Personifications in the ethne in roman art

Hertha Firnberg Position T 86 Personifications of the ethne in roman art Alice LANDKRON 27.06.2000 Monuments of the Roman Empire convey ancient ethnic groups in a subtly differentiated manner. The study aims at highlightning the ways in which the Romans dealt with the various ethnic people. Core of the issue is the relationship between who or what is supposed to be communicated. Undoubtedly the Romans seem to have regarded some ethnic groups in connection with the Roman conquests and expansions, thereby forming them to an integrative part of the idea of the empire itself. Primarily, the idea of ethnic personifications can mainly be understood by showing a person as a meaningful representative for a specific ethnic people. In addition, the study aims at examining notions of a country or a province since there is still no convincing idea of how to differentiate between images or personified people, and those of countries or provinces. In ancient literary sources we find ourselves confronted with terms such as "ethne", ,gentes", "nationes", "civitates" and "provinciae", their underlying meaning, however, has not been examined enough yet. Archaeological monuments form the basis for all studies on personified "ethne", especially monuments with inscriptions like monuments of stone, mosaics, coins (f e. pedestal from Pozzuoli, relief from Caere, reliefs from the Sebasteion in Aphrodisias, mosaics from Ostia, Biregik, Halicarnassos, coins from Hadrian and Antoninus Pius). Contrary to the relatively few monuments who`s interpretation is assured by inscriptions, there are many pictures of (mostly) female figures that cannot be ascribed to anything dispite the numerous existing samples (Forum Nervae, Hadrianeum in Rome, Parthian Monument from Ephesos). Not only do the examples listed above give an idea of the various forms of representation, but also of the engraved gems, terracottas and bronze appliques resp. statuettes. The methodology of this study is to be undertaken along the following lines: - Definition of the subject - Literary sources, Numismatics - Monuments in Roman art and their (possible) forerunners - Study of the costumes, weapons, attributes - Classification of the personifications: Countries, cities, provinces, people - Historical and political background - Ethnics in the light of the political and economical propaganda - Ethnic personifications in the light of the gender-studies - Aims of the imperial propaganda Final reflections should resume discussions concerning the semantics of the specific subject in comparison to the results of the study. What was the intention of a message illustrating personified "ethne"? Was it used for illustration -programmes with a peaceful or pacified context, or was there a military event preceding the pictures? Was there a process of acculturation which lead to an assimilation of the gentes, nationes, civitates or provinces?

Monuments of the Roman Empire convey ancient ethnic groups in a subtly differentiated manner. The study aims at highlightning the ways in which the Romans dealt with various ethnic people. Undoubtedly the Romans regarded some ethnic groups in connection with the Roman conquests and expansions, thereby forming them to an integrative part of the idea of the empire itself. Primarily, the idea of ethnic personifications can mainly be understood by showing a person as a meaningful representative for a specific ethnic people. In ancient literary sources we find ourselves confronted with terms such as "ethne", "gentes", "nationes", "civitates" and "provinciae", their underlying meaning is to examine and is of great importance for the interpretation of the monuments. The study has been untertaken under the following lines: 1. When and why are personified ethne illustrated? 2. On which monuments and in which kind of materials are ethne visualised? 3. Which are the iconographical motives and schemes to illustrate personified ethne? 4. Who is the patron of such illustrations and what was the intention of the message? 5. Did the pictures consider the ancient viewer? The personified ethne were used for illustration-programmes with a peaceful or pacified context under the following lines: 1. To represent a period of peace, for example the pictures of the ethne in the time of the emperor Augustus (Ara Pacis, Statue of Primaporta, description of monuments in ancient sources) or the personification of the provinces under the reign of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, who gave the peoples and the regions a great importance and presented them as an integrative part, as partners of the Roman empire. On the contrary there are several monuments in the context of triumph, showing the barbarians defeated and as captives. These illustrations are shown on triumphal monuments like the columnes or arches especially under Trajan and Marc Aurel. 2. To represent the variety of the ethnic groups in the Roman empire for example in different costumes which follow geographical characteristics. The study on the personifications of the ethne has not been finished during the Hertha Firnberg-Poste and sould be brought to an end as a habilitation project.