The identification of this portrait, sometimes with the emperor Titus and sometimes with Domitian, to whom it has finally been attributed, is of more than merely iconographic historical importance.
The identification of this portrait, sometimes with the emperor Titus and sometimes with Domitian, to whom it has finally been attributed, is of more than merely iconographic historical importance.
The boar on the seal from the Museo Arqueológico Nacional shows the originality of this countermark device on the obverse of Clunia issue. The animal is neither erect nor in motion but lying with its legs under its body. The lying posture seems to bear no relation to portrayals from the legionary milieu as found on seals, emblems, standards, and so forth. This unprecedented countermark device, struck only on the obverse, is associated with an image on the reverse of the coinage showing the animal’s cranium. The image has always been described as a «boar’s head», although its shape and detail depict the animal’s skinless skull. No plausible explanation has been given. What is certain is the relationship between the two types, always paired, the former on the obverse, the latter on the reverse. The two countermarks were struck at Clunia in the spring of 68 CE in the context of events culminating with Galba’s acclamation. They represent the whole series of propitiatory rites, from initial animal sacrifice, with victim depicted prone, to the ritual banquet that wraps up the ceremonies, where the skinned skull is trophy and loot. The countermarks’ application exclusively to Clunia issue shows that the events of spring 68 CE directly involved not only the legionary milieu, which was responsible for Galba’s acclamation, but also the whole community of citizens called upon to take active part in the political process.
Dr. Fabrizio Pesando (University of Naples “L’Orientale”) .
Cycle “Dialogues with the classical world”, September 6 to December 20, 2017.
Dra. Anna María Reggiani (Ministero dei Beni ed Attivitá Culturali).
Cycle “Dialogues with the classical world”, September 6 to December 20, 2017.
On the occasion of the publication of the book Corrupta Roma, by Dr. Pedro Ángel Fernández-Vega, the Museum is organising a round table discussion that will offer a portrait of corruption in ancient Rome and the mechanisms that dealt with it. Bribes, influence peddling, misappropriation, electoral scuffles between political factions, elections won with votes bought in the circus, trials of dubious impartiality… Woven into networks of patronage that linked business groups with the political class, corruption emerged in the form of scandals, as it became endemic in the system. “Those who steal from a private individual spend their lives between handcuffs and shackles; those who steal from the state, between gold and purple” (Marcus Porcius Cato).
Javier Cabrero Piquero. Director of the Department of Ancient History. Lecturer. UNED.
UNED Summer Course. “Roma vivet: Inheritance and survival of ancient Rome”.
Remedios Morán Martín. Professor of History of Law. UNED.
UNED Summer Course. “Roma vivet: Inheritance and survival of ancient Rome”.
Origin and development of inequality and social stratification (civil organisations related to the imperial cult). Belonging to a local youth association, this banner is unique in Hispania and exceptional in the Roman Empire. The collegia iuvenum had a civic-religious character associated with the imperial cult.
Origin and development of inequality and social stratification (law and concept of citizenship. Imperial power). One of the great legacies that Rome left to Western civilisation was Roman Law, a set of written legal rules, of a public and secular nature, which for centuries governed the political institutions and the public and private relations of the inhabitants of the Empire, regulating civic coexistence, as can be seen in the municipal laws of Osuna.
What is Europe? European Spaces of Antiquity (This concept of political, social, economic and cultural unity will be the seed of our current EU and international institutions) In the 1st century AD, Rome had given birth to a powerful empire that covered a large part of the known world in Antiquity. The extension of its culture, civilisation, language and customs into these territories enabled it to exploit them more easily and to exercise its power. Their imprint was so strong that it has endured to the present day in many aspects of our culture. The emperors, including Tiberius, to whom this sculpture belongs, were the great architects of this Empire.