Imperial statues and subaltern groups: destruction, ridicule and criticism as subversion of power relations in Late Antiquity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29327/2345891.19.19-3Keywords:
Iconoclasm, Mutilation, Urban riots, Damnatio memoriae, ParastaseisAbstract
In this article we propose to analyze the relationship of the subaltern groups with imperial statues during the last centuries of the Ancient World (IV-VIII), pointing to examples of subversive and critical readings of imperial power documented in the sources, which point out that the subaltern groups developed new ways of redefining traditional power relations from the way they interacted with imperial statues.
Downloads
References
Documentação textual
ANTHOLOGIA PALATINA. In: BECKBY, H. (ed). Anthologia Graeca. Munich: E. Heimeran, 1957-58.
CODEX IUSTINIANUS. In: FRIER, B. (ed). The codex of Justinian: a new annotated translation with parallel Latin and Greek text. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 3 v.
CODEX THEODOSIANUS. In: MOMMSEN, Th. et al. Theodosiani Libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis. Berlin: Berolini Apvd Weidmannos, 1905.
COMES MARCELLINUS. Chronicle. A translation with commentary by B. Croke. Sydney: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1995.
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. The Homilies on the Statues to People of Antioch. In: SCHAFF, P. (ed.). A Select Library of the Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Michigan: T&T Clark, 1996, p. 315-514.
JOHN OF ANTIOCH. Fragmenta. In: MARIEV, S. (ed). Ioannis Antiocheni fragmenta quae supersunt. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008.
JOHN LYDUS. De magistratibus. In: BANDY, A. C. (ed.). De magistratibus populi Romani. On Powers. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1983.
LIBANIUS. Orationes. In: FÖERSTER, R. (ed.). Libanii Opera: I-XIII. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1903-1922.
MALALAS. Chronographia. In: THURN, I. (ed.). Ioannis Malalae Chronographia. Berlin/New York: Novi Eboraci/De Gruyter, 2000.
MALALAS. The Chronicle of John Malalas. Translated by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys and Roger Scott. Melbourne: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1986.
PARASTASEIS. In: CAMERON, A.; HERRIN, J. (ed). Constantinople in the Early Eighth Century. Leiden: Brill, 1984.
PATRIA. In: BERGER, A. (ed). The Patria, account of medieval Constantinople. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013.
PLINIO. Panegiricus. In: LOPEZ GIRON, L. Panegírico de Trajano. Tradução e estudo introdutório. 2017. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras Clássicas) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras Clássicas da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2017.
PROCÓPIO. Anecdota. In: BONSON, H. D. (ed.). The Anecdota or Secret History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960.
PROCÓPIO. De Bellis. In: HAVRY, J.; WIRTH, G. (ed.). Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia. Leipzig: Teubner, 1963. v. 2.
SOZOMENO. The Ecclesiastical History. Translated by Edward Walford. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855.
SUETONIO. De vita Caesarum. Traducción de Agudos Cubas. Madrid: Gredos, 1992.
THEODORET. History of Church. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.
THEOPHYLACTUS SICMOCATTES. In: BOOR, K.; WIRTH, P. (ed.). Theophylactus Simocattes, Historiae. Leipzig, 1972.
THEOPHYLACTUS SICMOCATTES. The History of Theophylact Simocatta: An English translation with introduction. Translated by Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
Obras de apoio
ANDERSON, B. Classified knowledge: the epistemology of statuary in the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, n. 35, v. 1, p. 1-19, 2011.
ANDERSON, B. The disappearing imperial statue: toward a social approach. In: KRISTENSEN, T. M.; STIRLING, L. (ed.). The afterlife of Greek and Roman sculpture: Late Antique responses and practices. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016, p. 290-309.
CHATTERJEE, P. City of prophecies. In: LÄTZER-LASAR, A.; RUBENS, E. (ed.). Urban religion in Late Antiquity. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020, p. 169-184.
DAGRON, G. Constantinople imaginaire: études sur le recueil des “Patria”. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1984.
DAWKINS, R. M. Ancient statues in mediaeval Constantinople. Oxford: University of Oxford Press, 1924.
ELICES, J. Respeto o barbarie: el islam ante la Antigüedad. Madrid: Marcial Pons, 2020.
