The last several years have seen various monographs on the Severan age, and this scholarly Severan renaissance continues with the addition of two works focused on the city of Rome.
Palast und Stadt im severischen Rom arises out of a 2009 conference and a wider research project of the same name. Winterling (9–21) provides a thought-provoking theoretical introduction to the proceedings, contextualizing Rome and the Roman Empire within broader political theory. Two types of cities are presented: those ruled by monarchies, and those that are not. W. observes that ancient Rome contained something of both since it had both an imperial court and a civic governmental structure. The question, then, is how these two types of government ran alongside each other, and what possible conflicts or contradictions might arise. W. suggests the structures and symbolism of the imperial palace might mirror the very specific problems of the Roman imperial period, when the city of Rome possessed a monarchy situated inside a governmental civic élite.
How architecture reflects society, hierarchy or social norms, as well as their transformation, is an important question, but unfortunately the rest of the volume does not provide a conclusive answer to the question W. poses. In essence, there are two types of contribution within the volume: those focused on the social, military or administrative aspects of Severan society, and those focused on the architecture of Rome. An approach that explicitly connects changes to Severan society with specific architectural developments is absent; here the volume might have benefited from an extensive concluding discussion. Many of the contributions are summaries of work that has been published elsewhere. That said, the strength of the volume lies in this collection of data and scholarship, which is accompanied by detailed maps and pictures. This makes it a handy volume for the scholar of the Palatine and imperial residences more broadly.
Palombi provides an overview of Rome and its development until the Severan era (23–61), and Tomei (61–84) provides a summary of the development of the Palatine in the same period, focusing in particular on the Domus Tiberiana. Eich (85–104) then discusses politics and administration under the Severans; he observes that although ancient and modern authors have often seen the dynasty as a point of change, in essence senators were treated in a similar manner to earlier dynasties. What does appear to be different, however, is the rôle and visibility of the praetorian prefect, something that begins under Commodus. That both Ulpian and Papinian, two of the most prominent Roman jurists, were also praetorian prefects, suggests an increased administrative rôle for the prefect, although Eich is cautious in coming to any broader conclusions given the state of the evidence. Busch (105–22) then considers changes to the military, summarizing the relevant changes made by Severus and his successors, and the resultant building activity in Rome. Busch observes that it is at this moment that military graves begin to change in iconography with more explicitly military motifs, which she connects to the change in soldiers' status. Schöpe (123–56) explores the rôle of the salutatio, convivium and amici under the Severans as institutions that demonstrated consensus and concordia between the emperor and the Senate; this is a summarized version of the argument put forward in his recent monograph, Der römische Kaiserhof in severischer Zeit (193–235 n. Chr.) (2014).
The volume then turns towards the archaeology of Rome, with Villedieu (157–80) providing a summary of the excavations on the Vigna Barberini. Pflug (181–212) then offers an excellent, detailed study of the Domus Augustana, tracing each period of alteration in the structure, illustrated via colour maps. Scholars of the imperial period more broadly will be interested in this contribution, as it charts the building phases from Domitian onwards, including a detailed discussion of the Flavian phase. Pflug demonstrates that it was probably under Claudius that the imperial residence began to lose its late Republican structures and look like an imperial palace; here as elsewhere this might have been more overtly connected to changing conceptions surrounding the rôle of the emperor. Sojc (213–30) complements this by detailing how changes to the palace and its entrances/exits under the Severans altered the broader urban landscape, concluding that the improved connections between the palace and the city reflected the ideology of an improved connection between the emperor and the broader empire. Grüner (231–86) then provides an extensive overview of (possible) imperial villas in this period, again illustrated with excellent maps. Wulf-Rheidt concludes the volume by considering the development of the imperial residence into Late Antiquity (287–306).
The overall theme that emerges from the volume is that of continuity or change. Here, as with other recent scholarship on the Severans, many points of continuity with the Antonines and earlier can be traced, contributing to our perception of this dynasty as one that did not see a radical ‘break’ with the past, but which provided a point of continuation and further development.
An emphasis on continuity alongside transformation is also seen in Lusnia's monograph on building activities in Rome under Septimius Severus. Originally derived from her doctoral thesis, L.'s monograph not only examines the structures erected in the capital under Severus, but contextualizes these against the existing landscape of the city as well as Severus' broader ideology. This integrated approach to Severan Rome, as well as L.'s use of all available evidence (coins, inscriptions, ancient texts and the archaeological ruins), is one of the strengths of the work.
