DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0175
COLUMNA MINUCIA—COLUMNA PHOCAE
133
The shaft stands on a plinth and torus decorated with oak leaves, 1.385
metres high, and its capital is 1.5 metres in height and of the Doric
order. The exterior of the shaft is adorned with reliefs arranged in a
spiral band which returns upon itself twenty-one times. These reliefs
represent scenes in the campaigns of Aurelius and correspond to those
on the column of Trajan, but are inferior in execution (for the explanation
of these columns as book-rolls, see Birt, quoted under Forum Traiani).
It is probable that the temple of Aurelius (see Divus Marcus, templum)
stood just west of the column, and that both were surrounded by a
porticus (for column and reliefs, see the definitive work of Petersen,
Domaszewski und Calderini, Die Marcussaule auf piazza Colonna,
Munich 1896; and S.Sculpt. 273-291 ; AA 1896, 2-18; PBS v. 181 ;
HJ 606-607; Zeitsch. f. Ethnologie, 1915, 75-91 ; AJA 1918, 213;
DuP 119-121 ; SScR 263-279 ; ASA 122.
Columna Minucia : erected in honour of L. Minucius Augurinus,
praefectus annonae in 439 b.c., by order of the people and paid for by
popular subscription—the first occurrence of the kind in Rome (Plin. NH
xxxiv. 21). This column stood outside the porta Trigemina, and is
represented on denarii of 129 and 114 b.c. (Babeion, Minucia, 3, 9, 10) 1 as
surmounted with a statue holding stalks of wheat, and with two other
statues standing at its base, one of which seems to represent Minucius.
It is probable, therefore, that this is the same monument referred to
elsewhere in Pliny (NH xviii. 15), where the same story is told, but a statue,
not a column, is mentioned. The bos aurata, which Livy (iv. 16) says
was erected in honour of Minucius outside the porta Trigemina, was
probably part of the same monument (cf. Porta Minucia).
Columna Phocae : a monument in front of the rostra in the forum which,
according to the inscription (CIL vi. 1200) 2 on the marble base of the
column, was erected in 608 a.d. by Smaragdus, exarch of Italy, in honour
of Phocas, emperor of the East. The monument consists of a fluted
Corinthian column of white marble, 1.39 metres in diameter and 13.60
high, on which was placed the statue of Phocas in gilt bronze. This
column stood on a marble base, which in turn rests on a square brick
pedestal which was entirely surrounded by flights of nine steps made of
tufa blocks taken from other structures. The steps on the north and east
sides were removed in 1903. The whole monument cannot have been
erected by Smaragdus, for the brick pedestal belongs probably to the
fourth century, while the column, from its style and execution, must be
earlier still. The pedestal was probably built at the same time as those
in front of the basilica lulia, and the column set upon it. Smaragdus
simply set the statue of Phocas on the column and constructed the
pyramid of tufa steps around the pedestal (as Nichols in Archaeologia
1 BM. Rep. i. 135. 952-4 ; 148. 1005-6.
2 Cf. ib. 31259 a ; viii. 10529, 12479, for a modern forgery of part of the inscription.
133
The shaft stands on a plinth and torus decorated with oak leaves, 1.385
metres high, and its capital is 1.5 metres in height and of the Doric
order. The exterior of the shaft is adorned with reliefs arranged in a
spiral band which returns upon itself twenty-one times. These reliefs
represent scenes in the campaigns of Aurelius and correspond to those
on the column of Trajan, but are inferior in execution (for the explanation
of these columns as book-rolls, see Birt, quoted under Forum Traiani).
It is probable that the temple of Aurelius (see Divus Marcus, templum)
stood just west of the column, and that both were surrounded by a
porticus (for column and reliefs, see the definitive work of Petersen,
Domaszewski und Calderini, Die Marcussaule auf piazza Colonna,
Munich 1896; and S.Sculpt. 273-291 ; AA 1896, 2-18; PBS v. 181 ;
HJ 606-607; Zeitsch. f. Ethnologie, 1915, 75-91 ; AJA 1918, 213;
DuP 119-121 ; SScR 263-279 ; ASA 122.
Columna Minucia : erected in honour of L. Minucius Augurinus,
praefectus annonae in 439 b.c., by order of the people and paid for by
popular subscription—the first occurrence of the kind in Rome (Plin. NH
xxxiv. 21). This column stood outside the porta Trigemina, and is
represented on denarii of 129 and 114 b.c. (Babeion, Minucia, 3, 9, 10) 1 as
surmounted with a statue holding stalks of wheat, and with two other
statues standing at its base, one of which seems to represent Minucius.
It is probable, therefore, that this is the same monument referred to
elsewhere in Pliny (NH xviii. 15), where the same story is told, but a statue,
not a column, is mentioned. The bos aurata, which Livy (iv. 16) says
was erected in honour of Minucius outside the porta Trigemina, was
probably part of the same monument (cf. Porta Minucia).
Columna Phocae : a monument in front of the rostra in the forum which,
according to the inscription (CIL vi. 1200) 2 on the marble base of the
column, was erected in 608 a.d. by Smaragdus, exarch of Italy, in honour
of Phocas, emperor of the East. The monument consists of a fluted
Corinthian column of white marble, 1.39 metres in diameter and 13.60
high, on which was placed the statue of Phocas in gilt bronze. This
column stood on a marble base, which in turn rests on a square brick
pedestal which was entirely surrounded by flights of nine steps made of
tufa blocks taken from other structures. The steps on the north and east
sides were removed in 1903. The whole monument cannot have been
erected by Smaragdus, for the brick pedestal belongs probably to the
fourth century, while the column, from its style and execution, must be
earlier still. The pedestal was probably built at the same time as those
in front of the basilica lulia, and the column set upon it. Smaragdus
simply set the statue of Phocas on the column and constructed the
pyramid of tufa steps around the pedestal (as Nichols in Archaeologia
1 BM. Rep. i. 135. 952-4 ; 148. 1005-6.
2 Cf. ib. 31259 a ; viii. 10529, 12479, for a modern forgery of part of the inscription.