Carey - 2002 - A Tradition of Adventures in the Imperial Grotto

8/12/2019 Carey - 2002 - A Tradition of Adventures in the Imperial Grotto

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Greece Rome, Vol. 49, No. 1, April 2002

A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THEIMPERIAL GROTTO

By SORCHA CAREY

At the heart of the debate about originality in Roman art lie foursculptural groups uncovered in 1957 in a cave belonging to a Romanvilla complex at Sperlonga, situated on the coast south of Rome (Figs. 12). Illustrating episodes from the Homeric cycle - the blinding ofPolyphemus, the encounter with the Scylla, the theft of the Palladium,and the so-called Pasquino group, variouslyidentified as Menelaos withthe body of Patroclus, or Odysseus with the body of Achilles' - thesculptures have become a particularlyimportant piece of evidence indiscussions of the authorshipand date of one of the most famous statuesto have survived from antiquity - the Laocoon. While there are clearsimilaritiesin style between two of the Sperlonga groups - the Blindingof Polyphemus (Fig. 2) and the encounter with the Scylla - and theLaocoon (most notably in the leonine hair and agonized expressions ofPolyphemus, and the helmsman in the Scylla group2), attention hasfocused particularlyon the inscriptionin Greek on the boat of the Scyllagroup naming the three artists to whom Pliny the Elder attributed thecreation of the Laocoon, Hagesander, Athanadorus, and Polydorus.3

1 The Pasquino Group survives in several copies, including the example which gives the statuetype its name, outside the Palazzo Braschi in Rome. Bernard Schweitzer, 'Das Original dersogenannten Pasquino-Gruppe', AbhLeip43.4 (1936), argued for the identification of Menelaosand Patroclus. Bernard Andreae, PraetoriumSpeluncae. Tiberiusund Ovid in Sperlonga(Mainz,1994), 31, accepts this identification forthe original,but argues,partlyon the basisof the portrayalofthe foot of the corpse, that the Sperlonga group shows Odysseus with the body of Achilles.N. Himmelmann, Die HomerischenGruppenund IhreBildquellen Opladen, 1996), 13ff., maintainsthat the Sperlonga group shows Ajax with the body of Achilles. Most recently, Anne Weis, 'ThePasquinoGroup and Sperlonga:Menelaos andPatroklosor Aeneas and Lausus (Aen. 10.791-832)?',in K. J. Hartswick and M. C. Sturgeon (eds.), Stephanos.Studies in Honor of BrunildeSismondoRidgway (Philadelphia, 1998), 255-86 has arguedthat the group can be identified as Aeneaswith thebody of Lausus. Andreae includes a detailedbibliographyof discussions of the Sperlongasculptures.2 There remains some uncertaintyabout the identification of this figure as the helmsman. Somehave wanted to identify it as Odysseus himself. Anne Weis in her review of Himmelmann, 'Sperlongaand Hellenistic Sculpture',JRA 11 (1998), 417-19 provides a useful summary of the arguments.3 Indeed when the sculptures were first discovered, the inscription led scholars to believe thatthey had uncovered another version of the Laocoon (particularly given the snakelikefragmentsfrom the Scylla group). See G. Iacopi, L'Antro di Tiberioa Sperlonga(Rome, 1963), 26f. On theinscription and the relationship with the artists of the Laocoon see Andreae op. cit., 15-16;N. Cassieri, II MuseoArcheologico i Sperlonga(Rome, 1996), 37; Himmelman op. cit., 11f., WeisJRA 11 (1998), 412-13.


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO 45The evidence which the Sperlonga sculptures contributeto the debateabout the Laocoon is far from straightforward,and a range of sugges-

tions has been put forwardfor the date and authorshipof the sculptures.For some they are originalworks, designed specificallyfor the space by agroup of Rhodian sculptors working in the early first century A.D., forothers they are copies of originalHellenistic sculptures.4But unlike theLaocoon which survives in only one version, the two groups fromSperlonga which are closest to the Laocoon in style, the blinding ofPolyphemus, and the Scylla, are not isolated examples, but just oneinstance in a succession of sculptures illustrating these Odysseanadventures which appearin grottoes and nymphaea attachedto imperialvillas throughout the first and early second centuries A.D.Most interpretationsof this phenomenon have focused on reconstruct-ing specific programmesbehind the display, rooted in the personaltastesand ideology of their imperial patrons.5But while these factors may wellhave played a role in the commissioning of an Odyssean group, anexclusively programmatic interpretation of these sculptures belies theextent to which the same sculpturaltheme, often even the same model,recurs in the same imperialcontext over the course of a century. It is thisnotion of tradition and quotation which I wish to consider. Instead ofseeking to uncover specific symbolic meanings for the Odyssean storiesin their individual imperial contexts, I wish to explore how the repeateddisplayof Odyssean sculptures in imperialgrottoes testifies to a sustainedimperialtradition of commissioning and display,and to consider how theblinding of Polyphemus and the encounter with the Scylla not onlybecame canonical for display in imperial grottoes, but helped to defineand articulate a particular kind of imperial space. In attempting tounderstand sculptural displays in imperial villas, the examples of Poly-phemus and Scylla groups areparticularlyhelpful, since we not only havethe remains of the sculptures (admittedlyoften no more than fragments),but also fixed contexts for their display.

