Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T08:23:37.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Troilos and Achilles: A Monumental Statue Group from Aphrodisias

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2015

R. R. R. Smith  and
C. H. Hallett
R. R. R. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
C. H. Hallett*
Affiliation:
University of Californiaat Berkeley
*
[email protected]
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A remarkable blue-grey marble horse with a white marble rider, found in the Basilica at Aphrodisias, has been a focus of recent research. The article describes the archaeology and history of the monument — how it can be reconstructed, with its base and in its precise setting in the Basilica. The group was a daring composition that had already fallen and been restored once in antiquity. What emerges is firstly a new full-size hellenistic-style statue group whose subject can be identified as Troilos and Achilles, and secondly a striking example of the long second lives of classical statues in Late Antiquity. The horse was a great public monument of the early imperial period that was moved to the Basilica probably in the mid-fourth century a.d., where it has a well-documented context. The subject of the group can be identified both from epigraphy and from its iconographic antecedents, and its version of the subject can be related to a particular strand in the rich later literary representations of the story.1

Keywords

AphrodisiasBasilicaTroilus and Achillesequestrian statueFlavius ConstantiusFlavius Andronikos
Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 105 , November 2015 , pp. 124 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Appadurai, A. (ed.) 1986: The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attanasio, D., Bruno, M., Yavuz, A. B., and Elci, H. 2008: ‘Aphrodisias ve Göktepe de yeni keşfedilen memer ocakları: Aphrodisias and the newly discovered quarries at Göktepe’, in Smith, R. R. R. and Lenaghan, J. (eds), Aphrodisias'tan Roma Portreleri (Roman Portraits from Aphrodisias), Istanbul, 217–27Google Scholar
Attanasio, D., Bruno, M., and Yavuz, A. B. 2009: ‘Quarries in the region of Aphrodisias: the black and white marbles of Göktepe (Muğla)’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 22.1, 312–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beschi, L. 1994: ‘Un guerriero bronzeo di Oderzo (TV)’, in Studi di archeologia della X Regio in onore do Michele Tombolani, Rome, 279–85Google Scholar
Berkes, L. 2009: ‘Griechen und Trojaner bei Dares Phrygius’, Acta Antiqua Academicae Scientarum Hungaricae 49, 319–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beschorner, A. 1992: Untersuchungen zu Dares Phrygius, TübingenGoogle Scholar
Berger, E. 1990: Antike Kunstwerke aus der Sammlung Ludwig, vol. III, MainzGoogle Scholar
Bergmann, M. 1999: Chiragan, Aphrodisias, Konstantinopel: zur mythologischen Skulptur der Spätantike, WiesbadenGoogle Scholar
Bernarbó-Brea, L. 1952: ‘I rilievi tarantini in pietra tenera’, Rivista dell'Istituto nazionale d’archeologia e storia dell’arte, NS 1, 5–241Google Scholar
Bieber, M. 1977: Ancient Copies, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Brunn, E. 1870: I Rilievi delle urne etrusche I, RomeGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, T. H. 1991: Art and Myth in Ancient Greece, LondonGoogle Scholar
Carter, J. C. 1975: The Sculpture of Taras, PhiladelphiaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaniotis, A. 2009a: ‘Myths and contexts in Aphrodisias’, in Dill, U. and Walde, C. (eds), Antike Mythen: Medien, Transformationen und Konstruktionen, Berlin, 313–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaniotis, A. 2009b: ‘Lament for a young man. A new pigram from Aphrodisias’, in Fernández, A. Martínez (ed.), Estudios de Epigrafía Griega, La Laguna, 469–77Google Scholar
Chaniotis, A. 2014: ‘Memory, commemoration, and identity in an ancient city: the case of Aphrodisias’, in Santirocco, M. S. (ed.), What's New About the Old: Reassessing the Ancient World, Special issue of DaedalusGoogle Scholar
