquities, his Autobiography, and Against the Greeks. But which one? Although the identification of the protector of Josephus may seem a triviality, it is in fact a very important question, because Against the Greeks was a highly polemical defense of Judaism in a decade that is marked by anti-Semitic measures. The emperor Domitian wanted the Jews to pay more taxes (the fiscus Judaicus) and executed his relative Flavius Clemens, who had sympathized with the Jews.
Now if Josephus collaborated with the first Epaphroditus, Against the Greeks must have been published before Epaphroditus was executed, in other words before 95 and during the reign of Domitian. If this is correct, Against the Greeks must be read as a brave attempt to contradict the emperor himself. It is possible that the execution of Tiberius Claudius Epaphroditus was related to the publication of Josephus' treatise. On the other hand, if Josephus' patron was the Chaeronean Epaphroditus, Against the Greeks was published during the reign of the benign emperor Nerva, and no great risks were involved.
Of course it can not be excluded that the Epaphroditus mentioned by Josephus is a completely different man; the name itself is not uncommon.
Emperor Augustus above a Double Capricorn, late 1st century b.c.–early 1st century a.d.
Roman
Sardonyx; later mounted in gold for suspension
7/8 x 1 1/8 in. (23 x 28 mm)
Gift of Milton Weil, 1929 (29.175.4)
The minute profile bust of the emperor crowned with laurel was carved in intaglio into the middle white stratum of the stone. The double Capricorn, Augustus' well-publicized astrological sign, is in relief, in regular cameo fashion.
educational Use Only
Occasionally numismatic items appear that few have ever seen, and actual production dies are one of these, however a die used to strike ancient coins is an even rarer item.
Below is some background on unique example of an ancient coin die used to strike a Tribute Penny – Denarius of the mint of Lugdunum, and perhaps the first known evidence of early coin brockage.
We hope you find this as interesting as we have.
The Stacks Catelog states the following:
“A Unique Die for a Tribute Penny – Denarius of the mint of Lugdunum. An official die with the obverse of a denarius stuck on the top. Laureate head r.; TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS. 161.16 grams. Height: 36.8mm, circumference: 31.4mm at its widest.
In Catalogue des Monnaies de l’Empire Romain, Tiberius- Nero (Paris, 1988), Jean-Baptiste Giard listed 12 known dies, 11 of which having been found in the Lugdunum (Lyon) area (an area of 200km).
Four were found in 1863 at Paray-le-Monial (Saone-et-Loire) and are now in museums. Six were unearthed in Auxerre (Yonne) in 1799, four of which are now at he Cabinet des Médailles de la BnF; the other two reside at the Musee monétaire de la Monnaie de Paris. And one was found at Vertault (Côte d’or).
This die come from an old collection in Poule-les-Echarmaux (Rhône), which is in the same area.
An analysis done on the back of the die here shows an identical composition to the other 12, hence showing that it is an official die. The likeliest hypothesis as to why there is a Tribute Penny Obverse showing on the top is that in the course of striking with the die, a completed Denarius was stuck inside the die and brockages were erroneously turned out for a short period.
When the mint worker caught on and attempted to pull the Denarius out so that the die could be used correctly, he couldn’t. The few scratches before the face of Tiberius stands as proof of this deducement. Failing in his attempt, the mint worker placed the die on the side to be destroyed.
A historic and unique remnant of the ancient Roman minting process, and perhaps the first known evidence of early coin brockage.
wwwTEXT.
EDUCATIONAL USE ONLYFor more on Caligulan Numismatic Articles see: Coins courtesy cngoins.com
Related Articles of Caligula from American Numismatic Society Library Search
Library Catalog Search (Preliminary Version)
Full Record: Barrett, Anthony A. The invalidation of currency in the Roman Empire : the Claudian demonetization of Caligula's AES. (1999)
Full Record: Bost, Jean-Pierre. Routes, cits et ateliers montaires : quelques remarques sur les officines hispaniques entre les rgnes d'Auguste en de Caligula. (1999)
Full Record: Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information de Grenoble. Grenoble : Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information : catalogue des monnaies. II. Monnaies romaines. Monnaies impriales romaines. 2. Caligula - Neron . Index. / Bernard Rmy, Frdric Bontoux, Virginie Risler. (1998)
Full Record: Gainor, John R. The image of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from coins / by John R. Gainor.
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Monete romane imperiali del Museo G. B. Adriani. Parte 3, Caius (37-41 d.C.) / Rodolfo Martini. (2001)
Full Record: ACCLA privy to presentation by Richard Baker on Caligula. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 1. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 2. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 3. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. Caligula on the Lower Rhine : Coin finds from the Roman Fort of Albaniana (The Netherlands) / Fleur Kemmers. (2004)
Full Record: Estiot, Sylviane. Le trsor de Meussia (Jura) : 399 monnaies d'argent d'poques rpublicaine et julio-claudienne / Sylviane Estiot, Isabelle Aymar. (2002)
Full Record: Gocht, Hans. Namenstilgungen an Bronzemünzen des Caligula und Claudius / Hans Gocht. (2003)
Full Record: Gomis Justo, Marivi. Ercavica : La emision de Caligula. Estimacion del numero de cunos originales.
Full Record: Sayles, Wayne G. Fakes on the Internet. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. The coin finds from the Roman fort Albaniana, the Netherlands / Fleur Kemmers . (2005)
Full Record: Lopez Snchez, Fernando. La afirmacion soberana de Caligula y de Claudio y el fin de las acunaciones ciudadanas en occidente / Fernando Lopez Snchez. (2000)
Full Record: Besombes, Paul-Andr. Les monnaies hispaniques de Claude Ier des dpôts de la Vilaine (Rennes) et de Saint-Lonard (Mayenne) : tmoins de quel type de contact entre l'Armorique et la pninsule ibrique ? / Paul-Andr Besombes. (2005)
Full Record: Catalli, Fiorenzo. Le thesaurus de Sora / Fiorenzo Catalli et John Scheid.
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Faux deniers de Caligula de la Renaissance.
Full Record: Vermeule, Cornelius. Faces of Empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian). Part II(B), More young faces : Caligula again and Nero reborn / Cornelius Vermeule. (2005)
Full Record: Geranio, Joe. Portraits of Caligula : the seated figure? / Joe Geranio. (2007)
Full Record: Aguilera Hernandez, Alberto. Acerca de un as de Caligula hallado en Zaragoza / Alberto Aguilera Hernandez. (2007)
Full Record: Butcher, K. E. T. Caligula : the evil emperor. (1985)
Full Record: Fuchs, Michaela. Frauen um Caligula und Claudius : Milonia Caesonia, Drusilla und Messalina. (1990)
Full Record: Faur, Jean-Claude. Moneda de Caligula de Museo Arqueologico Provincial de Tarragona. (1979)
Full Record: British Museum. Dept. of coins and medals. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British museum. Vol. I: Augustus to Vitellius / by Harold Mattingly. (1976)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. A Caligula Isotope of Hadrian. (1968)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. The Metamorphosis of an Allegad 'As of Hadrian.' (1968)
Full Record: Bendall, Simon. A 'new' gold quinarius of Caligula. (1985)
Full Record: Cortellini, Nereo. Le monete di Caligola nel Cohen.
Full Record: Guey, Julien. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula "Immensi Avreorvm Acervi (Sutone, Cal., 42,3).
Full Record: Guey, J. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula : Sutone, Cal. 42, 3.
