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Statuae

Collecting all the individual statua entries on pp497‑500 of

Samuel Ball Platner (as completed and revised by Thomas Ashby):
A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome,
London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Statua Antonii Musae: a statue erected by the Romans in honour of Antonius Musa, the physician of Augustus, after the latter's death, near the temple of Aesculapius on the island (Suet. Aug. 59).

Statua Atti Navi: the statue of Attus Navius erected on the spot where the augur performed the miracle of cutting a whetstone with a razor, on the left side of the steps leading up from the comitium to the curia (Liv. I.36). It was of bronze, less than life size, and represented Navius with covered head (Dionys. III.71). The language of Livy (loc. cit.) implies that the statue was no longer standing, and Pliny (NH XXXIV.21) states that its base was destroyed when the senate house was burned at the funeral of Clodius, but Dionysius (loc. cit.) says explicitly that it was standing in his time. The latter was probably mistaken (Jord. I.2.264, 359; Mitt. 1893, 92; BPW 1913, 981).

Statua L. Bruti: the statue of the regicide which stood on the Capitol with those of the seven kings (Cass. Dio XLIII.45; Plin. NH XXXIII.9).

Statua Cinci: see Sepulcrum Cinciorum.

Statua Cloeliae: an equestrian statue of Cloelia, the Roman hostage, who escaped from Lars Porsenna by swimming the Tiber, was sent back, and then freed by the Etruscan king with marked honours for her bravery (RE IV.110). There are some variants in the tradition of this statue; it was said to have been erected by the state (Liv. II.13; Serv. Aen. VIII.646; by the other hostages (Piso ap. Plin. NH XXXIV.28‑29); by their parents (Dionys. V.35); and to have stood in summa sacra via (Liv. loc. cit.); ἐρὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ὁδοῦ (Dionys. loc. cit.; cf. Plut. Poplic. 19; de mul. virt. 14); in sacra via (Serv. loc. cit.); contra Iovis Statoris aedem in vestibulo Superbi domus (Plin. loc. cit.); in foro (de vir. ill. 13). It probably did stand in summa sacra via, near the temple of Jupiter Stator. According to Dionysius (loc. cit.) the statue had disappeared in his time, and was supposed to have been burned. The language of Livy and Plutarch agrees with this, but Seneca (de consol. 16) and Servius state explicitly that it was standing in the first and fourth centuries. It seems impossible to reconcile these statements without supposing that the old statue had been restored, or a new one erected, early in the first century (Detlefsen, de arte Rom. Antiq. II.12; see also HJ 23; Gilb. I.226).

Statua Hermodori: a statue of Hermodorus of Ephesus, the interpreter of the laws of the decemviri, situated in the comitium (Plin. NH XXXIV.21). See DR 467; RE VIII.859‑861.

Statua Horatii Coclitis: a statue, originally set up on the comitium, which was struck by lightning and removed to the Volcanal (Gell. IV.5). Its later history is unknown.​a

Statua (Loricata) divi Iulii: a statue of Julius Caesar, to the base of which official documents were affixed, mentioned only by Plin. Ep. VIII.6.13. The base of a large equestrian statue in front of, and orientated with, the temple of Divus Iulius, which has been identified with the Equus Tremuli, is far more likely to have been the base of this statue (DR 470). Various inscriptions in which a loricata occurs (Jord. I.2.374) should probably be referred to a building; cf. Castorum, aedes (p103, n1).

Statua Mamuri: see Clivus Mamuri.

Statua Marci Regis: see Basis Marci Regis.

Statua Marci Tremuli: see Equus Tremuli.

Statua Marsyae: a statue of the Phrygian Silenus, which stood in an enclosure in the middle of the forum, together with the figtree, olive and vine (see Ficus, Olea, Vitis), near the Tribunal Praetoris (q.v.), and the lacus Curtius (Hor. Sat. I.6.120 and Ps. Acron and Porphyrion ad loc.; Sen. de benef. VI.32; Mart. II.64.7; Plin. NH XXI.8‑9; Juv. IX.2; Hülsen, Nachtrag 15‑19).

This statue appears in relief on the famous plutei (see reff. under Rostra Augusti); and coins struck by L. Marcius Censorinus between 86 and 81 B.C. (Babelon, Monnaies, Marcia 42; BM Rep. I.338, pl. XL.3‑4) represent the satyr standing on a square pedestal with right foot advanced, a wine skin thrown over his left shoulder with his left hand holding its opening, and his right hand raised. The statue is nude except for sandals and the Phrygian hat (pileus), and represents the Greek type of the fourth century B.C. How long before 8 B.C. this statue was erected in the forum, and why it was brought here, we do not know.​b According to a recent ingenious theory it was brought from Apamea in 188 B.C. by Cn. Manlius Vulso because of the legendary connection of that city with the tomb of Aeneas, and placed near the lacus Curtius because of a certain parallelism between the legendary self-sacrifice of an Apamean hero and Curtius (A. Reinach, Klio 1914, 321‑337). The statue was often crowned with flowers, and a certain P. Munatius was once thrown into prison for stealing them (Plin. NH XXI.8‑9).

