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Two Late-Antique statues from ancient Messene1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Georgios Deligiannakis
Georgios Deligiannakis
Affiliation:
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
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Abstract

This article gives a first publication of two late antique statues; it discusses their archaeological context suggesting an appropriate date and tries to place them in their historical and cultural environment.

The statues of Messene are important because they represent a rare instance of two late antique statues from Achaia for the study of which a precise archaeological context is available. They were the products of a local workshop and could be dated to the first quarter of the fourth century. The two late antique statues, of an emperor (perhaps Constantine I) and of Hermes, and a third earlier one showing Artemis Laphria, were part of a late Roman sculptural assemblage. It is here argued that they all stood together in niches, inside the reception room of a wealthy town mansion. They offer a vivid insight into the taste and self-representation of the owner of the house. It is suggested that they represent a mix of contemporary political reference and traditional values of the Greco-Roman aristocracy: loyalty to the Imperial House, social status and education, euergetism, and perhaps traditional religion.

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Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 100 , November 2005 , pp. 387 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2005

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References

2 Pausanias, iv. 31–3; Habicht, Ch., Pausanias' Guide to Ancient Greece (Berkeley, 1998), 36–63Google Scholar.

3 For the 4th-c. earthquakes in the Peloponnese, see Avramea, A., Le Péloponnèse du IVe au VIIIe siècle: changements et persistances (Paris, 1997), 42–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 For Early Christian Messene, see Themelis 2002, 20–58.

5 Some examples of statues of certain late-antique date from the province of Achaia: Athens: L'Orange, 1933, nos. 124–5, pls. 232–3, 235; Harrison, E. B., The Athenian Agora, i: Portrait Sculpture (Princeton, 1953)Google Scholar, no. 64, pls. 41–2; Vermeule 1968, 365–7, pl. 183; Winkes, R., Clipeata Imago: Studien zu einer römischen Bildnisform (Bonn, 1969), 138Google Scholar, pl. 5 a–c, Kiilerich 1993, 105–6, pl. 52. Corinth: Johnson, F. P., Corinth, ix. 1: Sculpture 1896–1923 (Cambridge, 1931)Google Scholar, no. 325; Kollwitz, J., Oströmische Plastik der theodosianischen Zeit (Berlin, 1941)Google Scholar, nos. 13–16, and 17 (Megara). Sparta: Woodward, A. M., ‘Excavations at Sparta: the theatre’, BSA 28 (1926–1927)Google Scholar, nos. 3–4, pls. 7–8; Waywell, G. B. and Wilkes, J. J., ‘Excavations at the ancient theatre of Sparta 1992–4’, BSA 90 (1995), 453–60Google Scholar, no. 3, pls. 48 c-49 c.

6 The exact disposition of the other pieces is not reported in the earlier excavations.

7 The statue had fallen to the ground and was broken into 10 joining fragments scattered around its torso: Themelis 1989, 99–105.

8 W. 0.85–1 m, L. 0.88–1.30 m.

9 The grid is formed by a band of guilloche pattern enclosed by a band of meander and wave pattern: Dunbabin 1999, 214–22; also cf. Salies, G. Hellenkemper, ‘Römische Mosaiken in Griechenland’, BJb 186 (1986), 241–84Google Scholar at 272–84; Waywell, S. E., ‘Roman mosaics in Greece’, AJA 83 (1979), 295–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar, nos. 7, 14, 17.

10 Themelis 1989, 102–5, pl. 25.

11 The statue of Artemis was found 2 m from the E wall and approximately 1.30 m from the N wall.

12 Themelis 1989, 105, 115; 1990, 60, 100–1 (catalogue of coins).

13 Themelis 1990, 60.

14 Themelis 2002, 20–58.

15 Dunbabin 1999, 305–6, with bibliography and other examples.

16 P. Themelis, “Μεσσήνη”, Ergon, 2003, 40, pls. 35–6.

17 Another impressive private house was excavated on the W. side of the road. Its last phase of construction is dated to the 3rd or 4th c. AD: Themelis 2002, 32–3.

