farewell to the couple being lifted into the realm of the gods on the
wings of a personification of uncertain identity. All this was familiar
from earlier scenes of apotheosis. New to the imperial repertoire,
however, was the fusion of time the joint apotheosis represents.
Faustina had died 20 years before Antoninus Pius. By depicting the
two as ascending together, the artist wished to suggest that Antoni-
nus had been faithful to his wife for two decades and that now they
would be reunited in the afterlife.
The decursio reliefs (FIG. 10-58) break even more strongly with
Classical convention. The figures are much stockier than those in the
apotheosis relief, and the panel was not conceived as a window onto
the world. The ground is the whole surface of the relief, and march-
ing soldiers and galloping horses alike stand on floating patches of
earth. This, too, had not occurred before in imperial art, only in ple-
beian art (FIG. 10-10). After centuries of following the rules of Clas-
sical design, elite Roman artists and patrons finally became dissatis-
fied with them. When seeking a new direction, they adopted some of
the non-Classical conventions of the art of the lower classes.MARCUS AURELIUSAnother break with the past occurred
in the official portraits of Marcus Aurelius, although his images re-
tain the pompous trappings of imperial iconography. In a larger-
than-life-size gilded-bronze equestrian statue (FIG. 10-59), the
emperor possesses a superhuman grandeur and is much larger than
any normal human would be in relation to his horse. Marcus
stretches out his right arm in a gesture that is both a greeting and an
offer of clemency. Some evidence suggests that beneath the horse’s
raised right foreleg an enemy once cowered, begging the emperor
for mercy. Marcus’s portrait owed its preservation throughout the
Middle Ages to the fact that it was mistakenly thought to portray
Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome. Most ancient
bronze statues were melted down for their metal value, because
Christians regarded them as impious images from the pagan world.
Even today, after centuries of new finds, only a few bronze eques-
trian statues survive. The type was, however, often used for imperial
portraits—an equestrian statue of Trajan stood in the middle of his
forum (FIG. 10-43,no. 6). Perhaps more than any other statuary
type, the equestrian portrait expresses the Roman emperor’s majesty
and authority.
This message of supreme confidence is not conveyed, however,
by the portrait head of Marcus’s equestrian statue or any of the
other portraits of the emperor in the years just before his death. Por-
traits of aged emperors were not new (FIG. 10-37), but Marcus’s
were the first ones in which a Roman emperor appeared weary, sad-
dened, and even worried. For the first time, the strain of constant
warfare on the frontiers and the burden of ruling a worldwide
empire show in the emperor’s face. The Antonine sculptor ventured
beyond Republican verism, exposing the ruler’s character, his
thoughts, and his soul for all to see, as Marcus revealed them himself
in his Meditations,a deeply moving philosophical treatise setting
forth the emperor’s personal worldview. This was a major turning
point in the history of ancient art, and, coming as it did when the
Classical style was being challenged in relief sculpture (FIG. 10-58),
it marked the beginning of the end of Classical art’s domination in
the Greco-Roman world.ORESTES SARCOPHAGUS Other profound changes also
were taking place in Roman art and society at this time. Beginning
under Trajan and Hadrian and especially during the rule of the An-
tonines, Romans began to favor burial over cremation. This reversal
of funerary practices may reflect the influence of Christianity andother Eastern religions, whose adherents believed in an afterlife for
the human body. Although the emperors themselves continued to be
cremated in the traditional Roman manner, many private citizens
opted for burial. Thus they required larger containers for their re-
mains than the ash urns that were the norm until the second century
CE. This in turn led to a sudden demand for sarcophagi, which are
more similar to modern coffins than are any other ancient type of
burial container.
Greek mythology was one of the most popular subjects for the
decoration of these sarcophagi. In many cases, especially in the late
second and third centuries CE, the Greek heroes and heroines were
given the portrait features of the Roman men and women interred in
the marble coffins. These private patrons were following the model
of imperial portraiture, where emperors and empresses frequently
masqueraded as gods and goddesses and heroes and heroines (see
“Role Playing in Roman Portraiture,” page 254). An early example
of the type (although it lacks any portraits) is the sarcophagusHigh Empire 27310-59Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, from Rome, Italy,
ca. 175 ce.Bronze, 11 6 high. Musei Capitolini, Rome.
In this equestrian portrait of Marcus Aurelius as omnipotent conqueror,
the emperor stretches out his arm in a gesture of clemency. An enemy
once cowered beneath the horse’s raised foreleg.1 ft.10-59A
Commodus
as Hercules,
ca. 190–192 CE.