DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45927#0101
99
9. THE SCULPTURES FOUND IN THE BOULEUTERION AND THE SCULPTURAL
PROGRAM OF THE VEDIUS SCAENAE FRONS364
The sculptures found in the Bouleuterion were mainly discovered by J. T. Wood in the early 1860s. Two frag-
ments of inscribed statue bases (sculp. 1.3 and 1.6, see chapter 9.5, pls. 67, 2; 68) were recorded by J. Keil in
1908, whereas W. Alzinger’s excavations in 1970 yielded only one small fragment of a male head (sculp. 2.4,
pl. 70, 2). About half of the sculptures are attested only by inscribed statue bases or are mentioned in Wood’s
letters to the British Museum. As far as we know, Wood sent three sculptures (sculp. 1.1; 1.4; 2.3, pls. 66; 69;
70, 1.3) to the British Museum; one of them (sculp. 1.4, pls. 69; 70, 1) was returned to the Imperial Ottoman
Museum in Constantinople. A fourth piece, the statue of a Muse (sculp. 2.1, pls. 70, 4; 71), was also intended
for the British Museum, but sank with the ship off the coast of Syros. It was retrieved in a partially damaged
state from the sea and is now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Syros (see below, chapter 9.2). The
whereabouts of five other bases or plinths and sculptures (sculp. 1.2; 1.5; 2.2; 3.1; 3.2; pl. 67, 1) found by
Wood are unknown. The fragment of the inscribed base sculp. 1.3 is stored in the epigraphic depot at the site
of Ephesos; the location of the fragment of the base sculp. 1.6 (pl. 67, 2) is presently unknown.
Iconographically, the sculptures can be roughly divided into two parts: a series of portrait statues of the An-
tonine dynasty (sculp. 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4, pls. 66; 67, 1; 68; 69; 70, 1), and a group of mythological figures and
personifications (sculp. 1.6; 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 2.4, pls. 67, 2; 70,2-4; 71). The “statue of an actor or orator” (a torso)
mentioned by Wood (sculp. 1.5) was probably also a portrait statue. The interpretation of the seated female
statue “of an earlier period apparently” (sculp. 3.1) and of the “female torso” (sculp. 3.2) remains obscure.
9.1 Portrait Statuary and Statues of Personifications
In the course of the last decade, K. Fittschen, A. Kalinowski and H. Taeuber reconstructed a group of Imperial
statues of the Antonine dynasty for the scaenae frons donated by P. Vedius Antoninus III and Flavia Papiane,
based on extant sculptures, inscribed statue bases and information in J. T. Wood’s letters.365
One extant remaining Imperial statue from the Bouleuterion is the torso of Lucius Verus as a crown prince
in the guise of Mars (sculp. 1.1, pl. 66), utilizing the Ares Borghese body type; it was found near the middle
doorway of the scaenae frons366 It is identified through a Greek dedicatory inscription on the plinth, which
gives the future emperor’s full name of Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus and states that the statue was set
up during the lifetime of the Emperor Antoninus Pius by a Vedius Antoninus, i. e. M. Claudius P. Vedius An-
toninus Phaedrus Sabinianus, who was responsible for the renovation of the Bouleuterion.367 The plinth is of
simple oval form, with a slightly projecting panel featuring the inscription.368
When complete, the statue would have been nearly 2 m tall.369 Now, only the lower half of the sculpture
with the legs and the torso up to just above the navel survives, but at the time of its discovery the missing up-
364 The main part of the text was written by M. Aurenhammer. Th. Opper (British Museum, Department of Greek and Roman Antiq-
uities) contributed an important section, the passage on the statue of Lucius Verus (including sculp. 1.1). He was also the first to
question the unity of the dynastic program.
.%5 f1ttschen 1999, 130; Kalinowski - Taeuber 2001, 351-357; Kalinowski 2002, 138-145; cf. also Deppmeyer 2008, I 113 f. II
245-247 cat. 114.
366 The best replica of the Ares Borghese type is the statue in the Louvre (Paris, Louvre MA 866); for a recent bibliography on the
Ares Borghese and a replica-list including copies used as portrait statues, see Hartswick 1990, 227-283. For the Ephesos statue
cf. Hartswick 1990, 280 no. 23, where it is wrongly dated to the Severan period.
367 See above chap. 8.3.1, inscr. 11 on the inscription.
.368 por t|nj s type of plinth (“Rahmenplinthe“) which was popular in the Roman East in the 2nd century A.D., cf. Muthmann 1951, 125
(“3. Gruppe“). Examples: a variant of the statue of Apollo from the Tiber in Cherchel, Musee des Antiquites S 30, cf. Landwehr
- Dimas 2000, 1-12 cat. 67 pl. 1-3; an Ephesian example with profiled panel is the replica of the Boy with the Goose in Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum I 816; Aurenhammer 1990, 149-152 cat. 132 pl. 91.
