DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26205#0050
48
triumphal ritual the personifications of rivers found its way in to art, as was
the case also with the personifications of provinces 10°. However, there exists
also quite a numerous group of river personifications, accentuating the
achievements of internal policy: prosperity, development of trade and
agriculture, erecting of new edifices and last but not least the peace reigning
throughout the Empire.
As stressed above, a chronological arrangement will be employed in the
present subsection, since only this secures a clear image of reflection of political
events in this domain of Roman iconography.
The only late Republican objects surviving up to the present which contain
the personifications of rivers are the paintings depicting the history of Rome’s
foundation, discovered in 1875 in a tomb on the Esquiline and dated to
40—30 B. C.100 101 The scenes from a frieze running around all four walls in the
burial chamber can be divided into two cycles: (1) the one about Aeneas
(among others, the battle of the Trojans and their Latin allies against the Rutuli
on the river Numicius and erection of the city walls of Alba Longa or
Lavinium), and (2) the cycle of Rea Silvia, Romulus and Remus (here also
with the scene of city walls’ building, this time those of Rome). In both cycles
appear the personifications of rivers. In the scene of the battle between the
Latins and the Rutuli the seated Numicius is seen on the south wall, whereas
the Tiber appears in the scene with Rea Silvia (east wall) and in the one with
Romulus and Remus (north wall).
Naturally, this whole cycle can be classified with mythological current,
like many other scenes connected with the beginnings of Rome. This is sup-
ported also by the fact of finding these paintings in a tomb, that is, in the
place the decoration of which is always associated rather with the sphere of
private art, except for the tombs of rulers or emperors. On the other hand,
it is just the fact of locating such paintings in a private tomb which has led
to the supposition that they make a copy of monumental painting decorating
some public edifice, generally accessible 102. This is associated with the dynastic
propaganda flourishing under Caesar and Octavianus Augustus of tracing
the origins of gens Julia from Venus and Aeneas, propaganda which is mirrored
also in other objects produced in that epoch.
One of its indications visible during the reign of Augustus was the decoration
of the temple of Mars Ultor, erected in Forum Augusti. In the tympanum the
sculptures were placed representing Mars, Venus, Fortuna, Roma and
Romulus, and in the corners the reclining personifications of the Palatine
100 Ostrowski, Prowincje, pp. 64—66, 102.
101 Rome, Museo Nazionale delle Terme, inv. Nos. 1451—1454. Cf. Reinach, RepPeint.,
PI. 177, 4; Nash, II, p. 359,ff.; Le Gall, p. 27; Borda, p. 172ff.; Kraus, Fig. 116, PI. IV; Helbig4,
No. 2489.
102 Similar scenes from the early history of Rome adorn, among other the frieze of the Basilica
Aemilia, kept in Antiquarium Forense in Rome, cf. Helbig4, No. 2062 (with full bibliography).
triumphal ritual the personifications of rivers found its way in to art, as was
the case also with the personifications of provinces 10°. However, there exists
also quite a numerous group of river personifications, accentuating the
achievements of internal policy: prosperity, development of trade and
agriculture, erecting of new edifices and last but not least the peace reigning
throughout the Empire.
As stressed above, a chronological arrangement will be employed in the
present subsection, since only this secures a clear image of reflection of political
events in this domain of Roman iconography.
The only late Republican objects surviving up to the present which contain
the personifications of rivers are the paintings depicting the history of Rome’s
foundation, discovered in 1875 in a tomb on the Esquiline and dated to
40—30 B. C.100 101 The scenes from a frieze running around all four walls in the
burial chamber can be divided into two cycles: (1) the one about Aeneas
(among others, the battle of the Trojans and their Latin allies against the Rutuli
on the river Numicius and erection of the city walls of Alba Longa or
Lavinium), and (2) the cycle of Rea Silvia, Romulus and Remus (here also
with the scene of city walls’ building, this time those of Rome). In both cycles
appear the personifications of rivers. In the scene of the battle between the
Latins and the Rutuli the seated Numicius is seen on the south wall, whereas
the Tiber appears in the scene with Rea Silvia (east wall) and in the one with
Romulus and Remus (north wall).
Naturally, this whole cycle can be classified with mythological current,
like many other scenes connected with the beginnings of Rome. This is sup-
ported also by the fact of finding these paintings in a tomb, that is, in the
place the decoration of which is always associated rather with the sphere of
private art, except for the tombs of rulers or emperors. On the other hand,
it is just the fact of locating such paintings in a private tomb which has led
to the supposition that they make a copy of monumental painting decorating
some public edifice, generally accessible 102. This is associated with the dynastic
propaganda flourishing under Caesar and Octavianus Augustus of tracing
the origins of gens Julia from Venus and Aeneas, propaganda which is mirrored
also in other objects produced in that epoch.
One of its indications visible during the reign of Augustus was the decoration
of the temple of Mars Ultor, erected in Forum Augusti. In the tympanum the
sculptures were placed representing Mars, Venus, Fortuna, Roma and
Romulus, and in the corners the reclining personifications of the Palatine
100 Ostrowski, Prowincje, pp. 64—66, 102.
101 Rome, Museo Nazionale delle Terme, inv. Nos. 1451—1454. Cf. Reinach, RepPeint.,
PI. 177, 4; Nash, II, p. 359,ff.; Le Gall, p. 27; Borda, p. 172ff.; Kraus, Fig. 116, PI. IV; Helbig4,
No. 2489.
102 Similar scenes from the early history of Rome adorn, among other the frieze of the Basilica
Aemilia, kept in Antiquarium Forense in Rome, cf. Helbig4, No. 2062 (with full bibliography).