Bar Kochba und das Panhellenion

Die Panzerstatue Hadrians aus Hierapytna/Kreta (Istanbul, Archäologisches Museum Inv. Nr. 50) und der Panzertorso Inv. Nr. 8097 im Piräusmuseum von Athen

Abstract

After the establishment of the Panhellenion, a statue was erected for Hadrian in Athens; its ornamented cuirass bore a relief depiction which combined the Lupa Romana with the Palladium and was thus a vivid illustration of the quintessence of this union. An image had thereby been created which evidently appealed directly to the inhabitants of the Greek-speaking east of the Roman Empire: to date, 17 copies of this cuirass relief have come to light in the region. It is noticeable that the original was not slavishly copied by any means. Rather, the meaning of the relief could be individually altered and adapted to specific local needs by the addition or omission of certain pictorial elements. Another peculiarity of this group of cuirass sculptures is the conspicuously frequent occurrence of subjugated barbarians as secondary figures at the Emperor’s feet (and in some cases also on the cuirass relief itself). In three cases, Hadrian is shown trampling the barbarian under foot, an unusually drastic iconography which has not survived in any other large-format sculpture. The fact that barbarian figures so frequently accompany
an otherwise most unmartial emperor in statues that were erected in the east of the Roman Empire after the establishment of the Panhellenion in 131/2 A. D., suggests a connection with the Bar Kokhba revolt, which broke out in 132 A. D. One of the statues erected in this context became so well known as an opus nobile that it was immediately copied several times, as the statue of Hadrian from Hierapytna in the Istanbul museum and the scarcely published torso in the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, Athens testify. These two works are the point of departure for the article presented here.