L. begins by ‘setting the scene’, describing Rome as it might have been experienced in a.d. 193. This includes a discussion of the aftermath of the fire of Commodus and the circumstances surrounding Severus' rise to the throne, as well as the supply routes of the city. Ch. 2 explores aspects of Severus' propaganda, a term that L. uses with appropriate caveats (32–6). Using P. J. Holliday's idea of the ‘contingent reader’ (The Origins of Roman Historical Commemoration in the Visual Arts (2002), reviewed JRS 94 (2004), 227–8), L. acknowledges that viewers of Severus' monuments would have become participants in creating meaning, and that each viewer would have possessed different levels of understanding (34–5). The precise rôle played by the emperor in the erection of monuments is discussed, with L. arguing that the emperor would have had some control of his visual image. Drawing on David Beetham's ideas surrounding the legitimation of power (The Legitimation of Power (1991)), L. argues that Severus needed to demonstrate that he belonged within the imperial tradition — that he met the expectations of what the Roman people thought an emperor should be. Severus achieved legitimacy through three main avenues: the military, the idea of divine sanction and the idea that he (through adoption) was descended from an existing line of emperors (36). L. highlights the importance of Rome, the focus of Severus' building activity, in communicating this legitimacy. The first attestation of Rome as sacra Urbis occurs in a.d. 201, which L. connects to the representation of the Severan dynasty as domus divina. The city of Rome was now a divinity (the goddess Roma), as well as the seat of that divinity and the divine household.
L. then proceeds to an examination of the Roman Forum. Here the benefits of L.'s contextual approach to Severus' building activity are revealed: by considering how Severus' monuments interacted with existing buildings in the Forum, L. demonstrates that Severus used the Forum to situate himself within tradition, validating his authority and communicating his position as a ‘traditionalist’. Her discussion of the preservation of the inscription of L. Naevius Surdinus (68) during the repaving of the Forum is just one example of L.'s detailed analysis in support of this assertion: the intentional preservation of an Augustan inscription during renovation works reveals an awareness of the historical significance of the Forum, as well as a desire to connect to the past. Ch. 4 continues the emphasis on tradition with an examination of the Campus Martius. Discussion of the Severan restoration of the Pantheon, the Porticus Octaviae, the Iseum and Serapeum and the rôle of these renovations during the saecular games are utilized by L. to demonstrate that Severus was using Augustus as a model alongside his connection to the Antonine dynasty. In the scholarly debate surrounding Severus' portraiture, L. sides with the view that the emperor sported a Sarapis style beard (104), rather than seeing his coiffure as a reference to the Antonines; this statement might generate some disagreement amongst readers, but L. notes the paucity of evidence for the promotion of Sarapis by Severus.
Having explored the traditional manner in which Severus presented himself in the Forum and Campus Martius, L. moves on to highlight the more innovative building activities undertaken elsewhere in the city. She argues that the Via Nova was laid out during the reign of Severus (and not Caracalla as previously believed) as part of a broader building campaign in the region between the south-east corner of the Palatine Hill and the Porta Capena, which L. characterizes as ‘a new monumental zone dedicated to the glorification of the Severan dynasty’ (123). The new monuments of the Severan age included the Septizodium, the temple to Hercules and Bacchus, and the Severan marble plan. L. also includes a detailed discussion of the iconography of the Porta Argentariorum, convincingly demonstrating that the overt military nature of this monument has not been adequately acknowledged within modern scholarship, providing a new possible reading of the arch as referencing the supply of goods to the praetorian guard (146).
Ch. 6 examines the imperial residences. In her discussion of the Sessorian palace L. suggests possible Lepcitanian influence in the architecture, noting that the linking of an amphitheatre and hippodrome is otherwise only known in Lepcis Magna (177). L. then turns to a consideration of the public works and administrative changes of the city under Severus, which L. sees as part of Severus' public connection to previous emperors. One appendix lists doubtful buildings attributed to Severus, while another lists all the textual evidence (literary, epigraphic) for Severus' building programmes in Rome. Both will prove useful to students studying Severan Rome (handy translations of inscriptions are provided), but more reference to this appendix might have been made throughout the main body of the text to alert the reader to its existence. The book is well proofed and illustrated with numerous maps, although some of the coin reproductions are not of the highest quality. Overall L. provides a detailed assessment of Severus' building activity in Rome in its urban and political context, an approach to the city that is to be encouraged.