18 For a parallel one can refer to the colossal statue found at Butrint in September 2002. It originally depicted a male figure wearing a toga and patrician boots (an emperor?). In late antiquity it was reworked and altered. However, the recutting was never completed. For a preliminary report and photographs, see ‘International Centre for Albanian Archaeology Review 2002–2003’ (2004), at http://www.uea.ac.uk/art/iwa/publications.html.

19 Cf. Delbrueck 1933, 219, pl. 116 (the bronze colossus of Barletta).

20 The original female statue may have had the hand resting freely on the side or bent holding its drapery. Some examples from Messene: priestesses of Artemis; Messene Museum nos. 240–3, 244, 245, 247, 259; Despinis, G., “Ανδιάς ί έριας ἑϰ Μεσσήνης”, Χαριστήριον Α. ᾿Ορλάνδος, ii (Athens, 1964), 220–3Google Scholar Themelis 1999, pl. 58–60, 139–42.

21 The two joining surfaces of the arm and the body do not match. Looking at their outline, one gets the impression that if the arm were turned in a vertical position, the arm side of the join would fit better with the body side. One may assume that the arm was originally attached to the body in that position and that it was later modified with the addition of the iron clamp. Themelis (2002, 26) postulated that this change was connected with a supposed promotion of the depicted figure from the rank of Caesar to that of Augustus, yet neither literary nor archaeological evidence exists to justify such a view. Given the poor quality of the work, the unfitness of the joining surfaces could be due to the sculptor's lack of skill.

22 Cf. porphyry bust of a Tetrarch from Athribis, Cairo (Smith 1997, pl. 8. 4); bronze statue of Constantius, Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Sala dei Bronzi (L'Orange 1984, pl. 55); portrait of emperor (Theodosius II), Paris, Louvre (Kiilerich 1993, fig. 106); ‘Emperor Bayezit’, Istanbul Archaeological Museum (Kiilerich 1993, fig. 40); statuette of Christ, Rome, Museo Nazionale (Bergmann 1999, pl. 40.1–2).

23 Alföldi 1970, 161–86.

24 For the motif of the ‘great right hand’: Brilliant, R., Gesture and Rank in Roman Art: The Use of Gestures to Denote Status in Roman Sculpture and Coinage (New Haven, 1963), 163–212Google Scholar.

25 Orb: Bastien 1994, 503 ff.; Alföldi, M., ‘Die kaiserzeitlichen Vorgänger des Reichsapfels’, in ead, Gloria Romanorum: Schriften zur Spätantike. Zum 75. Geburtstag der Verfasserin am 6. Juni 2001, ed. Bellen, H. and von Kaenel, H.-M. (Stuttgart, 2001), 215–28Google Scholar.

26 Cf. Niemeyer, H. G., Studien zur statuarischen Darstellung der römischen Kaiser (MAR 7; Berlin, 1968)Google Scholar, no. 38 (Augustus?), pl. 12. 2, no. 58 (Antoninus Pius), pl. 20. 2; Vermeule, C., Hellenistic and Roman Cuirassed Statues (Boston, 1980)Google Scholar, nos. 58, 73, 75.

27 Smith 1997, 177–8.

28 Ibid.

29 Bergmann, M., Studien zum römischen Porträt des 3. Jhdts.n.Chr. (Bonn, 1977), 163–79Google Scholar; Smith 1997, 180 n. 49 (for other studies); for Tetrarchic statues from Greece, Meischner, J., ‘Das tetrarchische Porträt in Griechenland’, in Başgelen, N. and Lugal, M. (eds.), Jale İnan armağani—Festschrift für Jale İnan (Istanbul, 1989), 501–10Google Scholar.

30 L'Orange 1984, 34–6; Smith 1997, 185–7.

31 It was possible to find only four examples with similar hairstyles, two coins (Nepotianus: RIC VIII Rome 202–3, pl. 10, AD 350) and two marble portraits in Rome: L'Orange 1933, 75 n. 103, pl. 197–8 (Museo Capitolino); von Sydow 1969, 93 ff., pl. 6 (National Museum).

