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The Apex or Tutulus in Roman Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Extract

Three articles of the highest importance have already been devoted to this subject, Dr. Helbig's epoch-making paper in Sitzungsberichte der Münchner Akademie, that in Marquardt's Staatsverwaltung and that of M. Jullian in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionary, s.v. Flamen, which is really exhaustive. To these, as to the other works mentioned in this paper, every subsequent writer must record his debt; but room may still be found, especially in an English periodical, for a fresh consideration of the subject from its artistic as well as its historical aspect. It may also be useful to bring together in greater detail the monumental evidence for the priestly cap already existing in scattered publications; and welcome the opportunity now given me by the authorities of the British Museum and by Mr. C. Newton Robinson of adding several examples, one of high artistic importance, to those already known.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Katharine A. Esdaile 1911. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

page 212 note 1 1180, pp. 487, ff.

page 212 note 2 vi, 313, ff.

page 212 note 3 Two torsi of flamines wearing the laena are figured by Dr. Amelung, Röm. Mitth. 1897, 744; Skulpturen d. Vat. Mus. i, pl. 98.

page 212 note 4 Ad Aen. iv, 262.

page 212 note 5 “Is solum album habet galerum, vel quod maximus vel quod Iovi immolata hostia alba id fier oporteat”: Aul. Gell. x, xv, 32. The latter reason is certainly correct. Cf. the fact that the shoes of the Flaminica had to be made of the skins of victims. Festus, Mortuae Pecudis, 191; Serv. ad Aen. iv, 518Google Scholar.

page 212 note 6 “Apiculum filum quod fiamines velatum apicem gerunt: “Paul. 23. Cf. langigeros apices (Aen. viii, 664). That the apex was even outside Rome habitually connected with the skin of a victim can be proved from better authority than late grammarians and commentators. Fronto, in an epistle to M. Caesar, writes that he saw on the gate at Anagnia the inscription FLAMEN SVME SAMENTVM, and that, on asking a native the meaning of the word, he learnt it was “pelliculam de hostia quam in apicem suum flamen cum in urbem intro eat imponit” (ad M. Caesarem 4, 4, p. 67. Naber: quoted in Marquardt, vi, p. 317, n. 4).

page 212 note 7 Paul Diac. exc. p. 23; quoted by Helbig, p. 509, n. 2.

page 212 note 8 Ap. Serv. ad Aen. ii, 683.

page 213 note 1 Cf. Livy's phrase “cuilibert apicem dialem imponere” = to appoint a flamen dialis.

page 213 note 2 Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. s.v. Flamen, 1169.

page 213 note 3 Fest. 329. Wissowa's statement, Religion u. Kultus d. Römen. 429, that “nur bei diesen Priester, [the flamen dialis], und bei den Salien hat sich das Tragen der altertümlichen Kopfbedeckung erhalten,” seems too strong. The apex was certainly worn by the pontifex maximus and other fiamines: cf. Helbig, 495, “ganz ungewiss est, auf was für ein Priesterthum ein Apex hinweist, welcher ahnlich gebildet wie der des P. M. (ohne Backenlaschen, mit Sturmriemen) bisweilen als Beizeichen auf Denaren des M. Plaetorius curulischen Aedilen im Jahr. 68 v. Chr. [obv. head of Bonus Eventus, B.M.C.R.R. 3555] vorkommt.” A passage in St. Augustine, de Civ. Dei, xv. is worth quoting: “Nam etiam flaminem illi (sc. Romani) instituerunt, quod sacerdotii genus adeo in Romanis sacris testante apice excellint, ut tres solos flamines haberent tribus numinibus institutos, Dialem Iovi, Martialem Marti, Quirinalem Romulo” (i.e. the flamines majores). On the other hand, we know from Festus that the Salii wore the apex, and the natural inference from other passages, from coins, and from the extreme antiquity of many of the flamines minores is, as Dr. Helbig says, that the apex indicates no special priesthood, but the office of flamen generally. For the reference to St. Augustine I am indebted to Mr. Marshall.

page 213 note 4 Aen. ii, 682–3; cf. Horace, Odes, i, 34, 41Google Scholar.

page 213 note 5 A good example of the high pointed Etruscan cap of which the apex was the descendant is that worn by the haruspex represented in Daremberg and Saglio, fig. 2779.

page 213 note 6 N. H. xxii, 96.

