Summary
Among the stories surrounding the legendary foundation of the city of Rome by the twins, Romulus and Remus, previous scholarly attention has focused primarily on one scene – the depiction of the she-wolf nursing the twins following their miraculous salvation from the floodwaters of the Tiber. This book examines another event in the cycle, the conception of the twins, in which the Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia, is visited in her sleep and raped by the god Mars. Some fifty-one examples of the encounter of Mars and Rhea Silvia are analyzed, drawn from coins, relief sculpture, gems, wall painting, mosaics, and pottery, covering a time frame from the motif’s origin in the early 1st century B.C. to its disappearance in the late 4th century A.D.
An analysis of the scene's iconographical evolution and its documented periods of popularity, both in the public and private sphere, are associated with contemporary trends in Roman literature, religion, and art.
This monograph on the representation of Mars and Rhea Silvia is not simply a self-contained study of a single motif over a specific time frame. Within the realm of Roman art, the book discusses larger issues concerning the relationship between art, myth and religion, and political propaganda, drawing from methodologies of appropriation (Kopienkritik), word and image, semiotics, and memory culture. As such, the book constitutes a case study whose conclusions may serve as guidelines for the study of Roman art in general.
Table of contents
Preface 5
Chapter I : Introduction 7
Summation of Contents 9
Kopienkritik and the Existence of Prototypes 13
Rape : Its Meaning and Interpretation 15
Chapter II : The Literary and Artistic Traditions of Mars and Rhea Silvia in the Late Republican to Early Augustan Periods 17
Fabius Pictor and the "Mythological-Historical" Tradition 18
Ennius, Ovid, the "Epic" Tradition, and Representations of Mars and Rhea Silvia in Late Republican and Early Augustan Art 24
The "Historical-Rational" Tradition : The Painting from the Esquiline Columbarium near the Tomb of the Statilii 40
The Role of Mars and Rhea Silvia in Late Republican Art and Literature 45
Chapter III : The Standardization of the Motif of Mars and Rhea Silvia during the Augustan Age and its Role in the Julio-Claudian Period 50
Augustan Art and the Legends Surrounding the Origins of Rome 50
Standardization of the Encounter of Mars and Rhea Silvia 52
An Augustan Temple and its Pedimental Composition 54
Representations of Mars and Rhea Silvia during the Julio-Claudian Period 69
Restoration of the Lupercal 73
Mars Pater in Augustan Ideology and Art 75
Mars and Rhea Silvia in the Flavian and Trajanic Periods 81
Chapter IV : Mars and Rhea Silvia from the Hadrianic Period to the End of the Third Century A.D. 85
Hadrian, the Temple of Roma Aeterna, and the Natalis Vrbis 85
Examples of Mars and Rhea Silvia Dating to the Hadrianic and Early Antonine Periods : Cupid and Tiber as Secondary Elements and the Influence of the Shield of Roma Aeterna 89
Mars and Rhea Silvia on Sarcophagi 97
Dissemination of the Motif of Mars and Rhea Silvia and its Use in Roman Private Art 106
The Link of the Encounter to the Festivals of the Natalis Vrbis and the Ludi Saeculares 118
Chapter V : The "Ara Casali" and representations of Mars and Rhea Silvia in the Fourth Century 122
The "Ara Casali" 122
Date of the Ara Casali 132
The Girona Circus Mosaic and the Contorniates 139
The "Lupercal Chapel" of Lucius Crepereius Rogatus Secundinus 143
Mars and Rhea Silvia in Late Roman Art 148
Chapter VI : Conclusion 152
Mars and Rhea Silvia : Catalogue 155
Late Republican and Julio-Claudian, early 1st century B.C. to A.D. 68 155
Gems (no. 1-7) 155
Painting (no. 8-10) 157
Sculpture, Relief : Historical (no. 11) 158
Sculpture, Relief : Bases (no. 12) 159
Imperial Period, late 1st century A.D. to late 3rd century A.D. 159
Coins (no. 13-20) 159
Gems (no. 21-22) 162
Metalwork (no. 23) 162
Mosaics (no. 24-25) 163
Painting (no. 26-28) 163
Pottery (no. 29-30) 164
Sculpture, Relief : Funerary Monuments (no. 31-37) 165
Sculpture, Relief : Plutei (no. 38) 168
Sculpture, Relief : Sarcophagi (no. 39-47) 168
Stucco (no. 48) 171
Late Roman, 4th century A.D. 172
Contorniates (no. 49) 172
Mosaics (no. 50) 172
Sculpture, Relief : Statue Base (no. 51) 173
Possible Representations of Mars and Rhea Silvia (no. A-D) 173
Descending Mars without Rhea Silvia (no. E-G) 175
Modern Representations of Mars and Rhea Silvia (no. H) 176
Examples not Depicting Mars and Rhea Silvia (no. I-J) 176
Abbreviations for frequently cited works 177
Bibliography 178
Indices 211
References to Greek and Roman Authors 211
List of Works Cited in the Text 215
General Subjects 223
List of illustrations 235
Table of Contents 239
Plates 243