32 Bastien 1992, 503–6; Alföldi 1970, 238, fig. 2. Some examples: RIC VII; Antioch 47 (Constantine II); 70 (Constantine Aug./Constantinus II and Constantius as Caesars); Antioch 126 (Constans); Aquileia 81 (Crispus); Alföldi 1963, nos. 275 (Constantine Aug.), 386 (Constantius II Caes.), 662 (Constantine I Aug.), 177.

33 For a list see Barnes 1982, 3–8.

34 von Sydow 1969, 44–62; L'Orange 1984, 78–80; Smith 1997, 178.

35 The reasons that might suggest a local workshop for these works are that: (a) their poor quality could hardly be compared with other examples of late-antique sculpture from the province; (b) they were made of reused material that had been employed for other sculptures found in Messene; (c) there is archaeological evidence for a local sculpture workshop here during the early Roman period (P. Themelis, “Μεσσήνη”, Ergon, 2002, 33–4). Apart from the two statues under consideration here, we know of a marble torso (H. 0.26, W. 0.32, D. 0.145) discovered in 1997 at the Gymnasium that is also dated to late antiquity. It shows a male figure tightly wrapped in its himation of linear and shallow carving. Its archaeological context indicates a date before 360/70: Themelis 1997, 113, pl. 65 b.

36 However, Themelis believes that the statue may be associated on stylistic grounds with imperial representations of Constantius II. In his opinion, the statue's head from Messene resembles in style the colossal bronze portrait of the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome (L'Orange 1984, pl. 53 c, 55) and an amethyst gem with an imperial bust in Berlin (Weitzmann, K. (ed.), Age of Spirituality. Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (New York, 1977)Google Scholar, no. 17). Both works are often associated with Constantius II. He also suggests that the change of the arm position in our statue was meant to mark the promotion of Constantius II as sole Augustus in 350 AD: Themelis 2002, 26.

37 We know that control of the province of Achaia passed in 316/17 from Licinius to Constantine. After the death of Licinius (AD 324) and toward the end of his reign, Constantine divided the empire among several Caesars. Dalmatius took control of Greece for the years 335–7, but soon after Constantine's death Constans appears to have acquired this territory. After the assassination of Constans (AD 350), Constantius II became sole emperor: Barnes (1982), 197–200.

38 Constantine in 324 elevated Achaia to a province of senatorial rank, after Diocletian had briefly degraded it: Groag, E., Die Reichsbeamten von Achaia in spätromischer Zeit (Budapest, 1946), 22Google Scholar. Constantine's benevolence towards Athens: Julian, Panegyric to Constantius, 18 D. For Constantine's connections with the Athenian aristocracy and the city's teachers: Frantz 1988, 16–17; Millar, F., ‘P. Herennius Dexippus: the Greek world and the third-century invasions’ JRS 59 (1969), 15 ffGoogle Scholar. Inscriptions from Achaia: Constantine: IG v2, no. 139 (Tegea); AE 1928, no. 57, as Caesar (Thespiae); Feissel and Philippidis-Braat 1985 no. 1 (Tegea); IG vii, no. 1848 (Thespiae); Vermeule 1968, 428, nos. 2, 3 (Delphi); Vermeule 1968, 432, no. 1, with Licinius (Aigosthena); Feissel and Philippidis-Braat 1985, 270 no. 2, with Caesars (Gargalianoi); iid. 272, no. 5 a, with Caesars (near Priniko, Laconia); IG xii. 9, no. 146, with Caesars (Amarynthus, Euboea); Sironen 1994, 26, no. 10(?); iid., 2001, no. 5(?) (Athens).

