Free Essays

Statue of Augustus of PrimaPorta vs.
The Colossal Head of Constantine the Great

Continued from: Augustus of Prima Porta

The first Christian emperor Constantine is known for making his religion dominant in the world. He can be said to have found the Christian Rome, just as Augustus has found the Empirical Rome.

One of the most remarkable of all Constantinian portraits is the nine-meter seated figure now displayed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori. It was found in fragments in the Basilica Nova in the Forum Romanum, built shortly before by Constantine's opponent Maxentius. It was later dedicated to the victor of the battle at the Milvian Bridge. Colossal statues were always associated very closely with the cult images⁴. Even supposing that the emperor was enthroned in this hall like a gigantic statue of a god, this was no longer a cult statue in the old sense. Although imperial sculptures show the ruler standing, this one probably portrayed him seated nude in the manner of Jupiter, with a mantle draped across his legs⁵.

It is quite harder to get a physical description of Constantine than it was of Augustus. From the early Christian point of view not the outward appearance was important, but the soul. The statue of Constantine should be seen as a representation of his spiritual self, without expectation of an utter resemblance. Despite that, the physical appearance would still be perfected to some degree. For example, even the Christian biographer of Constantine describes him as a man "in handsome physique and bodily height"⁶. The emperor in this statue, just like in most of his portraits, looks quite young. There is a certain divine tone to this. First, just as in the case of Augustus of Prima Porta, it aligns the ruler with the Roman gods, who are portrayed as forever young. Constantine also adds a Christian allusion to his image and aligns himself with the Apostles and maybe even with Jesus, who had always been represented young and radiant. The most notable detail in the face of Constantine is his enormously large and expressive eyes. They were purposely brought out of proportion to communicate the idea of a "spiritual" Christian emperor.

The clean-shaven portraiture of the Christian emperors began from Constantine⁷. The last pagan emperor of the fourth century, Julian the Apostate briefly revived the philosopher's beard as a formal signal of his revival of paganism and repudiation of Christianity⁸.

Bishop Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica tells us that the Senate erected a huge statue to the emperor in the most densely thronged place in Rome. The emperor gave orders that in the statue's right hand should be placed the sign in which he had conquered. The head of the statue was slightly inclined to the cross-shaped symbol⁹. Under the statue he had the following inscription carved:

"Through this symbol of salvation, which is the true sign of virtue, I rescued your city and freed it from the tyrant's yoke, and through my act of liberation I restored the Senate and People of Rome to their old splendor."

We know about the symbol of Christ from Life of Constantine. Eusebius, who wrote down this account, claims having heard it from the emperor himself, who confirmed it with an oath. He describes the vision seen by Constantine on the eve of the battle with his co-emperor Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. Disillusioned about the power of the Roman gods, Constantine was praying for help to the God of Christians, when he saw a "cross-shaped trophy" formed from light with words "By this sign you will conquer". All the soldiers accompanying the emperor on the campaign witnessed the wonder. Constantine, stunned by the amazing vision, ordered his troops to inscribe the cross-shaped emblem on their shields adding to it a monogram of the crossed letters X (chi) and P (rho) - first letters of the name "Christ" in Greek. From then and on, Constantine was determined to worship no other god except for the one that appeared to him. In due course, this emblem became a Christian symbol.

Thus, the intentions of the Senate for erecting this statue reflect the Roman desire to exalt their rulers to the level of gods. Considering the fact that Constantine did not oppose the construction of the colossal figure, we can assume that he did not mind such an elevation. However, by displaying the sign and the inscription, the emperor had attributed his main victory to the power of God, and not to himself.

From these two statues we can conclude the main goals in representation of the emperors in the ancient Rome. Definite discrepancy in physical looks, connection with divinity, the show of achievements and an "inspired"/"spiritual" look were common themes used in the imperial portraiture.

Both emperors portrayed themselves as men of peace, but like the peace of Aeneas, their peace resulted from victories in war.