In the history of monuments of the past, memorable columns, installed in order to perpetuate some important state events, are of particular importance for culture and science. Everyone knows the lines of A. S. Pushkin about the "Pillar of Alexandria", the British cannot imagine their Trafalgar Square without Nelson's Column, well, and "Trajan's Column", as we have already noted in VO, became an important source in the study of the military affairs of the Roman Empire during the era of Emperor Trajan. However, this is not the only such monument that very clearly shows the appearance of the Roman soldiers of that time. The fact is that in Rome there is another column - the column of Marcus Aurelius and it is also a very important historical source for us. Well, first of all, let's say that this is a column made in the Doric order, which is also in Rome in the Piazza of the Column, named after her. It was erected in memory of the victory of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the Marcomanian War, and its prototype, of course, was the Column of Trajan, built more than half a century earlier.
Detail of the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. The event on it is the so-called "miracle of rain on the territory of Qadi", in which the rain god, at the prayer of the emperor, rescues the Roman troops, causing a terrible storm, a miracle that Christians later declared to be the consequence of turning to their Christian God. Of the interesting details for us, attention is drawn to helmets with a ring on the crown for carrying them on a campaign and very short, like on Trajan's column, legionary chain mail with scalloped hem.
Dating the column isn't all that difficult if you count a little. It is known that the first stage of the Marcomanian war, which lasted as a whole from 166 to 180, was completely unsuccessful for Rome, and the Romans began to celebrate the first successes only in 176. But in 180 AD Marcus Aurelius had already died, so it is obvious that this column was built between 176 and 180 AD. Since it is precisely this historical period that is precisely reflected in the bas-reliefs on the column, it is necessary first of all to tell about what it was during the time and what this war was like.
And this is how this entire column looks today.
Let's start with the fact that Trajan's wars with the Dacians (101-102; 105-106) were the last successful wars of Rome, which gave her such significant territorial increments. In the future, Rome was no longer up to new conquests. It was required to keep the conquered. Therefore, the bulk of the legions were dispersed along the border of the empire, where, in addition, the construction of extended lines of fortifications began. It would seem that, having rested against the walls of the Roman border fortresses, the waves of barbarians expelled from the Black Sea steppes should have stopped. But no - apparently their need was so great that they tried in every possible way to overcome the Roman border, which constantly led to border clashes, both small and large.
The preservation of the figures as a whole is worse than on Trajan's column, but since this is a high relief - an impression, due to the play of light and shadows, they produce a stronger one.
So the Marcomanian War (166-180) became one of such wars between Rome and the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes, caused by their movement on its eastern borders.
This bas-relief of the column depicts the Roman cavalry, which in the west during the era of the early empire was recruited mainly from the Celts. Her weapon was a spat sword 60-70 cm long, a spear for throwing, and to protect the body - chain mail, armor made of scales, similar in cut to chain mail, and an oval shield. It is interesting that the horsemen's helmets are decorated with small sultans. It is possible that this was done specifically in order to … flatter the gullible barbarians. Like, even our legionnaires have no sultans on their helmets, but you have! And how many people need to be happy ?!
Then the Marcomans, Quads, Germundurs, Iazygs and a number of other tribes took advantage of the fact that the Roman Empire found itself in a difficult situation because of the Parthian War of 161-166 and the ensuing plague epidemic and poor harvest years in Italy. Having violated the Rhine-Danube border of the empire, they were able to go to Italy and in 169, led by the leader of the Marcomanians - Ballomar, at Carnunt to destroy almost 20,000 Roman army. Then they made a deep raid deep into the empire: they sieged the fortress of Aquileia and managed to destroy the city of Opitergius. Only at the end of 169, Emperor Marcus Aurelius was able to stop the onslaught of the Marcomans and their allies. However, the death of his co-ruler, Lucius Vera, caused an internal political crisis, due to which only in 172-174, and then with considerable difficulty, he recruited new legions, which had to be replenished with slaves and barbarians. The war, however, went on with varying degrees of success. In 175, the uprising of the governor of Syria, Avidius Cassius, took place, so the Romans were forced to abandon new attempts to expand their borders. Nevertheless, it can be considered that, in general, for the Romans, this war did not end so badly: according to the peace agreement of 175, the Marcomanian tribes were forced to recognize the Roman protectorate. In addition, the Romans still took away from them, albeit a narrow, but still a strip of land along the border. At the same time, about 25,000 barbarians joined the ranks of the Roman army.
