Examples of the Reuse of Late Republican Statue Bases in Imperial-Era Country Towns in Central Italy

Abstract

The reuse of Imperial-era honorific statues and their bases is a phenomenon that has been the subject of increased interest among researchers in recent years, particularly with reference to late antiquity. This article considers a comparable topic but shifts the chronological framework to take a closer look at the utilization of late Republican monuments in the early to high Imperial period. It focuses on three examples from central Italy which are examined in respect of the manner and intention of their reuse. The objects selected are statue bases with a Doric frieze that were set up first in the last decades of the Republic and rededicated in the course of the 2^nd and 3^rd cent. A.D. Proceeding from the monuments’ original design and decoration, the analysis of construction-related modifications and of secondary inscriptions provides basic information not only about the reutilization process itself but also about its cultural-historical and semantic contextualization.