4 Andreae op. cit. argues that they are copies of Hellenistic originalsdating to the second centuryB.C., Himmelmann op. cit. that they are eclectic creations of the first century B.C. based onrepresentations of the Odyssean adventures in the minor arts. Anne Weis, JRA 11 (1998), 413f.gives a concise account of their arguments.5 E.g. A. Stewart, 'To entertain an emperor: Sperlonga, Laokoon and Tiberius at the dinner-table',JRS 67 (1977), 76-90; Andreae op. cit. who arguesthat the whole display is linkedto Ovid'saccount of Odysseus' adventures in the Metamorphoses.Himmelmann op. cit. 16-17 argues againsta programmatic interpretation, linking the sculptures to a reference by Vitruvius (7.5.20) to thefashion for sculptures illustrating episodes from the Trojan War and Odysseus' adventures. Mostrecently,Anne Weis op. cit. has again proposed a programmatic interpretation,seeing in the displaya contrast between Homeric and Virgilian myth.


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Fig. 1: Reconstruction of the sculptural display in the cave at Sperlonga, 4-26 A.D.: (a) PasquinoPolyphemus (d) Rape of the Palladium) (after Andreae)


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO

Fig. 2: The Blinding of Polyphemus, Sperlonga Museo Nazionale. Photo: S. CareyMost scholars now agree that the installation of the sculptures in thecave at Sperlonga dates to early in the first century, somewhere between4 and 26 A.D., and they have been particularly associated with theemperor Tiberius.6 And whether the sculptures themselves are originalRoman creations, or copies or elaborations of earlierHellenistic models,there is no doubt that their display in this natural cave added an entirelynew and originaldimension. The display was designed to emphasize the

6 C. Kunze, 'Zur Datierung des Laokoon und der Skyllagruppeaus Sperlonga', JdI 111 (1996),139-223, has recently.argued,on the basis of survivingmasonry, for a significantlyearlier date - nolater than 30-20 B.C. See, however, Anne Weis' response to this proposal (A. Weis, 'Odysseus atSperlonga. Hellenistic Hero or Roman Heroic Foil?', in N. T. de Grummond and B. S. Ridgeway(eds.), FromPergamon oSperlonga.Cultureand Context,(Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 2000), 111-65 at137-9), where she arguesthat the continued deployment of the earliermasonry style of opusincertumafter the introduction of opus reticulatum, uggests that a Julio-Claudian date cannot definitely beprecluded. On aJulio-Claudiandatefor the sculptures,see H. Lavagne, OperosaAntra. Recherchesurla Grottea RomedeSylla a Hadrien, (Paris, 1988), 532 f, Andreae, op. cit., 138-9, and Weis, op. cit.,281 n. 83. B. S. Ridgway, 'The Sperlonga Sculptures. The Current State of Research', in Grummondand Ridgeway (eds.), op. cit., 78-91 provides an excellent summary of the argumentsto date. On theassociation of the villa atSperlongawith Tiberius, based in parton references in Suetonius (Tib. 39)and Tacitus (Ann 4.59), see Stewart, op. cit., 83 f., Andreae, op. cit., 14-23 and Himmelmann, op.cit., 54-5. On the historyof the villa'sdevelopment, see Andreae,op. cit., 21-3, Cassieri,op. cit., 18 f.and 30-2 on the alterationsmade to the cave, and idem in B. Andreae and C. Parisi Presicce (eds.),Ulisse.II Mito e la Memoria. Roma, Palazzo delleEsposizioni.22 Febraio-2 Settembre1996 (Rome,1996), 270-9, and Weis, op. cit., 264-5.

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48 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTOsculptures'illusionisticqualities,so the blinding of Polyphemus was set ina darkrecess to the backof the cave, while the Scylla group rose out of thepool at the grotto'scentre, transformingits calm waters into a spectacularstrugglebetween monster and hero.7 (Fig. 1.) The local areasurroundingthe villacomplex and its grotto only enhanced this sculpturedtheatre,forit was here that Odysseus was said to have experienced many of hisadventures.Across the bay, in plainview of the villacomplex, rises MonteCirceo, called after the islandin which Circewas said to have imprisonedOdysseus and his companions.8 The cave and its sculptures presented avivid theatricaltableauto the diners on the island tricliniumbuilt into thepool outside, and indeed, like a theatre, came complete with seats forspectators, on either side as you entered the cave.9But if the sculptural display at Sperlongawas designed to exploit boththe specific space of the cave itself, and the richmythologicalassociationsof the local area,it was not in any way an isolatedexample. Instead,it is thefirst of a series of imperial grottoes and nymphaea decorated withPolyphemus and Scylla groups. These include a nymphaeum-tricliniumat Baiae, on the coast justnorth of Naples, uncovered duringunderwaterexcavationsin 1969 and 1981-2.10 Dating to the mid 40's A.D., it formedpartof the imperialvillacomplex of the emperor Claudius. In contrasttoSperlonga, the Claudian cave is entirely artificial, hewn out of themountain rock to create a rectangulardining room, with an apse at oneend, in which a sculptural group of Odysseus and the Cyclops wasdisplayed, on a raised platform. (Fig. 3.) Here the group showed notthe actual blinding as at Sperlonga, but the moment just before in theHomeric story, when Odysseus offered Polyphemus some wine, intend-ing to induce a drunkensleep in the Cyclops which would enable him toblindhim. Nothing much survivesof the Cyclops, althoughthe remains ofasupportstructureand some colossal locks of hairclose in styleto those ofthe Sperlonga Polyphemus allow us to reconstruct his presence.11