page 213 note 7 The meaning of Aulus Gellius' phrase “nodum in apice, neque in cinctu neque alia in parte ullum habet” (x, 15) is apparently that the apiculum must have no knot in it, and the stitching must be equally free from flaws. We know that the apex was pileum sutile (Isid. Orig. 18, 14, 2, Suet, loc. cit.).

page 213 note 8 Aul. Gell, x, 15; cf. Serv. ad Aen. viii, 664.

page 215 note 1 Val. Max. i, 1, 4; Plut. Marcellus, v. 4Google Scholar.

page 215 note 2 Appian, B.C. i, 65Google Scholar.

page 215 note 3 Serv. ad Aen. vii, 664Google Scholar. The word is now commonly derived from flare, the flamen being originally the priest who by his breath kindled the sacred fire upon the altar.

page 215 note 4 Festus, 23.

page 215 note 5 Petersen, , Ara Pacis, pl. vi, 1, 5 16Google Scholar; Daremberg and Saglio, Dict. fig. 3098; Reinach, , Répertoire des Reliefs, i, 235Google Scholar.

page 215 note 6 Oesterr. Jahresh. 1907, 176; Strong, Roman Sculpture, pl. 15, here reproduced as fig. 41, by permission of Messrs. Duckworth; Reinach, op. cit. 136, 4.

page 215 note 7 Arndt-Bruckmann, Gr. u. röm. Portr. 461–2.

page 215 note 8 Gr. u. röm. Portr. nos. 465–6.

page 216 note 1 Catalogue of the coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum (quoted as B.M.C.R.R.) pl. lxviii, 89.

page 216 note 2 B.M.C.R.R. pl. lxviii, 9.

page 216 note 3 Cf. Montfaucon, vol. ii, pt. i, pl. iv, 1, “tiré d'un ancien marbre.”

page 216 note 4 Bernoulli, , Röm. Ikon, 11, i, p. 45Google Scholar.

page 216 note 5 B.M.C.R.R. ii, p. 81.

page 216 note 6 B.M.C.R.R. pl. cii, 1.

page 217 note 1 B.M.C.R.R. ciii, 5. 6. 7.

page 217 note 2 The apex is a common symbol at all periods, but is usually too small to show the nature of the offendices, if indeed they are given at all, which is not always the case.

page 217 note 3 B.M.C.R.R. xxix, 13.

page 217 note 4 B.M.C.R.R. xcv, 12.

page 217 note 5 Denkm. 269.

page 217 note 6 E.g. on the denarii of M. Plaetorius and N. Fabius Pictor (B.M.C.R.R. 35554), c. 93 B.C. showing Q. F. Pictor, praetor, flamen and quirinalis, in full armour, seated on a rock holding the apex in his outstretched hand to show his double office. There is a curious misconception in Marquardt, vi, 240, n. 1: the writer is speaking of apices, “Sie vertreten auch den Flamen, und die vittae, welche wie man aus den Münzen sieht, am apex hängen werden, auch ihnen zugeschrieben.” The vittae in question are really the offendices, as a glance at the coins will show.

page 217 note 7 O. Jahn, Ber. d. K. S. Ges. d. W. phil. hist. class, 1868, pl. iv.

page 217 note 8 Esperandieu, , Recueil, iii, 445Google Scholar.

page 217 note 9 Foggini, , Mus. Capit. iv, pl. xvGoogle Scholar.

page 218 note 1 Daremberg and Saglio, Dict, 1169, n. 17.

page 218 note 2 Cf. “Pileus lanatus forma metali figuratus quo flamines ac pontifices utuntur, metae figura,” Serv. ad Aen. ii, 682Google Scholar, and ibid. 683, “Suetonius tria genera pileorum dixit, quibus sacerdotes utuntur, apicem, tutulum, galerum; apicem, pileum sutile, circa medium virga eminente; tutulum, pileum lanatum, metae figura; galerum, pileum ex pelle hostiae caesae.” This sense of tutulus, a word which is more commonly used of the headdress of the flaminica, will only be found in the great lexicons, such as that of Forcellini. One difficulty should be noted, viz. that both galerus and tutulus are compared by first-rate authorities to a meta; in the first case the spike, the apex proper, makes the comparison obvious; in the second it is not so clear, as apart from the spikes galerus and tutulus are identical in shape. Its use in the case of the tutulus seems in fact to suggest that the spike is not taken into account in the case of the galerus, but that the phrase ut metam is more or less conventional. It is worth notice that the Etruscan cap from which apex and tutulus are both derived is decidedly more pointed than the Roman varieties.