Coulton, J. J. 2012: The Balboura Survey and Settlement in Highland Southwest Anatolia, 2 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Crawford, M. 2002: ‘Discovery, autopsy, and progress: Diocletian's jigsaw puzzles’, in Wiseman, T. P. (ed.), Classics in Progress, British Academy, London, 145–63Google Scholar
Del Chiaro, M. A. 1984: Classical Art: Sculpture [in the Santa Barbara Museum of Art], Santa BarbaraGoogle Scholar
de Marinis, G., Rinoldi Tufi, S., and Baldelli, G. (eds) 2002: Bronzi e marmi della Flaminia: sculture romane a confronto, ModenaGoogle Scholar
de Staebler, P. D. 2008: ‘The city wall and the making of a late-antique provincial capital’, in AphPapers 4, 285–318Google Scholar
Eisenhut, W. (ed.) 1958: Ephemeridos belli Troiani libri, Leipzig (2nd edn 1973, reprinted 1994, Stuttgart and Leipzig)Google Scholar
Erim, K. T., and Roueché, C. M. 1982: ‘Sculptors from Aphrodisias: some new inscriptions’, Papers of the British School at Rome 50, 102–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erim, K. T. 1972: ‘Aphrodisias in Caria: results of the 1970 campaign’, Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi 1970, 55–85Google Scholar
Feuser, S. 2013: Monopodia: figürliche Tischfüsse aus Kleinasien, IstanbulGoogle Scholar
Frazer, R. M. 1966: The Trojan War: the Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian, translated with an introduction and notes, Bloomington, Ind.Google Scholar
Gensheimer, M. B., and Welch, K. E. 2013: ‘The Achilles and Penthesilea statue group from the tetrastyle court of the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias’, Istanbuler Mitteilungen 63, 325–77Google Scholar
Hallett, C. H. 1998: ‘A group of portrait statues from the civic center of Aphrodisias’, American Journal of Archaeology 102, 59–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemingway, S. 2004: The Horse and Jockey from Artemision: a Bronze Equestrian Monument of the Hellenistic Period, BerkeleyGoogle Scholar
Hornblower, S. forthcoming: Lykophron: Alexandra. Greek Text, Translation, Commentary, and Introduction, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Inan, J., and Alföldi-Rosenbaum, E. 1979: Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträtplastik aus der Türkei: Neue Funde, MainzGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, I., and Sloan, K. (eds) 1996: Vases and Volcanoes. Sir William Hamilton and his Collection, LondonGoogle Scholar
Jones, A. M. H. 1964: Later Roman Empire, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Jones, C. P. 1999: Kinship Diplomacy in the Ancient World, Cambridge, MAGoogle Scholar
Kansteiner, S. et al. 2014: Der neuer Overbeck: Die antiken Schriftquellen zu den bildenden Künsten der Griechen, 5 vols, BerlinGoogle Scholar
Klar Phillips, L. 2008: ‘Figural table supports: aspects of the archaeology of dining in the Roman world’, in AphPapers 4, 253–83Google Scholar
Leone, A. 2013: The End of the Pagan City: Religion, Economy, and Urbanism in Late Antique North Africa, OxfordCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepelley, C. 1994: ‘Le musée des statues divines. La volonté de sauvegarder le patrimoine artistique païen à l’époque théodosienne’, Cahiers Archéologiques 42, 5–15Google Scholar
Long, L. 2012: ‘Regional marble quarries’, in Ratté, C. and de Staebler, P., Aphrodisias V: The Aphrodisias Regional Survey, Darmstadt, 165–201Google Scholar
Meister, F. 1873: Daretis Phrygii de excidio Troiae historia, LeipzigGoogle Scholar
Meneghini, R., and Santangeli Valenzani, R. 1996: ‘Episodi di trasformazione del paesaggio urbano nella Roma altomedievale attraverso l'analisi di due contesti: un isolato in piazza dei Cinquecento e l'area dei fori Imperiali’, Archeologia Medievale 23, 53–99Google Scholar
Meneghini, R., and Santangeli Valenzani, R. 2004: Roma nell'altomedioevo. Topografia e urbanistica della città dal V al X secolo, RomeGoogle Scholar