7 The reconstructionof the display is supported for the most part by the find spots recordedforthe main fragments. See B. Conticello in B. Conticello, B. Andreae and P. C. Bol, 'Die Skulpturenvon Sperlonga', Antike Plastik 14 (1974), 15-20, Himmelmann op. cit., 10.8 Andreae op. cit., 14, Himmelmann op. cit., 9.9 On the view of the island triclinium, see Stewart op. cit., 80-1 and Andreae op. cit., 122-4.10 See G. T. Sciarelli (ed.), II ninfeo imperialesommersodi Punta Epitaffio (Naples, 1983),B. Andreae, 'II Ninfeo di Punta dell'Epitaffioa Baia', Studi Misc. 28 (1984-5), 237-65, Lavagneop. cit., 573-77, Andreae, 'Zur Einheitlichkeit der Statuenausstattungim Nymphaum des KaisersClaudius bei Baiae' in V. M. Strocka (ed.) Die Regierungszeitdes Kaisers Claudius41-54 n. Chr.Umbruchoder Episode?Internationales nterdiszipliniiresSymposion. Freiburg16-18 Februar 1991(1994), 221-443, F. Zevi, 'Claudio e Nerone: Ulisse a Baia e nella DomusAurea' in Andreae andParisi Presicce (eds.), 316-31.11Andreae op. cit. (1984-5), 241, idemop. cit. (1994), 225-6, idem (1998), 368-9.


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Fig. 3: Reconstruction of the nymphaeum at Baiae (mid 40's A.D.). (Photo. G. La


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50 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTOOdysseus and a companion who held the sack filled with wine are almostintact, lackingonly theirheads, nibbled away by centuries of molluscs.

While the nymphaeum at Baiae clearly emulates, and plays upon thenatural cave at Sperlonga (in, for example, the 'natural'pumice whichdecorated the vaulted apse), the character of the sculptural display isquite different.At Sperlonga, it was precisely the theatricalnature of thedisplay which served as such a potent expression of imperial power. Ifan emperor is to a large extent defined and characterizedby the spacewhich he occupies and inhabits,'2 then the illusionistic and dramaticspace of the grotto at Sperlonga, populated by strange beasts andheroes, cast the emperor as the artist par excellence.He had the powerto bring mythical creatures and heroes to life - his dinner parties wereliterallythe stuff of legends.13Where the rectangular island triclinium in front of the cave atSperlonga allowed the viewers to devour the spectacle (from a safedistance) as they dined, at Baiae triclinium and cave merge. Anne Weishas noted the intimacy of this arrangement,in effect allowing the gueststo dine with the Cyclops.l4 But the setting brings the Cyclops closer notonly to the diners, but also to the statues displayed directlybehind them,in the niches on either side of the triclinium.l5 While the siting of thePolyphemus group in an apse at the end of the triclinium still payshomage to the cavernous setting of the myth which was played on tosuch great effect at Sperlonga, there is no longer the illusionism of theTiberian display. The group has more the character of a prize exhibit,taking its place amidst a wider sculptural display which includes twostatues of Dionysus and portraitsof the imperialfamily. Here, it is less inthe symbolism of the Homeric legend than in the possession of a statuegroup of Odysseus and Polyphemus, that Claudius openly declares hisplace in an imperial tradition- he too has his Polyphemus in a grotto.It is interestingthat this Claudianquotation of a Tiberian precedent is

12 Cf. F. Millar, The Emperor n the Roman World(London, 1977), 15-28, esp. 23-4: 'Thus,even within Rome, an emperor had a choice ... of a range of different imperial dwellings withdifferent associations and different architectural and social characters.'13 Compare the similar role played by the emperor in the hosting of fake battles and lavishgladiatorialshows, P. Veyne, Bread and Circuses London, 1990), (trans.Brian Pearce fromLePainet le Cirque), 358ff.; T. Wiedemann, Emperorsand Gladiators(London and New York, 1992);A. Futrell, Blood in the Arena. The Spectacleof Roman Power (Austin, 1997), esp. 44-51; R. C.Beacham, SpectacleEntertainments f Early ImperialRome (New Haven and London, 1999).14 Weis JRA 11 (1998), 414-15.15 The display can be quite accuratelyreconstructed. Some of the statues were still in situ whenthe nymphaeum was discovered, having been held in place by iron crampons. Others were lyingdirectlybeneath the niches in which they stood. Andreae op. cit., (1984-5), 244ff. and idemop. cit.(1994), 221.


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO 51just one among a range of visual quotations made by the sculptures atBaiae. While none of the statues displayed in the triclinium niches seemto be direct copies, several of them quote statuary types which wouldhave been familiar to the elite audience. The head of one statue ofDionysus is based on Praxiteles' Apollo Sauroktonos. A portrait ofClaudius' mother, Antonia Minor, amalgamates several Classical sta-tuary types, to present the empress in the guise of Venus Genetrix.16Bernard Andreae has linked the statuette of Eros which rests inAntonia's hand with Praxiteles' Eros at Thespiae (which, according toPausanias (9.27.3), Claudius returned to Thespiae after Caligula hadbrought it to Rome17), while the figure of Antonia recalls fifth-centurykorai, such as the Kore Albani.18 The figure of Polyphemus too not onlyalluded to its Tiberian predecessor through its display in an artificialgrotto, but its form seems to have quoted a frequentlyreproduced statuetype, the Heracles Epitrapezios attributed to Lysippus.19 The recon-struction of the Polyphemus group at Baiae is based largely on laterexamples of the composition from Nero's Domus Aurea and on a relieffrom Hadrian's villa at Tivoli now in the Louvre, in which the samefigures of Odysseus and his companion with the wine sack appear.20Ifthis reconstruction is correct, and the Polyphemus at Baiae was, as inother examples, a reworkingof the Heracles Epitrapezios, the suitabilityof such a model to illustrate the Polyphemus feasting off Odysseus'companions would surely not have been lost on its audience. Theepithet epitrapezios,meaning 'at the table', may refer either to the godseated at table, participatingin the sacrificebeing made to him, or to thenumerous statuette versions of Lysippus' model, suitable for placing onthe table.21In either case, the quotation of the Hercules Epitrapezios in