Full Record: Curry, Michael R. The Aes Quadrans of Caligula. (1968)
Full Record: Jonas, Elemr. L'emploi dar "damnatio memoriae" sur l'un des "dupondius" de Calgula. (1937)
Full Record: Julian, R. W. The coins of Caligula. (1994)
Full Record: Donciu, Ramiro. Cu privire la activitatea militara a lui Caius (Caligula) in anul 40 e.n. (1983)
Full Record: Hansen, Peter. A history of Caligula's Vesta. (1992)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Augustus, Caligula oder Caludius? (1978)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Die Organisation der Münzprgung Caligulas. (1987)
Full Record: Johansen, Flemming S. The sculpted portraits of Caligula. (1987)
Full Record: Carter, G. F. Chemical compositions of copper-based Roman coins. V : imitations of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero / G. F. Carter and others. (1978)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. L'atelier de Lyon sous Auguste : Tibre et Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Les missions d'or et d'argent de Caligula dans l'atelier de Lyon. (1976)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Le monnayage de l'atelier de Lyon des origines au rgne de Caligula (43 avant J.-C. - 41 aprs J.-C.). (1983)
Full Record: Nony, D. Quelques as d'imitation de Caligula trouves a Bordeaux (Gironde). (1981)
Full Record: Levy, Brooks Emmons. Caligula's radiate crown. (1988)
Full Record: Poulsen, Vagn. Un nouveau visage de Caligula. (1972)
Full Record: Price, Martin Jessop. Elephant in Crete? New light ona cistophorus of Caligula. (1973)
Full Record: MacInnis, H. Frank. Ego-driven emperor commits excesses. (1979)
Full Record: McKenna, Thomas P. The case of the curious coin of Caligula : a provincial bronze restruck with legend-only dies. (1994)
Full Record: Mowat, Robert. Bronzes remarquables de Tibre, de son fils, de ses petits-fils et de Caligula. (1911)
Full Record: Koenig, Franz E. Roma, monete dal Tevere : l'imperatore Gaio (Caligola). (1988)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. Caligula's coins profile despot. (1993)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. A numismatic mystery : "the Caligula quadrans." (1994)
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Osservazioni su contromarche ed erosioni su assi de Caligula. (1980)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Moneta Imperii Romani. Band 2 und 3. Die Münzprgung der Kaiser Tiberius und Caius (Caligula) 14/41 / von Wolfgang Szaivert. (1984)
Full Record: Boschung, Dietrich. Die Bildnisse des Caligula. Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Jucker, Hans. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Das Romische Herrscherbild. 1. Abt., Bd. 4, Die Bildnisse des Caligula / Dietrich Boschung ; mit einem Beitrag von Hans-Markus von Kaenel ; auf Grund der Vorarbeiten und Marterialsammlungen von Hans Jucker. (1989)
Full Record: Rosborough, Ruskin R. An epigraphic commentary on Suetonius's life of Gaius Caligula. A thesis...for the...Doctor of Philosophy. (1920)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. A propos de l'aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. Un aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Ritter, Hans-Werner. Adlocutio und Corona Civica unter Caligula und Tiberius. (1971)
Full Record: Kumpikevicius, Gordon C. A numismatic look at Gaius. (1979)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. La coerenza di Caligola nella gestione della moneta / Adriano Savio. (1988)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. Note su alcune monete di Gaio-Caligola. (1973)
Full Record: Stylow, Armin U. Die Quadranten des Caligula als Propaganda-münzen.münzen" aus der stdtischen sammlung zu Osnabrück. (1971)
Full Record: Schwartz, Jacques. Le Monnayage Snatorial entre 37 et 42 P.C. (1951)
Full Record: Rodolfo Martini, ed. Sylloge nummorum Romanorum. Italia. Milano, Civiche Raccolte Numismatiche Vol. 1 Giulio-Claudii / a cura di Rodolfo Martini. (1990)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Zur Julisch-Claudischen Münzprgung. (1979)
Full Record: Vedrianus. The Roman Imperial series. V. Gaius. (1963)
Full Record: Tietze, Christian M. Kaiser Cajus Caesar, genannt Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Wood, Susan. Diva Drusilla Panthea and the sisters of Caligula / Susan Wood. (1995)
Full Record: Sutherland, Carol Humphrey Vivian. Coinage in Roman imperial policy 31 B.C.-A.D. 68. (1951)
Full Record: Sutherland, C. H. V. The mints of Lugdunum and Rome under Gaius : an unsolved problem. (1981)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Familienpropaganda der Kaiser Caligula und Claudius : Agrippina Maior und Antonia Augusta auf Münzen. (1978)
Full Record: Voirol, August. Eine Warenumsatzsteuer im antiken Rom und der numismatische Beleg inher Aufhebung : Centesima rerum venalium. (1943)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Zur Münzprgung des Caligula von Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza). (1973)
This is very rare to find a Julio Claudian Princeps on something other than coinage or in the round. This radiate portrait of Claudius quite rare and shows the Princeps as Pontifex Maximus (see items flanked rt. and left) simpuvium and littus. Claudius ruled from 41-54 A.D.
Artist or Maker:
CIRCA MID TO LATE 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Title:
A ROMAN BRONZE IMAGO CLIPEATA OF THE EMPEROR CLAUDIUS
Description:
CIRCA MID TO LATE 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Of hammered sheet, sculpted in high relief within the concave tondo, the Emperor depicted wearing a radiate crown, with a full cap of short comma-shaped locks of hair, a single hooked lock before each prominent ear, with a broad cranium and tapering chin, his face with emphatic signs of aging in the two furrows of the forehead and bags under his wide eyes, the pupils articulated, the brows modelled, the rounded nose with pronounced naso-labial folds, the small mouth with full lips, the neck creased, wearing a toga with V-shaped folds at the neck and a pallium over the shoulders, the bust flanked by the symbols of the office of pontifex maximus, a dipper (simpuvium) to the left and a wand (lituus) to the right, framed by a raised band of Lesbian kymation off set by beading, the edges folded over a lead backing
9 3/4 in. (24.7 cm.) diameter
Provenance:
Found at the Roman settlement of Derventio, near Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, England in 1991.
The Property of a Gentleman; Christie's, London, 8 July 1992, lot 168.
The Property of a Gentleman; Christie's, London, 5 July 1995, lot 197.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1996 (Art of the Ancient World, 1997, no. 53).
Notes:
THE STAMFORD BRIDGE TONDO
PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTION
Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus was born in Lyon, France (ancient Lugdunum) in 10 B.C. He was the youngest son of Drusus and Antonia the Younger (the niece of Augustus and daughter of Marc Antony). Due to poor health and a pronounced stammer, his family assumed that he would never achieve success. According to Suetonius (Lives of the Caesars: Claudius, III,2), even his own mother considered him "a monster, a man whom Mother Nature had begun to work upon but then flung aside." He was not granted any major position during the reigns of Augustus or Tiberius, but in 37 A.D., during the reign of his nephew Caligula, he shared the consulate and presided at the public games in the Emperor's absence. Claudius was possibly involved in the plot to assassinate Caligula, and he succeeded his nephew at the age of 51 as the fourth Emperor of Rome on 24 January 41 A.D. (see Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, pp. 129-134 and Varner, ed., From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny & Transformation in Roman Portraiture, p. 114).
In 43 A.D. Claudius ordered the invasion of Britain by a force of 40,000 soldiers. Following the successful campaign, Camulodunum (Colchester) was made the capital. After his murder in 54 A.D., Claudius was deified by a decree of the Senate under Nero. A temple was begun at Camulodunum in his honor, but was destroyed during the Boudican revolt of 60 A.D. Another was completed in Rome by Vespasian.
The presence of the radiate crown worn by Claudius on the Stamford Bridge Tondo suggests that, like the temples dedicated in his honor, this portrait was a posthumous creation, as Claudius's successor Nero was the first Roman emperor represented wearing such a crown during his lifetime (see Varner, op. cit., p. 128). The discovery of the Stamford Bridge Tondo in Yorkshire attests to Claudius's popularity in Britain. Its original function is unknown.
For another imago clipeata of Claudius now in the Louvre see p. 166 in Massner, "Zum Stilwandel im Kaiserporträt claudisher Zeit" in Die Regierungszeit des Kaisers Claudius (41-54 n. Chr.).
AR-Tetradrachme, Jahr 2 (= 37/38), Antiochia (Syria); 15.04 g. Kopf r. mit Lorbeerkranz//Drapierte Büste r. Prieur 64; RPC 4165.For more on Caligulan Numismatic Articles see: Coins courtesy cngoins.com
Related Articles of Caligula from American Numismatic Society Library Search
Library Catalog Search (Preliminary Version)
Full Record: Barrett, Anthony A. The invalidation of currency in the Roman Empire : the Claudian demonetization of Caligula's AES. (1999)
Full Record: Bost, Jean-Pierre. Routes, cits et ateliers montaires : quelques remarques sur les officines hispaniques entre les rgnes d'Auguste en de Caligula. (1999)
Full Record: Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information de Grenoble. Grenoble : Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information : catalogue des monnaies. II. Monnaies romaines. Monnaies impriales romaines. 2. Caligula - Neron . Index. / Bernard Rmy, Frdric Bontoux, Virginie Risler. (1998)
Full Record: Gainor, John R. The image of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from coins / by John R. Gainor.
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Monete romane imperiali del Museo G. B. Adriani. Parte 3, Caius (37-41 d.C.) / Rodolfo Martini. (2001)
Full Record: ACCLA privy to presentation by Richard Baker on Caligula. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 1. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 2. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 3. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. Caligula on the Lower Rhine : Coin finds from the Roman Fort of Albaniana (The Netherlands) / Fleur Kemmers. (2004)
Full Record: Estiot, Sylviane. Le trsor de Meussia (Jura) : 399 monnaies d'argent d'poques rpublicaine et julio-claudienne / Sylviane Estiot, Isabelle Aymar. (2002)
Full Record: Gocht, Hans. Namenstilgungen an Bronzemünzen des Caligula und Claudius / Hans Gocht. (2003)
Full Record: Gomis Justo, Marivi. Ercavica : La emision de Caligula. Estimacion del numero de cunos originales.
Full Record: Sayles, Wayne G. Fakes on the Internet. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. The coin finds from the Roman fort Albaniana, the Netherlands / Fleur Kemmers . (2005)
Full Record: Lopez Snchez, Fernando. La afirmacion soberana de Caligula y de Claudio y el fin de las acunaciones ciudadanas en occidente / Fernando Lopez Snchez. (2000)
Full Record: Besombes, Paul-Andr. Les monnaies hispaniques de Claude Ier des dpôts de la Vilaine (Rennes) et de Saint-Lonard (Mayenne) : tmoins de quel type de contact entre l'Armorique et la pninsule ibrique ? / Paul-Andr Besombes. (2005)
Full Record: Catalli, Fiorenzo. Le thesaurus de Sora / Fiorenzo Catalli et John Scheid.
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Faux deniers de Caligula de la Renaissance.
Full Record: Vermeule, Cornelius. Faces of Empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian). Part II(B), More young faces : Caligula again and Nero reborn / Cornelius Vermeule. (2005)
Full Record: Geranio, Joe. Portraits of Caligula : the seated figure? / Joe Geranio. (2007)
Full Record: Aguilera Hernandez, Alberto. Acerca de un as de Caligula hallado en Zaragoza / Alberto Aguilera Hernandez. (2007)
Full Record: Butcher, K. E. T. Caligula : the evil emperor. (1985)
Full Record: Fuchs, Michaela. Frauen um Caligula und Claudius : Milonia Caesonia, Drusilla und Messalina. (1990)
Full Record: Faur, Jean-Claude. Moneda de Caligula de Museo Arqueologico Provincial de Tarragona. (1979)
Full Record: British Museum. Dept. of coins and medals. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British museum. Vol. I: Augustus to Vitellius / by Harold Mattingly. (1976)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. A Caligula Isotope of Hadrian. (1968)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. The Metamorphosis of an Allegad 'As of Hadrian.' (1968)
Full Record: Bendall, Simon. A 'new' gold quinarius of Caligula. (1985)
Full Record: Cortellini, Nereo. Le monete di Caligola nel Cohen.
