The Docimium Marble Sculptures of the Grotto of Tiberius at Sperlonga

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4539680
AutoresMatthias Bruno (Montanuniversität Leoben), Donato Attanasio (Montanuniversität Leoben), Walter Prochaska (0000-0003-3047-2976, Montanuniversität Leoben)
Año2015
Volumen119
Número3
Páginas375-394
Fecha de publicación2015-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-9114 • E-ISSN: 1939-828X
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3764/aja.119.3.0375
OpenAlexW2402522288
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas5

Seventeen marble samples drawn from the Scylla, Polyphemos, and Pasquino Groups, the Theft of the Palladium statue group, and the Ganymede statue discovered at Sperlonga in 1957 were investigated scientifically and proved to be all Docimium marble from the quarries of İscehisar near Afyon. New quarry data now available for the lithos lartios of Rhodes and for the white marble of the island of Kos and the quarries of Göktepe near Aphrodisias allow us to rule out old hypotheses as well as newly discovered sources of marble. These results as well as technical details about the manufacture of the sculptures seem to fully cohere with Andreae’s hypothesis that the Sperlonga groups were made on-site during the Tiberian age. They also tend to exclude alternative chronologies. The same arguments, however, make it difficult to believe that the Sperlonga sculptures and the Laocoön, thought to be made by the same Rhodian sculptors (Plin., HN 36.37) joining together several blocks of Parian Lychnites, are coeval. This apparent incongruity is briefly discussed, and the possibility of reconciling prosopographical and art historical considerations with technical marble data is examined. A free, downloadable appendix can be found under this article’s abstract on AJA Online

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Sculpture · Statue · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History