16 Andreae, op. cit., (1984-5), 245f. and op. cit., (1994), 221f. argues, on the basis of somefragments, that the display would also have included portraitsof Britannicusin the guise of Cupid,in the niche next to Octavia on the east wall, and portraitsof Drusus, Livia and Augustus in theniches of the west wall, where the portraitof Antonia Minor was displayed.17 Pausanias goes on to say that Nero brought it back to Rome again, and that it was eventuallydestroyed in a fire in Rome, probably in A.D. 80.18 Andreae, op. cit. (1984-5), 247-50 255-6, idemop. cit., (1994), 223, and Andreas Mticke,in K. Stemmer (ed.) Standorte.Kontext und FunktionantikerSkulptur(Berlin, 1995), 447-8, D 37.19 A. Weis JRA 11 (1998), 415, n. 12. On the Heracles Epitrapezios, see E. Bartman,AncientSculptural Copiesin miniature(Leiden, 1992), 147 if., and B. S. Ridgway, Fourth-CenturyStyles inGreekSculpture(London, 1997), 294ff. who argues that the statue type is not Greek, but a Romancreation. In either case, the numerous Roman versions, and the poems of Martial ix 43, 44 andStatius Silv. 4.6, who both record Novius Vindex, an artconnoisseur, as owning Lysippus' Heracles

Epitrapezios, demonstrate that the statue type would have been familiar to a Roman audience.20 Andreae, op. cit., (1984-5), 241-2, idem,op. cit., (1994), 225-6, Andreae and Parisi Presicce(eds.), op. cit., (1996), 366 Cat. 5.18 cf. 245 Cat. 4.8, and 370 Cat. 5.19.21 K. Coleman (ed.), Statius Silvae IV (Oxford, 1998), 174, Bartman, op. cit., 151-2, andRidgway, op. cit., 297.


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52 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTOthe figureof Polyphemus, initiated a play in which the Cyclops appearedas Hercules 'at the table', and joined in the imperial banquet.22In incorporatingthe quotation of a specific imperial precedent amidsta whole range of quotations from Greek culture, the display at Baiaeestablishes imperial practice as elite culture. While the statues displayedin the niches encouraged conversation and the display of paideia in therecognition of their Greek prototypes, the Polyphemus group too was aquotation waiting to be recognized and admired,but a quotation not justof a Greeksculpturalprototype, but also of a Roman imperial display. Inthe nymphaeum at Baiae, imperialtradition and the Greek culture whichwas such a defining element of the Roman villa merge, so that allusionsto Greek and Roman prototypes stand side by side.Only twenty years after the grotto at Baiae, sometime between 64and 68 A.D., we find another example of the myth of Polyphemusrepresented in an imperial grotto. It replicates almost exactly theversion at Baiae, but this time the representation is not a statuegroup, but a mosaic, set high in the vault of an entirely artificialgrotto in Nero's Golden House, built in the heart of Rome.23 (Figs. 45.) The architects of the grotto covered the barrel vault withstalactites of pumice stone painted a reddish brown to give thisman-made construction the appearance of a natural cave. Thefragmentary octagonal mosaic medallion shows Odysseus, on theleft, offering the cup of wine to the seated Cyclops. Traces ofunderpaint reveal that the Cyclops originally held the arm of Odys-seus' dead companion in his left hand, as in other examples of thesame composition.24 The central medallion was surrounded by fourother circular mosaics, which no longer survive, but they presumablyshowed other mythological scenes, possibly even other episodes fromthe Homeric cycle.What is strikingabout the mosaic, and what has been little remarkedupon, is that it does not simply illustratethe familiarstory of the blindingof Polyphemus. It specifically represents a bronze statue group of the

22 Cf. Weis JRA 11 (1998), 415.23 F. Sanguinetti, 'IImosaico del ninfeo ed altrerecenti scoperte nellaDomus Aurea',Boll. CentroStudi StoriaArchit. 12 (1958), 35-45, G. Zander, 'La Domus Aurea: Nuovi Problemi Architetto-nici', Boll. CentroStudiStoriaArchit. 12 (1958), 47-64, H. Lavagne, 'Le nymphee au Polypheme dela Domus Aurea' MEFRA 82 (1970), 673-721, B. Fellman, 'Die antiken Darstellungen derPolephemabenteuer',MiinchenerArchiologischeStudien 5 (1972), br 48, F. Sear, Roman Wall andVaultMosaics,Heidelberg, 1977), Cat. 61, 90-2, Lavagne, op. cit., (1988), 579-88, Andreae andParisi Presicce (eds.) (1996), 370 Cat. 5.19, K. M. Dunbabin, Mosaics of the Greek and RomanWorld(Cambridge, 1998), 241, I. Iacopi, DomusAurea (Milan, 1999), 13.24 Lavagne, op. cit., (1970), 693f., Sear, op. cit., 90, Dunbabin, op. cit., 241.


