The Colossal Figured Consoles of the Hadrianic Baths at Aphrodisias

Abstract

This paper examines a remarkable series of console blocks from Aphrodisias in Caria, all decorated with colossal protomes depicting animals and well-known figures from the mythological tradition. More than thirty consoles survive, many of them entirely unpublished. These pieces originally decorated the Palaestra Court of the Hadrianic Baths: a large forecourt providing access to the bathing facilities of the complex. Here the full corpus of surviving consoles and fragments is presented for the first time, arranged according to their different functional categories. There follow discussions of how the blocks were displayed, and their striking iconographic choices.