The 3Rd Century Ce 47
the 3rd century ce 47 Chapter FOUR THE 3rd CENTURY CE Towards the 3rd century ce, recarved private por- This is an extremely difficult, if not impossible, traits, both male and female, increased in number. task and it is very doubtful that the prices given A combination of harsh economic times and a by the Diocletian price edict are trustworthy. lack of skilled artisans led to old portraits becom- Since the prices probably reflected local condi- ing a marketable commodity. For this to happen, tions in Asia Minor, they may be completely however, the Roman view of the archetype must worthless as a price indicator for the West. The have changed. In earlier periods, the archetype results of Duncan-Jones’ analyses are, nonethe- had inspired respect, even awe, but from the time less, worth mentioning here. He identified 138 of the soldier emperors onwards, attitudes different prices for Roman statues and calculated towards it must have changed to facilitate the that the mean price was about 5000 sesterces, at recarving of portraits on a large scale. least for statues in Africa (Duncan-Jones, 1974: 78; Pekàry, 1985: 19). The highest recorded price for a statue is 66,666 sesterces, followed by 50,000 Economy and reuse and 33,320 sesterces, but these amounts indicate inflation. The lowest price he found is 2000 ses- There is abundant evidence that the Roman econ- terces, whereas about 77% of all statue prices omy at least by the middle of the 3rd century ce appear to lie between 8000 and 2000 sesterces. was going through a profound crisis from which Prices also seem to include the bases.
[Show full text]