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO 53myth.25Unlike a later version from the early fourth-century aristocraticvilla at Piazza Armerina in Sicily,26 he Domus Aurea mosaic displaysnodifferentiation in colour between the bare skin of Odysseus, and thedraperyof his clothing. Instead, the artisthas used a much more limitedpalette of greens, yellowy browns and black, to create the impression ofpatinated bronze. The mosaic draws on precisely the same range ofcolours used in Roman wall paintings to depict bronze statues.27Forsome scholars, this has formed part of the debate over whether theSperlonga sculptures are original creations by Rhodian artists workingfor Roman patrons,or simply copies of Hellenistic bronze originalsof thesecond century B.C.28In representingthe Polyphemus myth as a bronzesculpture group, the mosaic may attest to an original bronze whichformed the model for the sculptures at Baiae, and thus, more obliquely,provide evidence of an original bronze model for the Sperlonga Poly-phemus group, and ultimately, the Laocoon. But what is particularlyinteresting about the Domus Aurea mosaic, within the context of anemergent tradition of displaying Polyphemus statue groups in imperialgrottoes, is that the artist, or commissioner of the work was expresslyconcerned not with representingthe myth, but specificallya statuegroupof the myth. The mosaic does not simply draw on the traditionaliconographic repertory for the decoration of grottoes. It openly refersto the statue groups of Polyphemus and Odysseus which had featured soprominently in earlierimperial dining grottoes.As spaces, the grottoes at Sperlonga, Baiae and Nero's Domus Aureaare all quite different. The natural theatre of Sperlonga is transformedinto a more intimate dining-room at Baiae, which is, in turn, enlarged

25 Lavagne, op. cit., (1970), 694, Andreae and Parisi Presicce (eds.), op. cit., 370, Dunbabin,op. cit., 241.26 The mosaic decorated the floor of the anteroom to main apartment A. The composition isalmost identical, except that the Cyclops now holds the corpse of a dead animal in his left hand,rather than the dead companion of earlier versions. A. Carandini, A. Ricci and M. de Vos,Filosofiana. The Villaof Piazza Armerina. Theimage of a Roman aristocratat the timeof Constantine(Palermo, 1982), 238-9 and Andreae and Parisi Presicce (eds.), op. cit., 248 Cat. 4.12.27 E.g. the representation of the Palladion in the near contemporary (third quarter of the firstcentury A.D.) painting of the Sack of Troy from the House of Menander in Pompeii (I, 10, 4),illustrated in R. Ling, RomanPainting (Cambridge, 1991), Plate XCI; or the statue of Fortuna inthe late first-centuryB.C. mythological panel of Polyphemus and Galatea from a villa at Boscotre-case, illustrated in Ling, op. cit., ill. 115. On the representationof bronze statues in Roman wall-paintings, see E. Moorman, La Pittura Parietale romana comefonte di Conscenzaper la SculturaAntica (Assen and Maastricht, 1988), 72 f.28 Lavagne, op. cit., (1970), 708, Andreae and Parisi Presicce (eds.), op. cit., 370: 'Questomosaicodi volta, tra i primissimiesempidelgenere,e di incalcolabilemportanzaperuna valutazione deigrandi gruppiellenistici.Riproducen coloremetallicobronzeoungrupo analogo,anche se nonidentico,anoi noto da una copia marmoreadi dimensioniuguali al presuntooriginale,provenientedal ninfeodelPalazzo dell'imperatoreClaudio a Baia . .'


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54 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO

Fig. 4: Nymphaeum in the Domus Aurea, without Trajanic alterations (64-68 A.D.)(after Zander)

and monumentalized in the Domus Aurea.29 But what links theseimperial grottoes and nymphaea is their shared interest in exhibitionand display. The creators of the artificial cave in the Domus Aurea arejust as concerned to show off their Polyphemus group as the architectsof the grotto at Sperlonga who transformedthe sculpturaldisplay into a

29 A. Viscogliosi, 'AntraCyclopis:osservazioni su una tipologia di coenatio', n Andreae and ParisiPresicce (eds.), op. cit., 252-69 explores the development of this specific type of dining room, andidentifies it as an imperial prerogative, 252: '. . . sembra che questo tipo di coenatio fosse unaprerogativa mperiale . .' It should be noted however, that while the grotto at Sperlonga, and thenymphaeum at Baiae, both had tricliniaattached, it is less clear whether the nymphaeum in theDomus Aurea was used as a dining room. It has been suggested that the room which joins directlyonto the nymphaeum in the Domus Aurea may have been a triclinium (Lavagne, op. cit., (1988),580f.), although there are no traces of triclinialcouches, as there are at Baiae.


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Fig. 5: Mosaic showing Odysseus offering a cup of wine to Polyphemus, Domus Aurea(64-68 A.D.) Photo: DAItheatre of images, or the creators of the grotto-triclinium at Baiae, whoplaced their Polyphemus centre-stage. (Fig. 4.) Despite being set intothe vaulted ceiling of the grotto, the mosaic and its placement have beencarefully designed to ensure visibility. The size of the figures - over ametre for Odysseus, nearly two for the Cyclops - makes them clearlyvisible from below, while the pumice stalactites which cover the vault,have been filed back carefully around the edge of the mosaic medallion,and at the arched entrance to the vault, so as not to obscure the view.30The placement of the mosaic in the curved vault of the cave makes avirtuoso play on earlierdisplays of sculptures of the myth, whether in theentirely naturalcave-like recess at Sperlonga, or the more refined semi-circular apse of the triclinium at Baiae.What the Domus Aurea mosaic suggests is that, at least by the time of

30 Lavagne,op. cit., (1970), 689, Dunbabin,op. cit., 241.

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56 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTONero, the display of a Polyphemus group had less to do with the specificsymbolic associations of the myth, and more to do with the delineation ofimperialspace. In choosing to illustratenot the myth of Odysseus and theCyclops, but a statuegroup of thatmyth, the mosaic in the Domus Aureademonstrates the extent to which the statues themselves had assumedtheir own associations of imperial power. The statuary group hadbecome essential in defining the character of the place, in marking itout as imperial. While the grottoes at Sperlonga, Baiae and the DomusAurea are all very different, it is the Odyssean sculptures which unitethem. Each grotto, in its prominent displayof a statuegroup of Odysseusand the Cyclops (whether in marble or mosaic), asserts its claim to animperial tradition. Significantly, no example survives of a Polyphemusgroup in the imperial period being displayed anywhere other than in anymphaeum or grotto attached to an imperialvilla.31It has long been recognized that the Roman concept of decorumplayedan importantrole in determiningthe choice of particularworks of art fordisplay.Decorumnot only dictated that certaingods were betterdepictedin certain styles, but also that certain types of statue were particularlysuited for display in certainspaces.32But this close relationshipbetweenarchitecturalsetting and sculpturaldisplay could also work in reverse, sothat the sculpturaldecoration helped to define and give meaning to thespace in which it was displayed.33 This evocative function whichsculpture enjoyed in Roman culture is reflected in an extensive body of

