The notorious inattention paid to the Column of Marcus Aurelius is a shame that scholars only recently have begun to address. Martin Beckmann's monograph (The Column of Marcus Aurelius: The Genesis and Meaning of a Roman Imperial Monument (2011)) led the way, addressing questions of production, style and the column's relationship to its Trajanic predecessor. Johannes Griebel's new book is a welcome, neatly complementary addition, focusing on the composition and ideological content of the Antonine column's sculpted frieze. G. argues that far from being a sloppy imitation of the Column of Trajan, the Column of Marcus Aurelius should be analysed as an independent and successful monument with its own concerns, namely the sophisticated use of repeated scene types to present the emperor as an exalted military leader.
In his introduction G. sets himself a laudable goal: to examine the iconography of the Column of Marcus Aurelius as a complex, independent monument. In doing so, he expressly rejects two earlier views of the column: that it is valuable only as it relates to the Trajanic column, and that its frieze can be read as some sort of historical record (a perennial, if steadily diminishing, problem for both columns). The book's first two chapters then summarize foundational material, including the column's history, scholarship and the debates over the column's date and topographic context. G.'s demonstration of damage to the reliefs, illustrated by side-by-side photographs from 1895 and 1989 (figs 4–5), is both edifying and distressing.
The book's third section presents G.'s close analysis of five different scene types: (a) leaving and marching; (b) addressing the troops; (c) sacrificing; (d) the presentation of barbarians; and (e) less submissive interactions between the emperor and barbarians. For each of these scene types, G. presents an exhaustive discussion of the composition, content, distribution and meaning of each example on the column. In support of his analysis, he includes comparative material, namely coins and other reliefs. Throughout this analysis, G. stresses how the iconography repeatedly emphasizes the emperor's rôle as supreme commander of the army. Scenes of marching, for example, portray the emperor as fully integrated with his men, leading the army's difficult but organized progression through enemy territory.
G. presents his conclusions in ch. 4. Looking beyond content, G. calls attention to how the composition of most scenes is specifically designed to highlight the figure of the emperor. G. observes that many of these scenes are clustered at the bottom of the column, which he interprets as evidence that historical narrative was set aside in favour of presenting the monument's complete ideological programme within the most visible spirals. In sum, G. argues that the column's frieze should not be seen as a disjointed sprawl of random scenes, but instead as a carefully crafted undertaking to praise the emperor as supreme commander. He goes further to suggest that its novel techniques for doing so point forward to the increasing visual prominence of the emperor seen in the later Empire.
The end of the book is made up of two useful reference features: an English summary (ch. 5) and a catalogue of each scene on the column (ch. 6). The latter features description, discussion, photographs and bibliography (including previous illustrations, DAI negative references and casts). The catalogue will be a valuable resource for anyone wishing to study the column in detail.
The strength of this book lies in G.'s approach to the column as a sophisticated monument with its own complicated iconography and particular goals. His discussions of his chosen scene types are careful and support some interesting points. For instance, he is able to tease ideological significance out of the numerous marching scenes that are too often dismissed as compositional filler, or ‘the Roman army moves from Location A to Location B’. He admirably resists the dual temptations of shoe-horning every scene into modern designated scene types (he argues not every scene of leaving is a true profectio, for example) and of trying to see historical details in every hand gesture.
There are some methodological shortcomings, however, which weaken some of G.'s conclusions. The primary problem is a lack of discussion of the methodological assumptions behind G.'s work. G. does not situate his approach within broader theoretical debates regarding the interpretation of monumental sculpture as a genre, beyond the particular problems of the columns. Similarly, in his heavy reliance on coins as iconographic comparanda, it would have been better to at least mention the potential problems in comparing media as different as coins and monumental sculpture. Also, G. does not discuss who is meant to have initiated the novel aspects of the column, nor who was the intended audience. While these are difficult questions for which G. certainly cannot be expected to have unambiguous answers, the lack of explicit acknowledgement of these problems leaves his vision of the column floating in a contextual vacuum, and limits his work's applicability to the study of other sculptural monuments.
Even if there are some problems, G. has given us an important contribution to the scholarship on the Column of Marcus Aurelius. He has encouraged scholars to see this crucial monument through new eyes, and has ably demonstrated a new approach to the frieze's composition and content. The illustrations are very good, both throughout the text and in the catalogue. In short, this book should be required reading for anyone interested in the Antonine column and the representation of the Roman emperor.
