Column of Antoninus Pius If someone has a column created in honor of them, they probably did something great. Antoninus Pius was the fourth of the “five good emperors” and ruled the Roman Empire from 136 C.E. until his death in 161. The “five good emperors” got their titles by leading Rome through almost a century of peace and significant expansion. Antoninus Pius had a whole column dedicated to him in Rome, Italy, built in Campus Martius which was a public area, shortly after his death. The column was arranged by his sons Marcus Aurelius, who took his place as emperor, and Lucius Verus, who became the co-emperor to Marcus and probably built by a bunch of workers. This could be a reason why Antoninus is depicted as an angel on the column.
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The man sitting on the chair signifying a “higher” role is likely to be Marcus because he was the emperor. This means the other man is his brother Lucius. The men are looking up, towards a naked man which is symbolic. The naked man with the angel wings floating above them is most likely Antoninus because of the fact that it was built in honor of him right after he died. All the way at the top, we can see a man and a woman. This could have represented his parents, but was most likely him and his wife. This is because when the empress and wife of Antoninus, Faustina, died, he wanted people to worship her as a goddess and approved the construction of a temple built in her name, meant to serve her. This means that he probably would have wanted her to be on the column. Also, they are dressed similarly to Marcus, which was the emperor after the death of Antoninus. Antoninus can be seen with angel wings and seems to be flying upward into the sky, which can be interpreted as the entering of the heavens. This is evidence of the presence of …show more content…
A lot can be learned from the Column of Antoninus Pius. We can see what kind of clothes the Roman people wore. The column shows that they wore robes with sandals. Soldiers did too except they also had a plate of armor that only protected their torso and helmets. We can also see that some Romans wore capes, which might have signified a higher class or was just worn as a fashion piece. The weapons the Romans used is also being depicted on the ground of the front side and by the soldiers on the sides. It shows a quiver of arrows, shields, and spears. During the time, Rome had conquered most of the world and their culture was spreading rapidly. This could have prevented the column from being influenced by anything that was not Roman. Perspectives from other cultures were not likely to make it onto the column. The column shows religious values and ideas in the portrayal of heaven, which was extremely widespread, but nowadays is not so common due to the advancements in science. This source is a piece of visual art and creates a lot of questions because it contains no explanation, so it is up to the viewer to interpret it however they like, but also means that nothing is for sure. That leaves us with endless amounts of questions that will probably go unanswered. The information we do have about it, besides its physical aspects like the material, could be completely
The man sitting on the chair signifying a “higher” role is likely to be Marcus because he was the emperor. This means the other man is his brother Lucius. The men are looking up, towards a naked man which is symbolic. The naked man with the angel wings floating above them is most likely Antoninus because of the fact that it was built in honor of him right after he died. All the way at the top, we can see a man and a woman. This could have represented his parents, but was most likely him and his wife. This is because when the empress and wife of Antoninus, Faustina, died, he wanted people to worship her as a goddess and approved the construction of a temple built in her name, meant to serve her. This means that he probably would have wanted her to be on the column. Also, they are dressed similarly to Marcus, which was the emperor after the death of Antoninus. Antoninus can be seen with angel wings and seems to be flying upward into the sky, which can be interpreted as the entering of the heavens. This is evidence of the presence of …show more content…
A lot can be learned from the Column of Antoninus Pius. We can see what kind of clothes the Roman people wore. The column shows that they wore robes with sandals. Soldiers did too except they also had a plate of armor that only protected their torso and helmets. We can also see that some Romans wore capes, which might have signified a higher class or was just worn as a fashion piece. The weapons the Romans used is also being depicted on the ground of the front side and by the soldiers on the sides. It shows a quiver of arrows, shields, and spears. During the time, Rome had conquered most of the world and their culture was spreading rapidly. This could have prevented the column from being influenced by anything that was not Roman. Perspectives from other cultures were not likely to make it onto the column. The column shows religious values and ideas in the portrayal of heaven, which was extremely widespread, but nowadays is not so common due to the advancements in science. This source is a piece of visual art and creates a lot of questions because it contains no explanation, so it is up to the viewer to interpret it however they like, but also means that nothing is for sure. That leaves us with endless amounts of questions that will probably go unanswered. The information we do have about it, besides its physical aspects like the material, could be completely