39 Iid. 270 no. 2.

40 Dalmatius: AE 1948, no. 50 (Delphi); Sironen 2001, no. 2(?) (Athens). Constantine II: SEG 23, no. 267 (Aigosthena); SEG 29, no. 801 (Aidepsus); IG vii, no. 1849 (together with Constantius II, Thespiae); Sironen 2001, no. 1 (Athens). Constantius II: Julian, Or. 1. 6, ed. Bidez; Sironen 2001, nos. 3–4(?) (Athens). Constans: Feissel and Philippidis-Braat 1985, 271–2, nos. 3–4, (Corinth, Tegea); SEG 22, no. 469 (Delphi); Sironen 2001, nos. 2–4 (Athens).

41 L'Orange 1984, 120, pl. 48.

42 Cf. a head of Hermes with wings from the sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia (Antonine): Lattimore, S., Isthmia, vi: Sculpture, ii: Marble Sculpture, 1967–1980 (Princeton, 1996)Google Scholar, no. 6, pl. 5 b–d; another from Ephesus (Antonine): Aurenhammer, M., Die Skulpturen von Ephesos, Idealplastik I, x. 1 (Vienna, 1990), 30–2Google Scholar, pls. 6–7; a statue of Hermes from House B on the Areopagus: Frantz 1988, 37, pl. 38 d.

43 Cf. Kabus-Preisshofen, R., Die hellenistische Plastik der Insel Kos (Berlin, 1989)Google Scholar, pls. 61–4, 55–7. Themelis, P., ‘Damophon’, YCS 30 (1996), 154–77Google Scholar associated these traces on the back of the plinths of Hermes and of the emperor with Hellenistic female draped figures from the Asklepieion that could tentatively be associated with statues of the Muses made by the sculptor Damophon; he argued that the statues remained on display until the later Roman period, when they were recut as male figures.

44 Collection of articles in Gazda, E. K. (ed.), Roman Art in the Private Sphere: New Perspectives on the Architecture and Décor of the Domus, Villa, and Insula (Ann Arbor, 1991)Google Scholar.

45 Late-antique sculpture collections and discussion: Bergmann 1999; Willers, D., ‘Das Ende der antiken Idealstatue’, MH 53 (1996), 170–85Google Scholar. A mix of numerous mythological and historical themes (and a Tetrarchic ruler portrait): Brinkerhoff, D. M., A Collection of Sculpture in Classical and Early Christian Antioch (New York, 1970)Google Scholar. Late-antique mythological statuettes from a villa at Saint-Georges-de-Montagne: Stirling, L. M., ‘Divinities and Heroes in the age of Ausonius’, RA 1996, 103–43Google ScholarPubMed. Aphrodisias: Smith, R. R. R., ‘Late Roman philosopher portraits from Aphrodisias’, JRS 90 (1990), 127–55Google Scholar. Rome: Kiilerich, B. and Torp, H., ‘Mythological sculpture in the fourth century A.D.: the Esquiline group and the Silahtarağa statues’, IstMitt 44 (1994), 307–16Google Scholar. Athens: the Areopagus Houses, portrait bust of Antoninus Pius, Roman statues of divinities and portraits: Frantz 1988, 37–48. More examples in Hannestad, N., Tradition in Late Antique Sculpture: Conservation, Modernization, Production (Århus, 1994), 105–49Google Scholar.

46 ‘Hermes’, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, xiv. 772–80. Some late Roman epigrams in honour of local notables and imperial governors refer to the devotion of their recipient to the Muses and Hermes: Robert 1948, 24–34. In an oration of Himerius, the proconsul of Achaia Cervonius is addressed ὦ Μουσῶν ϰαí ῾Ερμοῦ προφῆτα (38. 72).

47 VS 483.

48 Frantz 1988, 46, pl. 38 d.

49 Pausanias iv. 32. 1.

50 The gymnasium at Messene: Themelis 1999, 101–12; 2001, 119–26.

51 The inscription of the Hermes statue base cannot be read, but the figure should be associated with another marble statue of a male figure with himation in the same room. According to the inscription of this base (1st c. AD), Ti. Klaudios Theon, son of Nikeratos was honoured by the city, bearing the posthumous epithet ‘hero’. The inscription for the statue of Dionysios in Room XI is similar. For this possible interpretation of these statues at the gymnasium, see Themelis, P., ᾿Ηρωες ϰαι Ηρὡα στην Μεσσἡνη (Athens, 2000), 137–58Google Scholar; id., ‘Roman Messene: the gymnasium’, in O. Salomies (ed.), The Greek East in the Roman Context: Proceedings of a Colloquium Organized by the Finnish Institute at Athens May 21 and 22, 1999 (Helsinki, 2000), 119–26.

