DOI: 10.53084/22209050_2024_30_179

D.K. Ianchoglo
The marble reliefs of Citharedes: Augustus’ monumental propaganda and the problem of iconographic programs in Rome at the early years of the Principate

Abstract: The article is dedicated to a group of eclectic reliefs depicting Apollo Citharedes, created in the era of Octavian Augustus (27 B.C.–14 A.D.). Known as ‘reliefs of Citharedes’ (Kitharödenreliefs), they depict a scene of libation – a ritual involving Apollo and Nike. The paper discusses the iconography of the reliefs: its genesis, translation into different techniques: marble and terracotta. The author attempts to consider all variations of the iconography of the reliefs, to find the keys to understand the importance of Apollo Citharedes in the culture of Augustan Rome, and how this iconography of the god became part of the ideology and propaganda of the new political regime. At the same time, the main subject analysed in the paper is the system of composing the iconography of the relief, the main principles that guided the author of the programme. In addition, an attempt is made to give a brief reflection on the August eclecticism, the combination in one epoch of different formal tendencies: neo-Archaic and neo-Attic style. To understand how the politicalisation of style correlates with the iconography of monuments, on the example of the reliefs of Citharedes, is one of the tasks set for the study. The article is divided into three parts: in the first part, an iconographic analysis is done, hypothetical protographs are considered, and the principle of compiling the programme of the Cipharedes reliefs is described. This principle can be understood as a collage – a combination of several schemes taken from different examples known to the Roman viewer, which in the new programme lose their original meaning. The second part deals with the use of the image in the propaganda of Augustus, and thus with the hypothetical semantics of the works in question. I attempt to show how the new power and the potential customer of the reliefs bring new meanings to the reworked Greek iconographic examples. The last part focuses on the problem of style, how it was understood by the creator of the reliefs and what role it plays in translating the meaning of the reliefs.

Keywords: Octavianus Augustus, Apollo Citharedes, Actium, propaganda, neoarchaica, ico nography, books of examples in antiquity

To cite this article: Ianchoglo D.K. The Marble Reliefs of Citharedes: Augustus’ monumental propaganda and the problem of iconographic programs in Rome at the early years of the Principate. Aristeas 30 (2024): 179–209.

References:
Bowditch L. 2009: Palatine Apollo and the Imperial Gaze: Propertius 2.31 and 2.32. The American Journal of Philology 130/3: 401–438.
Castaldo D. 2018: Musical Themes and Private Art in the Augustan Age. Greek and Roman Musical Studies 1: 96–114.
D’Acunto M. 2008: Culto e rituali del tempio di Apollo a Dreros. In: Estienne S., Jaillard D., Lubtchansky N., Pouzadoux C. (eds.). Image et religion dans l’antiquité gréco-romaine. Napoli:111–119.
Dewar M. 1988: Octavian and Orestes in the Finale of the First Georgic. The Classical Quarterly, New Series 38/2: 563–565.
Dewar M. 1990: Octavian and Orestes Again. The Classical Quarterly, New Series 40/2: 580–582.
Foukara L. 2014: All in the family: The Apollonian triad in Attic art of the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Edinburgh.
Freyburger-Galland M.-L. 2009: Political and religious propaganda between 44 and 27 BC. Vergilius 55: 17–30.
Fullerton M.D. 1990. The Archaistic Style in Roman Statuary. Leiden.
Gabba E. 1982: Political and Cultural Aspects of the Classicistic Revival in the Augustan Age. Classical Antiquity 1/1: 43–65.
Gaifman M. 2013: Timelessness, fluidity, and Apollo’s libation: RES. Anthropology and Aesthetics 63/64: 39–52.
Gallazzi C., Kramer B., Settis S. et alii 2008: Il papiro di Artemidoro. Milano.
Hekster O., Rich J. 2006: Octavian and the Thunderbolt: The Temple of Apollo Palatinus and Roman Traditions of Temple Building. The Classical Quarterly 56/1: 149–168.
Hoff M.C. 1992: Augustus, Apollo, and Athens. Museum Helveticum 49: 223–232.
Holliday P.J. 1990: Time, History, and Ritual on the Ara Pacis Augustae. The Art Bulletin 72/4: 542–557.
Hölscher Т. 1990: Augustus and Orestes. Travaux du Centre d’archéologie méditerranéenne de l’Académie Polonaise des sciences 30, Etudes et travaux 15: 163–168.
Howard S. 1982: Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, eighteenth-century restorer. New York.
Ianchoglo D.K. 2023: Gerkules-Melqart kak politicheskaya identichnost’ imperatora Adriana [Hercules-Melqart as the political identity of Emperor Hadrian]: Aristeas 28: 55–70.
Янчогло Д.К. Геркулес-Мелькарт как политическая идентичность императора Адриана. Аристей 28 (2023): 55–70.
Joost-Gaugier C.L. 1998: The Iconography of Sacred Space: A Suggested Reading of the Meaning of the Roman Pantheon. Artibus et Historiae 19, No. 38: 21–42.
Jucker H. 1982: Apollo Palatinus und Apollo Actius auf augusteischen Münzen. Museum Helveticum 39/1: 82–100.
Mezheritskii Ya.Yu. 1994:“Respublikanskaya monarhia”: metamorfozy ideologii i politiki imperatora Avgusta [“Republican monarchy”: metamorphoses of ideology and policy of emperor Augustus] Moscow.
Межерицкий Я.Ю. «Республиканская монархия»: метаморфозы идеологии и политики императора Августа. М., 1994.
Morgan H. 2022: Augustus, Apollo’s Lyre and the Harmony of the Principate Music, Politics and Society. In: Ancient Rome Music, Politics and Society in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: 142–190.
Murgatroyd P. 2011: Augustus and Apollo. The Classical Review, New Series 61/1: 127–129.
Pierce C.S. 1998: The Essential Peirce. In: Pierce C.S. Selected Philosophical Writings. Vol. 2 (1893–1913). Bloomington.
Ramage N.H.1990: Sir William Hamilton as Collector, Exporter, and Dealer: The Acquisition and Dispersal of His Collections. American Journal of Archaeology 94/3: 469–480.
Rohden W.H. von 1911: Architektonische römische Tonreliefs der Kaiserzeit. Berlin.
Roccos L.J. 1989: Apollo Palatinus: The Augustan Apollo on the Sorrento Base. American Journal of Archaeology 93/4: 571–588.
Santi F. 2019: Due Rilievi Votivi Greci nel Museo Barracco di Roma. Archeologia Classica 70: 593–608.
Settis S. 1990: Giorgione’s Tempest: Interpreting the Hidden Subject. Chicago.
Sauser J.S.R. 1987: The Twelve Gods Relief in the Walters Art Gallery. The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 45: 2–18.
Scapini M. 2015: Augustus and Dionysus’s triumph: A nonexistent paradox. Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 55 (1–4): 185–209.
Scott K. 1933: The Political Propaganda of 44–30 B.C. Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 11: 7–49.
Tilg S. 2008: Augustus and Orestes: Two Literary Clues. The Classical Quarterly 58/1: 368–370.
Winckelman J.J. 1767: Monumenti antichi inedita. Vol. 1. Roma.
Zagdoun M.-A. 1989: La sculpture archaïsante dans l’art et dans l’art romain du Haut-Empire. Athènes.
Zanker P. 1988: The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Detroit.


Author:
Dmitrii K. Ianchoglo