Another column. Another source
Detail of the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. The event on it is the so-called "miracle of rain in the territory of Kvadi", in which the rain god, by the emperor's prayer, is saved by the Roman troops, by arranging a terrible storm, a miracle that the Christians subsequently declared to be the result of an appeal to their Christian God. Of the details that are of interest to us, the helmets with a ring on the crown for carrying them on a campaign and very short, like on the column of Traian, legions of mail with a scalloped hem, draw attention to themselves.
Dating the column is not so difficult if you count a little. It is known that the first stage of the Markoman’s war, which lasted a whole year from 166 to 180, was completely unsuccessful for Rome, and the Romans began to celebrate their first successes only in 176. But in 180, Marcus Aurelius had already died, so it is obvious that this column was built in the period between 176 and 180, our era. Since it is precisely this historical period that is precisely reflected in the bas-reliefs on the column, it is necessary first of all to tell about what time it was and what this war represented.
But this is what the whole column looks like today.
To begin with, the wars of Trajan against the Dacians (101 – 102; 105 – 106) were the last successful wars of Rome, which gave it such significant territorial increments. In the future, Rome was no longer up to new conquests. It was required to keep the conquered. Therefore, the main part of the legions was dispersed along the border of the empire, where in addition began the construction of long lines of fortifications. It would seem that, having rested against the walls of the Roman frontier fortresses, the waves of barbarians, wounded out of the Black Sea steppes, would have to stop. But no - apparently their need was so great that they tried in every way to overcome the Roman border, which constantly led to border clashes, both small and large.
The preservation of the figures is generally worse than on the column of Trajan, but since this high relief is an impression, due to the play of light and shadows, they produce a stronger one.
So the Markoman war (166 – 180) was one of such wars of Rome with the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes, caused by their movement on its eastern borders.
This bas-relief of the column depicts the Roman cavalry, which in the west in the era of the early empire was recruited mainly from the Celts. Weapon it was served by a Spata sword with a length of 60-70 cm, a spear for throwing, and to protect the body — chain mail, scale armor, similar to the cut of mail, and an oval shield. Interestingly, the helmets of the riders adorn the small sultans. It is possible that this was done specifically to ... flatter the gullible barbarians. They say that even our legionaries have no sultans on their helmets, but you have them! And how many people need to be happy?
Then Marcomanni, Quads, Hermundurians, tongues and a number of other tribes took advantage of the fact that the Roman Empire was in a difficult situation because of the Parthian war of 161 – 166 and the plague epidemic that followed it in lean years in Italy. Violating the Rhine-Danube border of the empire, they were able to go to Italy and in 169, led by the leader of the Marcomanni, Ballomar, destroy the Roman army from 20 000 almost at Carnunta. Then they made a deep raid deep into the empire: they besieged the fortress of Aquileia and managed to destroy the city of Opithery. Only at the end of 169, the emperor Marcus Aurelius was able to stop the onslaught of the Marcomanni and their allies. However, the death of his co-ruler, Lucius Vera, caused an internal political crisis, due to which only in 172 – 174, and then with great difficulty gained new legions, which had to be replenished with slaves and barbarians. The war, however, went on with mixed success. In 175, there was an uprising by Syrian Governor Avidia Cassius, so the Romans were forced to abandon new attempts to expand their borders. Nevertheless, it can be considered that, in general, this war was not so bad for the Romans: according to the 175 peace agreement of the year, the Marcomanni tribes were forced to recognize the Roman protectorate. In addition, the Romans still took away from them, though narrow, but still a strip of land along the border. At the same time about 25 000 barbarians joined the ranks of the Roman army.
In this bas-relief, we see both trumpeters, and ferniers, and vexillaria, and legionnaires in lamellar loricas, both shown both in the front and in the back, which allows a good view of their structure. But chain mails with scalloped hem and on this bas-relief are so short that below the belt nothing is completely covered.
To commemorate the victory over the Germans and Sarmatians of 3 on December 176, Marcus Aurelius, along with his son Commodus, arranged a triumph. But feeling that he was tired of life, the emperor decided at the same time to make Commodus his co-ruler.
