Designing the Divine: The Construction of Cult Statues in the Second Century BCE Público

Eckhardt, Ashley (Summer 2021)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/qj72p856s?locale=es
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Abstract

The second century BCE witnessed a noted boom in cult statue and temple construction that coincided with larger trends in civic development across the Mediterranean. In this dissertation, I center on the production and viewing of cult statues, from Asia Minor to the Italian peninsula, in this transformative period. An investigation into the various elements involved in the crafting of a cult statue—the choice of materials, technique, and scale—reveals how a community used sacred art to express its local traditions within an increasingly diverse and expanding world. The creation of cult statues and temples offered a fundamental opportunity for Hellenistic rulers, Greek poleis, Roman magistrates, and the sculptors and architects they employed to engage in community development and political advancement. Amid warfare, political turmoil, and social and economic change, the crafting of cult images not only endured, but prospered. Strong regional variation in political, economic, and social conditions therefore served as catalysts rather than impediments for the acceleration in the production of cult buildings and statues in this period. Through this dissertation, I push beyond the traditional bipolar narrative of the increasing movement of Greek art, materials, and craftsmen to Rome through commissions, plunder, and trade, an approach which obscures the richly complex interchanges that influenced artistic production in the second century. By instead looking at cult statues and their temples within a broad landscape, I bring into dialogue the resilience of local religious expression and the medley of new ideas, techniques, and styles offered by the Hellenistic world and the rise of Rome. Finally, I argue that a cult statue and its temple formed a cohesive unit that shaped a viewer’s experience at a cult site. Using digital models of reconstructed cult statues and temples, I demonstrate the visual effects that set a cult image apart from other sculptures and how statue and temple together shaped the viewing experience at cult sites throughout the second-century Mediterranean.

Table of Contents

Introduction__________________________________________________________________ 1

Research Questions___________________________________________________________ 3

What’s Happening in the Second Century BCE?_____________________________________ 6

Cult Statues and Their Temples_________________________________________________ 15

The Corpus________________________________________________________________ 18

Cult Statues____________________________________________________________________________ 19

Temples_______________________________________________________________________________ 22

Chapter Outline_____________________________________________________________ 24

Chapter 1: Material Manifestations of Second-Century Religious Developments________ 28

Appeal to the Locals: Elevating Local Deities through Cultic Construction________________ 31

Polis Religion in the Hellenistic Period_______________________________________________________ 35

A Festival of Fame and Fortune: Artemis Leukophryene at Magnesia_______________________________ 39

Establishing Cultic Continuity and Civic Identity in New Poleis________________________ 42

Megalopolis and the Recalcitrant Lykosourans_________________________________________________ 46

Introduction of New Cults_____________________________________________________ 52

Logistics of Cult Foundation_______________________________________________________________ 55

Divine Personifications___________________________________________________________________ 57

Eastern Deities__________________________________________________________________________ 66

Delos: Microcosm of the Mediterranean______________________________________________________ 72

Chapter 2: Agents of Construction: The Human Hands Behind Divine Bodies__________ 81

The Sculptor________________________________________________________________ 84

Sculptors’ Professional Networks___________________________________________________________ 89

Sculptor Mobility: Reexamining Westward Migration___________________________________________ 93

Sculptor’s Signatures on Second-Century Cult Statues___________________________________________ 97

A Singular Success Story: Damophon of Messene_____________________________________________ 100

The Architect______________________________________________________________ 108

Professional Training and Social Status______________________________________________________ 110

Second-Century Architects_______________________________________________________________ 112

The Patron________________________________________________________________ 118

Civic Bodies as Patrons__________________________________________________________________ 121

Human and/or Divine: Royal Patrons and Synnaos Theos_______________________________________ 126

Private Patronage by Elite Individuals_______________________________________________________ 135

Chapter 3: Materials, Materiality, and Techniques_______________________________ 147

Cult Statues and Their Materials Prior to the Second Century BCE____________________ 148

Wood____________________________________________________________________ 151

Possible Second-Century Wooden Cult Statues_______________________________________________ 154

Bronze___________________________________________________________________ 158

Marble___________________________________________________________________ 163

Marble Sources_________________________________________________________________________ 164

The Hellenistic Marble Trade_____________________________________________________________ 171

Greek Marble in Rome___________________________________________________________________ 174

Acrolithic Technique____________________________________________________________________ 177

Piecing Technique______________________________________________________________________ 181

The Second-Century Preference for Assembled Statues_________________________________________ 183

Applied Materials___________________________________________________________ 188

Plaster________________________________________________________________________________ 189

Paint_________________________________________________________________________________ 190

Gilding_______________________________________________________________________________ 194

Inlay_________________________________________________________________________________ 196

Metal Attachments______________________________________________________________________ 200

Chapter 4: Visibility and Visuality of Cult Statues in Their Architectural Environments 203

Second-Century Architectural Developments______________________________________ 204

Digital Modeling Study_______________________________________________________ 209

Methodology__________________________________________________________________________ 210

Temple of Herakles, Kleonai (Doric Tetrastyle Prostyle)________________________________________ 213

Temple of Zeus Sosipolis, Magnesia on the Maeander (Ionic Tetrastyle Prostyle)____________________ 220

Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, Rome (Corinthian Tholos)_____________________________________ 225

Temple of Despoina, Lykosoura (Doric Hexastyle Prostyle)_____________________________________ 230

Temple of Asklepios, Messene (Doric Peripteral)______________________________________________ 236

Artemision, Messene (Ionic Tripartite Oikos)_________________________________________________ 241

Temple of Apollo Smintheus, Chryse (Ionic Pseudodipteral)_____________________________________ 245

Study Conclusions__________________________________________________________ 251

Scale_________________________________________________________________________________ 252

Visibility______________________________________________________________________________ 255

Chapter 5: Seeing Cult Statues in a New Light: The Impact of Natural Illumination___ 261

Digital Modeling Study_______________________________________________________ 263

Temple of Herakles, Kleonai (Doric Tetrastyle Prostyle)________________________________________ 264

Temple of Zeus Sosipolis, Magnesia on the Maeander (Ionic Tetrastyle Prostyle)____________________ 266

Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, Rome (Corinthian Tholos)_____________________________________ 267

Temple of Despoina, Lykosoura (Doric Hexastyle Prostyle)_____________________________________ 268

Temple of Asklepios, Messene (Doric Hexastyle Peripteral)_____________________________________ 270

Artemision, Messene (Ionic Tripartite Oikos)_________________________________________________ 271

Temple of Apollo Smintheus, Chryse (Ionic Pseudodipteral)_____________________________________ 273

Study Conclusions__________________________________________________________ 274

Conclusion_________________________________________________________________ 279

Tables_____________________________________________________________________ 290

Graphs____________________________________________________________________ 292

Figures____________________________________________________________________ 298

Catalog____________________________________________________________________ 333

Cult Statues_______________________________________________________________ 334

Probable Second-Century Cult Statues______________________________________________________ 449

Temples__________________________________________________________________ 470

Bibliography_______________________________________________________________ 585

Abbreviations______________________________________________________________ 585

Bibliography  586

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