Emperor, Mars or Officer? An armoured statue from Cologne and the type of honorary statues in the northern border provinces of the Imperium Romanum

Abstract

The starting-point is the life-size torso of an armoured statue from Cologne, which around 1570 was integrated into the collection of a humanistic antiquary of Cologne and which in the 19th century came into the City Museum. The unusually high-quality figure is of limestone and was produced in a local workshop during the Trajanic period. Since its reception by the humanists, it has almost always been described as that of an emperor. In the northern border provinces of the Imperium Romanum there are, indeed, several representations of emperors, which had been produced by local sculptors from limestone and sandstones, as well as marbles from the region. Such an interpretation is not possible for the sculpture from Cologne, as it is furnished with greaves, whereas depictions of emperors in the round or in relief always display boots.

The equipping with greaves, however, is characteristic for depictions of the armoured Mars. He is represented in the northern border provinces with unusually numerous small bronzes, as well as equally many standing figures from stone (cat. 1-38). Nevertheless, an interpretation of the Cologne figure as Mars is contradicted by the decoration of its cuirass with reliefs of Victoria and Triton, for which there are no known parallels in the very rich pictorial record of this and of other gods in uniform. In addition is the bearing of the left hand, which grips a sword, unlike with Mars, who is usually holding a shield.

Thus, the question arises whether the figure functioned as an honorary statue of an office-holder or an officer? Such persons were honoured with statues not only in Rome and the Mediterranean area, but also in the northern provinces, as is proven by several inscribed bases. Moreover, in the area under investigation there are some bronze or stone representations of this type, including armoured statues. In the case of the Cologne torso the greaves point to an honorary statue of a centurion, as ocreae are one of the attributes of this officer, as seen on numerous grave-stones. With such an explanation of the figure, however, the muscle cuirass and especially the so-called commander’s ribbon are not compatible, as these are much more insignia of equestrian and senatorial officers, as well as emperors. Their combination with a pair of greaves appears on the funerary reliefs of primipilares, whom the emperor promoted into the equestrian order and who could undertake a higher career in the army or Imperial administration. The find-spot of the torso within the fort or the fort’s vicus of the Classis Germanica on the »Alteburg« in Cologne-Marienburg along with the rare depiction of a Triton on its breast-plate point to its function as an honorary statue for a praefectus classis, who had risen from being a centurion to this high equestrian post. Such a cursus has been recorded for several commanders of various naval units. The interpretation as a praefectus classis is confirmed by a reused base from Cologne, which records that around A.D. 169 the Agrippinenses offered a stone honorary statue, certainly a statua loricata, to P. Helvius Pertinax as praefectus classis Germanicae.