The Column of Marcus Aurelius: The Genesis and Meaning of a Roman Imperial Monument
Martin Beckmann
Abstract
One of the most important monuments of Imperial Rome and at the same time one of the most poorly understood, the Column of Marcus Aurelius has long stood in the shadow of the Column of Trajan. This book makes a thorough study of the form, content, and meaning of this infrequently studied monument. The author employs a new approach to the column, one that focuses on the process of its creation and construction, to uncover the cultural significance of the column to the Romans of the late second century ad. Using clues from ancient sources and from the monument itself, this book traces the creati ... More
One of the most important monuments of Imperial Rome and at the same time one of the most poorly understood, the Column of Marcus Aurelius has long stood in the shadow of the Column of Trajan. This book makes a thorough study of the form, content, and meaning of this infrequently studied monument. The author employs a new approach to the column, one that focuses on the process of its creation and construction, to uncover the cultural significance of the column to the Romans of the late second century ad. Using clues from ancient sources and from the monument itself, this book traces the creative process step by step from the first decision to build the monument through the processes of planning and construction to the final carving of the column's relief decoration. The conclusions challenge many of the widely held assumptions about the value of the column's 700-foot-long frieze as a historical source. By reconstructing the creative process of the column's sculpture, the author opens up numerous new paths of analysis not only to the Column of Marcus Aurelius but also to Roman imperial art and architecture in general.
Keywords:
Imperial Rome,
Marcus Aurelius,
Column of Trajan,
Romans,
relief decoration,
Roman imperial art
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780807834619 |
| Published to North Carolina Scholarship Online: July 2014 |
DOI:10.5149/9780807877777_beckmann |