52 Unlike the late-antique statue, the statue at the gymnasium has no wings on its head.

53 For the use of the Hermes image in private and imperial portrait sculpture: Wrede, H., Consecratio in formam deorum: Vergöttlichte Privatpersonen in der römischen Kaiserzeit (Mainz am Rhein, 1981), 274Google Scholar, no. 206, pl. 29. 4; Trillmich, W., ‘Elemente der Hermes-Ikonographie in der römischen Porträtkunst’, in von Freytag gen, B.. Löringhoff, and Mannsperger, D. (eds.), Praestant Interna: Festschrift für Ulrich Hausmann (Tübingen, 1982), 125–35Google Scholar; Zanker, P., ‘Zur Funktion und Bedeutung griechischer Skulptur in der Römerzeit’, in Flashar, H. (ed.), Le Classicisme à Rome aux Iers siècles avant et après J.-C. (Geneva, 1979), 293–9Google Scholar. For cities conferring heroic honours on local citizens, see Price, S. R. F., Rituals and Powers: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge, 1984), 50Google Scholar.

54 Themelis 1999, 101–12; 2002, 30–1. For the same type of grave monuments near the Arcadian Gate of the city, see Themelis 1999, 47–50; 2002, 23–5.

55 For Constantine as Apollo: Pan. Lat. 6. 21. 4–6; Chronicon Paschale, Bonn edn., 28: Constantine set up in AD 328 a bronze statue representing Apollo-Helios as his own effigy on top of the porphyry column of the Forum Helios; coins: Alföldi 1963, pl. 5, 60, 63–4 (AD 313–14); also Crispus: L'Orange 1984, 82, pl. 69 a; cf. Mango, C., ‘Antique statuary and the Byzantine beholder’, DOP 17 (1963), 55–75Google Scholar; Stupperlich, R., ‘Das Statuenprogramm in den Zeuxippos-Thermen’, IstMitt 35 (1982), 210–35Google Scholar.

56 The destruction is dated by a coin of Theodosius found in the marble fragment layer: Themelis 1995, 79–83; 2001, 125.

57 IG iv. 1032; iv2. 515; Robert 1948, 7–10.

58 Themelis 1989, 102–5.

59 More evidence for the pagan aristocracy at Messene in the fourth century is provided by some funerary inscriptions that survive from this period; see for example the two epigrams from the stele of the pagan Etearchis: Bardani, B., ‘Παλαιοχριστιανιϰς επιγραφἑς Μεσσἡνης’ in Themelis, P. and Konti, V. (eds), Πρωτοβυζαντινἡ Μεσσἡνη ϰαι Ολυμπíα: Αστιϰς ϰαι αγροτιϰὁς χὡρος στη Δυτιϰἡ Πελοπὁννησο, Πραϰτιϰἁ του Διεϑνοὑς Συμποσíου Αϑἡνα 1998 (Athens, 2002), 82–98Google Scholar. Also an interesting mosaic from another late Roman private house to the west of the Roman building shows Dionysos and Ariadne (?) riding on a sea monster and an acolyte kissing the god's hand: Themelis 2002, 32–3.

60 Note the evidence for repairs in the fountain house of Arsinoe, west of the Agora, dated, thanks to a single coin, to the years of Diocletian; the construction of the ‘Late Roman Stoa’ along the northern site of the Sebasteion (4th c.?), and the building activity in the Stadium of Messene (4th c.?): Themelis 2002, 28, 31; cf. Cartledge, P. and Spawforth, A., Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A Tale of Two Cities (London, 1989), 122–4Google Scholar (Sparta).