Column of Marcus Aurelius
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The Column of Marcus Aurelius, (Latin: Columna Centenaria Divorum Marci et Faustinae), is a Doric column, with a spiral relief, built in honour of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modeled on Trajan's Column. It still stands on its original site in Rome, in the modern Piazza Colonna before Palazzo Chigi.
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[edit] Original construction
Because the original dedicatory inscription has been destroyed, we do not know whether it was built during the emperor’s lifetime (on the occasion of the triumph over the Teutons and Sarmatians in the year 176) or after his death in 180. However, an inscription found in the vicinity attests that the column was completed in 193 .
In terms of the topography of ancient Rome, the column stood on the north part of the Campus Martius, in the centre of a square. This square was either between the temple of Hadrian (probably the Hadrianeum) and the temple of Marcus Aurelius (dedicated by his son Commodus, of which nothing now remains - it was probably on the site of Palazzo Wedekind), or within the latter’s sacred precinct, of which nothing remains. Nearby is the site where the emperor’s cremation occurred.
The column’s shaft is 29.60 m (about 100 feet) high, on a 10m high base, which in turn originally stood on a 3m high platform - the column in total is 41.95 m. About 3 metres of the base have been below ground level since the 1589 restoration.
The column consists of 27 or 28 blocks of Carrara marble, each of 3.7m diameter, hollowed out whilst still at the quarry for a stairway of 190-200 steps within the column up to a platform at the top. Just as with Trajan’s Column, this stairway is illuminated through narrow slits into the relief.
[edit] Relief
The spiral picture relief tells the story of Marcus Aurelius’ Danubian or Marcomannic wars, waged by him from 166 to his death. The story begins with the army crossing the river Danube, probably at Carnuntum. Because of the height restriction, a Victory separates the accounts of the two expeditions. The exact chronology of the events is disputed, however the latest theory states that the expeditions against the Marcomanni and Quadi in the years 172 and 173 are in the lower half and the successes of the emperor over the Sarmatians in the years 174 and 175 in the upper half.
One particular episode portrayed is historically attested in the Roman propaganda – the so-called "rain miracle in the territory of the Quadi", in which a God, answering a prayer from the emperor, rescues Roman troops by a terrible storm, a miracle claimed by the Christians for the Christian God also.
In spite of many similarities to Trajan’s column, the style is entirely different, a forerunner of the dramatic style of the 3rd century and closely related to the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, erected soon after. The figures’ heads are disproportionately large so that the viewer can better interpret their facial expressions. The images are carved less finely than at Trajan’s Column, through drilling holes more deeply into the stone, so that they are more impressive and stand out better in a contrast of light and dark. As villages are burned down, women and children are rounded up and displaced, men are executed, the emotion, despair and suffering of the "barbarians" in the war, are represented expressively in single scenes and in the figures’ facial expression and gestures, whilst the emperor is represented as a protagonist, in control of his environment.
The symbolic language is altogether clearer and more expressive, if clumsier at first sight, and leaves a wholly different impression on the viewer to the whole artistic style of 100 to 150 as on Trajan’s column. There, cool and sober balance – here, drama and empathy. The pictorial language is unambiguous - imperial dominance and authority is emphasized, and its leadership is justified. Overall, it is an anticipation of the development of artistic style into late antiquity, and a first artistic expression of the crisis of the Roman empire that would worsen in the 3rd century.
[edit] Later history
In the Middle Ages, climbing the column was so popular that the right to charge the entrance fee was annually auctioned, but it is no longer possible to do so today.Now the Column serves a centerpiece to the piazza in front of the Palazzo Chigi.
[edit] Restoration
About 3 metres of the base have been below ground level since 1589 when, by order of pope Sixtus V, the whole column was restored by Domenico Fontana and adapted to the ground level of that time. Also a bronze statue of the apostle St. Paul was placed on the top platform, to go with that of St. Peter on Trajan’s Column. (Originally the top platform probably had a statue of Marcus Aurelius, but it had been already lost by the 16th century.) That adaptation also removed the damaged or destroyed original reliefs on the base of garland-carrying victories carrying and (on the side facing the via Flaminia ) representations of subjected barbarians, replacing them with the following inscription mistakenly calling this the column of Antoninus Pius, which is now recognised as lost:
| SIXTVS V PONT MAX | (Sixtus V, Chief Priest, |
| :COLVMNAM HANC | restored this column, |
| :COCLIDEM IMP | |
| :ANTONINO DICATAM | said to be [dedicated] to the emperor Antoninus, |
| :MISERE LACERAM | sadly broken and ruinous, |
| :RVINOSAMQ(UE) PRIMAE | into its original form. |
| :FORMAE RESTITVIT | |
| :A. MDLXXXIX PONT IV | 1589, 4th year of his pontificate.) |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- [1] A photo of the column presently and how it might have appeared in Roman times.
- [2] A history of the Aurelian column
[edit] Bibliography
- E. Petersen – A. v. Domaszewski – G. Calderini (Hrsg.), Die Marcus-Säule auf der Piazza Colonna (1896).
- M. Wegner, Die kunstgeschichtliche Stellung der Marcussäule, in: JdI 46, 1931, 61 – 174.
- W. Zwikker, Studien zur Markussäule I (1941).
- C. Caprino – A. M. Colini – G. Gatti – M. Pallottino – P. Romanelli, La Colonna di Marco Aurelio (1955).
- J. Scheid – V. Huet (Hrsg.): Autour de la colonne Aurélienne (2000)
