Recontextualizing Roman Sculpture in a Town in Hirpinia. A Cuirassed Statue and Other Honorific Statues from Aeclanum

Abstract

The paper aims to contextualize the honorific sculptures discovered at Aeclanum, a Roman town of Oscan origin in ancient Hirpinia. As only a small part of the archaeological site has been excavated, the history of the city remains little studied. Therefore, the connection between some sculptures and their original context is an important step in deepening our knowledge of the center. A cuirassed statue decorated with a couple of victoriae flanking a palladium – dated to the age of Domitian – was placed in the theater or in the odeion, while two portraits of emperors Augustus and Claudius, members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, perhaps belonged to a gallery of statues connected with an imperial cult shrine.