page 218 note 3 Gr. u. röm. Portr. 463–4.

page 219 note 1 The following particulars are taken from Specimens of Antient Sculpture (pp. xxxiii-xxxv, and text to pl. xx and xxi), and Payne Knight's own catalogue. The latter description, hitherto unpublished, I give below at length.

page 219 note 2 For some account of his methods see Smith's, J. T. Life of Nollekens, i, 250Google Scholar, and Michaelis Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, 75–85. The head, being bronze, did not suffer from his methods as did works of art in marble.

page 219 note 3 I say “purely Italian,” as though the Etruscan pilei of which we have representations all differ in some degree from the tutulus here represented, we cannot say that it was not an Etruscan type, though we can certainly say it is Roman.

page 220 note 1 Gr. u. röm. Portr. nos. 681–686.

page 220 note 2 Amelung, Führer durch die Antiken in Florenz, pl. 42.

page 220 note 3 Martha, L'Art Étrusque, fig. 243.

page 220 note 4 Ibid. fig. 223.

page 220 note 5 Coll. Barraco, fol. lxxviii, 478a.

page 220 note 6 Führer. 161.

page 220 note 7 The best reproductions of the statue are in Gr. u. röm. Portr. pl. 88-90.

page 220 note 8 Op. cit. 258.

page 221 note 1 ᾰμϕὶ δϵ ὁι κενέην κϵϕαλῆϕιν ἔθηκϵν ταύρϵιην ᾰϕαλόν τϵ καὶ ᾰλλōϕōν, ἡτϵ καταῖτνξ κϵκλήγαι. Iliad, K, 257. There is a bust with a helmet of the same kind, but without the ligatures which fasten this under the chin, published in the Herculanean collection, tom, v, tav. lxxv and lxxvi. [This, as already pointed out, is the head from the Villa of the Pisos and proves the quickness of Payne Knight's eye to recognise a likeness.]

page 222 note 1 [Reference not supplied. The statement occurs in Paus. viii, 14, 8.]

page 222 note 2 “This head was found near Rome.” Spec. Ant. Sculpture, i, text to pl. xxi.

page 222 note 3 Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, i, p. xlviii. Cf. Alphabeta veterum Etruscorum. Rome, 1772, p. 33Google Scholar.

page 223 note 1 In the text to Specimens of Ancient Sculpture Payne Knight suggests the name of Mars, though with hesitation, in place of his earlier and unhesitating Diomede. In the recent Catalogue of Bronzes (no. 1614) this earlier theory is in part revived, since it is called the head of a warrior, and the cap καταῑτεξ.

page 223 note 2 Furtwängler, Beschr. d. geschn. Steine no. 869.

page 223 note 3 Baier, , Thesaurns Gemmarum. tab. v, no. IIIGoogle Scholar.

page 223 note 4 The statement may be founded on such a gem as is figured on pl. xii, 384 of Mr. Marshall's Catalogue of Finger Rings in the British Museum, in which the cap of the Egyptian priest bears a certain resemblance to the tutulus.

page 224 note 1 This is obscure.

page 224 note 2 This identification is based on the following facts: (a) the Meyrick head (no. 1615) only came into the Museum in 1878, whereas Hawkins was writing c. 1835; (b) the silver eyes and ivy wreath of no. 16154 would certainly have been mentioned by Payne Knight and Hawkins; 16153 belongs to a different class; there remains therefore no. 16152, which accords perfectly with the descriptions given above.

page 225 note 1 Meyrick. Antient Arms and Armour, pl. xliv; there are other examples in various European museums: their special appropriateness as weights is not obvious.

page 225 note 2 E.g. on the denarius of L. Val. Flaccus already mentioned (b. 6) B.M.C.R.R. pl. xcv, no. 12.

page 226 note 1 A cap somewhat similar to that here identified with the tutulus, but differing in the breadth of the rim and the shape of the fastenings, occurs in the famous relief of a young herdsman with his cow in the Sala degli animali of the Vatican (Helbig, 2nd ed. i, 187; Mus. Pio Clem. vii, 30; Amelung, , Skulpturen des Vat. Mus. ii, 393Google Scholar), but the whole relief is worked over, and Dr. Amelung, who comments on the strangeness of the cap, adds “da das Erhaltende durchaus übergearbeitet ist (vgl. Visconti a. unten a. O.) kann mann nicht sagen ob sie nicht ihre Entstehung der merkwürdigen Phantasie des Ergänzera verdankt.”