Michigan (2016) h/b 424pp 65.60 (ISBN 9780-72119691)
As K./S .observe in their first sentence in this intriguing book, almost no ancient statues have been preserved in their original condition. But how, when and why they were destroyed may have much to tell us about changing social conditions. The book consists of contributions from 14 different authors which were presented at two seminars in Aarhus University, Denmark, in 2008 and 2011, and also published elsewhere.
It is an extremely complex subject, not merely because the evidence is patchy. Many forms of destruction can happen to a statue, and all of them can be difficult to date. Broadly, and generalising greatly, it appears that from the 4th C AD interest in statuary, both for public urban decoration and among private elites, began to wane, and this process accelerated during the next two centuries; by the 6th C production of new statuary had virtually stopped. In their editorial introduction, K./S. summarise this chronology, and make it clear how varied the causes of these changes were.
The 14 chapters are presented in three groups. In the first part, headed ‘patterns of destruction and re-use’, the authors discuss metal fragments from Roman Britain, lime-kilns found in Roman villas and the effects of earthquakes. These chapters question some modern preconceptions, e.g. that metal body parts survived merely because of their material value; maybe, but there may be other reasons, such as the use of heads or limbs as votive offerings. The next section, ‘regional perspectives’ has seven chapters describing particular finds in, respectively, Sagalassos (in Pisidia), Athens, Corinth, Ostia, Roman Germany, Sicily and the Lower Danube, focussing on what these finds suggest about changing views of sculpture and its re-use in those places. The final four chapters, ‘grand narratives’, take a wider view: first, a discussion of the use of sculpture in late antique baths and villas and how it reflected changes in attitudes to the body as well as the decoration of houses; secondly, the gradual disappearance of imperial statues during the later centuries, arguing that growing social tension and rioting made them unsuitable for public display; next, the growing preference for two-dimensional portraiture during the later centuries: finally, how attitudes towards sculpture fragments in North Africa and the Near East have changed up to the present day (described as ‘museum heaven’) and the importance of surviving travellers’ accounts for understanding these changes.
This is a wide-ranging book with an impressive amount of detail: students may well want to keep it to hand as a reference. It is well annotated with a full bibliography. The illustrations are good, both of specific items discussed and sketch maps showing find-spots; my only gripe on this score is the chapter on ancient Corinth, where unusually there is no map of the area when we could really have done with one.
A book of this type may be expected to spark off a number of unexpected insights, and this is no exception. For example, it undermines the belief that the major cause of statue disappearance was wholesale destruction by fanatical Christians. This did certainly occur, but not to the extent early Christian authors would have one believe. An early habit was to mark pagan statues with crosses, to neutralise the demons within them, but otherwise leave them alone, as appears to have happened in Corinth. The evidence, scrappy as it is, suggests that interest in statuary, as a way of honouring public figures or as decoration in urban spaces or private houses, simply petered out gradually over three centuries or so, perhaps for economic reasons (marble becoming increasingly expensive), as well as changes of taste. We are cautioned, rightly, against over-simple explanations.
Secondly, through most of subsequent history the attitudes of local populations to their ancient sculptures has been one of benign neglect, unless they had reason to suspect that they concealed treasure (the only reason they could see for Westerners wanting to dig them up). They were plundered for building material, especially lime from marble, otherwise left alone. The rapid industrialisation and urban expansion of the mid-19th century was the biggest ever destructive factor of ancient sites. Only collection and removal to museums saved what little was left. Elgin, Newton et al., all is forgiven!
Colin McDonald