THE COLUMN OF ANTONINUS PIUS APOTHEOSIS AND DECURSIO

In AD 161, on their accession of power, the new emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus dedicated a column to their adoptive father, Antoninus Pius. The almost fifteen-metre-high red granite column was located in the Campus Martius. Today almost nothing of the column remains, except its monumental pedestal, four fragments of the pedestal reliefs and a few other pieces.

By Murray Dahm

Unlike the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, the column to Antoninus was not covered in reliefs, nor was it as tall. The almost two-metre-in-diameter red granite - sourced from Aswan in Egypt - column was undecorated and topped by a statue of Antoninus; the column can be seen on several coins minted to commemorate it and the deified father of the brother-emperors. It has often been asked by the column of Antoninus differs so markedly from its predecessor (Trajan’s Column) and its successor (the Column of Marcus Aurelius) with their detailed spiralling reliefs of military scenes. The answer lies in its entirely different purpose. The surviving fragments of the column are in the Cortile della Pigna in the Vatican. They include the base of the shaft, the pedestal and four fragments…

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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVII.2

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