Budapest Régiségei 34. (2001)

STUDIEN = TANULMÁNYOK - Dyczek, Piotr: An imperial marble head from Novae (Moesia Inferior) 63-69

hammering, the evidence indicates that the beard had been much more bushy than the hair on the head. The small round ear lobes were finely carved. An arching wrinkle is evident on the low forehead. The eye between finely carved eyelids is almond-shaped and the upper eyelid is drawn out toward the temple. Deeply set, the eyeball has a clearly marked pupil with a drooping upper eyelid. The cheekbones are prominent, emphasized still further by shallow depressions running from the end of the nose. Although the small nose has been destroyed, what remains of it is enough to indicate that the bridge was rather narrow, widening toward the bottom. The most characteristic feature of style of this portrait is the modeling of the hair on the head, which is typical of the period AD 270-285 according to current portrait research.

11 Consequently, our efforts at an attribution are narrowed down to just three emperors: Aurelian, Probus and Carinus. I am inclined, based on all the evidence presented so far, to attribute the head from Novae to an official statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Carinus, who took the title of Augustus after the death of Carus. Carinus was the son of Magnia Urbica and Carus, prefect of the Pretorián Guard, who ascended to the throne in unclear circumstances after the death of Probus. Carinus, who was born around 250 AD, and his ten-year younger brother Numerianus received the title of Caesar from their father in the summer of 282. Carinus was a tribune twice and a consul three times. After the unexplained death first of his father in 282 and then his brother in 284, Carinus became the only ruler, albeit briefly. His rule was terminated by the rebellion of Diodes, the later emperor Diocletian, which ended in 285 in the battle on the river Margus (modern Morava). His own officers killed Carinus then. After the victory, Diocletian had the names of the two brothers removed; hence the smashing of the statue from Novae may be dated to the second half of AD 285. The portrait head from Novae reveals many features identical with that of a head of Carinus discovered in 1872 in the Castro Pretorio in Rome (Fig. 4), now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, room of the dei Magistrati 9, in v. no. 850.

12 It was thought at first that the head depicted the emperor Gallienus.

13 In later studies, it was assumed based on the style that it was an image of an emperor after Gallienus, most probably Carinus.

14 An attribution to Probus was also suggested in the seventies.

15 However, a comparison of the head from Rome with coins reveals a clear similarity between the portrait and the issues of Carinus:

16 the same shape of the skull, short hair, more bushy facial hair, deep-set eyes. The head from Castro Pretorio is frequently cited in studies on the Roman portrait from the second half of the 3

rd century AD.

17 It is important not only because it is so unique after all, Carinus reigned for a very short period of time and failed to be popular but primarily because it is in such a good condition that it permits students of the portrait to trace the changes in style which took place in this field of art from Aurelian to Carinus.

18 What is emphasized in different studies is most of all the characteristic hairdo clearly observed on the portrait head from Rome and compared with other images, e.g. on sarcophagi dated to the second half of the 3

rd century AD.

19 Initially, it was suggested that the head from Rome dates to AD 285.

20 J. Meischner is of the opinion, however, that it should be assigned to AD 283/284.

21 The absence of other analogies makes it difficult to consider a detailed analysis of different portrait variants. The similarity of Carinus' portrait to images of Probus has been pointed out repeatedly: hair texture, beard form, eye and ear modeling. The differences, however, are also in evidence, sufficiently distinct in the case of the head from Novae to support, despite the damages, the suggested attribution. This concerns primarily the skull shape: flat on top in the case of Probus, rounded for Carinus. The Novae piece also bears the characteristic arching wrinkle on the forehead, less deep-set eyes and the upper eyelid extended onto the temples, as well as a shorter and broader nose. While no other surely attributed portraits of Carinus exist, the characteristic features of style can be observed on a bust from Perge in Asia Minor, now in the Museum in Antalya

22 dated to AD 270-290 (Fig. 5 a-c.). Two further parallels come from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

23 The head itself says little of the type of statue it had come from. The frontal treatment suggests a statua togata and this could find confirmation in the coin images of the emperor. As no other pieces of this statue have been found, it can be assumed with considerable certainty that after the smashing (taking off ?) of the head of an emperor condemned to be forgotten the bust itself might have been reused. A problem definitely more difficult to resolve is where the statue of Carinus might have stood. It seems quite obvious that the fragment of a smashed statue could not have been carried from any great distance. The archaeological context described earlier shows that the fragmentary head was used in a foundation made of sandstone and marble pieces coming in the majority from the ruins of the abandoned military hospital. The hospital itself is now believed to have been abandoned in the times of Caracalla, hence the statue could not have stood in the hospital courtyard. Neither is it very probable that it had come from the principia as none of the pieces uncovered so far can be said to have originated from the command headquarters. Current research appears to indicate another possibility, which may also be true in the case of the other already published head of Maximinus Thrax. Bordering with the area of the valetudinarium is the scamnum tribunorum, presently excavated by Bulgarian archaeologists A. Milceva and E. Genceva. The statue of Carinus might have stood there originaliy64