Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Commemorative Columns 105
recognised at least as the protege oi lupiter and the imitator of Zeus.
Even the late Roman emperors inherited the same tradition and
viewed themselves as the viceroys of lupiter Capitolinus^. Hence the
comparison of the Germanic with the classical column is not far-
fetched or unreal. The smooth variety of the former supporting the
figure of lupiter Optimus Alaxinms- may fairly be regarded as analogous
to the column of Antoninus Pius-', a plain granite shaft, on which
stood the divinised emperor, optimus maxinmsque princeps'^, holding
— if coins can be trusted—the eagle and sceptre (figs. (y6— GjY of
Fig. 66.
Fig. 67.
lupiter. Again, monuments like that of Mogontiacum" showed the
possibilities of columnar relief and furnished a starting-point for yet
more ambitious efforts, the columns of Trajan (figs. 68—69)" and
loul. sy/iip. 333 B ff. describes Marcus Aurelius as an imitator of tlie gods, who acted
Kara fiifx-qcFiv rod fieyiarov Aios (334 d) and was fain to follow the lead of both Zeus and
Kronos (335 d). He too is opthmis {Corp. inscr. Lat. xiv no. 4003 = Orelli Inscr. Lat.
sel. no. 3364 = Dessau Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 6225 Ficulea) and t?iaximtcs (Corp. inscr. Lat.
xi no. 5635 = Orelli Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 2172 = Wilmanns Ex. inscr. Lat. no. 2 104 = Dessau
Inscr. Lat. sel. no. 664O Camerinum).
^ Supra i. 46 f. ^ Sttpra p. 89 f.
^ Supra p. 103 n.
* Supra p. 101 n. i.
^ Cohen Monn. etnp. rotn."^ ii. 305 f. nos. 353 fig.—356 describes the type as ' la statue
d'Antonin debout, tenant un globe et un sceptre.' Rasche Lex. Num. ii. 708 f. says
' Imperator...d. hastam gerens.' Stevenson—Smith—Madden Diet. Rom. Coiftsp. 235 fig.
have ' a colossal statue of the Lmperator... holding a spear in his right hand.' I illustrate
a first brass in the British Museum (fig. 66) and another in my possession (fig. 67).
Mr G. F. Hill, who kindly looked through all the specimens in the national collection
for me, writes (June 19, 1915)
eagle, when it is possible to make out what he holds at all.'
^ Supra p. 93 ff.
: 'The figure on the Antonine column certainly holds an
^ Corp. inscr. Lat. vi no. 960 = Wilmanns .ffx. inscr. Lat. no. 935 = Dessau Inscr. Lat.
sel. no. 294, Dion Cass. 68. 16, 69. 2, curiosum urbis regiontim xiv and notitia regionum
urbis xiv reg. 8 (H. Jordan Topographic dcr Stadt Rom im Alterthtim Berlin 1871 ii. 552),
Aur. Vict. epit. 13. 11, Hieron. chron. ami. Abr. 2132, Amm. Marc. 16. 10. \i),miral>ilia
Romae 16 (H. Jordan op. cit. ii. 620). The most important publications of Trajan's column
are W. Froehner La Colonne Trajane Paris 1872-1874 (text and four vols, of 220 photolithographic
pis.), C. Cichorius Die Reliefs der Traianssdiile Berlin 1896-1900 (text and
two vols, of 113 heliographic pis.),—both sets of plates being reproductions from the
plaster casts taken by order of Napoleon iii in 1861-1862 A.D. Reinach Rtp. Reliefs i.
330—369 gives in reduced form the plates of P. S. Bartoli—A. Ciaccone—G. P. Bellori