The same bas-relief, shifted to the right. Legionnaire's belt (the extreme figure on the left), as you see, has changed a lot. Obviously, scaly armor in the Roman army of the era of the first centuries of the empire was very common ...
However, in 177, the barbarian tribes launched a new offensive. However, this time Rome military happiness smiled pretty quickly. Although the barbarians once again managed to enter Pannonia and then again reach Aquileia, commander Tarruntia Paterna managed to beat them completely in 179, after which the barbarians were driven out of Roman territory. Then Marcus Aurelius himself crossed with the troops across the Danube in order to conquer new territories and create on them the next Roman provinces: Marcomania and Sarmatia. The implementation of these plans was prevented by his death in Vindobonne 17 March 180.
After his death, Commodus decided to make peace with the barbarians on the condition that the pre-war border between them and the Roman Empire would be restored. However, the Romans still had to build a new line of fortifications on the Danube border and send additional troops there.
And at this particular time period, individual episodes of the Markoman’s war were reflected in the bas-reliefs of the 30-meter column of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Rome.
The exactly measured height of this column is equal to 29,6 m, and the height of the pedestal is 10 m. Thus, the height of the monument once was 41,95 m, but then three meters of its base after the restoration carried out in 1589, were below ground level. The barrel of the column, according to various sources, was made of 27 or 28 blocks of selected Carrara marble 3,7-meter diameter. Just like the column of Emperor Trajan, inside it is hollow and there is a spiral staircase with steps (190 — 200), along which you can climb to its top, where at the time of its construction was a sculpture of Marcus Aurelius. Illumination of the stairs is through small windows.
Interestingly, on the bas-reliefs of this column, we practically do not see rectangular skutum shields, but there are oval not only among horsemen, but also with infantry. In addition, many warriors wear pants such as breeches - a thing in Rome previously unheard of.
Note that the relief images of the Marcus Aurelius column are different from the similar images from the Trajan column by a much greater expression. The reason is that a bas-relief type of carving is used on Trajan's column, while on the Mark's column we see a high relief, that is, stone carving is deeper here, and its figures protrude from the background. It is known that there are four types of relief: a bas-relief, a high relief, a counter-relief and a coyanaglyph. It makes no sense to talk about the last two in this case (or rather, to write), but the first two can be reported that the image is called a bas-relief when it protrudes from the background by half, and the high relief is such a kind of sculptured convex relief, in which It depicts, appears above the plane of the background more than half the volume of all the parts depicted on it. That is, it becomes half sculpture and only slightly associated with the main background. So just on the pillar of Marcus Aurelius we see high reliefs and this is very valuable, as it allows us to study her figures not only frontally, but also a little to the side. Also, for a more accurate depiction of the faces of the characters, the figures are enlarged relative to the body. On the other hand, the thread itself is somewhat rougher and we can note a decrease in the level of study of the depicted parts of weapons and clothing.
Roman troops cross the river on a pontoon bridge. This bas-relief is very clearly visible so-called "four-legged" Roman saddle, covered with cheprakom. Josephus, for example, wrote that the eastern cavalry carried with them quivers with several darts with wide leaf-shaped tips, clearly hung by the saddle. But here we do not see such quivers. Stepmen, too, as you can see, no.
Bas-reliefs at the base of the column.
In the Middle Ages, the rise to the top of the column became so popular that it turned into such a profitable business that the right to receive payment for this by the Rome Magistrate was annually put up for auction.
The last year of the Markomanic War is dedicated to the film by Ridley Scott "Gladiator". There are a lot of things imagined, but on this frame from this movie everything is very realistic: on the right there are legionnaires in segmented Lorik and with rectangular shields, on the left - oriental archers in conical helmets and chain mail. The latter, however, still a bit short ...
Since the statue of Marcus Aurelius was somehow lost by the 16th century, Pope Sixt V in 1589 ordered the architect Domenico Fontana to restore the column. He installed on it a sculpture of the apostle Paul, and on the pedestal made an inscription about the work he had done, in which for some reason he confused the names of the emperors and called it the column of Antonin Pius.
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