31 Viscogliosi, op. cit., 252. Two examples of statue groups of the blinding of Polyphemussurvive from the Republican period, both in terracotta. One found near Colle Cesarano illustratedthe episode of Odysseus offeringthe wine, the other near Tortoreto seems to have showed both theofferingof the wine, and the actualblinding of the Cyclops. See G. Alvino, 'II IX libro dell' Odissea:l'offertadella coppa di vino, il gruppo fittile da Collec Cesarano e il gruppo scultoreo di Efeso', inAndreae and ParisiPresicce (eds.), op. cit., 200-9; M. R. Sanzi Di Mino, 'L'uomo ricco d'astuzieraccontami, o musa' (Odissea 1, 1), il complesso di statue fittili del ninfeo di Tortoreto', ibid. 210-19, and Andreae and Parisi Presicce (eds.), op. cit., 239 Cat. 4.3, and 244 Cat. 4.5. Unlike theexample from the Domus Aurea, the early fourth-century mosaic from the aristocratic villa atPiazza Armerina does not represent Odysseus offering the wine to Polyphemus as a statue group.32 Cicero's letters to Atticus are our main source for the notion of decorum n Roman sculpturaldisplays, esp. 1.6.2, 1.9.2 and 1.10.3 where Cicero asks his friend to send sculptures which aresuitable for his Academy and Gymnasium. QuintilianInst. XII 10.7-9 also discusses decorum. .J.Pollitt, The Ancient View of GreekArt (New Haven and London, 1974), 68-70, E. Dwyer,'Decorum and the History of Style in Pompeian Sculpture', in R. I. Curtis (ed.), StudiaPompeianaet Classica in honorof WilhelminaF. Jashemski,(New York, 1988), Vol. 1, 105-111, E. Bartman,'Sculptural Collecting and Display in the Private Realm' in E. K. Gazda (ed.), Roman Art in thePrivate Sphere.New Perspectives n theArchitecture nd Decorof the Domus, Villa and Insula (AnnArbor, 1991), 71-88, esp. 74f., M. Marvin, 'Copying in Roman Sculpture:The Replica Series' inE. d'Ambra (ed.), Roman Art in Context. An Anthology (New Jersey, 1998) (first published inRetainingthe Original.Multiple Originals,Copiesand Reproductions),161-88, esp. 161-6.

33 M. Marvin, op. cit., 167: 'What emerges strongly in these letters is Cicero's sense of the powerof sculpture to affect the meaning of the architecture around it.'


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO 57paintings and relief sculptures, which use the representation of statuesand monuments to define a particularkind of space. Already in the wallpaintingswhich decoratedRoman villas, statues were an inextricablepartof an iconography which aimed at evoking public space.34 In thearistocratic villa found under the Villa Farnesina in Rome, for example,dated somewhere between 20 and 10 B.C., the wall of cubiculum E isdecorated with a colonnade complete with statues of the goddessesSelene and Diana.35 Sculptural displays were such an integral part ofthe public porticoes which these wall-paintings intended to evoke, thattheir inclusion was essential in order for the quotation to work success-fully.36But even more tellingis the parallelaffordedby agenre of imperialstate reliefs which use the depiction of art and monuments not just todefine an imperial space, but to conjureup a whole rangeof imperialrolesand precedents. In one of the reliefs from the garden facade of the VillaMedici associated with the Ars PietatisAugustae, completed in 43 A.D.,we see a sacrifice taking place in front of Augustus' temple of MarsUltor.37 The Claudian quotation of a well known Augustan temple notonly sets the sacrifice within a specific (and highly emotive) imperialspace, that of the firstemperor'sForum, but also signals, in the public actof sacrifice, a clearly defined imperial role. This peculiarly Roman andimperialmotif continues rightup to the earlyfourth century,where evenin the schematic oratiorelief on the Arch of Constantine, the depiction ofstatues of the second-century emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius ateither end of the Rostrum not only sites Constantine's speech in theRoman Forum, but helps to define its place amidst a long tradition ofimperialorations.38The relief reveals how representationsof statues, likethat in the DomusAurea,could conjureup a whole range of associations

34 A. Wallace-Hadrill,Housesand Societyin Pompeiiand Herculaneum Princeton, 1994), 17-37,esp. 25: 'From the point of view of the social function of decoration,what matters are not the visualgames played, but the associations evoked by the decoration: itspower not of illusionbut of allusion.'35 Maria Rita Sanzi di Mino, 'La Villa della Farnesina' in A. La Regina (ed.), MuseoNazionaleRomano. Palazzo Massimo alle Terme(Milan, 1998), 230.36 Moorman, op. cit., identifies many of the three-dimensionalmodels for these painted statues.37 On this relief, see M. Cagiano de Azevedo, Le antichitadi Villa Medici (Rome, 1951), 37 cat.3; A. Bonanno, Roman ReliefPortraiture o SeptimiusSeverus (Oxford, 1976), 35-40; M. Torelli,Typologyand Structureof Roman HistoricalReliefs (Ann Arbor, 1982), 63-88; L. Cordischi, 'Sulproblema dell'Ara Pietatis Augusti e dei rilievi ad essa attribuiti', ArchCl 37 (1985), 238-65;D. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture (New Haven and London, 1992), 141-5.38 Kleiner, op. cit., 450, argues that while there may well have been portraitstatues displayed onthe Rostra at the time of Constantine, the representation of portraits of Hadrian and Marcus