Milner, N. P. 2015: ‘A new statue-base for Constantius II and the fourth century imperial cult at Oinoanda’, Anatolian Studies 65, 181–203CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miltner, F. 1937: Das Coemiterium der Siebenschläfer, ViennaGoogle Scholar
Mitsopoulos-Leon, V., and Lang-Auinger, C. (eds) 2007: Die Basilika am Staatsmarkt in Ephesos 2, ViennaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moltesen, M. 2000: ‘The Esquiline Group. Aphrodisian statues in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek’, Antike Plastik 27, 111–29Google Scholar
Neverov, O. 1984: ‘La serie dei “Cammei e gemme antichi” di Enea Vico e i suoi modelli’, Prospettiva 37, 22–32Google Scholar
Pairault, F. H. 1972: Recherches sur quelques series d'urnes de Volterra, RomeGoogle Scholar
Pannuti, U. 1981: ‘Achille e Troilo: Rilievo fittile pompeiano’, Bolletino d'Arte 66, 111–16Google Scholar
Papakonstantinou, A. 2013: ‘A fourth-century inventory of columns and the late Roman building industry’, in Ast, R., Cuvigny, H., Lougovoya, J. and Hickey, T. (eds), Papyrological Texts in Honor of Roger S. Bagnall, Durham, NC, 215–31Google Scholar
Pfuhl, E., and Möbius, H. 1977–79: Die ostgriechischen Grabreliefs, MainzGoogle Scholar
Prosperi, V. 2013: Omero sconfitto: ricerche sul mito di Troia dall'antichità al Rinascimento. Temi e testi 125, RomeGoogle Scholar
Ratté, C. 2001: ‘New research on the urban development of Aphrodisias in late antiquity’, in Parrish, D. (ed.), Urbanism in Western Asia Minor: New Studies on Aphrodisias, Ephesos, Hierapolis, Pergamon, Perge and Xanthos, JRA Suppl. Series 45, Portsmouth, RI, 117–47Google Scholar
Ratté, C. 2002: ‘The urban development of Aphrodisias in the late hellenistic and early imperial periods’, in Berns, C., von Hesberg, H., Vandput, L. and Waelkens, M. (eds), Patris und Imperium. Kulturelle und politische Identität in den Städten der römischen Provinzen Kleinasiens in der frühen Kaiserzeit, Leuven, 5–32Google Scholar
Reynolds, J. M. 2008: ‘The inscriptions of the Basilica’, in AphPapers 4, 131–43Google Scholar
Richter, G. M. A. 1956: Catalogue of Engraved Gems: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, RomeGoogle Scholar
Robert, L. 1937: Étudies anatoliennes: Recherches sur les inscriptions grecques de l'Asie Mineure, ParisGoogle Scholar
Robert, L. 1964: Nouvelles Inscriptions de Sardes, ParisGoogle Scholar
Robert, L. 1965: Hellenica : recueil d’épigraphie de numismatique et d'antiquités grecques XIII, ParisGoogle Scholar
Robert, L. 1966: Documents de l'Asie mineure méridionale: inscriptions, monnaies et géographie, GenevaGoogle Scholar
Robert, L. 1969: Laodicée du Lycos: le nymphée, ParisGoogle Scholar
Robertson, C. M. 1973: ‘Ibycus: Polycrates, Troilos, Polyxena’, Bulletin of Institute of Classical Studies 20, 11–14Google Scholar
Robertson, C. M. 1990: ‘Troilos and Polyxena: notes on a changing legend’, in Eumusia. Studies in Honour of A. Cambitoglou, Mediterranean Archaeology Supplement 1, Sydney, 63–70Google Scholar
Rocco, G. 2008: La statua bronzea con ritratto di Germanico da Ameria (Umbria), Memorie, Accademia nazionale dei Lincei 9.23, RomeGoogle Scholar
Rockwell, P. 1991. ‘Unfinished statuary associated with a sculptor's studio’, in AphPapers 2, 127–43Google Scholar
Scaife, R. 1995: ‘The Kypria and its early reception’, Classical Antiquity 14, 164–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarisbrick, D. et al. 2008: The Art of Gem Engraving: from Alexander the Great to Napoleon III, FukuokaGoogle Scholar
Scheibelreiter, V. 2006: Stifterinschriften auf Mosaiken Westkleinasiens, Tyche Supplement 5, ViennaGoogle Scholar
Schissel von Fleschenberg, O. 1908: Dares Studien, Halle ander SalleGoogle Scholar
Schwarzmaier, A. 1997: Griechische Klappspiegel: Untersuchungen zu Typologie und Stil, BerlinGoogle Scholar
Sichtermann, H., and Koch, G. 1975: Griechische Mythen auf römischen Sarkophagen, TübingenGoogle Scholar
Sistakou, E. 2008: Reconstructing the Epic: Cross-Readings of the Trojan Myth in Hellenistic Poetry, LeuvenGoogle Scholar
