The Relief from the Collection of A. Moya Moreno ‒ some Observations

Goette, Hans Rupprecht

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Authors

Goette, Hans Rupprecht

Abstract(s)

The historical relief (Figs. 1‒14), once in the collection of A. Moya Moreno in Seville and said to be from Spain, is the subject of this article. It can be demonstrated that it was wider than preserved today because there was at least one more figure (maybe even more persons) on the left side while it cannot be secured that the right end today is that of the ancient marble slab. The three figures almost totally preserved have been substantially re-worked in antiquity: The togatus on the left side once was a representation of the emperor Caligula which has been changed to that of Augustus or of the genius of Augustus. The female figure’s head was reworked as well to classical forms; it has probably been the depiction of an empress, a sister of Caligula. As the personification of Concordia she connects the emperor with the seated figure on the right while both men clasp their hands. This enthroned man is characterized as a genius, maybe that of the populus Romanus or of the people of a Roman provincial capital on the Iberian peninsula. The feet of this figure and his throne have been re-worked as well, so one may assume that the changes to the secondary state of the relief extended up to the (today lost) head. The re-working of the heads of the two standing persons which once reached up higher than today indicate that the few letters of an inscription belong to the early Claudian, the secondary phase of the historical relief. The depiction of a Roman emperor (with some Roman attendants) in connection with Concordia and a genius can be dated in its primary state to Caligulean times and after its re-working to the early Claudian period. The slab consists of Luna marble. It was produced from a masonry block which was part of a late Republican or very early Imperial building which most probably stood in Italy. With this background of the monument’s technical history it cannot be secured if the whole block, later divided into several slabs, was transported to Spain and the relief then chiselled in the capital of the Roman province on the Iberian peninsula; theoretically the relief may have been worked in Rome or another Italian town, then brought to Spain and later re-worked to its extant, secondary appearance.