Aurelius 'is a deliberate fiction on the part of Constantine and his master designer'. On theConstantinian oratio relief on the Arch of Constantine, see B. Berenson, The Archof Constantineorthe DeclineofForm(New York, 1954), 37f., ill. 40; A. Giuliano, L'arcodi Costantino(Milan, 1955),ill. 40, 42, 43; N. Spivey, 'Stumbling towards Byzantium. The decline and fall of late Antiquesculpture', Apollo (1995), 22.


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58 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTObeyond simply a physical space, but it also suggests that the display ofstatues themselves could lend specific meaning to a particular space.Nero's ingenious quotation of the required statuary group in thevaulted ceiling of a man-made grotto stakes a claim to, as much as itplays upon, an imperialtradition. But it is by no means the last exampleof this imperial practice. Some twenty years later, at the end of the firstcentury, a Polyphemus group was displayed along with a Scylla in agrotto belonging to the emperor Domitian's villa at Castelgandolfo, tothe north of Rome.39 The naturalcave, which overlooks not the sea, buta lake, was deliberately altered to imitate the plan of the first imperialOdyssean grotto at Sperlonga.40Here, as in the mosaic statuary groupfrom the Domus Aurea, the grotto at Castelgandolfo competes with thevery tradition it quotes, so that the natural sea-side cave of Sperlonga isplayfully recreated on the shores of a lake.Perhaps the most striking evidence we have of the extent to whichOdyssean sculptures had become an essential element in the definitionof imperial space, is in the last example we have of the display of suchsculptures in an imperialvilla complex. Fragments of two Scylla groups,and the heads of two of Odysseus' companions, known from the earlierPolyphemus group at Sperlonga, have been found at Hadrian's villa atTivoli. The Scylla groups were displayed on plinths set in the water ateach end of the famous canal or Canopus, while the Polyphemus groupwas probably installed sometime between 126 and 128 A.D. in thegrotto-triclinium which overlooked the Canopus, until it becametransformed into a memorial to the emperor's favourite, Antinoos,after his death in 130.41 (Fig. 6.) Interestingly the Scylla motif, present

39 On Domitian's grotto at Castelgandolfo, see G. Lugli, 'Lo scavo fatto nel 1841 nel ninfeo dettobergantino sulla riva del Lago Albano', Bull Comm XLI (1913), 89-148; idem, 'La villa diDomiziano sui colli Albani' Parte III, Bull Comm XLVII (1919), esp. 172ff.; idem, 'La villa diDomiziano sui Colli Albani'ParteIV, Bull CommXLVIII (1920), 3-72 esp. 28ff.; idem, Una piantae due ninfei di eta imperialeRomana' in Arte in Europa.Scritti di Storia dell'Arten onoredi EdoardoArslan 1 (1966), 47-50; F. Magi, 'II Polifemo di Castelgandolfo', RendPontAcc 1 (1968), 69-84;K. de Fine Licht, 'Antrum Albanum', ARID Supp. VII (1974), 37-66; Lavagne, op. cit., (1988),589-94; R. Neudecker, Die SkulpturenAusstattungRbmischerVillenin Italien (Mainz am Rhein,1988), 139-44; P. Liverani, L'Antiquarium i VillaBarberinia CastelGandolfo Rome, 1989), 71 ff.and idem,'L'antro del ciclope a Castel Gandolfo Ninfeo Bergantino'in Andreae and Parisi Presicce(eds.), op. cit., 332-41; Andreae and Parisi Presicce (eds.), op. cit., 371 Cat. 5.20 5.21.40 Lugli, op. cit., (1966), de Fine Licht, op. cit., 62-4, Neudecker, op. cit., 140.41 S. Aurigemma, Villa Adriana (Rome, 1961), 111, 121, ill. 126 127-30; J. Raeder, DiestatuarischeAusstattungder Villa Hadrianabei Tivoli (Frankfurtand Bern, 1983), 302; Lavagne, op.cit., (1988), 603-16 esp. 611ff.; B. Andreae and A. Ortega, 'Nuove Ricerche a Villa Adriana',RendPontAcc 2 (1990), 67-103, esp. 79ff., W. L. MacDonald andJ. A. Pinto, Hadrian'sVilla andits Legacy (New Haven London, 1995), 108f. who use the terms 'Scenic Triclinium and canal',arguingthat the buildings should not be identified as Serapeum and Canopus; Viscogliosi, op. cit.,266-7, Andreae and Parisi Presicce, op. cit., 372 Cat. 5.22, and 372-4 Cat. 5.23-5.26.