Full Record: Guey, Julien. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula "Immensi Avreorvm Acervi (Sutone, Cal., 42,3).
Full Record: Guey, J. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula : Sutone, Cal. 42, 3.
Full Record: Curry, Michael R. The Aes Quadrans of Caligula. (1968)
Full Record: Jonas, Elemr. L'emploi dar "damnatio memoriae" sur l'un des "dupondius" de Calgula. (1937)
Full Record: Julian, R. W. The coins of Caligula. (1994)
Full Record: Donciu, Ramiro. Cu privire la activitatea militara a lui Caius (Caligula) in anul 40 e.n. (1983)
Full Record: Hansen, Peter. A history of Caligula's Vesta. (1992)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Augustus, Caligula oder Caludius? (1978)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Die Organisation der Münzprgung Caligulas. (1987)
Full Record: Johansen, Flemming S. The sculpted portraits of Caligula. (1987)
Full Record: Carter, G. F. Chemical compositions of copper-based Roman coins. V : imitations of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero / G. F. Carter and others. (1978)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. L'atelier de Lyon sous Auguste : Tibre et Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Les missions d'or et d'argent de Caligula dans l'atelier de Lyon. (1976)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Le monnayage de l'atelier de Lyon des origines au rgne de Caligula (43 avant J.-C. - 41 aprs J.-C.). (1983)
Full Record: Nony, D. Quelques as d'imitation de Caligula trouves a Bordeaux (Gironde). (1981)
Full Record: Levy, Brooks Emmons. Caligula's radiate crown. (1988)
Full Record: Poulsen, Vagn. Un nouveau visage de Caligula. (1972)
Full Record: Price, Martin Jessop. Elephant in Crete? New light ona cistophorus of Caligula. (1973)
Full Record: MacInnis, H. Frank. Ego-driven emperor commits excesses. (1979)
Full Record: McKenna, Thomas P. The case of the curious coin of Caligula : a provincial bronze restruck with legend-only dies. (1994)
Full Record: Mowat, Robert. Bronzes remarquables de Tibre, de son fils, de ses petits-fils et de Caligula. (1911)
Full Record: Koenig, Franz E. Roma, monete dal Tevere : l'imperatore Gaio (Caligola). (1988)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. Caligula's coins profile despot. (1993)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. A numismatic mystery : "the Caligula quadrans." (1994)
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Osservazioni su contromarche ed erosioni su assi de Caligula. (1980)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Moneta Imperii Romani. Band 2 und 3. Die Münzprgung der Kaiser Tiberius und Caius (Caligula) 14/41 / von Wolfgang Szaivert. (1984)
Full Record: Boschung, Dietrich. Die Bildnisse des Caligula. Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Jucker, Hans. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Das Romische Herrscherbild. 1. Abt., Bd. 4, Die Bildnisse des Caligula / Dietrich Boschung ; mit einem Beitrag von Hans-Markus von Kaenel ; auf Grund der Vorarbeiten und Marterialsammlungen von Hans Jucker. (1989)
Full Record: Rosborough, Ruskin R. An epigraphic commentary on Suetonius's life of Gaius Caligula. A thesis...for the...Doctor of Philosophy. (1920)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. A propos de l'aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. Un aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Ritter, Hans-Werner. Adlocutio und Corona Civica unter Caligula und Tiberius. (1971)
Full Record: Kumpikevicius, Gordon C. A numismatic look at Gaius. (1979)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. La coerenza di Caligola nella gestione della moneta / Adriano Savio. (1988)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. Note su alcune monete di Gaio-Caligola. (1973)
Full Record: Stylow, Armin U. Die Quadranten des Caligula als Propaganda-münzen.münzen" aus der stdtischen sammlung zu Osnabrück. (1971)
Full Record: Schwartz, Jacques. Le Monnayage Snatorial entre 37 et 42 P.C. (1951)
Full Record: Rodolfo Martini, ed. Sylloge nummorum Romanorum. Italia. Milano, Civiche Raccolte Numismatiche Vol. 1 Giulio-Claudii / a cura di Rodolfo Martini. (1990)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Zur Julisch-Claudischen Münzprgung. (1979)
Full Record: Vedrianus. The Roman Imperial series. V. Gaius. (1963)
Full Record: Tietze, Christian M. Kaiser Cajus Caesar, genannt Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Wood, Susan. Diva Drusilla Panthea and the sisters of Caligula / Susan Wood. (1995)
Full Record: Sutherland, Carol Humphrey Vivian. Coinage in Roman imperial policy 31 B.C.-A.D. 68. (1951)
Full Record: Sutherland, C. H. V. The mints of Lugdunum and Rome under Gaius : an unsolved problem. (1981)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Familienpropaganda der Kaiser Caligula und Claudius : Agrippina Maior und Antonia Augusta auf Münzen. (1978)
Full Record: Voirol, August. Eine Warenumsatzsteuer im antiken Rom und der numismatische Beleg inher Aufhebung : Centesima rerum venalium. (1943)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Zur Münzprgung des Caligula von Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza). (1973)
IMPORTANT ROMAN MARBLE HEAD OF OSIRIS WEARING AN ATEF-CROWN
Most probably a representation of the emperor Caligula as Osiris and as an Egyptian king.
Ex Levasseur collection, Paris, early 19th century; Alexandre Asper collecttion, Le Plessis-Robinson, France.
Ca. AD 37-40
H. 17 5/8 in. (45 cm.); 24 in. (61 cm.) with the stand.
It is difficult to make a definitive attribution to Caligula without his characteristic hairstyle as a guide, but by means of elimination and comparisons with other portraits as well as his documented Egyptianizing proclivities it is possible to make a strong case for such an attribution. From Augustus onward, the Roman emperor was the de facto pharaoh of Egypt and statues and reliefs of many of them have survived. Caligula is the only emperor in the first century to be young enough to be so portrayed as in this sculpture. The small mouth and chin seen here fit well with his other known portraits.
From early youth Caligula had shown a great inclination for the products, myths, and men of Egypt, a culture then greatly admired and greatly feared by the Romans. For instance, we know that all his servants were Egyptians, and that Helicon, his most faithful and influential freedman, was an Alexandrian. But shortly after his elevation to absolute power this admiration for the land of the Ptolemies and Pharaohs became more of an obsession that impelled him to attempt to bring his own reign into connection with the policies of his great-grandfather Mark Antony. He sought to introduce into Rome the ideas, the customs, the sumptuousness, and the institutions of the Ptolemaic pharaohic monarchy, to make of his palace a court similar to that of Alexandria, and of himself a divine king, worshipped by his subjects.
Historians have represented this intention as the perverse delirium of an unbridled sensuality, but there was perhaps more politics in his madness than perversity; for it was an attempt to introduce into Rome the dynastic marriages between brothers and sisters which had been the constant tradition of the Ptolemies and the Pharaohs of Egypt. For centuries in Egypt, this practice was looked upon as a sovereign privilege that brought the royal dynasty into relationship with the gods. By means of it, the royal family preserved the semi-divine purity of its blood.
Caligula now decided to transplant this custom to Rome with all the religious pomp of the Egyptian monarchy, and thus transform the family of Augustus, which had been merely the most eminent family of the Roman aristocracy, into a dynasty of gods and demigods the focus of which would be Caligula and his sister Drusilla like another Arsinoë and Ptolemy, whom the Alexandrian throngs had worshiped on the banks of the Nile as Osiris and Isis. The idea had already matured in his mind at the end of the year 37. This is proved by a will made at the time of an illness that he contracted in the autumn of the first year of his rule. In this will he appointed Drusilla heir of his empire, a folly in light of Roman law, which did not admit women to the government, but it proves that Caligula had already thought and acted like an Egyptian king. He also formerly declared her a goddess, to whom all the cities must pay honors. He had a temple built for her, and appointed a body of twenty priests, ten men and ten women, to celebrate her worship; he decreed that her birthday should be a holiday, and he ordered the statue of Venus in the Forum to be carved in her likeness. He rebuilt part of the Isaeum Campense in Rome in Egyptian style and set up a statue of Drusilla as Isis. He also renovated the Serapaeum in the Campus Martius with a shrine to the divine couple.
From RAG FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY.
Tombstone of M. Mallius, buried at Carvium (Valkhof, Nijmegen)
Legio I Germanica: one of the Roman legions. It owes its name to the fact that it served in the Germanic wars.
This legion was probably founded in 48 BCE by Julius Caesar, who needed it in his war against his fellow-triumvir and rival Pompey. It saw its first action at Dyrrhachium (Spring 48).
After 41, it was in the army of Octavian (the later emperor Augustus) and was active in the war against Sextus Pompeius. Between 30 and c.16 BCE, it served in Hispania Tarraconensis, where it took part in Augustus' campaigns against the Cantabrians, which lasted from 25-13 BCE. This was a very large war: among the other troops involved were II Augusta, IIII Macedonica, V Alaudae, VI Victrix, VIIII Hispana, X Gemina, XX Valeria Victrix, and another legion, perhaps VIII Augusta. In these years, the First legion and II Augustus were involved in the building of the colonia Acci in Spain. Veterans were settled in Barcelona and Cartenna (in Mauretania).
Later, it was moved to the Rhine frontier, where it may have played a role in Tiberius' war against Vindelicia, a Celtic kindom on the Upper Danube. (According to Tacitus, the legion was given its standard and surname by Tiberius; Annals, 1.42). It is possible that the legion received its surname after a battle near Lake Constanz. Later, I Germanica was employed during the campaigns of Augustus' stepson Drusus in Germania. The presence of soldiers at Nijmegen can be deduced from one single graffito.
