A Companion Roman Religion - Spiritual Minds

reliefs is in Florence today and shows the Vicennaliaof Hadrian inad 137, but was

found in Rome in 1569, where it was part of the famous Villa Medici collection

(fig. 12.2). Altar and emperor are not preserved, but the rest of an altar at the left

part of the relief leaves no doubt that this example of Roman art also presents both

the bull-killing scene and the praefatio. But a new scene is also preserved: two naked

boys are holding a shield. Behind the shield are two standing (and often restored)

figures. These two male figures are the Genius populi romani and the Genius

senatus, both in the typical iconography of such personifications. The architecture

in the left part of the picture is badly preserved and today offers no help for the

understanding of the relief. But the shield is important, and a starting point for the

examination of the monument in Florence. On coins, the votathat are promised

during the sacrifice were inscribed on such shields. The latter stand on the reverse

of the coin alone or, as in our relief, accompanied by the Genius populi romaniand

the Genius senatus. Quite often Victoria also stands beside the shield and demon-

strates the future success of the Romans (Hölscher 1967). But in Roman coinage

there is another way to characterize the success of the Romans. Here the bull-killing

sacrifice is shown in front of the temple to Jupiter and the inscription vota publica

describes the reason for sacrificing the bull in this pictorial scheme. The same scheme

is used on coins for the sacrifice after a five- or ten-year period of reign by a Roman

Reliefs, Public and Private 169

Figure 12.2 Sacrifice on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Hadrian’s reign
(Rome, ad137, today in Florence) (photo: Alinari Archives, Florence).