Marsyas came to be regarded as the symbol of liberty (Serv. ad Aen. III.20) and under the empire his statue was set up in the fora of those towns in the provinces that possessed the ius Italicum (Cagnat, Timgad 68; CIL VIII.4219, 16417;​1 for the Marsyas of the forum, see also Jord. Marsyas auf d. Forum in Rom, Berlin 1883; I.2.265‑266; AA 1891, 14‑15; Mitt. 1892, 287‑288; Gilb. III.156; Thédenat 134‑135).

Statua Planci: the statue, otherwise unknown, of a certain Plancus, probably in the vicus Longus on the Quirinal (CIL VI.9673, 10023).

Statua Pompeii: a statue of Pompey on the Rostra Vetera, overturned by the plebs and replaced at the same time as that of Sulla (Suet. Iul. 75; Cass. Dio XLII.18).

Statua Regum Romanorum: the statues of seven kings of Rome — including Titus Tatius and therefore, presumably, excluding Tarquinius Superbus — erected on the Capitoline, probably on the eastern part of the area Capitolina (Cass. Dio XLIII.45; App. B. C. I.16; Plin. NH XXXIV.22). The statues of Romulus and Tatius were togatae sine tunicis, sine anulis; those of Numa,​2 Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Priscus had rings on their fingers and were probably of later date (Plin. NH XXXIII.9‑10; XXXIV.23; Ascon. Scaur. fin.).º All of them were probably set up between 350 and 150 B.C. (Gilb. I.24‑25; Jord. I.1.57‑58; Rodocanachi, Le Capitole 46).

Statua Romuli: a statue of Romulus that is said to have stood in sacra via a parte Palati venientibus, while one of Titus Tatius was at the other end of the street a rostris (Serv. Aen. VIII.641). It is improbable that this statement is due to a confusion of these statues with those on the Capitoline (cf. Statua Regum Romanorum).

Statua Salonini Gallieni: a statue of Saloninus Gallienus, a son of the Emperor Gallienus (cf., however, RE VI.669), which stood in pede montis Romulei, hoc est ante sacram viam inter templum Faustinae ac Vestam ad arcum Fabianum (Hist. Aug. Gall. 19). The statement does not inspire confidence, and may be an invention.

Statua Sullae: an equestrian statue of gilt bronze, erected in rostris or pro rostris in 80 or 79 B.C. (Babelon II.179 = BM Rep. II.463.16; App. B. C. I.97; Cic. Phil. IX.13; Vell. II.61: in rostris; Suet. Iul. 75; Dio XLII.18). Cf. CIL I2.721 for a similar statue erected by the inhabitants of the vicus laci Fundani.

Statua Taraciae Gaiae: see Gaia.

Statua Tiberis: In Eins. Tiberis is mentioned twice (1.6; 8.10), between the forum of Trajan and the arch of Severus; and most authorities are inclined to recognise in it the famous statue of a river-god (Marforio), now in the Museo Capitolino, which stood near the church of S. Martina (see Curia). See DAP 2.IX.408 and references; Cap. 21.

Statua Valerii Corvini: a statue of M. Valerius Corvinus with a crow on his head,​c erected by Augustus in his forum (Gell. IX.11.10).

Statua Valeriana: a statue of some member of the gens Valeria, on the right bank of the Tiber (Not. Reg. XIV), which gave its name to a vicus statuae Valerianae (Bas. Cap., CIL VI.975: statuavalerianenses, ib. 31893; BC 1891, 342, 357; HJ 647).

Basis Q. Marci Regis: the pedestal of a statue of Q. Marcius Rex, erected on the Capitoline behind the temple of Juppiter, on which a diploma honestae missionis was fastened in 64 A.D. (CIL III p846, No. III).

The Authors' Notes:

1 Cf. Mommsen, Staatsrecht III.809, 810; Merlin, Forum et Maisons d'Althiburos (Paris, 1913), 9. This is denied by J. S. Reid, Municipalities of the Roman Empire, 286. For a recent attribution of the plutei to the enclosure of this statue, see Mél. 1927, 154‑183.

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2 Cf. Gens Iulia, ara.​d

Thayer's Notes:

a Pliny (NH XXXIV.22) reports three statues of Horatius Cocles.

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b The 7c writer Isidore of Seville (Orig. IX.2.88) appears to refer to this statue; he says that it was made by the Marsians and taken from them by the Romans as war booty. Isidore is late, has a penchant for facile etymologies, and gives no source; yet the statement may still be true.

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c Not just any crow, mind you, but his own personal crow. Those of you who don't read Latin — Gellius is not online yet in translation — just can't miss this story. The tribune Marcus Valerius was in hand-to‑hand combat with the leader of the Gauls, when out of nowhere this crow lands on his helmet, and, making himself at home there, starts pecking at the eyes and face of the Gaul: having made a hash of the poor fellow, our bird returns to Marcus' helmet, giving him the victory, and the name Corvinus, or "Crow-Man".

Yours truly, having been dive-bombed repeatedly, for no apparent reason, by red-winged blackbirds in the course of a memorable hike thru Illinois a few years ago, finds the Roman story plausible.

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d Gens Iulia, ara: The Dictionary's note is a mystery: that brief article has nothing to do with Numa or anything else discussed here.

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SEE ALSO:	Colossus of Nero
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