In the summer of 6 CE, Tiberius was to lead at least eight legions (VIII Augusta from Pannonia, XIII Gemina, XIV Gemina, XV Apollinaris and XX Valeria Victrix from Illyricum, XXI Rapax from Raetia, and XVI Gallica from Germania Superior and an unknown unit) against king Maroboduus of the Marcomanni in Czechia; at the same time, I Germanica, V Alaudae, XVII, XVIII and XIX were to move against Czechia as well, attacking it along the Mainz and the Elbe. It was to be the most grandiose operation that was ever conducted by a Roman army, but a rebellion in Pannonia obstructed its execution.
Tombstone of M. Mallius, buried at Carvium (Valkhof, Nijmegen)
After the battle in the Teutoburg Forest (September 9), its commander Lucius Nonius Asprenas used the First legion Germanica and the Fifth legion Alaudae to occupy the fortresses of Germania Inferior and prevent a Germanic raid on Belgica. After this, I Germanica was stationed in Cologne, the capital of Germania Inferior. It is possible that the legion was called Augusta but deprived of this title in 19. Before 28, it was moved to Bonn. The unit operated kilns at Domagen.
In 21, a mixed subunit of XX Valeria Victrix and XXI Rapax, commanded by an officer from I Germanica, was sent out to suppress the rebellion of the Turoni in Gaul, who had revolted against the heavy Roman taxation under a nobleman named Julius Sacrovir and Julius Florus.
In 67, the position of the emperor Nero became untenable: many senators were discontent and several governors discussed his removal. Among these were Lucius Clodius Macer of Africa (who recruited the I Macriana Liberatrix) and Gaius Julius Vindex of one of the provinces in Gaul, who supported the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba, when he proclaimed that he wanted to dethrone Nero.
This was treason, and the army of Germania Inferior (I Germanica, V Alaudae, XV Primigenia and XVI Gallica) knew what it had to do: it marched to the south and defeated Gaius Julius Vindex. The soldiers expected to be rewarded, but were disappointed: Galba and a newly recruited Seventh legion marched on Rome, the Senate recognized him, and Nero committed suicide (June 68). What had been examplary behavior, was now explained as an attempt to obstruct the accession of the new emperor.
Therefore, the army of Germania Inferior acclaimed their own commander, Vitellius, as emperor, and marched on Rome (January 69). The commander of I Germanica, Fabius Valens, played an important role. They were successful, and Vitellius started his reign. However, in the east, general Vespasian had also decided to make a bid for power; the two armies clashed near Cremona in northern Italy, and the Rhine army turned out to be no match for the soldiers of Vespasian.
Meanwhile, in Germania Inferior, a disaster was in the making. The Batavians felt offeneded because Galba had dismissed his Batavian bodyguard, and revolted. A Roman expeditionary force, consisting of the remains of V Alaudae and XV Primigenia, was defeated near Nijmegen, and not much later, these two legions found themselves besieged at Xanten. Although I Germanica (commanded by Herennius Gallus), XVI Gallica and a legion from Germania Superior, XXII Primigenia, tried to rescue them, the two legions at Xanten were forced to surrender in March 70. Not much later, I Germanica and XVI Gallica surrendered as well.
It took several months before the new emperor Vespasian could send a strong Roman army to recover the Rhineland and suppress the Batavian revolt, commanded by his relative Quintus Petillius Cerialis. The legions V Alaudae and XV Primigenia were never reconstituted; XVI Gallica and IIII Macedonica, which had guarded Mainz, were renamed (XVI Flavia Firma andIIII Flavia Felix); the remains of I Germanica were added with Galba's seventh and became known as VII Gemina ('the twin legion').
The emblem of the first legion is not known, but since it was a Caesarian unit, the badge may have been a bull.
www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.livius.org/a/germ...
Jules Elie Delaunay (1828-91) 'In the Military Forge', The Grohmann Museum, 'Man at Work' collection, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Casa del Centenari
Detalle de la Casa del Centenario.
Pompeya.
Reproducción en el Museo Arqueológico de Barcelona.
Ref Nero Denarius, RIC 57
Nero, AR denarius. NERO CAESAR AVGVSTVS, Bare head right / AVGVSTVS AVGVSTA Radiate figure of Nero and figure of Poppaea standing. RSC 43.
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.
Altar of the Lares. In the center, Augustus as augur with the lituus; at left, Gaius or Lucius Caesar; at right, a female member of the imperial family, probably Julia as Venus. She wears a torques, like the princess on the Ara Pacis.
Mausolo.
Colosal estatua procedente del Mausoleo de Halicarnaso, una de las siete maravillas del Mundo Antiguo.
Del siglo IV a. C. alrededor del año 350 a. C.
Excavado en Bodrum, actual Turquía, por Sir Charles Thomas Newton.
Museo Británico.
Painted tondo portrait of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta (erased), from Fayoum, 199 C.E., Berlin, Staaliche Museum
THIS IS NOT Julio Claudian, I put this in to show the Damnatio of Geta. Face is totally erased. Great example/
Joe Geranio
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association
The mask of command -
The Emperor Vespasian (9-79 CE), from a bust made in c. 70-80 CE. It's thought this bust may be recarved from a portrait originally of the Emperor Nero, after Nero's death and damnatio memoriae. Adapting sculptures to accommodate new "owners" was not uncommon in the Roman world. Either way, Vespasian looks a rough customer.
British Museum, London WC2, 23 May 2018
Titus. As Caesar, AD 69-79. AV Aureus (19mm, 7.14 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck AD 76. T CAESAR IMP VESPASIANVS, laureate head right / Heifer standing right; COS V above. RIC II 868; Calicó 734.
Susan Wood
Title: Professor of Art History
Degrees
Ph.D. Columbia University, New York, NY
Major Fields
Ancient Roman sculpture, portrait sculpture, sarcophagi, and luxury objects
with relief decoration, all from 1st century B.C.E. -- 3rd century C.E.
Publications
Imperial Women: a Study in Public Images, 40 B.C. - A.D. 68. Brill: Leiden,
1999. 2nd edition, paperback, 2000.
Roman Portrait Sculpture, A.D. 217-360: the Transformation of an Artistic
Tradition, Vol. 12 of Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. Leiden:
Brill, 1986.
Articles
Sarcophagus, Encyclopedia of Sculpture, Chicago: Fitzroy-Dearborn, 2004,
1516-1521.
Literacy and Luxury: A Papyrus-scroll Winding Device from Pompeii,
Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome XLVI,2001, 23-40. Also
presented as a poster-session at the annual meetings of the AIA/APA,
January 4, 2003.
Mortals, Empresses and Earth Goddesses: Demeter and Persephone in Public
and Private Apotheosis, I Claudia II: Women in Roman Art and Society.
Papers from the Colloquium. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000, 77-99.
Oral version presented November 2, 1996, at a colloquium at Yale University
Art Gallery.
Goddess or Woman? Bryn Mawr College Alumnae Bulletin, Fall, 1999, 9-12.
Forgotten Women in the Roman Imperial Portrait Group at Béziers,
Archaeological News 21-22 (1996-97), 1-19, also presented at the annual
meetings of the Midwest Art History Society, March 29, 1996 and at the
annual meetings of the AIA/APA, December, 1996.
Diva Drusilla Panthea and the Sisters of Caligula, AJA 99 (1995),
457-482, presented under title of "Sisters and Mothers of Tyrants," at the
annual meetings of the A.I.A./A.P.A., December, 1994.
Alcestis on Roman Sarcophagi - Postscript, Roman Art in Context: an
Anthology, ed. Eve D'Ambra, Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1993,
96-103.
Messalina, Wife of Claudius: Propaganda Successes and Failures of his Reign,
JRA 5 (1992) 221-234.
Memoriae Agrippinae: Agrippina the Elder in Julio-Claudian Art and Propaganda,
AJA 92, 1988.
Isis, Eggheads and Roman Portraiture, JARCE 24, 1988.
Child Emperors and Heirs to Power in Third Century Roman Portraiture,
Ancient Portraits in the J. Paul Getty Museum I: Occasional Papers on
Antiquity 4, 1987.
A Too-Successful Damnatio Memoriae : Problems in Roman Portraiture of the
Third Century, AJA 87 (1983).
The Bust of Philip the Arab in the Vatican: a Case for the Defense, AJA 86 (1982).
An Enigmatic Roman Portrait, Cleveland Museum of Art Bulletin,
LXVIII,No. 8, Oct. 1981.
Subject and Artist: Studies in Roman Portraiture of the Third Century,
AJA 85 (1981).
Alcestis on Roman Sarcophagi, AJA 82 (1978), reprinted with postscript in
Roman Art in Context , 1993, 84-103.
Book Reviews:
Representing Agrippina:Constructions of Female Power in the Early Roman
Empire, by Judith Ginsburg, ed. Eric Gruen, American Philological Association,
2005, forthcoming in Journal of Roman Archaeology 2007 or '08.
Cleopatra and Rome, by Diana E.E. Kleiner, Massachusetts and London:
Belknap Press, 2005, The New England Classical Journal, 33.3, August 2006, 237-240.
Mit Mythen Leben: Die Bilderwelt der römischen Sarkophage, by Paul Zanker
and Bj r rn Christian Ewald, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.11.22.
Death and the Emperor, by Penelope Davies, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2000, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 00.12.08.
Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Empire , by Anthony A. Barrett,
New Haven, 1996, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 97.3.11.
Antonia Augusta, Portrait of a Great Roman Lady , by Nikos Kokkinos, London,
1992, American Journal of Numismatics 7-8 (1995-96) 293-98.