369 The distance from the soles of the feet to the lower end of the navel measures 1.22 m, from which a total height of the statue of
9. THE SCULPTURES FOUND IN THE BOULEUTERION AND THE SCULPTURAL
PROGRAM OF THE VEDIUS SCAENAE FRONS364
The sculptures found in the Bouleuterion were mainly discovered by J. T. Wood in the early 1860s. Two frag-
ments of inscribed statue bases (sculp. 1.3 and 1.6, see chapter 9.5, pls. 67, 2; 68) were recorded by J. Keil in
1908, whereas W. Alzinger’s excavations in 1970 yielded only one small fragment of a male head (sculp. 2.4,
pl. 70, 2). About half of the sculptures are attested only by inscribed statue bases or are mentioned in Wood’s
letters to the British Museum. As far as we know, Wood sent three sculptures (sculp. 1.1; 1.4; 2.3, pls. 66; 69;
70, 1.3) to the British Museum; one of them (sculp. 1.4, pls. 69; 70, 1) was returned to the Imperial Ottoman
Museum in Constantinople. A fourth piece, the statue of a Muse (sculp. 2.1, pls. 70, 4; 71), was also intended
for the British Museum, but sank with the ship off the coast of Syros. It was retrieved in a partially damaged
state from the sea and is now displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Syros (see below, chapter 9.2). The
whereabouts of five other bases or plinths and sculptures (sculp. 1.2; 1.5; 2.2; 3.1; 3.2; pl. 67, 1) found by
Wood are unknown. The fragment of the inscribed base sculp. 1.3 is stored in the epigraphic depot at the site
of Ephesos; the location of the fragment of the base sculp. 1.6 (pl. 67, 2) is presently unknown.
Iconographically, the sculptures can be roughly divided into two parts: a series of portrait statues of the An-
tonine dynasty (sculp. 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4, pls. 66; 67, 1; 68; 69; 70, 1), and a group of mythological figures and
personifications (sculp. 1.6; 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 2.4, pls. 67, 2; 70,2-4; 71). The “statue of an actor or orator” (a torso)
mentioned by Wood (sculp. 1.5) was probably also a portrait statue. The interpretation of the seated female
statue “of an earlier period apparently” (sculp. 3.1) and of the “female torso” (sculp. 3.2) remains obscure.
9.1 Portrait Statuary and Statues of Personifications
In the course of the last decade, K. Fittschen, A. Kalinowski and H. Taeuber reconstructed a group of Imperial
statues of the Antonine dynasty for the scaenae frons donated by P. Vedius Antoninus III and Flavia Papiane,
based on extant sculptures, inscribed statue bases and information in J. T. Wood’s letters.365
One extant remaining Imperial statue from the Bouleuterion is the torso of Lucius Verus as a crown prince
in the guise of Mars (sculp. 1.1, pl. 66), utilizing the Ares Borghese body type; it was found near the middle
doorway of the scaenae frons366 It is identified through a Greek dedicatory inscription on the plinth, which
gives the future emperor’s full name of Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus and states that the statue was set
up during the lifetime of the Emperor Antoninus Pius by a Vedius Antoninus, i. e. M. Claudius P. Vedius An-
toninus Phaedrus Sabinianus, who was responsible for the renovation of the Bouleuterion.367 The plinth is of
simple oval form, with a slightly projecting panel featuring the inscription.368
When complete, the statue would have been nearly 2 m tall.369 Now, only the lower half of the sculpture
with the legs and the torso up to just above the navel survives, but at the time of its discovery the missing up-
364 The main part of the text was written by M. Aurenhammer. Th. Opper (British Museum, Department of Greek and Roman Antiq-
uities) contributed an important section, the passage on the statue of Lucius Verus (including sculp. 1.1). He was also the first to
question the unity of the dynastic program.
.%5 f1ttschen 1999, 130; Kalinowski - Taeuber 2001, 351-357; Kalinowski 2002, 138-145; cf. also Deppmeyer 2008, I 113 f. II
245-247 cat. 114.
366 The best replica of the Ares Borghese type is the statue in the Louvre (Paris, Louvre MA 866); for a recent bibliography on the
Ares Borghese and a replica-list including copies used as portrait statues, see Hartswick 1990, 227-283. For the Ephesos statue
cf. Hartswick 1990, 280 no. 23, where it is wrongly dated to the Severan period.
367 See above chap. 8.3.1, inscr. 11 on the inscription.
.368 por t|nj s type of plinth (“Rahmenplinthe“) which was popular in the Roman East in the 2nd century A.D., cf. Muthmann 1951, 125
(“3. Gruppe“). Examples: a variant of the statue of Apollo from the Tiber in Cherchel, Musee des Antiquites S 30, cf. Landwehr
- Dimas 2000, 1-12 cat. 67 pl. 1-3; an Ephesian example with profiled panel is the replica of the Boy with the Goose in Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum I 816; Aurenhammer 1990, 149-152 cat. 132 pl. 91.
369 The distance from the soles of the feet to the lower end of the navel measures 1.22 m, from which a total height of the statue of
