The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius (; ) is an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a ...

on the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy. It is made of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and stands 4.24 m (13.9 ft) tall. Although the emperor is mounted, the sculpture otherwise exhibits many similarities to the standing statues of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. The original is on display in the

Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums () are a group of art and archaeology, archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing ...

, while the sculpture now standing in the open air at the

Piazza del Campidoglio Piazza del Campidoglio ("Capitoline Square") is a public square (piazza) on the top of the ancient Capitoline Hill, between the Roman Forum and the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The square includes three main buildings, the Palazzo Senatorio (Se ...

is a replica made in 1981 when the original was taken down for restoration.

Description

The statue projects an impression of power and god-like grandeur: the emperor is over life-size and extends his hand in a gesture of '' adlocutio'' used by emperors when addressing their troops. Some historians assert that a conquered enemy was originally part of the sculpture (based on medieval accounts, including in the ''

Mirabilia Urbis Romae ''Mirabilia Urbis Romae'' (“Marvels of the City of Rome”) is a grouping of hundreds of manuscripts, incunabula, and books in Latin and modern European languages that describe notable built works and historic monuments in the city of Rome. M ...

'', which suggest that a small figure of a bound

barbarian A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

chieftain once cowered underneath the horse's front right leg). Such an image was meant to portray the emperor as victorious and all-conquering. However, shown without weapons or armour,

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

seems to be a bringer of peace rather than a military hero, for this is how he saw himself and his reign. File:Statua Marco Aurelio Musei Capitolini.JPG File:Statua Marco Aurelio Musei Capitolini Fronte.JPG File:Marcus Aurelius Kapitolische Museen Pferdekopf.jpg The emperor is shown riding without the use of

stirrups A stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a ''stirrup leather''. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal ( ...

, which had not yet been introduced to the West. While the horse has been meticulously studied in order to be recreated for other artists' works, the saddle cloth was copied with the thought that it was part of the standard Roman uniform. The saddle cloth is actually

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

in origin, suggesting that the horse is a Sarmatian horse and that the statue was created to honour the victory over the Sarmatians by Marcus Aurelius, after which he adopted "Sarmaticus" to his name.

History

The statue was erected around 175 AD. Its original location is debated: the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

and

Piazza Colonna Piazza Colonna is a piazza at the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius, which has stood there since AD 193. The bronze statue of Saint Paul that crowns the col ...

(where the Column of Marcus Aurelius stands) have been proposed.Stewart, Peter, "The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius" in ''A Companion to Marcus Aurelius'', edited by Martin van Ackeren, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp. 264–77. However, it was noted that the site where it had originally stood had been converted into a vineyard during the early Middle Ages.Gregorovius, Ferdinand, ''History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages'', Vol. 2, (1894) p. 161 Although there were many equestrian imperial statues, they rarely survived because it was the common practice to melt down bronze statues for reuse as material for coins or new sculptures in the late empire. Indeed, that of Marcus Aurelius is one of only two surviving bronze statues of a pre-Christian Roman emperor; the Regisole, destroyed after the French Revolution, may have been another. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome owes its preservation to the

Campidoglio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. The word ''Capitolium'' first referre ...

to a common misidentification of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, with

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

, the Christian emperor; indeed, more than 20 other bronze equestrian statues of various emperors and generals had been melted down since the end of the Imperial Roman era. It has been speculated that its misidentification stems from the prior existence of an equestrian statue of Constantine which had stood beside the

Arch of Septimius Severus The Arch of Septimius Severus () at the northwestern end of the Roman Forum is a white marble triumphal arch dedicated in 203 AD to commemorate the Roman–Parthian Wars, Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla ...

, and which had been most likely taken on the orders of the emperor

Constans II Constans II (; 7 November 630 – 15 July 668), also called "the Bearded" (), was the Byzantine emperor from 641 to 668. Constans was the last attested emperor to serve as Roman consul, consul, in 642, although the office continued to exist unti ...

during his visit to Rome in 663. With its removal, the people eventually mistakenly identified Marcus Aurelius's statue as Constantine's. In the Middle Ages this was one of the few Roman statues to remain on public view, in the Campus Lateranensis, to the east of the

Lateran Palace The Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (; ), informally the Lateran Palace (), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main pope, papal residence in Rome. Located on Saint John's Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the palace is ...

in Rome, from 1474 on a pedestal provided by

Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, ; born Francesco della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484. His accomplishments as pope included ...

. Its placement next to the Lateran Palace was due to the fact that this site used to contain the house of Marcus Aurelius's grandfather Marcus Annius Verus, which was where the emperor's birth and early education took place. According to the ''

Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biography, biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adr ...

'', an unpopular prefect of the city under

Pope John XII Pope John XII (; 14 May 964), born Octavian, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 16 December 955 to his death in 964. He was related to the counts of Tusculum, a powerful Roman family which had dominated papal politics for ...

(d. 964) was hung from it by the hair by the mob. By order of

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

, it was moved to the

(

) during

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

's redesign of the hill in 1538, to remove it from the main traffic of the square. Though Michelangelo disagreed with the central positioning, he designed a pedestal for it. The original bronze statue is now in the

Palazzo dei Conservatori The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

of the

Musei Capitolini The Capitoline Museums () are a group of art and archaeology, archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing ...

; that in the square is a modern

replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...

. On the night of 29 November 1849, at the inception of the revolutionary

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

, a mass procession set up the red–white–green (now the

flag of Italy The flag of Italy (, ), often referred to as The Tricolour (, ), is a flag featuring three equally sized vertical Pale (heraldry), pales of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side, as defined by Article 12 of the Constitution of t ...

, then a new and highly "subversive" flag) in the hands of the mounted Marcus Aurelius. In 1979, a bomb attack in the nearby

Palazzo Senatorio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. The word ''Capitolium'' first refer ...

damaged the marble base of the statue.

Cultural significance

The statue appears on the reverse of an

aureus The ''aureus'' ( ''aurei'', 'golden') was the main gold coin of ancient Rome from the 1st century BC to the early 4th century AD, when it was replaced by the ''solidus (coin), solidus''. This type of coin was sporadically issued during the Roman ...

of Marcus Aurelius struck in 174 AD. It is depicted on the reverse of the modern Italian €0.50 coin, designed by . The statue was formerly clad in gold. An old local myth says that it will turn gold again on the

Day of Judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

Replicas

In 1981 work began on producing a replica of the statue for outdoor display. Digital image files were used for reference while a laser beam ensured accurate measurements. Conservators used this copy to cast a faithful bronze replica of the statue, now in the

References

External links

Capitoline Museum
{{Authority control Sculptures in the Capitoline Museums Outdoor sculptures in Rome 2nd-century Roman sculptures

Cultural depictions of Marcus Aurelius Hellenistic and Roman bronzes Statues of monarchs Roman sculpture portraits of emperors Sculptures of men in Italy