The Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus (more properly called the Statuary group base of Domitius Ahenobarbus) is a series of four sculpted marble plaques that probably decorated a base supporting cult statues in the

cella A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...

of a Temple of Neptune located in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on the Field of Mars. The frieze is dated to the end of the second century BC,The armour of the soldiers and horseman (from before the

Marian Reforms The Marian reforms were reforms of the ancient Roman army implemented in 107 BC by the statesman Gaius Marius, for whom they were later named. The reforms originated as a reaction to the military and logistical stagnation of the Roman Republic i ...

of 107 BC), permits the scene to be dated to the second century BC (Coarelli (1968) and Stilp (2001)) which makes it the second oldest Roman bas-relief currently known.The first appears on the column erected by the consul

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 – 160 BC) was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a general who conquered Macedon, putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty in the Third Macedonian War. Family Paullus' father was Luciu ...

in honour of his victory at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC However, there is also a contemporaneous relief depicting a Roman naval

bireme A bireme (, ) is an ancient oared warship (galley) with two superimposed rows of oars on each side. Biremes were long vessels built for military purposes and could achieve relatively high speed. They were invented well before the 6th century BC a ...

with armed marines, from a temple of

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

built c. 120 BC.Coarelli, Filippo (1987), ''I Santuari del Lazio in età repubblicana''. NIS, Rome, pp 35-84. The sculpted panels are still visible today, with one portion on display at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

(Ma 975Bas-relief de Domitius Ahenobarbus au Louvre sur la base Atlas.
/ref>) and another at the

Glyptothek The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I to house his collection of Greek and Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculpture", from the Greek verb γλύφειν ''glyphe ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

(Inv. 239). A copy of this second piece can be seen at the Pushkin Museum in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Context

The base was found in the Temple of Neptune built near the Circus Flaminius,The context of the reliefs, their function and their date are not known with precision; numerous contradictory hypotheses have been produced on this subject. by the Field of Mars. Remains of this temple may have recently been discovered under the church of Santa Maria in Publicolis, but their identification remains uncertain.

History

Antiquity

The reliefs seem to have been produced during the construction of a Temple of Neptune on the Field of Mars. A general, probably Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, vowed to build a temple for the god of the sea after a naval victory, perhaps the one won off

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...

in 129 or 128 BC against Aristonicus who had attempted to oppose the donation of

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

to Rome by the will of King Attalos III. The construction of the temple (or restoration of a pre-existing temple) only dates to 122 BC, the year in which Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus attained the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

ship. The reliefs, from the base of the cult statue, which originally consisted only of mythological scenes were brought to completion after Domitius Ahenobarbus' censorship in 115 BC with a fourth panel. Other hypotheses however suggest the censorships of L. Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Antonius, who could equally be connected with the motifs of the reliefs. In 41 BC, Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus (descendant of the aforementioned), a supporter of the Republican party and of the assassins of

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

had an

aureus The ''aureus'' ( ''aurei'', 'golden', used as a noun) was a gold coin of ancient Rome originally valued at 25 pure silver ''denarii'' (sin. denarius). The ''aureus'' was regularly issued from the 1st century BC to the beginning of the 4th cen ...

minted on the occasion of a victory over a supporter of

Octavian Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, which featured the image of his ancestor on the obverse and a tetrastyle temple on the reverse, with the inscription NEPT CN DOMITIUS L F IMP (Cn. Domitius, son of Lucius, Imperator, to Neptune.M. Crawford, ''Roman Republic Coinage'', Cambridge, 1974, p. 525

Renaissance

The reliefs are mentioned in 1629 and 1631 after having been uncovered during the works undertaken by the Roman Santacroce family between 1598 and 1641, which included notably the construction and expansion of a palace near the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

by the architect Peparelli. The reliefs had been reused as decoration in the palace courtyard, where they are attested in 1683.

Description

Despite their common name, the reliefs probably did not originally form part of an altar, but a large rectangular base (5.6 m long, 1.75 m wide, and 0.8 m high), intended to support the cult statues. These included works attributed to the Greek sculptor

Scopas Scopas ( grc-gre, Σκόπας; born in Paros, fl. 4th century BCE) was an ancient Greek sculptor and architect, most famous for his statue of Meleager, the copper statue of Aphrodite, and the head of goddess Hygieia, daughter of Asclepius. Ea ...

,The identity of the sculptor behind the statuary group is debated; the work is sometimes attributed to Scopas "the Elder" and sometimes to Scopas "the Younger" (''Scopas Minor''), a second century sculptor of the same name, and sometimes to neither sculptor without any other name being suggested. Only the Greek origin of sculptor seems to have consensus. like the important statuary group featuring Neptune,

Thetis Thetis (; grc-gre, Θέτις ), is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, or one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as ...

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

, the

Nereids In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; grc, Νηρηΐδες, Nērēḯdes; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the ' Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters ...

, Tritons and Phorcys with sea monsters and other fantastic creatures.

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

, '' Natural History'', 36.26 The reliefs consist of two large panels on the long sides of the base and two smaller panels for the short sides. The large panel conserved in the Louvre is typical of Roman civic art and depicts a scene which one would only find at Rome in this period: the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

. The other three panels depict a mythological theme in a

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

style: the marriage of Neptune and

Amphitrite In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (; grc-gre, Ἀμφιτρίτη, Amphitrítē) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and the wife of Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys).Roman, L., & Ro ...

