La base des Muses au sanctuaire de l’Hélicon

Agents of Change around the Valley of the Muses

“…Almost immediately after Augustus came to power, a statue in his honor was dedicated to the Muses.55 Not much later, an impressive bronze statuary group was set up for Augustus' close friend and collaborator Agrippa, and his relatives.56 Perhaps even more striking is that around the same time new splendor was given to an older statuary group of the nine muses.57 The existing bases supporting the statues of the muses were engraved with ekphrastic epigrams by the Corinthian poet Honestus.58 Interestingly, the names of the Muses were inscribed in Boeotian script, so as to give them a more traditional appearance.59 Moreover, the entire sculpture group may have been moved so as to be exhibited together with a statue representing a female member of Augustus' family.60 At any rate, a statue base of about the same size as those belonging to the Muses was likely set up around the same time and possibly near this sculpture group, with a prize-winning epigram by Honestus representing an Augusta as one of the Muses carved on its base.61 Thus, we see that material culture, both in terms of architectural structures and in the form of statues, gave the Thespians an opportunity to deal with the institutional change brought about by the Roman presence, while at the same time it could impact their willingness to accept these institutional changes. During the celebration of the festivals, when many people gathered in the valley, the city and its theaters, this effect was evidently amplified and ultimately incorporated and materialized within the city's sacred and civic landscape.62 The exact location of the monument can no longer be determined with certainty, but letters carved on the base suggest that the monument was taken apart and reassembled, perhaps at the same time that the poems were engraved; see Biard et al 2017. For suggestions about which family member was represented, see Höschele 2014: 190-191 Part of the explanation for the centrality of the statue may be found in the important role that the cult of Eros played in the identity formation of the city and its contests.65 How far the cult of Eros in Thespiae actually goes back in time is difficult to determine, but stories about the statue suggest that it held a certain sway over the city.…”