Porträtreliefs stadtrömischer Grabbauten , by Valentin Kockel, Beiträge zur
Erschließung hellenistischer und kaiserzeitlicher Skulptur und Architektur
Vol. 12, ed. Klaus Fittschen and Paul Zanker, Mainz am Rhein: Verlag
Philipp von Zabern, 1993, Archaeological News 20, 1995 .
Griechische und Römische Kolossalporträts bis zum späten ersten Jahrhundert
n.Chr, by Detlev Kreikenbom, JdI E-H 27 (Berlin and New York, 1992),
forthcoming in AJA 98 (1994).
Ancient Portraiture: Image and Message , ed. Tobias Fischer-Hansen, John Lund,
Marjatta Nielsen and Annette Rathje, Acta Hyperborea 4, Copenhagen 1992,
AJA 97 (1993) 811-812.
Roman Art from Romulus to Constantine , by Nancy H. and Andrew W. Ramage,
Cornell University Press: New York, 1991, AJA 96 (1992) 773-774.
Roman Portraits, by Richard Daniel de Puma, exh. cat., University of Iowa Museum
of Art, 10 Sept. - 30 Oct. 1988, AJA 94 (1990).
Aion in Merida und Aphrodisias , by Andreas Alfoldi, AJA 87 (1983)
Roman Portraits: Aspects of Self and Society, First Century B.C. - Third
Century A.D. , by K. Patricia Erhart, Jiri Frel and Sheldon Nodelman, Art Bulletin,
LXIV (1982).
Selected Public Lectures
An Obscure Family Without Ancestral Images,' or, How to build a dynasty from
scratch, presented at the symposium The Miller Collection of Roman Sculpture,
Intentions and Acquisitions, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, April 17, 2004.
The Incredible, Vanishing Wives of Nero, presented in the colloquium Tyranny
and Transformation, Emory University, Oct. 2000, and in the Peter Wall Seminars,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Jan. 28, 2002. Also presented for the
Archaeological Institute of America Visiting Lecturer program at Gainesville, FL.,
October 18, 2005; Tampa, FL, October 19, 2005; and Valparaiso, IN, October 25, 2005.
The Wives of Nero: Public Images on Provincial Coinage, presented at the annual
meetings of the American Philological Association and the Archaeological Institute
of America, Jan. 5, 2002. Abstract: American Journal of Archaeology
Mass Produced Art, an Oxymoron? -- The Case of the Roman Imperial Portrait,
presented 12/29/91 at the annual meeting of the AIA, abstract published
AJA 96 (1992) 349.
High Fashion and Classical Reference: Coiffures of Roman Imperial Wome
from Augustus to Hadrian, presented at the annual meeting of the AIA, 1989,
in a colloquium: "The Role of Costume in Roman Art." Abstract: AJA 94 (1990).
Memoriae Agrippinae: Agrippina the Elder in Julio-Claudian Art and Propaganda,
presented 12/28/86 at the session of the Women's Classical Caucus at the
AIA/APA convention.
Exhibitions
Diva Augusta: Images of Imperial Women in Roman Art, exhibition of coins
and sculpture, Sackler Museum, April 19, 1986-December, 1986.
Collaborated with Professor Ernst Badian on a small exhibition of Roman coins
of the late republic and early empire, spring of 1983.
Courses Taught
Greek Art, Roman Art, Art of the Near East, Critical Thinking and Writing in Art History
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.
Interest in the history of women continues to grow. However, due to the relatively scant evidence in the traditional literary documents, historians who study the lives of ancient Roman women have found it necessary to pay particularly acute attention to the methodologies employed by archeologists and art historians. Thus, Susan E. Wood's art-historical book Imperial Women: A Study in Public Images, 40 B. C-A.D. 68 is a welcome addition to the scholarly literature concerned with the roles played by the intriguing women of Rome's first imperial dynasty, the Julio-Claudians. Wood's investigation of the iconography of the Julio-Claudian women is only one of a number of books and articles dealing with this topic to appear in the past few years. However, unlike most other authors, Wood does not focus on any one woman in particular but rather addresses all the major female figures of this dynasty in successive chapters; each chapter deals with the most prominent women of a particular reign and proceeds in a chronological fashion. By choosing to deal with the dynasty as a whole rather than only with a particular individual, Wood enables the reader to follow the development of the public presentation and political influence of these women and the roles which they played in the creation of the new monarchical form of government. Wood's chronological arrangement and emphasis of the changing roles played by individual women in successive reigns highlights the increasing importance of these women to their male relatives. Wood links this to the problems of succession:
The lack of any consistent and indisputable method for selecting an
heir plagued the Julio-Claudians throughout their period of power,
and led to the many vicious straggles with the family. Throughout
that period, the increasingly bold representation of women of the
family in public art as part of a propagandistic effort to justify
the current emperor's status, or his choice of heir, reflects the
increasing need over the generations to emphasize bloodlines and
distinguished descent, and parallels the development of the
principate into a monarchical system. (p. 314)
Chapter one discusses the roles played by Augustus's two closest female relatives, his sister Octavia and daughter Julia, in helping to both obtain and maintain his rule. Augustus's wife Livia is dealt with in chapter two. So many sculptures of Livia remain that it is necessary to devote a whole chapter solely to the examination of these images. Livia's long life and biological connection to all the Julio-Claudian emperors made her a very important figure throughout this period. Antonia Minor, the daughter of Octavia and Marc Antony, though not as prominent a figure as her aunt Livia, was nonetheless a key player in the dynastic propaganda for many years and as such also receives a chapter to herself. Chapter four concerns the iconography of Tiberius's first wife Vipsania Agrippina and daughter-in-law Livilla. Chapter five, entitled Agrippina I and her Daughters, deals chiefly with the elder Agrippina and her daughter Drusilla, the emperor Caligula's favourite sister. Another daughter, Livilla, is mentioned but as no work to portray her with any degree of certainty survives, Wood has understandably little to say about her. The third daughter, Agrippina Minor, appears in the following chapter along with Messalina, Claudia Octavia, and Poppaea, all women connected to the reigns of the last two Julio-Claudian emperors, Claudius and Nero. Wood does comment briefly on Claudius's elder daughter Claudia Antonia but unfortunately does not mention Augustus's granddaughter, the exiled Julia Minor (or any of her descendants) nor Tiberius's granddaughter of the same name. Presumably both of these women figured into their respective imperial grandfather's dynastic plans even if in a minor way and warrant at least as much attention as Caligula's sister Livilla receives.
Each woman is discussed in a consistent manner. First, Wood reviews the extant literature in order to present a short biography. Wood's biographies are all generally well done, particularly the one about Agrippina Minor. There were, however, two errors worth noting. On page 103, Wood claims that in 13 B.C., Augustus was pater patriae. However, Augustus did not receive this honour until much later, in 2 B.C. His acquisition of this title and his extreme reaction to his daughter Julia's indiscretions shortly thereafter are almost certainly linked. As well, on page 239, Wood asserts that Claudius had never held public office. What Wood probably means is that Claudius's political experience was extremely limited and that he had never held a meaningful public office. He was, in fact, appointed to a two-month term as consul by his nephew and predecessor Gaius Caligula but only as a way to humiliate both Claudius himself and the other senators.
After presenting brief biographies of each woman, Wood moves into an examination of the extant representations. She begins by looking at how the woman was depicted on imperial and provincial coinage, if in fact she was at all. Wood then uses these depictions as the basis for her identification of other works of art. Next she proceeds to the major works of art like sculpted statues and busts that have been identified as this woman and finally to a briefer look at minor artworks such as cameos. At the end of the book is an appendix that lists the members of the Julio-Claudian family along with their main relationships; that is, parents, spouse(s), and children. This is followed by eight genealogical charts. These, along with the 146 illustrations at the end of the book, aid the reader in following Wood's discussions.
While Wood is to be praised for both the quantity and quality of the illustrations provided, she quite often launches into rather long, complex arguments concerning the identification of particular objects without providing the reader with illustrations of many of these controversial pieces. Such illustrations would allow readers both to follow Wood's arguments as well as to arrive at their own tentative conclusions. Nonetheless, the illustrations provided are a tremendous resource for scholars. The information contained within the eight genealogical charts included in this work is repetitive and could have been condensed into fewer charts. From a prosopographical viewpoint, the inclusion of the descendants of Augustus's granddaughter Julia, the earlier wives of the emperor Claudius and their immediate lineage, as well as the lineage of Poppaea would have been useful.
Nonetheless, despite a number of typographical errors Imperial Women: A Study in Public Images, 40 B. C-A.D. 68 is a very well-researched book and well worth the read. This book makes a valuable contribution to the furtherance of our knowledge of Rome's Julio-Claudian women.
University of Alberta
Tonya M. Lambert
In the war between the Jews and the Romans of 66-70, the Jewish general Joseph son of Matthias defended Galilee against the Roman legions. After he had been defeated, he defected to his enemies, and advised the Roman general Vespasian. When the latter became emperor, his adviser started a career as a historian who tried to explain Judaism to the Greeks and Romans. His most important works are the Jewish War, the Jewish Antiquities, an Autobiography and an apology of Judaism called Against the Greeks (or Against Apion). As Roman citizen, he accepted a new name: Flavius Josephus. He must have died about 100, more than sixty years old.
Life
Joseph was born in Jerusalem in 37 CE as the son of Matthias, a man from priestly descent, and a mother who claimed royal blood. Stated differently, he was born as a Sadducee and an aristocrat. The boy must have been a real know-it-all, because he excelled in all his studies and at the age of sixteen, he decided to find out for himself what philosophy was best - that of the Sadducees, that of the Essenes or that of the Pharisees. Although he studied all three systems, he was not content, and for three years, he lived in the desert with a hermit named Bannus. Returning to Jerusalem at the age of nineteen, he choose to become a Pharisee.
