Abu Simbel, site south of Aswan, on the western bank of the Nile River in what was Nubia (now near Egypt’s border with Sudan). It has two rock-cut temples from the nineteenth dynasty reign of Ramesses II. First noted in European literature by Johann Burckhardt in 1819, Abu Simbel has since become one of the most famous of monuments in the Nile Valley. Following the decision to build a new High Dam at Aswan in the early 1960s, the temples were dismantled and relocated in 1968 on the desert plateau 64 meters (about 200 feet) above and 180 meters (600 feet) west of their original site.
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Egyptian temples existed from the middle of the fourth millennium bce at the latest. According to tradition, the earliest were in the shape of reed huts. The last Egyptian temple built was a complex of buildings on Philae which ceased to be used in the mid-sixth century ce. After this, the existing structures were used as residences, vandalized or destroyed as pagan reminders, or exploited as quarries. However, the razing of temples for the last reason was already common in pharaonic times—to make room for a new building, to remodel a temple facility, or merely to reuse the materials on another site. Thus, out of the thousands of temples that once existed, only a fraction have been preserved for us.
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The public buildings in a Roman city were the most prominent features that would have been noted by a visitor to the city. For example, when Pausanias described Panopeus, he did not wish to describe the settlement as a polls, because it lacked public buildings. Therefore, public buildings were considered to be important: more than that, they created an identity for the inhabitants. Above all, they reflected the needs of the population with respect to the gods. Most public buildings were associated with a religious aspect, whether they were temples, theatres, amphitheatres, basilicas or macella (markets). However, there is also a secular dimension to these buildings. Their construction by an individual enhanced that person’s prestige and position in society. Their name was clearly displayed upon the structure. The public buildings, as monuments, offered each inhabitant of Pompeii an image of their position in relationship to the power of others, the state and the gods . For example, a temple would have exalted a god and the builder of the temple, and emphasised the social distance and divisions of the community. This makes monuments very different from domestic structures.
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The brilliance of gold, its intrinsic value and connotations of immortality,
made gold, and to a certain extent silver a treasured material for
portraiture. Literary sources inform us that different emperors rejected
the erection of their images in gold because it implied divine honours.
In his Res Gestae Augustus records that he had 80 statues of himself in
silver melted down for better purposes. These examples demonstrate that
gold and silver were materials which had connotations of immortality
and extravagance and which the emperor used or accepted only cautiously.
Some of the images in gold representing the emperor were
certainly life-size or even colossal but most may have been of small scale or in the bust format.
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The traditional local building materials of the Roman Republic, travertine, tufa and limestone were also employed for portraits in Rome and
in Italic cities during the Republican period. They seem, however, to have gone out of fashion for portraiture by the end of the Republic when
they were replaced by either marble or by the more dense limestone.
Limestone of varying quality was quarried throughout the Mediterranean
often on or very close to the habitation or cult site itself and it was used
extensively for portraiture, particularly in rural sanctuaries and tombs.
Unlike marble and bronze, limestone is not mentioned in inscriptions
as a material for honorific statues set up by the public. The silence in
the inscriptional evidence, however, may be because it was so prevalent
that it was considered ‘not worth mentioning’. However, there is evidence
that limestone was even used for representing the emperor in areas with
no marble resources. As different limestones have their own specific
character, local sculptors developed special skills and styles in carving
the stone, or they continued working in a tradition developed generations
before.
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These two very different materials are treated together here because they
were the most important, most common, and most competitive materials
used for both the honorific statue and portrait displayed in a private
context. In the current context, any white stone, marble or (technically
more correct) limestone, which takes a polish is understood as
marble. Marble is by far the dominant surviving material for portraits.
However, although it was quarried around most of the Mediterranean,
the high quality marble which was desired for statuary was only supplied
by a relatively limited number of quarries in Italy, Greece and Asia
Minor.
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From material remains we receive few glimpses of the importance of
painting as a portrait medium.Most of the evidence derives from mural
painting, whereas portraits painted on wooden panels or linen have disappeared almost entirely, except in Egypt where preservation conditions
have been exceptionally good. However, portraits painted on wooden
panels were a mode of representation that was probably as significant
as marble or bronze. An abundance of evidence, both inscriptional and
literary, demonstrates that paintings were a significant portrait medium
in all parts of the Empire, including Rome. Dio, for example, first mentions
painted portraits when he explains that in A.D. 45 Claudius found
the public spaces in Rome so overcrowded with portraits that he had
them moved somewhere else.
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Bearing in mind the basic aspects of public honour and private commemoration outlined above focus is now on modes of representation.
Materiality, technique and the choice of material as giving meaning to
portraits are often overlooked. Material enhanced the aesthetic appeal
of a portrait and it carried cultural, contextual, social and economic
properties that changed with time.
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The arch of Constantine is situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill. It was erected to commemorate Constantine’s victory over Maxentius (one of the tetrarch) at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312 and of cecennalia or tenth anniversary as emperor in AD 315. (It was the year when Maxentius celebrated five years of reign in Rome). Arch was dedicated in AD 315, it is the latest of the existing triumphal arches in Rome, from which it differs by spolia, the extensive re-use of parts of earlier buildings erected by Hadrian, Traian and Marcus Aurelius.
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The imperial-style structure was sometimes expanded to three arches with the central arch reaching a greater height than the two side arches. The triumphal arch of the empire was articulated by a facade of marble columns; ornamental cornices were added to the piers and attics, and the archway and sides were adorned with relief sculpture depicting the emperor’s victories and achievements. In Rome three triumphal arches have survived: the Arch of Titus (ad 81), with relief sculpture of his triumph over Jerusalem; the Arch of Septimius Severus (203–205), commemorating his victory over the Parthians; and the Arch of Constantine (312), a composite product, decorated with reused material from the times of Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian.
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Egyptian temples existed from the middle of the fourth millennium bce at the latest. According to tradition, the earliest were in the shape of reed huts. The last Egyptian temple built was a complex of buildings on Philae which ceased to be used in the mid-sixth century ce. After this, the existing structures were used as residences, vandalized or destroyed as pagan reminders, or exploited as quarries. However, the razing of temples for the last reason was already common in pharaonic times—to make room for a new building, to remodel a temple facility, or merely to reuse the materials on another site. Thus, out of the thousands of temples that once existed, only a fraction have been preserved for us.