ELSNER, J. Iconoclasm and the preservation of memory. In: NELSON, R. S.; OLIN, M. (ed.). Monuments and memory, made and unmade. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 209-232.
HEDRICK, C. W. History and silence: purge and rehabilitation of memory in Late Antiquity. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
KRISTENSEN, T. Making and breaking the gods: Christian responses to pagan sculpture in Late Antiquity. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2013.
LAVAN, L. Political talismans? Residual ‘pagan’ statues in Late Antique public space. In: LAVAN, L.; MULRVAN, M. (ed.). The Archaeology of Late Antique “paganism”. Leiden: Brill, 2011, p. 439-478.
LIVERANI, P. La fine dell’Augusteum di Narona. In: MARIN, E.; LIVERANI, P. (ed). L’Augusteum di Narona: Roma al di là dell’Adriatico. Split: Arheološki, 2004, p. 101-106.
LIVERANI, P. Narona: la distruzione dell’Augusteo. In: BUORA, M. (ed). Le regioni di Aquileia e Spalato in epoca romana. Treviso: Fondazione Cassamarca, 2007, p. 35-50.
MAGDALINO, P. Generic subversion? The political ideology of urban myth and apocalyptic prophecy. In: SAXBY, M.; ANGELOV, D. (ed.). Power and subversion in Byzantium: papers from the forty-third spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies. Ashgate: Burlington, 2013, p. 207–220.
MANGO, C. Antique statuary and the Byzantine beholder. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, n. 17, p. 55-75, 1963.
MEIER, M. “Σταυροθεὶς δι’ ἡμᾶς: Der Aufstand gegen Anastasios im Jahr 512.” Millennium, n. 4, p. 157–237, 2007.
MEIER, M. Anastasios I: Die Entstehung des byzantinischen Reiches. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2009.
OLIVEIRA, J. C. M. C. Late Antiquity: The Age of Crowds? Past & Present, n. 249, v. 1, p. 3-52, 2020.
PEKÁRY, T. Das römische Kaiserbildnis in Staat, Kult und Gesellschaft, dargestellt anhand der Schriftquellen, Berlin: Gabr. Mann Verlag, 1985.
SARADI-MENDELOVICI, H. Christian attitudes toward pagan monuments in Late Antiquity and their legacy in Later Byzantine centuries. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, n. 44, p. 47-61, 1990.
SILVA, É. C. M. Conflito político-cultural na Antiguidade Tardia: o ‘Levante das estátuas’ em Antioquia de Orontes (387 d.C.). Tese (Doutorado em História) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em História da Universidade Estadual Paulista, Franca, 2012.
SMITH, R. R. R. Statue practice in the Late Roman Empire. numbers, costumes, and styles. In: SMITH, R. R. R.; WARD-PERKINS, B. (ed.). The last statues of Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 01-27.
SMITH, R. R. R.; WARD-PERKINS, B. The last statues of Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
STEWART, P. The destruction of statues in Late Antiquity. In: MILES, R. (ed). Constructing identities in Late Antiquity. London: Routledge, 1999, p. 159-89.
STEWART, P. Statues in Roman society: representation and response. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
STICHEL, R. H. W. Die römische Kaiserstatue am Ausgang der Antike: Untersuchungen zum plastischen Kaiserporträt seit Valentinian I. (364–375 n. Chr.). Rome: G. Bretschneider, 1982.
VAN DAM, R. Imagining an Eastern Roman Empire: a riot at Antioch in 387 C.E. In: ELIAV, Y. Z.; FRIEDLAND, E. A. (ed.). The sculptural environment of the Roman Near East: reflections on culture, ideology and power. Leuven: Peeters, 2008, p. 451‑481.
VARNER, E. R. From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny and transformation in Roman portraiture. Atlanta: Ga, 2000.
VERMEULE, C.; ANDERSON, K. Greek and Roman sculpture in the Holy Land. The Burlington Magazine, n. 123, v. 934, p. 7‑19, 1981.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
a. The authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right to first publication.
b. The authors are authorized to assume additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., publishing in institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
c. Authors are allowed and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their personal page) after the first publication by the journal, with due credit.
d. The journal's texts are licensed under a CC BY 4.0 Deed Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY).