Life
Jewish War
Jewish Antiquities
Autobiography
Against the Greeks
Jotapata
At least, this is what he writes in his Autobiography. The problem is that it can not be true. To become an Essene, one had to study three years and we may assume that one did not understand the essentials of the teachings of other Jewish sects within a few weeks either. It was simply impossible to study the three disciplines and live three years in the desert before one's nineteenth year. Worse, the Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities show a profound dislike of the Pharisees. Hence, we may conclude that Josephus only says that he became a Pharisee because he knew from where the wind was blowing, and Phariseism was very popular at the moment he was writing his Autobiography.
In 64, he went to Rome to negotiate the release of several priests held hostage by the emperor Nero. It was an adventurous voyage including shipwreck. When he and the priests returned home, he discovered that his country was on the brink of a revolt against the tactless Roman governor Gessius Florus. In his autobiography (discussed below), Joseph claims that he was a moderate. It did not prevent him from joining the revolutionaries when the rebels, belonging to the nationalist groups called Zealots and Sicarians, had annihilated the Roman garrison at Jerusalem. The Temple authorities sent Joseph to Galilee and ordered him to organize the resistance to the approaching Roman legions, which were commanded by Vespasian.
He was not the only military leader in Galilee. A man named John of Gischala had organized a private militia of peasants. The two commanders lost more time quarreling with each other: after all, there were great social differences between the two armies. As a result, they failed to seize the strategically important city of Sepphoris, which was the first aim of the Roman offensive.
In the spring of 67, Joseph's men were under siege in the town of Jotapata -which controlled the road to Sepphoris- and after some fighting, it became clear that they had to surrender to Vespasian's fifteenth legion. The author of the Jewish War tells a strange story about the fate of the defenders. They hid in a cave, decided to draw lots to choose the man who was to kill the others and himself. We are to believe that it was pure luck or divine interference that enabled Joseph to win this sinister lottery. Instead of committing suicide, he surrendered to the Romans. (Jewish War 3.383-398)
Whatever the truth of this implausible story, Josephus was brought before Vespasian and his son Titus. To Vespasian, he explained about an ambiguous oracle that said that
a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.
[Numbers 24.17-19]
Almost every Jew believed that this prophecy referred to the coming of the Messiah. However, who said that the ruler who was to rise out of Israel was to be a Jew? Why should Vespasian not become king or emperor? Ridiculous though this may seem to a modern reader, Vespasian was impressed. After all, in Gaul and Hispania an insurrection had started against the emperor Nero, and it was clear to any intelligent observer that civil war was bound to break out. Besides, everybody had observed the comet, resembling a sword, that had stood over the country during the preceding months (Jewish War, 6.289; an earlier comet is referred to by Tacitus, Annals, 15.47). Instead of having Joseph crucified, the Roman general kept him in detention. The former Jewish commander became friends with Titus, who was of the same age.
Nero committed suicide in June 68; he was succeeded by Galba, who was lynched in January 69. Two men tried to become emperor: Vitellius and Otho, both commanding large armies. The latter was defeated, and Vitellius became the new, very unpopular emperor. This was the moment Vespasian had been hoping for, and Joseph's prophecy came true in July 69. Not only was Joseph released, he was also rewarded with the Roman citizenship, with the Roman name Titus Flavius Josephus, with an Egyptian wife, and with a role as advisor of the new crown prince Titus, who was to end the war.
When Titus laid siege to Jerusalem, Flavius Josephus served as his translator; he also had to persuade the defenders of Jerusalem to surrender. Since he was seen as a traitor, his arguments did not convince Jewish leaders like Josephus' old enemy John of Gischala. He was also mistrusted by many Romans, who attributed every reverse to some treachery on his part. However, Titus trusted and protected his advisor. The siege lasted almost half a year, and ended with the complete destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple.
After the war, he accompanied Titus to Rome, where his sons Hyrcanus, Justus and Agrippa were born. The Jewish aristocrat, now protected by an influential Roman named Epaphroditus, embarked upon a writing career. In his books, he tried to explain Rome to the Jews and Judaism to the Romans. As far as we know, his books were not widely read; he was completely ignored by every pagan author but the philosopher Porphyry (On abstinence, 4.11). That they have come down to us, is largely due to Christian authors who were interested in Jewish history.
In 98, the last emperor of the house of Vespasian, the tyrannical Domitian, was murdered. Flavius Josephus no longer had a protector. It is unclear whether the change of regime was of any consequence to the author. In any case, we do not know of any publications, and we may infer that he died soon after Domitian.
Bust of Vespasian from Narona (Archaeological museum of Vid) Jewish War
Flavius Josephus wrote first work, the Jewish War, in Aramaic, and presented it to Vespasian between 75 and 79. An assistant translated it into the language of scholars of his days, Greek; this second edition was dedicated to Titus, who had become emperor in 79. The seventh book of the Jewish War, which describes the fate of the Jewish prisoners and the fall of Masada, is a later addition. Its title is slightly misleading. The books not only tell the story of the war between the Jews and Romans, but also deal with the preceding period from 175 BCE.
It should be stressed that Josephus is, according to ancient criteria, an excellent historian. Authors like Polybius of Megalopolis and Lucian have published treatises on the writing of history, and Josephus lives up to the standards they set. He knows the country he is describing, he has experience as commander of an army, and he understands the issues of the war. Moreover, he interviewed representatives of both sides. This is more than can be said about his younger contemporary Tacitus, who is usually regarded as a greater historian. As we will see below, modern scholars have criticized Josephus, though.
The Jewish War was written under imperial auspices. Vespasian and Titus gave the historian access to the imperial archives and to the logbook of their campaign. This enabled Josephus to write a reliable story, even about events at places where he had never been. At the same time, imperial patronage made the story unreliable. Vespasian's bid for power is presented in a favorable way; Titus is a valiant warrior whose heroism is matched only by his kindness towards the victims of the war.
Flavius Josephus' kindness towards his Roman benefactors does not mean that he is negative about the Jews. On the contrary, he has pity with 'the innocent' in Jerusalem, who are trapped inside a city under siege and cannot leave. At great length, he describes the atrocities to which they are subjected.
But his sympathy does not include all Jews. The responsibility for all the bloodshed rests squarely on the shoulders of the people that he describes as 'brigands', 'madmen', 'desperado's', or 'bandits': those are the invectives he has in store for violent nationalists like the Zealots, the Sicarians and men like John of Gischala. It is no coincidence that the Jewish War ends with a speech of the leader of the rebels at Masada, the Sicarian Eleaser, who more or less admits that all violence was a result of nationalistic agitation and also admits that God is angry. (The speech is, of course, written by Flavius Josephus himself. Almost no one survived the capture of Masada, and the historian can never have received a report of Eleaser's last words.)
The common people with their silly nationalistic ideas, their religious intolerance and their aggressive behavior are responsible for the disaster. The Jewish aristocrats -to which Flavius Josephus belonged- are of course not to blame for the war. The same applies to war crimes. These are invariably committed by the rank and file, never by their officers.
In the first century, there were serious economic problems in Judaea. The rabbinical sources indicate that the Temple authorities were widely regarded as corrupt. In this conflict between the rich elite and the poor peasants, the Romans sided with the elite, as they always did. Peasant resistance against the Temple authorities coincided with resistance against the Romans. The war that started in 66 was not only a national revolt against a greedy emperor and his tactless governor, but also a class war among the Jews. Josephus, like every aristocrat, had no real sense of identification with the dispossessed and oppressed peasantry; ultimately, he did not understand the true cause of the war he described.
quote
The baby from Jotapata
Jewish Antiquities
The twenty volumes of the Jewish Antiquities, in which Flavius Josephus explains Jewish history to a non-Jewish audience, appeared in 94. Its model is a book by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who wrote twenty books of Roman Antiquities. This time, Josephus wrote the text in Greek and did not use a translator. The result is a text which is less pleasant to read, even though its subject matter is very interesting. One of the author's aims is to show that the Jewish culture is older than any other then existing culture; the same idea can be found in the writings of Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in the first half of the first century CE.
The first half of the Jewish Antiquities is essentially nothing but a rephrasing of biblical texts: it tells the story of the Jews from the creation until the Persian rule. The second half, dealing with the centuries between Alexander the Great and the great war against the Romans, is based on previous historians (Polybius, 1 Maccabees, Nicolaus of Damascus, and the author of the Letter of Aristeas may be identified). Where the original sources are now lost, we may assume that Josephus has simply told in his own words what he has found in these sources. His value as a historian is as great as his sources. (Go here and here for stories from the Jewish Antiquities.)
Since the Jewish War and the Jewish Antiquities both cover the period 175 BCE - 66 CE, we can compare the two works. It has been shown that the second version is never a simple revision of what Josephus had written before; usually, he goes back to the same earlier historians and rephrases what he has read. For example, the account in the Jewish War 1.358-2.117 of king Herod's rule is not simply revised in the books fifteen, sixteen and seventeen of the Jewish Antiquities; instead, Josephus has again retold what was written in one basic source, Nicolaus of Damascus. Furthermore, there are additions that must come from the oral tradition of the Pharisees.
The Jewish Antiquities are a kind of world history, and Flavius Josephus' view is biblical. In the past, God used the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Greeks to punish or to rescue His chosen people; now it was the Roman's turn to punish them. This was something the Greeks and Romans of his age could understand all too well. In almost every case, you can read 'Fortune' or 'Destiny' or 'Fate' instead of 'God'; on the other hand, when Flavius Josephus uses one of these common pagan expressions, he must have had the Jewish God in mind.
One of the most remarkable passages in the Jewish Antiquities is the 'Testimonium Flavianum':
At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one should call him a man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of the people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. He was the Messiah. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. For he appeared to them on the third day, living again, just as the divine prophets had spoken of these and countless other wondrous things about him. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out.