. Given the difference in style, subject and material, it is thought that the two friezes are not contemporary. The mythological frieze seems to have been executed earlier, covering the three visible sides of the base, which would originally have been connected to the back wall of the ''cella''. Some years later, the base would have been shifted away from the wall, freeing the fourth side for the panel depicting the census.

Historic scene

The historic panel of the base, 5.65 metres long, 0.80 metres high and 0.015 metres thick, is a bas relief of

Parian marble Parian marble is a fine-grained semi translucent pure-white and entirely flawless marble quarried during the classical era on the Greek island of Paros in the Aegean Sea. It was highly prized by ancient Greeks for making sculptures. Some of the ...

, depicting the different stages in a census of the Roman citizen body. The relief, which is one of the first examples of the continuous narrative style,André Piganiol, ''Ara Martis'' dans ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'', Vol. 51, 1934, p. 29 is read from left to right and can be divided into three scenes: the recording of the Roman citizens in the register of the censor, the purification of the army before an altar dedicated to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

and the levy of the soldiers.

First scene

At the very left of the bas-relief, an official involved in the ''census'' (the ''iurator'' or "oath taker") records the identity and the property holdings of a man standing before him, holding wax tablets in one hand and stretching out the other, in the gesture of the oath (''professio''). His statements are recorded in a ''codex'', made up of two wooden ''tabulae'', which the ''iurator'' has on his knees. Six more of these ''codices'' can be seen stacked at his feet.Ségolène Demougin, ''La mémoire perdue : à la recherche des archives oubliées, publiques et privées, de la Rome antique'', Publications de la Sorbonne, 1994, p. 132 The identity of this man is not absolutely certain, his identification as the ''iurator'' is challenged by a detail: he appears to be wearing ''calcei'', special shoes reserved for individuals of Senatorial rank. So he might even be one of the two censors. This scene marks the beginning of the Roman ''census'', the period when all Roman citizens were recorded. Based on each individual's wealth, the censor, the Roman magistrate here shown to the right of the citizen performing the ''professio'', determined who would sit in the senate and who would serve in the military, which the Romans considered an honour. The censor is depicted with one hand on the shoulder of a fourth person who wears a

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

. By this gesture (the ''manumissio''), the censor accepts his declaration and renders his judgement (the ''discriptio''), which concluded the process of assigning the individual to a class. The citizen points to an infantryman with his hand, indicating to him the '' centuria'' to which he belongs.Elisabeth Deniaux, ''Rome, de la Cité-Etat à l'Empire : institutions et vie politique, IIème-Ier siècle av. J.-C.'', Hachette Éducation Technique, 2001 The scene might depict the censorate of Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus and L. Caecilius Metellus in 115 BC.

Second scene

A religious scene follows, the ceremony of the ''lustrum'', which legitimated the ''census'' and is presided over by one of the two censors, who touches the altar of Mars with his right hand. Mars is represented in full armour to the left of the altar. At right, three sacrificial victims are led up, the bull, the ram and the pig (the ''

suovetaurilia The or was one of the most sacred and traditional rites of Roman religion: the sacrifice of a pig (), a sheep () and a bull () to the deity Mars to bless and purify land (). Summary There were two kinds: * ("suckling suovetaurilia") of a ...

'') which were to be sacrificed in honour of the god in order to secure good fortune for the departure of the troops. The censor is helped during the ceremony by young assistants (''camilla''), one in the process of pouring the lustral water. Behind Mars, two musicians accompany the sacrifice, one playing the lyre and the other the ''

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

''. The same to accompany the ''camillus'' who stands behind the altar and sings the ''precatio'' (prayer).J. Paul Getty Museum, ''Thesaurus Cultus Et Rituum Antiquorum'', Getty Publications, 2004, p. 407 The second censor advances behind the victims, holding a standard (''vexillum'').

Third scene

Finally, at the far right of the bas relief there are two infantrymen and a horseman (''eques'') with his horse. Along with the other two infantrymen depicted in the first and second scenes, the scene recalls the existence of four classes of mobilisable infantry (''pedites'') and a class of cavalry formed from the aristocracy.

Mythological scene

The panels bearing the mythological scene, a marine ''

thiasos In Greek mythology and religion, the ''thiasus'' ( el, θίασος, thíasos), was the ecstatic retinue of Dionysus, often pictured as inebriated revelers. Many of the myths of Dionysus are connected with his arrival in the form of a processio ...

'' of late Hellenistic style, are made of a different marble derived from Asia Minor. They are conserved at the Munich Glyptothek. The reliefs probably depict the marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite. At the centre of the scene, Neptune and Amphitrite are seated in a chariot drawn by two Tritons who dance to music. They are accompanied by a multitude of fantastic creatures, Tritons and Nereides who form a retinue for the wedding couple. At the left, a Nereid riding on a sea-bull carries a present. To her right, the mother of Amphitrite, Doris, advances towards the couple, mounted on a sea-horse and holding wedding torches in each hand to light the procession's way.Albert Grenier, ''Le Génie romain dans la religion, la pensée, l'art'', Albin Michel, 1969, p. 278 To her right is an

Eros In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the ear ...

, a creature associated with

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. Behind the wedding couple, a Nereid, accompanied by two more Erotes and riding a hippocamp, carries another present.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Modern sources : Other modern sources : Ancient sources :

Bibliography

General Works

* * *

Analysis of the reliefs

* * * {{cite book, first=Mario, last=Torelli, title=Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs, publisher=University of Michigan Press, date=1992, pages=5–16 Campus Martius Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Rome Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities of the Louvre Hellenistic-style Roman sculptures Archaeological discoveries in Italy