The Procession and Placement of Imperial Cult Images in the Colosseum

Bibliographic Data

ID9339769
AuthorsNathan T Elkins (0000-0002-2954-789X, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume82
Pages73-107
Publication date2014-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePapers of the British School at Rome (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0068-2462 • E-ISSN: 2045-239X
PublisherOpen Book Publishers (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0068246214000051
OpenAlexW1981512040
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited26

The Colosseum is well understood as a dynastic monument that was key to the Flavian building programme and to Flavian ideology. From this point of view it has been approached as the fulfilment of Augustus's ambition for a large-scale amphitheatre, as serving to diminish Nero's memory as it was constructed on the atrium of his dismantled Golden House, and as a victory monument built with the spoils of the Jewish War. One important political aspect of this dynastic monument has been largely overlooked: its connection with emperor worship. Outside Rome, it is well known that amphitheatres served as a venue for the procession and placement of imperial cult images; in Rome, the Circus Maximus and the theatres were venues for the display of imperial images and attributes brought in during their respective pompae . Through the deployment of textual, topographical and visual evidence, this article demonstrates that the Colosseum also had a pulvinar that displayed images and attributes of the gods and divi brought in during the pompa . The location of the pulvinar and the mechanisms by which it was serviced are explored, as are the ideological implications of cultic activity in the Colosseum

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Cult · Emperor · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Procession · Victory · Visual arts · Worship · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law