[Jewish Antiquities, 18.63-64]
It is unlikely that a pious Jew like Flavius Josephus would have written that Jesus 'appeared to them on the third day, living again'; consequently, there has been a lot of scholarly debate about the explanation of this strange remark. Some argued that we had to admit that Flavius Josephus had become a Christian; others maintained that it was made up by some Byzantine monk who copied the Jewish Antiquities. The latter explanation can be ruled out because a more or less identical text had been found in an Arabian translation of a part of the Jewish Antiquities. In 1991, John Meier has suggested that Josephus did in fact mention Jesus, but that the text was glossed by a Christian author. His reconstruction of the text is as follows:
At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of the people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out.
Even in this reconstruction, this text is of monumental importance. Not only is Flavius Josephus the only first century non-Christian writer mentioning Jesus' life, teachings and death independently of the of the gospels, but he also suggests that Jesus was innocent. A straightforward report would have told that Pilate executed the man from Nazareth because he was considered to be the king of the Jews. But instead of naming the accusation, the Jewish historian names the accusers. Since he usually delights in writing about the deserved punishment of rebels and pretenders, the fact that he does not inform us of the charge, means that he thought that Jesus was innocent. quote 1:
Alexander the Great
visits Jerusalem
quote 2:
fighting in the
mountains
quote 3:
John the Baptist
Autobiography
Josephus' Autobiography appeared as an appendix to a second or third edition of the Jewish Antiquities. It is a reply to a libel by one Justus of Tiberias, who had portrayed Josephus' operations in Galilee as brutal and tyrannical. To Josephus, this was a dangerous publication, because people were reminded of the fact that he had once led an army against Rome and was responsible for the death of many Roman soldiers. Josephus had always been protected by the emperors of the house of Vespasian, but the behavior of the emperor Domitian was erratic, and Josephus was well advised to defend himself.
Josephus starts to tell about his aristocratic descent, devotes a few pages to his youth, and describes his activities as a general. It overlaps the story of the Jewish Wars, and comparison of the two narratives shows us that Josephus can simplify, exaggerate, invent, suppress, and distort his story as he likes.
Epaphroditus of Chaeronea (Palazzo Altieri, Rome) Against the Greeks (or Against Apion)
The two volumes of Against the Greeks, on the Antiquity of the Jewish people appeared in c.96. Dedicated to Epaphroditus, it is an apology of Judaism against all kinds of anti-Semitic slander, which had been collected by the Alexandrian author Apion in a History of Egypt; it is therefore also known as Against Apion. Josephus explains what Jewish cult, law, and religion are really about. Its conclusion is worth quoting:
I would therefore boldly maintain that the Jews have introduced to the rest of the world a very large number of beautiful ideas. What higher justice than obedience to the laws? What more beneficial than to be in harmony with one another, to be a prey neither to disunion in adversity, nor to arrogance and faction in prosperity; in war to despise death, in peace to devote oneself to crafts or agriculture; and to be convinced that everything in the whole universe is under the eye and direction of God?
[Against the Greeks, 2.293-294]
It is a pity that Against the Greeks did not find many readers. A few years after its appearance, the Roman historian Tacitus published his Histories, which is devoted to the civil wars of 'the long but single year' 69 and the siege of Jerusalem. There is not a single instance where Tacitus betrays knowledge of other sources than the anti-Semitic books Josephus had tried to refute.
Literature
A fine introduction to Josephus' work can be found in John D. Crossan's The historical Jesus. The life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant (1992 San Francisco), pages 91-100. More specialistic: Per Bilde, Flavius Josephus between Jerusalem and Rome: his Life, his Works and their Importance (1988 Sheffield) and Louis Feldman, 'Flavius Josephus revisited. The man, his writings, and his significance' in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt 21.2 (1984). The idea that Josephus never was a Pharisee, as was first argued by Steve Mason, is discussed by John P. Meier, A marginal Jew. Rethinking the historical Jesus. Volume three: companions and competitors (2001 New York) 301-305.
On the Testimonium Flavianum, see the important article by John P. Meier in his monumental study A marginal Jew. Rethinking the historical Jesus. Volume 1: the roots of the problem and the person (1991 New York), pages 56-88. This article settles the matter.
On Josephus' use of sources, see Shaye J.D. Cohen, Josephus in Galilee and Rome. His Vita and development as a historian, Columbia Studies in the Classical tradition 8 (1979 Leiden).
Praetorian Imperial Guards from the Julio Claudian Period. Claudian period?
Praetorian relief circa 51-52 A.D., marble 161 x 123 cm. The Louvre in Paris, (MA 210MR.337) Cat. no. 115. Found in Rome , documented in 1577, and part of the Mattei collection since 1615, it was aquired in 1824. Part of the arch of Princeps Claudius, ruled from 41-54 A.D. Parts of this wonderful Julio Claudian sculpture were restored in the 16th century. (partly from art text.) Joe Geranio
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.
Roman and Roman provincial bronze coins from Spanish mints. Lusitania, Emerita, Augustus, Æ as, rev. P. CARISIVS LEG AVGVST (RIC 20). Baetica, Iulia Traducta, Augustus, Æ 23, rev. apex and simpulum (RPC 109). Hispania Tarraconensis, Acci, Augustus, Æ 29, rev. two aquilae between two standards (RPC 135); Bibilis, Augustus, Æ 30, rev. wreath (RPC 395); Calagurris Iulia, Augustus, Æ 29, rev. bull; Carthago Nova, Caligula, Æ 28, rev. head of Salus (RPC 185); Ilici, Tiberius, Æ 28, rev. altar (RPC 196); Lepida-Celsa, Octavian(?), Æ 30, rev. bull (RPC 269); Segobriga, Caligula, Æ 28, rev. inscription in wreath (RPC 476). cngcoins.com
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.For more on Caligulan Numismatic Articles see: Coins courtesy cngoins.com
Related Articles of Caligula from American Numismatic Society Library Search
Library Catalog Search (Preliminary Version)
Full Record: Barrett, Anthony A. The invalidation of currency in the Roman Empire : the Claudian demonetization of Caligula's AES. (1999)
Full Record: Bost, Jean-Pierre. Routes, cits et ateliers montaires : quelques remarques sur les officines hispaniques entre les rgnes d'Auguste en de Caligula. (1999)
Full Record: Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information de Grenoble. Grenoble : Bibliothque Municipale d'Etude et d'Information : catalogue des monnaies. II. Monnaies romaines. Monnaies impriales romaines. 2. Caligula - Neron . Index. / Bernard Rmy, Frdric Bontoux, Virginie Risler. (1998)
Full Record: Gainor, John R. The image of the Julio-Claudian dynasty from coins / by John R. Gainor.
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Monete romane imperiali del Museo G. B. Adriani. Parte 3, Caius (37-41 d.C.) / Rodolfo Martini. (2001)
Full Record: ACCLA privy to presentation by Richard Baker on Caligula. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 1. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 2. (2002)
Full Record: Wend, David A. Caligula, the emperor as autocrat. Part 3. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. Caligula on the Lower Rhine : Coin finds from the Roman Fort of Albaniana (The Netherlands) / Fleur Kemmers. (2004)
Full Record: Estiot, Sylviane. Le trsor de Meussia (Jura) : 399 monnaies d'argent d'poques rpublicaine et julio-claudienne / Sylviane Estiot, Isabelle Aymar. (2002)
Full Record: Gocht, Hans. Namenstilgungen an Bronzemünzen des Caligula und Claudius / Hans Gocht. (2003)
Full Record: Gomis Justo, Marivi. Ercavica : La emision de Caligula. Estimacion del numero de cunos originales.
Full Record: Sayles, Wayne G. Fakes on the Internet. (2002)
Full Record: Kemmers, Fleur. The coin finds from the Roman fort Albaniana, the Netherlands / Fleur Kemmers . (2005)
Full Record: Lopez Snchez, Fernando. La afirmacion soberana de Caligula y de Claudio y el fin de las acunaciones ciudadanas en occidente / Fernando Lopez Snchez. (2000)
Full Record: Besombes, Paul-Andr. Les monnaies hispaniques de Claude Ier des dpôts de la Vilaine (Rennes) et de Saint-Lonard (Mayenne) : tmoins de quel type de contact entre l'Armorique et la pninsule ibrique ? / Paul-Andr Besombes. (2005)
Full Record: Catalli, Fiorenzo. Le thesaurus de Sora / Fiorenzo Catalli et John Scheid.
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Faux deniers de Caligula de la Renaissance.
Full Record: Vermeule, Cornelius. Faces of Empire (Julius Caesar to Justinian). Part II(B), More young faces : Caligula again and Nero reborn / Cornelius Vermeule. (2005)
Full Record: Geranio, Joe. Portraits of Caligula : the seated figure? / Joe Geranio. (2007)
Full Record: Aguilera Hernandez, Alberto. Acerca de un as de Caligula hallado en Zaragoza / Alberto Aguilera Hernandez. (2007)
Full Record: Butcher, K. E. T. Caligula : the evil emperor. (1985)
Full Record: Fuchs, Michaela. Frauen um Caligula und Claudius : Milonia Caesonia, Drusilla und Messalina. (1990)
Full Record: Faur, Jean-Claude. Moneda de Caligula de Museo Arqueologico Provincial de Tarragona. (1979)
Full Record: British Museum. Dept. of coins and medals. Coins of the Roman Empire in the British museum. Vol. I: Augustus to Vitellius / by Harold Mattingly. (1976)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. A Caligula Isotope of Hadrian. (1968)
Full Record: Conrad, Edwin. The Metamorphosis of an Allegad 'As of Hadrian.' (1968)
Full Record: Bendall, Simon. A 'new' gold quinarius of Caligula. (1985)
Full Record: Cortellini, Nereo. Le monete di Caligola nel Cohen.
