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The Base of the Obelisk of Theodosius

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Ramsay Traquair  and
A. J. B. Wace
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Extract

During a visit to Constantinople in July 1905 I spent some little time in studying the base of the obelisk of Theodosius in the Hippodrome (Fig. 1). An examination of the construction of the base and its sculpture led to the view that it was composed of material older than the reign of Theodosius. I subsequently read a paper on the subject at an open meeting of the British School at Rome. In the summer of 1906, Mr. Traquair, architectural student of the British School at Athens, made a detailed study of the construction of the base. His conclusions confirm the view which I had previously expressed. The present paper, which merely claims to put forward the reasons for assigning an earlier date to the base as briefly and clearly as possible, consists of two parts, Mr. Traquair's architectural report, and my own archaeological discussion of the questions raised. Both Mr. Traquair and myself owe much to the kind assistance of Dr. Van Millingen, for but for his aid this paper would never have been written.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , 1909 , pp. 60 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1909

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References

1 Athenœum, 1906, p. 402.

2 Cf. the description of Gyllius given in Banduri, , Antiq. Constant. i. pp. 297Google Scholar ff. (ed. Paris, p. 375.)

3 C.I.G. 8612.

4 v. C.I.G. loc. cit.; Banduri, (Antiq. Constant. ii. p. 469Google Scholar) rightly rejects the view that the obelisk was brought from Athens and erected under Theodosius II.

5 The editors of the C.I.G., loc. cit., compare an epigram in which Valentinian is called extinctor tyrannorum.

6 Cf. the epigram given by Banduri, op. cit. i· p. 117, lib. vii.

7 Cf. the statues in the Palazzo dei Conservatori at Rome, , Helbig2, 583, 584; Bull. Com. 1883, p. 17, Pls. II., IV.Google Scholar; Reinach, , Répert. ii. p. 537Google Scholar. 7, 8; Strong, Roman Sculpture, Plate CXXIX.

8 For these dates see Pauly-Wissowa, s.nn.

9 Papers B.S.R. iv. Pls. XXXV.–XXXVII.

10 Kinch, , L'Arc de Triomphe de Salonique, Paris, Libraire Nilsson, 1890Google Scholar.

11 Spätrömische Kunstindustrie, chap. ii.; Strena Helbigiana, pp. 250 ff.; cf. Petersen, , Atti dell' Accad. Pontificia, ser. ii. vol. vii. pp. 159 ffGoogle Scholar.

12 Strzygowski, , Jahrbuch, 1893, p. 249Google Scholar, Fig. 10.

13 Ibid. pp. 31 ff.

14 Richter, , Topogr. d. Stadt Rom 2, p. 176Google Scholar; Hülsen-Jordan, , Topographie, i. 3, p. 140Google Scholar.