The Buildings and the Images of
the Imperial Cult
VIII Templum Gentis Flaviae, Domitian
temple (Ephesos)
Templum Gentis Flaviae
Suetonius:
“Domitian was born on the ninth
day before the Calendes of
November, when his father was a
consul… in Pomegranate Street in
the 6th district of the city, in a
house that he later converted into
the Temple of the Flavian Gens.”
- 12 references to the temple
in the sources
- the house - on the Quirinal
hill
Fragments:
a) Piazza della republica
b) Ministero delle Finanze e dell’Economia
- found in 1871/1872
- known facial features of Titus
- the contrast
- deeply influenced by Domitian’s
portrait
Vicinity
- the Temple of Quirinus, Horti
Sallustiani, Bath of Diocletian, a
republican house
- republican walls in opus reticulatum
- Structure dating to Neronian or Flavian period
Inscriptions: owner – Flavius Sabinus (Vespasian’s brother)
The Baths of Diocletian
- between the Aula Ottagona and the church of San Bernardo
- dimensions
- exedrae
the centre of the site:
Hadrian’s library
Templum Pacis
- Hellenistic models
Chronology of the area of Quirinal:
64 AD republican Macellum destroyed by
71-75 AD – Vespasian
Temple construction
- after some time of Domitian’s assumption in 81 AD
- completion between 89 – 94 AD
Destructions and reconstructions:
96AD - lightning struck it
192 AD - another fire, rebuilt by Septimius Severus
354 AD - Chronographer took a note of it354 AD - Chronographer took a note of it
408 AD - earthquake, restoration
The mausoleum for:
Flavia Domitilla (69 AD)
Flavius Sabinus (69 AD)
Vespasian (79 AD)
Titus (81 AD)
Julia Titi (89 AD)
the son of Domitian (73 AD)
Domitian (96 AD)
Several different theories of reconstruction:
Statius “Flavian heaven”
Martial and Statius
La Rocca
Coarelli
Paris
TorelliTorelli
a) on the basis of sestertius
b) Two reliefs depicting a temple (Museo
Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano
-1980’s – excavations
- family tomb and cult place (mausoleum
and sacrarium)
Sculptural decoration
- symbol of the whole cycle of life: birth, death, apotheosis
1901 – Paul Hartwig
1901 – Francis W. Kelsey
- Hartwig-Kelsey Reliefs – Museo Nazionale Romano,
University of Michigan
- datation: style, location, symbols
Hartwig:
1. Corner Entablature Fragment with Part of a Capital
2. Projecting Corner Entablature Fragment with Part of a Capital
3. Male Torso Draped in a Mantle and Leaning against a Palm Tree
4. Nude Male Torso
5. Relief Fragment with Representation of the Temple of Quirinus
6. Relief Fragment with Head of a Bull
7. Relief Fragment with the Head of a Soldier
8. Relief Fragment with Female Head
9. Relief Fragment with the Profile of a Male Head
Kelsey:
10. Profile Head of a Soldier in Relief
11. Fragment of a Lorica Segmentata and Right Hand in Relief11. Fragment of a Lorica Segmentata and Right Hand in Relief
12. Head in Relief of Vespasian Wearing the Corona Civica
13. Fragment of an Entablature
14. Fragment of an Entablature
15. Fragment of an Ionic or Composite Capital
3 groups:
a) Architectural features
b) Panel 1Triumph (adventus) of Vespasian
c) Panel 2 Sacrifice of a bull
Corner Entablature Fragment with Part of a Capital
Important details:
The griffins
Dentils
2. Projecting Corner Entablature Fragment with Part
of a Capital
3. Male Torso Draped in a Mantle and
Leaning against a Palm Tree
- two typologies: telamones
caryatids
- probably represents a personification
4. Nude Male Torso
5. Relief Fragment with Representation of the Temple
of Quirinus
- many interpretations of the the pediment scene
a) augurium augustum
b) the apotheosis of Romulus
6. Relief Fragment with Head of Bull
7. Relief Fragment with the Head of a Soldier
11. Fragment of a Lorica Segmentata and Right Hand in Relief
8. Relief Fragment with Female Head
9. Relief Fragment with the Profile of a Male Head
10. Profile Head of a Soldier in Relief
12. Head in Relief of Vespasian Wearing the Corona Civica12. Head in Relief of Vespasian Wearing the Corona Civica
13. Fragment of an Entablature
14. Fragment of an Entablature
15. Fragment of an Ionic or Composite Capital
Function:
a) Political manifesto
b) Torelli: competition
c) To legitimate adoptive sons
d) Symbol of Judae
Collective priests:
flamines and sodales
EPHESUS
Strabo, Pausanias:
10th century B.C the story of the settlement: Androklos, son of Kodros (the King of Athens),
and his friends who were about to migrate to Anatolia, could not decide on the location of the
new city they were going to establish. They consulted the oracle of Apollo, which told them to
establish their new city at the location which would be indicated by fish and a boar. Androklos
and his friends who came to the region wanted to cook fish, but the fish they were frying
jumped off the pan, scattering flames that set the dry bushes on fire. A boar ran out of the
burning bushes and Androklos started to chase the boar, caught it and killed it. Convinced that
the prophesy of the oracle had come true, Androklos and his friends established their new city
in this location.