Full Record: Guey, Julien. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula "Immensi Avreorvm Acervi (Sutone, Cal., 42,3).
Full Record: Guey, J. Les "bains d'or" de Caligula : Sutone, Cal. 42, 3.
Full Record: Curry, Michael R. The Aes Quadrans of Caligula. (1968)
Full Record: Jonas, Elemr. L'emploi dar "damnatio memoriae" sur l'un des "dupondius" de Calgula. (1937)
Full Record: Julian, R. W. The coins of Caligula. (1994)
Full Record: Donciu, Ramiro. Cu privire la activitatea militara a lui Caius (Caligula) in anul 40 e.n. (1983)
Full Record: Hansen, Peter. A history of Caligula's Vesta. (1992)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Augustus, Caligula oder Caludius? (1978)
Full Record: Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Die Organisation der Münzprgung Caligulas. (1987)
Full Record: Johansen, Flemming S. The sculpted portraits of Caligula. (1987)
Full Record: Carter, G. F. Chemical compositions of copper-based Roman coins. V : imitations of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero / G. F. Carter and others. (1978)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. L'atelier de Lyon sous Auguste : Tibre et Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Les missions d'or et d'argent de Caligula dans l'atelier de Lyon. (1976)
Full Record: Giard, Jean-Baptiste. Le monnayage de l'atelier de Lyon des origines au rgne de Caligula (43 avant J.-C. - 41 aprs J.-C.). (1983)
Full Record: Nony, D. Quelques as d'imitation de Caligula trouves a Bordeaux (Gironde). (1981)
Full Record: Levy, Brooks Emmons. Caligula's radiate crown. (1988)
Full Record: Poulsen, Vagn. Un nouveau visage de Caligula. (1972)
Full Record: Price, Martin Jessop. Elephant in Crete? New light ona cistophorus of Caligula. (1973)
Full Record: MacInnis, H. Frank. Ego-driven emperor commits excesses. (1979)
Full Record: McKenna, Thomas P. The case of the curious coin of Caligula : a provincial bronze restruck with legend-only dies. (1994)
Full Record: Mowat, Robert. Bronzes remarquables de Tibre, de son fils, de ses petits-fils et de Caligula. (1911)
Full Record: Koenig, Franz E. Roma, monete dal Tevere : l'imperatore Gaio (Caligola). (1988)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. Caligula's coins profile despot. (1993)
Full Record: Kollgaard, Ron. A numismatic mystery : "the Caligula quadrans." (1994)
Full Record: Martini, Rodolfo. Osservazioni su contromarche ed erosioni su assi de Caligula. (1980)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Moneta Imperii Romani. Band 2 und 3. Die Münzprgung der Kaiser Tiberius und Caius (Caligula) 14/41 / von Wolfgang Szaivert. (1984)
Full Record: Boschung, Dietrich. Die Bildnisse des Caligula. Kaenel, Hans-Markus von. Jucker, Hans. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Das Romische Herrscherbild. 1. Abt., Bd. 4, Die Bildnisse des Caligula / Dietrich Boschung ; mit einem Beitrag von Hans-Markus von Kaenel ; auf Grund der Vorarbeiten und Marterialsammlungen von Hans Jucker. (1989)
Full Record: Rosborough, Ruskin R. An epigraphic commentary on Suetonius's life of Gaius Caligula. A thesis...for the...Doctor of Philosophy. (1920)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. A propos de l'aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Richard, Jean-Claude. Un aureus de Caligula dcouvert Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie). (1982)
Full Record: Ritter, Hans-Werner. Adlocutio und Corona Civica unter Caligula und Tiberius. (1971)
Full Record: Kumpikevicius, Gordon C. A numismatic look at Gaius. (1979)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. La coerenza di Caligola nella gestione della moneta / Adriano Savio. (1988)
Full Record: Savio, Adriano. Note su alcune monete di Gaio-Caligola. (1973)
Full Record: Stylow, Armin U. Die Quadranten des Caligula als Propaganda-münzen.münzen" aus der stdtischen sammlung zu Osnabrück. (1971)
Full Record: Schwartz, Jacques. Le Monnayage Snatorial entre 37 et 42 P.C. (1951)
Full Record: Rodolfo Martini, ed. Sylloge nummorum Romanorum. Italia. Milano, Civiche Raccolte Numismatiche Vol. 1 Giulio-Claudii / a cura di Rodolfo Martini. (1990)
Full Record: Szaivert, Wolfgang. Zur Julisch-Claudischen Münzprgung. (1979)
Full Record: Vedrianus. The Roman Imperial series. V. Gaius. (1963)
Full Record: Tietze, Christian M. Kaiser Cajus Caesar, genannt Caligula. (1979)
Full Record: Wood, Susan. Diva Drusilla Panthea and the sisters of Caligula / Susan Wood. (1995)
Full Record: Sutherland, Carol Humphrey Vivian. Coinage in Roman imperial policy 31 B.C.-A.D. 68. (1951)
Full Record: Sutherland, C. H. V. The mints of Lugdunum and Rome under Gaius : an unsolved problem. (1981)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Familienpropaganda der Kaiser Caligula und Claudius : Agrippina Maior und Antonia Augusta auf Münzen. (1978)
Full Record: Voirol, August. Eine Warenumsatzsteuer im antiken Rom und der numismatische Beleg inher Aufhebung : Centesima rerum venalium. (1943)
Full Record: Trillmich, Walter. Zur Münzprgung des Caligula von Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza). (1973)
The Apollo Belvedere.
The Vatican Museum.
This statue was part of the collection which Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere held in his palace in Rome. When he was elected Pope as Julius II (1503-1513) the statues was transferred to the Vatican, where it has remained since at least 1508. The god, Apollo, moves forward majestically and seems to have just released an arrow from the bow which he originally carried in his left hand. The work has been dated to mid-way through the 2nd century A.D. and is considered to be a copy of an original bronze statue of 330-320 B.C. by Leochares, one of the artists who worked on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
The statue has always been greatly admired, but owes its fame particularly to Johann Joachim Winckelmann who considered it the sublime expression of Greek art, "of all the works of antiquity that have escaped destruction, the statue of Apollo represents the highest ideal of art" (Museum description).
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
©2012 Patrick J Bayens
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.
If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:
Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/
The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at
Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.
a relief from a statue base which depicts the Vicomagistri (freedment magistrates associated with the imperial cult) carrying the Lares and genius of the emperor to a sacrifice. Its style is more crowded and the figures less elegant than the reliefs associated with imperial patronage. Probably dates to the early 20s. Text from Web
Vicomagistri relief Julio Claudian Period
a relief from a statue base which depicts the Vicomagistri (freedment magistrates associated with the imperial cult) carrying the Lares and genius of the emperor to a sacrifice. Its style is more crowded and the figures less elegant than the reliefs associated with imperial patronage. Probably dates to the early 20s. The Julio Claudian artsmanship is second to none.
From the Julio-Claudian period there has come down to us no public monument whose whole scheme of sculptural decoration is completely known to us, as in the case of the Ara Pacis. One of the best-preserved reliefs of this time is a long frieze ornamenting one side of what would appear to have been a large base or altar, the reliefs on its other sides being wholly lost, apart from tiny fragments indicating that they once existed. It was found in Rome beneath the Papal Chancellery and shows a procession of city magistrates (vicomagistri) accompanied by ministers (camilli) holding statuettes of the imperial Genius and Lares, sacrificial victims with attendants, musicians, and other male figures. The men and animals are ranged side by side along the field with little overlapping. In parts of the frieze there is a second row of figures carved in low relief on the background and of these the chief stylistic interest lies in the fact that their heads are slightly raised above those of the figures in the foreground, as though the spectator were viewing the procession from a somewhat elevated point of vantage. This device of vertical perspective, which we shall meet with again many times in Roman historical sculpture, has often been hailed as essentially a feature of popular Italian folk, art, which wormed its way into works of public and official sculpture. But normally it is the lower types of art that borrow from the higher, not vice versa; the convention occasionally appears in official Hellenistic sculpture and was probably to be found in monumental Hellenistic paintings, to judge from their apparent reflections in western funerary reliefs of Greek content and in Roman historical scenes of a strongly pictorial character, such as the reliefs with battles of Romans and Gauls on the Tiberian Arch at Orange;’ and when we find it occurring, as here, on an elegant, refined, not to say academic, piece of carving and on works of court inspiration such as the reliefs on Trajan’s Column, it is hard to believe in its Volkskunst origin. Its increasing vogue and development are to be more reasonably explained by the general Roman passion for factual detail, which naturally expressed itself in attempting to display all the participants in an action, including those in the second plane, as fully as possible. Again, the device was at times obviously demanded by aesthetic considerations, when in architectural reliefs such as the Orange panels and the spiral bands on Trajan’s Column, the whole effect depended on filling the entire field with sculpture. There we sometimes find the complete figures of the persons in the second plane tiered above those in the foreground.
The other surviving reliefs which can be dated to the Julio-Claudian epoch need not detain us long. A series of parts of processional and sacrificial scenes now built into the Villa Medici on the Pincian Hill, and some fragments with architectural and decorative motifs found on the Via Lata and now in the New Capitoline Museum, may have belonged to the Ara Pietatis begun by Tiberius in AD 22, but completed under Claudius. There is a group of figures, including those of Divus Augustus and Venus, and part of a procession of sacrificial beasts, at Ravenna, also possibly Claudian. Most of these pieces strike us as cold, conventional, and unadventurous. If Nero’s ambitious schemes for new imperial residences (e.g. the Golden House) and for replanning Rome after the fire of 64 left him time for sponsoring buildings with historical reliefs, none have come down to us.