On this bas-relief, we see trumpeters, and segnifers, and vexillaria, and legionnaires in lamellar loricas, both shown from the front and from the back, which allows us to see their structure well. But chain mail with a scalloped hem and on this bas-relief is so short that nothing is covered below the waist.
In commemoration of the victory over the Germans and Sarmatians on December 3, 176, Marcus Aurelius, together with his son Commodus, staged a triumph. But feeling that he was tired of life, the emperor then decided to make Commodus his co-ruler.
The same bas-relief, shifted to the right. The legionnaire's belt (far left), as you can see, has changed a lot. Obviously, scale armor in the Roman army during the first centuries of the empire was very common …
However, in 177, the barbarian tribes launched a new offensive. However, this time, military happiness smiled at Rome pretty quickly. Although the barbarians again managed to enter Pannonia and then again reach Aquileia, the commander Tarruntenius Paternus in 179 managed to defeat them completely, after which the barbarians were driven out of Roman territory. Then Marcus Aurelius himself crossed the Danube with his troops to conquer new territories and create new Roman provinces on them: Marcomania and Sarmatia. The implementation of these plans was prevented by his death in Vindobona on March 17, 180.
After his death, Commodus decided to conclude peace with the barbarians on the condition that the pre-war border between them and the Roman Empire would be restored. However, the Romans after that still had to build a new line of fortifications on the Danube border and send additional troops there.
And it was during this period of time that individual episodes of the Marcomanian war were reflected on the bas-reliefs of the 30-meter column of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Rome.
The exact measured height of this column is 29.6 m, and the height of the pedestal is 10 m. Thus, the height of the monument was once 41.95 m, but then three meters of its foundation after the restoration carried out in 1589 turned out to be below ground level. The column shaft, according to various sources, was made of 27 or 28 blocks of selected Carrara marble 3, 7 meters in diameter. Just like the column of Emperor Trajan, it is hollow inside and there is a spiral staircase with steps (190-200), along which you can climb to its top, where at the time of its construction there was a sculpture of Marcus Aurelius. The staircase is illuminated through small windows.
It is interesting that on the bas-reliefs of this column we practically do not see the rectangular shields of the scutums, but oval shields are present not only among the riders, but also among the infantrymen. In addition, many warriors wear trousers like breeches - a thing previously unheard of in Rome.
Note that the relief images of the column of Marcus Aurelius differ from similar images from the column of Trajan in much greater expression. The reason is that a bas-relief type carving is used on Trajan's column, but on Mark's column we see a high relief, that is, the stone carving is deeper here, and its figures protrude from the background. It is known that there are four types of relief: bas-relief, high relief, counter-relief, and coyanaglyph. In this case, it makes no sense to talk about the last two (or rather to write), but about the first two we can say that an image is called a bas-relief when it protrudes from the background by half, and a high relief is a kind of sculptural convex relief, in which what it is depicts, protrudes above the plane of the background by more than half of the volume of all parts depicted on it. That is, it becomes half-sculpture and is only slightly associated with the main background. So, just on the column of Marcus Aurelius, we see high reliefs and this is very valuable, since it allows us to study its figures not only frontally, but also a little from the side. Also, for a more accurate depiction of the faces of the characters, the heads of the figures are enlarged relative to the body. On the other hand, the thread itself is somewhat coarser and a decrease in the level of elaboration of the depicted details of weapons and clothing can be noted.
Roman troops cross the river on a pontoon bridge. The so-called "four-horned" Roman saddle covered with a saddle is very clearly visible on this bas-relief. Josephus, for example, wrote that the eastern cavalry carried quivers with several darts with wide leaf-shaped tips, obviously hanging from the saddle. But here we do not see such quivers. As you can see, there are no stepladders either.
Bas-reliefs at the base of the column.
In the Middle Ages, climbing to the top of the column became so popular that it became such a profitable business that the right to receive payment for it by the magistrate of Rome was put up for auction every year.
Ridley Scott's film Gladiator is dedicated to the last year of the Marcomanian War. There is a lot of fantasized, but in this frame from this movie everything is very realistic: on the right are legionnaires in segmental lorics and with rectangular shields, on the left are eastern archers in conical helmets and chain mail. The latter, however, are still a little short …
Since the statue of Marcus Aurelius had somehow been lost by the 16th century, Pope Sixtus V ordered the architect Domenico Fontana to restore the column in 1589. He installed a sculpture of the Apostle Paul on it, and on the pedestal made an inscription about the work he had done, in which for some reason he confused the names of the emperors and called it the column of Antoninus Pius.