- the town of Apasas under the rule of Ahhiyava Kingdom - Hittites of the 14th and 13th
centuries B.C
- a number of the findings – the second millennium
- after the fall of Troy
- the colonization of Ephesus
- prosperous period – 7th – 6th c. BC
- Lydians, Persians, Alexander the Great
- Lysimachos – dark days
- the sovereignity of Rome
- Goths – 3rd c. AD
The cult in Ephesos:
- 4 imperial temples
- a monumental Antonine altar
- an imperial portico
- 4 gymnasia associated with the emperor
- 3 monumental gates
- theatre, council house, streets…
- monumental nympheum
- the city had two dominant cults
1. Porticoes
2. Creation of special rooms for the imperial cult in gymnasia
3. Small altars
4. Imperial statues in various locations
- the imperial cult – the civic space
Upper agora
-redesigned during Augustus:
a) prytaneum, magistrate building
b) Double temple Roma and Julius Caesar
c) Royal portico
d) The centre of the square – a temple of
Augustus
e) Domitian – a precinct next to the main
square
- imperial architecture – expressing two different relationships
traditional sanctuaries included emperor in 2 main ways:
a) separate buildings in the sanctuary
b) in the temple
Neokoros of the cult (Ephesos)
- a term is standard part of modern interpretation of provincial cults
Neokoros - individuals
Responsibilities
a) the same as priests (priestesses)
b) assist the priests (Socrates said: “the temple cults – ideal state – priests and neokoroi)
c) In some occasions – a guard for a precinct or the possessions of the deity
d) Care of sacred facilities, equipment and funds
Neokoros – cities
- at some point, cities started to call themselves “neokoroi”
3 mentions:
a) Kyzikos inscription
b) Nero coin
c) The book Acts
- a fundamental development in the political and religious propaganda of the Empire
EXCAVATIONS
- Austrian Archaeological Institute – began
excavating in the late 19th century
1930
- Josef Keil
- Roman imperial period
- large marble friezes
- identification unclear until a colossal
acrolithic male was found
- the temple- the temple
- cella
- statues
- later excavation – north- east corner of the
precinct
- 13 inscriptions found in different
- nature of the cult
Inscriptions:
- Sebastoi
- the group dedication
- a colossal statue of Domitian
- Wegner “das asianische Barock”
1960 – 1961
- eastern side terrace – trenches:
a) shops
b) street
Occupation:
- Hellenistic settlement- Hellenistic settlement
- Augustan period
-large square, apsidal monument raised in
the middle, terrace opened to the square in
the north
- square function
2009 - 2011
- the project Cult and Ruler
- the excavations, a geophysical survey
- the focus the period of destruction
- destruction in the 5th century AD
- a building in the 5th century AD
- the 6th century AD
- the east of the Imperial cult area - an
impressive building complex consisting of a
courtyard, an elongated room with mosaic
floor, a fountain and a tract for commercial
use
TYPOLOGY
Terrace
- near the upper agora
- function
- 3-story façade reaching to the top of the terrace
The facade:
1st story
2nd story
3rd story
TYPOLOGY
Temple
- reconstruction
- order
- the temple set within a precinct
- the layout is typically Hellenistic
- temple
- floor plan
AltarAltar
- U-shaped altar – an imperial altar
- Ephesus – 2nd century AD
- steps
- reliefs