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO 59

Fig. 6: Canopus, Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, c. 118-134 A.D. Photo: S. Careyin the very first example of the imperial grotto at Sperlonga, and again atDomitian's reworking of Sperlonga at Castelgandolfo, has literallybecome part of the furniture at Tivoli - a table base found at Hadrian'svilla, now in Naples, masquerades as the Scylla on one side, a centaur onthe other.42Hadrian's villa at Tivoli has long been famed for its reproduction inminiature of some of the most famous buildings and monuments of

42 Andreae and Parisi Presicce (eds.), op. cit., 153 Cat. 2.67.

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60 A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTOempire. According to Hadrian'sbiographer,the Academy, the Lyceum,and Athens' famous Stoa Poikile were all represented.43While modernscholars still debate the identification or even the existence of many ofthese buildings, the sculptures which have been found at the villacomprehend some of the most famous examples from antiquity,includ-ing copies of Praxiteles' Cnidian Aphrodite, and the Tyrannicides byKritios and Nesiotes.44Around the Canopus itself were displayed copiesof Amazons by Pheidias and Polycleitus, and the Caryatids from theAthenian Erechtheum.45Bernard Andreae has seen in the Scylla groupsa symbolic reference to victory over chaos, and situates them within alargerarchitecturaland sculptural programmewhich symbolizes a worldat peace, free from the burden of war.46But while the Scyllas may wellhave enjoyed specific meanings, what is significant, given the contin-uous imperial tradition of commissioning and displaying Odysseansculptures for over a century, is that they have taken their placeamidst an extended imperial repertoireof quotations. The Polyphemusand Scylla groups now form part of a display which not only replicatesmasterpieces of Greek art, as in the Pheidian and Polycleitan Ama-zons,47but pays homage to a long tradition of quoting from Greek artand architecture in imperial monuments. For in reproducing theErechtheum Caryatids, Hadrian not only symbolically incorporates afamous Athenian monument into his miniature empire, but also alludesto the earlierimperialcopies of Caryatids in Augustus' Forum. And justas competition as much as emulation dictated the successive displays of

43 HistoriaAugusta,Hadrian26.5: TiburtinamVillammireexaedificavit,ta ut in ea etprovinciarumet locorumceleberrima omina inscriberet, elut Lyceum,Academian,Prytaneum,Canopum,Poicilen,Tempevocaret.et, ut nihil praetermitteret,tiam inferos inxit. 'His villa at Tibur was marvellouslyconstructed and he actually gave to parts of it the names of provinces and places of the greatestrenown, calling them, for instance, Lyceum, Academia, Prytaneum, Canopus, Poecile and Tempe.And in order not to omit anything, he even made a Hades'. See H. Kdhler,Hadrianund Seine Villabei Tivoli (Berlin, 1950), 17ff., esp. 27-8; Aurigemma, op. cit., esp. 26 and 33 f. for individualidentifications;MacDonald and Pinto, op. cit., 7 on the problems of identifying particularparts ofthe villa; J. Elsner, ImperialRome and Christian Triumph(Oxford, 1998), 175: 'The villa wasperceived as redeployingthe treasures of empire in miniature;it reconstitutedthe empire under thespecial conditions of a museum's display, as it were. Hadrian was not merely amassing singlesculptures ... he was collecting replicas of entire monuments.'44 Aurigemma, op. cit., 44-6 and fig. 197; MacDonald and Pinto, op. cit., 58-9.45 Aurigemma, op. cit., 109-10, figs 95-9 115-17, Raeder, op. cit., 302, MacDonald andPinto, op. cit., 141 f.46 Andreae and Ortega, op. cit., 83 103.47 The display of these different Amazon types side by side was surely intended to evoke the

famous competition between Pheidias, Polykleitus, Kresilas, Cydon and Phradmon, to create astatue of an Amazon for the sanctuaryof Artemis at Ephesus recorded by Pliny (N.H. 34.53). SeeB. S. Ridgway, 'A Story of Five Amazons', AJA 78 (1974), 1-17. For Andreae and Ortega,op. cit.,81, the Amazon statues recall the healing of their wounds in the sanctuaryat Artemis and suggestthat the provinces too will be replenished by Hadrian's RestitutioUrbis.


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A TRADITION OF ADVENTURES IN THE IMPERIAL GROTTO 61Polyphemus groups in imperial grottoes, so at Tivoli, Hadrian embel-lishes his dual quotation, so that the Caryatidsalternate with Sileni.48

At Baiae, the Polyphemus group also belonged to a display whichboasted a range of visual quotations of well-known Greek prototypes.But while these references may have constructed imperial power out ofcultural allusion, at Tivoli, the quotations form part of a much moreextensive process of selection and canonisation. In a villa which isconcerned with replicating and displaying the best of empire, thePolyphemus and Scylla groups are no longer simply a body ofsculptures intimately associated with imperial space and power. Theyhave taken their place in a wider canon of imperial possessions.The tradition of displaying Polyphemus and Scylla groups in imperialgrottoes suggests that statues themselves could play an importantrole indefining a particularsort of space as imperial. If the original Odysseandisplay at Sperlonga was designed to deny the stony nature of itsHomeric groups, and bring them to life, in the later quotations of theTiberian example it is precisely the art work's status as sculpture whichis important.As the Domus Aurea mosaic demonstrates, it is specificallyin the display of a statue group of the myth that the grotto defines its

place within an imperialtradition. This imperialpractice suggests, in theRoman notion of decorum,more than a simple matching of statuesubject to context. The story of the blinding of the Cyclops wasundoubtedly a suitable one for both grotto and triclinium. The settingof the story in a cave gave an added dimension to the display of a statuegroup of the myth in the real or artificialcaves of the imperial grotto,while the importance of wine to the plot made it particularlysuited to atriclinial setting. But what the display of the Polyphemus statues atBaiae, Castelgandolfo,Tivoli, and in particularthe mosaic in the DomusAurea, reveal, is that on a certain level it was the statues themselveswhich made the space what it was. The grottoes and nymphaea ofSperlonga, Baiae, the Domus Aurea and Tivoli all have distinct spatialcharacteristics. It is in their display of a Polyphemus and/or a Scyllagroup, then, that they declare their relationship with the originalimperial grotto at Sperlonga, and distinguish themselves as imperial.48 Aurigemma, op. cit., figs 100-2.

Carey - 2002 - A Tradition of Adventures in the Imperial Grotto

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