DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37251#0218
i86
SALA DEI BRONZI 13
third-century Imperial policy, was a special care of Caracalla (e. g. his own
portraits and the Tarsus medallions); of Alexander Severus and of
Gordian III (medallions of Abukir); moreover, the story of Achilles,
the hero constantly identified with Alexander, would be specially appro-
priate as decoration of an object dedicated to sacred usage at this period.
It would also be in the same trend of ideas to use the medallion with
Bellerophon and the Chimaera, not so much as representing a mythical
episode, but rather as symbolic of the Imperial majesty (the 72%772<?72
Hzzyzzy/z' (?) as on the ' Giant and Jupiter ' columns) trampling on the foes
of the Empire. The medallions with Aphrodite carried in the shell are
intended, perhaps, to recall the god-like ancestry of the Romans, more
especially of the Imperial house.
The mixture of styles in the relief is noteworthy. On the Dionysiac
'Mzkiw we have, beside the wide spacing of the figures characteristic of the
Hadrianic classic revival, a neutral background which recurs again in
certain scenes of the Achilles cycle (Achilles on Scyros ; the Wrath; and
the Ransoming of Hector). In other of the Achilles scenes personifica-
tions of landscape in the Hellenistic manner are introduced (e. g. the four
scenes of the childhood), while others again with elaborate representations
of cities, wails, gates, and battlements (The Trick of Odysseus; Pursuit of
Hector; Dragging of Hector; Rescue of Hector's body) show a style mid-
way between the Ionio-Roman rendering of cities on the Trajan column
and the miniature style of the two Virgil codices in the Vatican, see
especially CW. Hz/. 3867, f. ioi=facs. Ehrle (1902), yz'c/. xiv (figures
looking over the walls of Troy at the wooden horse); cf. 6W. Hz/. 3223,
f. 33, v —facs. Ehrle (1899),yz'r/. xxiii; z'A f. 49 r — yz'c/. xxxv; z'A f. 72
v — yzir/. xlviii, &c.; they betray the same influences as certain large medals
of the end of the third century (e. g. the medal of Diocletian representing
the city of Mainz with its walls and towers, Frohner, dAf/rzz'/Azzy, p. 239).
In these scenes, moreover, the personages upon or behind the towers and
ramparts are represented with evident attempts at foreshortening and per-
spective, which again recall the influence upon Roman art of the picturesque
Ionian style, seen in the Nereid monument, the Graeco-Asiatic Stelae
and the Heroon of Gjolbaschi.
The end of the pole has likewise been preserved; it represents the
bust of an Eros with a Az/Az hanging from a neck-band. The shape of
the bust, which takes in the arms, points like the rest of the decoration to
a third-century date (cf. what has been said of the heads on the fulcra of
the litter and the couch in the &zAz aWAWwa/, nos. 11, 12).
To sum up, the date may be approximately fixed at the middle of the
third century from what has been said of the choice of the subject, of the
character of the architectural ornament, of the types of the portraiture on
the medallions, and of the intrusion of landscape accessories in the manner
of the medals and miniatures. Staehlin, however, is in favour of dating
the Azzjzz as early as the period of Septimius Severus.
Besides the plaquettes with medallion-portraits already referred to,
mention should be made of a bronze plaquette in repoussd, representing
a warrior attacking a city gate, lately acquired by the Antiquarium in
Munich (Sieveking in yA%7*A (1914), HroA Hzza., 438 and fig. 2); it
resembles in style the Achilles scene of the Azzi-zz (cf. esp. no. 12, Ajax
with body of Achilles) and fragment in B. M. from Castellani Coll.
SALA DEI BRONZI 13
third-century Imperial policy, was a special care of Caracalla (e. g. his own
portraits and the Tarsus medallions); of Alexander Severus and of
Gordian III (medallions of Abukir); moreover, the story of Achilles,
the hero constantly identified with Alexander, would be specially appro-
priate as decoration of an object dedicated to sacred usage at this period.
It would also be in the same trend of ideas to use the medallion with
Bellerophon and the Chimaera, not so much as representing a mythical
episode, but rather as symbolic of the Imperial majesty (the 72%772<?72
Hzzyzzy/z' (?) as on the ' Giant and Jupiter ' columns) trampling on the foes
of the Empire. The medallions with Aphrodite carried in the shell are
intended, perhaps, to recall the god-like ancestry of the Romans, more
especially of the Imperial house.
The mixture of styles in the relief is noteworthy. On the Dionysiac
'Mzkiw we have, beside the wide spacing of the figures characteristic of the
Hadrianic classic revival, a neutral background which recurs again in
certain scenes of the Achilles cycle (Achilles on Scyros ; the Wrath; and
the Ransoming of Hector). In other of the Achilles scenes personifica-
tions of landscape in the Hellenistic manner are introduced (e. g. the four
scenes of the childhood), while others again with elaborate representations
of cities, wails, gates, and battlements (The Trick of Odysseus; Pursuit of
Hector; Dragging of Hector; Rescue of Hector's body) show a style mid-
way between the Ionio-Roman rendering of cities on the Trajan column
and the miniature style of the two Virgil codices in the Vatican, see
especially CW. Hz/. 3867, f. ioi=facs. Ehrle (1902), yz'c/. xiv (figures
looking over the walls of Troy at the wooden horse); cf. 6W. Hz/. 3223,
f. 33, v —facs. Ehrle (1899),yz'r/. xxiii; z'A f. 49 r — yz'c/. xxxv; z'A f. 72
v — yzir/. xlviii, &c.; they betray the same influences as certain large medals
of the end of the third century (e. g. the medal of Diocletian representing
the city of Mainz with its walls and towers, Frohner, dAf/rzz'/Azzy, p. 239).
In these scenes, moreover, the personages upon or behind the towers and
ramparts are represented with evident attempts at foreshortening and per-
spective, which again recall the influence upon Roman art of the picturesque
Ionian style, seen in the Nereid monument, the Graeco-Asiatic Stelae
and the Heroon of Gjolbaschi.
The end of the pole has likewise been preserved; it represents the
bust of an Eros with a Az/Az hanging from a neck-band. The shape of
the bust, which takes in the arms, points like the rest of the decoration to
a third-century date (cf. what has been said of the heads on the fulcra of
the litter and the couch in the &zAz aWAWwa/, nos. 11, 12).
To sum up, the date may be approximately fixed at the middle of the
third century from what has been said of the choice of the subject, of the
character of the architectural ornament, of the types of the portraiture on
the medallions, and of the intrusion of landscape accessories in the manner
of the medals and miniatures. Staehlin, however, is in favour of dating
the Azzjzz as early as the period of Septimius Severus.
Besides the plaquettes with medallion-portraits already referred to,
mention should be made of a bronze plaquette in repoussd, representing
a warrior attacking a city gate, lately acquired by the Antiquarium in
Munich (Sieveking in yA%7*A (1914), HroA Hzza., 438 and fig. 2); it
resembles in style the Achilles scene of the Azzi-zz (cf. esp. no. 12, Ajax
with body of Achilles) and fragment in B. M. from Castellani Coll.