Three Monumental Gardens on the Marble Plan

Lloyd, Robert B.

doi:10.2307/504295

Cited by 24 publications

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“…The confluence of these two valences of pax seems to have been nicely encapsulated in the garden plots that stood within the open space of the temple precinct (Lloyd 1982, La Rocca 2001; Figure 2). On one hand, the presence of these plantings (along with elaborate water features and precious works of art) enhanced the complex's function as an appealing space for leisure and relaxation -pax in its basic sense.…”

Section: The City and Its Empirementioning

confidence: 91%

Remaking Rome

Gallia¹

2016

A Companion to the Flavian Age of Imperial Rome

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The rulers of great empires tend to lavish special attention on their capitals. By shaping the fabric of urban life at the center of power, they can advertise the achievements on which their authority is founded, stake out the core values they claim to represent, and generally demonstrate the benefits that accrue from their control over the state. As Suetonius recognized, Augustus was the first to endow Rome with an ornamental splendor that accorded with the majesty of its empire, so much that he rightly could have claimed to have taken over a city of brick and left one of marble (Suet. Aug. 28.3; cf. Tac. Ann. 1.9.5). Contemporary scholarship is solid in its embrace of this assessment, with multiple studies demonstrating how Rome was transformed into a vehicle for a new Imperial ideology in the Augustan age (Haselberger 2007, Rehak 2006, Favro 2005). Although no one should doubt the profound impact of monarchy on Rome's monumental and administrative character, a reign-by-reign approach to the study of the city's development under the Caesars imposes certain limitations that need to be acknowledged. Unlike Persepolis or Khanbalikh, Rome was not a new foundation when it became the seat of imperial authority, much less when it fell under monarchical control. As such, the city did not offer a blank canvas upon which a ruler could project a discrete vision of his power. Indeed, Augustus was particularly adept at incorporating existing urban features into his new, marble Rome. For * Published in A. Zissos (ed.), A Companion to the Flavian Age of Imperial Rome. (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2016). example, he made sure that an ancient thatched hut, touted as the "house of Romulus" (casa Romuli), was assiduously maintained on the slope of the Palatine, not far from his own residence and the gleaming temple of Apollo he built next door (Dion. Hal. Ant. 1.79.11). For later emperors, the challenge of dealing with a preexisting urban landscape encompassed not just monuments hallowed by antiquity, but the interventions of their predecessors as well. Within the richly layered landscape of Imperial Rome, novelty, however significant, would always be seen as part of a continuum. The greatest drawback to a discussion of Rome's urban development organized according to the reigns of successive emperors is that it may obscure the importance of overlap between them. It was not uncommon for a project conceived under one emperor to be completed by another. The Flavian Amphitheater (Colosseum), which was begun during Vespasian's reign but inaugurated by Titus and only fully completed under Domitian, is a classic example. While we can still safely describe this monument as "Flavian," we are on less solid footing with a monumental complex such as the one begun under Domitian but dedicated after his assassination as the Forum of Nerva (Suet. Dom. 5). Scholars who emphasize links between the architectonic decoration of this structure and the policies of the emperor in whose reign it originated may choose to promote the late antique nickname "For...

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Section: The City and Its Empirementioning

confidence: 91%

Remaking Rome

Gallia¹

2016

A Companion to the Flavian Age of Imperial Rome

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“…Most of the public monuments and many of the larger buildings, including the warehouses, are identified by name. Natural features are omitted, except for gardens within monumental complexes (see Lloyd 1982); the Tiber, for instance, is left blank (but it may have been painted), defined only by the buildings and docks built along its banks.…”

Section: Guide To Further Readingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Funerary Practice in the City of Rome

Hope¹

2018

A Companion to the City of Rome

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Archaeology in the city of Rome, although complicated by the continuous occupation of the site, is blessed with a multiplicity of source material. Numerous buildings have remained above ground since antiquity, such as the Pantheon, Trajan's Column, temples and honorific arches, while extensive remains below street level have been excavated and left on display. Nearly 13 miles (19 kilometers) of city wall dating to the third century ce, and the arcades of several aqueducts are also still standing. The city appears in ancient texts, in thousands of references to streets, alleys, squares, fountains, groves, temples, shrines, gates, arches, public and private monuments and buildings, and other toponyms. Visual records of the city and its archaeology can be found in fragmentary ancient, medieval, and early modern paintings, in the maps, plans, drawings, and sketches made by architects and artists from the fourteenth century onwards, and in images captured by the early photographers of Rome. Textual references to the city are collected together and commented upon in topographical dictionaries, from Henri Jordan's Topographie der

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“…However, it is possible that the pits, which are represented on the Marble Plan, housed the trees that were associated with the territories of Germany and Dacia, Trajan's two primary conquests, and which are consequently represented on triumphal Trajanic architecture. That trees were incorporated into Rome's urban plan is a commonly accepted fact, as is their presence on the Marble Plan (Lloyd, 1982: 92, citing Carettoni, 1960: 202). It is possible that the trees from the Dacian triumph were incorporated in a similar manner to the plane trees (regarded as ‘quintessentially Asian’ — Totelin, 2012: 134) in Pompey's porticus, in order to advertise his political power (Stackelberg, 2009: 76).…”

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Trajanic Trees: The Dacian Forest on Trajan's Column

Fox

2018

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

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Trajan's Column stands in the centre of Rome as a proud monument to Trajan's triumph over Dacia in the early second century. On its 29 m tall shaft, a helical frieze depicts the events of the two wars which won the province for the Roman Empire. There are 224 trees to be found throughout this relief, 222 of which are native to Dacia. These trees have traditionally been treated as scene dividers and background material to the column's action. This article, which begins by exploring the identification of the trees in previous scholarship, argues that they are in fact crucial to the column's narrative of industry and conquest. The discussion of identification is followed by an examination of the numerous tree-felling scenes on the column as a metaphor for conquest. The article closes with a detailed analysis of contrasting representations of the two leaders on the column, Trajan and Decebalus, one an urban emperor, the other a forest king. By directing attention towards the arboreal population of the column, this article argues that trees cannot be dismissed as mere background detail, but play an active and significant role in the communication of ideas about triumph, imperialism and the conquest of nature.

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Three Monumental Gardens on the Marble Plan

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Remaking Rome

Remaking Rome

Funerary Practice in the City of Rome

Trajanic Trees: The Dacian Forest on Trajan's Column

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