Slootjes, D. 2006: The Governor and his Subjects in the Later Roman Empire, LeidenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 1991: Hellenistic Sculpture, LondonGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 1994: Aphrodisias I: The Monument of C. Julius Zoilos, MainzGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 1996: ‘Archaeological research at Aphrodisias, 1989–1992’, in AphPapers 3, 10–72Google Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 1998: ‘Hellenistic sculpture under the Roman Empire: fishermen and satyrs at Aphrodisias’, in Palagia, O. and Coulson, W. D. E. (eds), Regional Schools in Hellenistic Sculpture, Oxford, 253–60Google Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 1999: ‘Late antique portraits in a public context: honorific statuary at Aphrodisias in Caria, a.d. 300–600’, Journal of Roman Studies 99, 155–89CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 2007: ‘Statue life in the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias, AD 100–600: local context and historical meaning’, in Bauer, F. A. and Witschel, C. (eds), Statuen in der Spätantike, Wiesbaden, 203–35Google Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 2012: ‘The second lives of classical monuments at Aphrodisias’, in Stephanidou-Tiveriou, T. (ed.), Klasikē paradosē kai veōterika stoicheia stēn plastikē tēs rōmaikēs Elladas. Roman Sculpture in Greece: Classical Tradition and New Elements, Thessaloniki, 57–73Google Scholar
Smith, R. R. R. 2013: Aphrodisias VI: The Marble Reliefs from the Julio-Claudian Sebasteion, DarmstadtGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. R. R., Dillon, S., Hallett, C. H., Lenaghan, J., and van Voorhis, J. 2006: Aphrodisias II. Roman Portrait Statuary from Aphrodisias, MainzGoogle Scholar
Steskal, M., and La Torre, M. (eds) 2008: Das Vediusgymnasium in Ephesos, ViennaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, A. F. 2006: ‘Baroque classics: the tragic muse and the exemplum’, in Porter, J. I. (ed.), Classical Pasts: The Classical Traditions of Greece and Rome, Princeton, 127–55Google Scholar
Stinson, P. 2008: ‘The Civil Basilica: urban context, design, and significance’, in AphPapers 4, 79–106Google Scholar
Stinson, P. 2012: ‘Local meanings of the Civil Basilica at Aphrodisias: image, text, and monument’, in Cavalier, L. (ed.), Atelier d'architecture antique. Les basiliques civiles en Grèce et en Asie Mineure, Bordeaux, 107–26Google Scholar
Stinson, P. forthcoming: Aphrodisias VII. The Civil Basilica of Aphrodisias, WiesbadenGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D. 1939: ‘Mater Caelaturae’, Hesperia 8, 285–316CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Voorhis, J. 1999: The Sculptor's Workshop at Aphrodisias, unpub. dissertation, New York UniversityGoogle Scholar
Vorster, C. 2012/2013: ‘Spätantike Bildhauerwerkstätten in Rom: Beobachtungen zur Idealskulptur der nachkonstantinischen Zeit’, Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 127/128, 393–497Google Scholar
Wilson, A. forthcoming: ‘Water, nymphs and a palm grove: monumental water display at Aphrodisias’, in Smith, R. R. R., Lenaghan, J., Sokolicek, A. and Welch, K. (eds), Aphrodisias Papers 5: Excavation and Research at Aphrodisias, 2006–12, JRA Suppl. Portsmouth, RI, ch. 5Google Scholar
Wilson, A., Russell, B., and Ward, A. forthcoming: ‘Excavations in the South Agora, 2012’, in Smith, R. R. R., Lenaghan, J., Sokolicek, A. and Welch, K. (eds), Aphrodisias Papers 5: Excavation and Research at Aphrodisias, 2006–12, JRA Suppl. Portsmouth, RI, ch. 6Google Scholar
Witschel, C. 2007: ‘Statuen auf spätantiken Platzanlagen in Italien und Africa’, in Bauer, F. A. and Witschel, C. (eds), Statuen in der Spätantike, Wiesbaden, 113–69Google Scholar
Yıldırım, B. 2004: ‘Identities and empire: local mythology and the self-representation of Aphrodisias’, in Borg, B. (ed.), Paideia: The World of the Second Sophistic, Berlin, 23–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yıldırım, B. 2008: ‘The date of the reliefs from the colonnades of the Basilica’, in AphPapers 4, 107–29Google Scholar