»Köstlicher Balsam träuft aus deiner Hand«. Zu Ikonographie und Aufstellungskontexten des personifizierten Schlafs auf der Iberischen Halbinsel

Abstract

In the Iberian Peninsula we find two replicas of a Hypnos ›in action‹, distinguishable due to their form, quality and contexts. We contrast more traditional interpretations, placing more emphasis on what is actually represented and the characterization of the god of sleep in written sources. We must suppose that both replicas found in the Iberian Peninsula, which belong to the II century A. D., would come from contexts within Roman villae. It seems that the bronze statue from Almedinilla was placed during the IV century A. D., in the triclinium of the Villa of El Ruedo. Therefore, the villa of El Ruedo belongs to a series of villae characterized by the reuse of older works of art. Through this double anachronism of the re-contextualization of Roman copies of Greek originals the interpretation cannot surpass a general assumption of an expression of paideia and luxuria.