Colossal statues

The Barletta colossus is the sole large-scale statue in bronze preserved of a late antique emperor; the only comparable image is the even larger, but fragmentary, Constantinian emperor in Rome. According to local tradition, the Barletta colossus depicts the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610-641). Modern researchers tend to regard this attribution as mere folklore and fiction. But while there is general agreement that the statue does not portray Heraclius, there is no agreement as to whom it may have been intended to portray. About a dozen different emperors have been proposed, suggested dates ranging from the fourth to the eighth century. The present article reviews the evidence and discusses the methodological problems we face when dealing with this enigmatic work.

SUMMARY: Lecture-11 provides a broad overview of Canaan and late Middle Kingdom Egypt (MB IIA/B), the fall/decline of the Middle Kingdom, the rise of the Hyksos and Second Intermediate Period (especially at Tell ed-Dab'a), the rise of the reduced, indigenous Egyptian kingdom of the Thebans (in central-southern Egypt), the Theban struggle to reunite Egypt, and the final expulsion of the Hyksos and foundation of an Egyptian empire in Canaan, This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource/aid for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I periodically provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the initial materials were extracted for this ppt. (see syllabus; e.g., initially Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  Much of this and the other lectures summarize the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), add in other data, including my own research materials, and furnish numerous images to clarify/illustrate the wealth of information encountered in the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture (or in separate test study guides).  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students (who have since pursued graduate degrees), and a few colleagues, who, like me, often teach outside our main fields of specialty, and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made (over time, as I teach this course every two years, I try to rectify any errors that might slip in inadvertently), and for my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources.  UPDATES: Sept. 29, 2023 (revised formatting, some new text and some images, especially Abydos and King Seneb-Kay).

Clemente VII  Medici, in quattro lettere successive, chiede a Michelangelo di realizzare una colossale statua che lo raffiguri, alta quaranta braccia, cioè circa venticinque metri, da affiancare alla chiesa fiorentina di San Lorenzo, sacrario dei Medici, e rivolta appunto verso il palazzo della famiglia. Il motivo di tanta richiesta è che il papa era un "bastardo", figlio illegittimo di Giuliano de' Medici, e l'irregolarità della sua nascita gli veniva costantemente rinfacciata. Michelangelo dapprima non risponde, ma poi scrive a una risposta di pungentissima ironia per mostrare l'assurdità di tale richiesta. Il papa, di fronte a tanta impertinenza risponde in modo inaspettatamente mite, ma poco dopo la mostruosità del Sacco di Roma lo induce a cambiare idea, e a chiedere a Michelangelo, al posto di un inutile "cholosso", di dipingere il Giudizio Universale nella Cappella Sistina.

Many texts from antiquity describe and discuss colossal statues. The descriptions are used to evaluate and often criticize the ruler. This paper examines different types of criticism. In the first part, by looking at depictions of Domitian’s equestrian statue (Statius, Martial) and of Nero’s colossus (Martial, Suetonius, Pliny the Elder), I shall concentrate on a method I call the ‘negative re-coding’ of representational elements. After the downfall of the mali principes Nero and Domitian, the critical texts attribute negative meaning to forms of representation which were originally meant to be read affirmatively. The colossus is well suited for this type of criticism. It is ambivalent due to its enormous size and in the sense that it is a man-made object or can be seen as a personified representation of the ruler. In the second part of the paper I am going to concentrate on negative depictions of rulers found in less personalized contexts. First, I shall look at the schematized depictions of tyrants in the late-antique ‘Historia Augusta’. There, the narrative of hubristic Nero who erects a colossal statue of himself and Vespasian’s ‘correction’ of it becomes a topos which is modified in several biographies. As these variations are exaggerated and mostly fictious, the negative images of the emperors seem to aim at entertainment rather than at serious criticism of the individual. Secondly, I will analyze the use of colossal images in Plutarch’s depictions of rulers, looking at the treaty ‘To an uneducated ruler’ and the second speech ‘On the fortune or virtue of Alexander’. Both texts show parallels with the individual criticism of rulers analyzed in the first part of the paper. The modes of depiction we saw there now serve as a kind of paraenetic or exemplary discourse.
The colossal statue proves to be a versatile image which is used to create a wide variety of positive and negative images of rulers. In the Roman principate, we find almost no evidence of explicit criticism of the ruling emperor; but by looking at the example of the colossal statue, the paper shows that this does not prevent critical debate. By discussing the meaning of the colossal format, the texts negotiate the characteristics of the ideal ruler and the possibilities and boundaries of his representation.

Chapter 2 of Michelangelo and the Reinvention of the Human Body (2005).
Examines the ideal of the colossal in relation to David and other works by Michelangelo. Shows that the conception of giant size in this period was extremely mixed, with giants not necessarily considered heroic.