“Bread crumbs”(perhaps how you got here)

(Originally posted April 2, 2009)

Today we have a magnificent portrait bust of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (lived 86 - 161 CE; reigned 138-161). This is work characteristic of the official art of the Roman Empire at its zenith.

When new, the bust was probably painted (see, e.g., Top 10 Color Classical Reproductions - Listverse, although we do not know the extent of delicate shading or texture). In other words, our customary modern view of classical sculpture as being cold and monochromatic is probably wrong.

All that we know of the reign of this great prince tends towards a coherent picture of an extremely righteous, somewhat rigid, deeply conservative, and thoroughly conscientious public official. In our day, he is perhaps the most universally admired of Roman Emperors. Many tend to see his reign as the apogee of the Classical World, a time of peace and prosperity.

When he died, his adoptive son Marcus Aurelius became Emperor (along with the latter's adoptive brother, Verus). Although Marcus Aurelius is also greatly admired in our day, particularly for his private notebooks (almost entirely of philosophical - religious content), the reign of the last of the great Antonine Emperors was not as happy as that of Antoninus Pius, for the Empire was assailed by barbarians and stricken by plagues.

So far as is known, Antoninus Pius had no military experience; he came to the attention of his adoptive father, Hadrian, by rising through the cursus honorum, the standard sequence of administrative offices expected of civil officials. The portrait shown here is of a man of calm, resolute character. His beard suggests philosophical learning.  It is difficult to tell today, especially from a photograph (as opposed to the actual sculpture), but it seems that the eyes look upwards, towards heaven. Such religious intent in an otherwise distinctly non-controversial face is something of no small interest, for by the end of his reign the Roman Empire was already clearly on the path to religious ferment that would eventually (about 180 years later) lead to the adoption of Christianity as the state religion.

Whether the reign of Antoninus Pius should be regarded as a singular period of well -ordered prosperity is somewhat doubtful. Modern scholars have occasionally observed that he systematically failed to approach basic problems of the economic system that upheld the Empire; he also seems to have done nothing whatever about the barbarians that were gathering about the borders, especially in the north. On the other hand, it is quite clear that this exquisite sculpture is part and parcel of the official image of Antoninus Pius as the supreme ideal of a benevolent, enlightened ruler. In my school days, I used to think of him as an example of how things should be done - having nothing to do, he did nothing. Unfortunately, now that I know more about the Roman Empire, I no longer have quite such unreserved admiration for him.

This change in my views raises two interesting questions, to which I do not really know the answers:

(1) What is the responsibility of a leader to foresee problems likely to arise after he leaves office?

(2) What is the responsibility of the artist to connive in presenting an official point of view?

 All text on this page is the work of J W Durham and is licensed only under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Other licensing terms may be available. E-mail me