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CHAPTER FIVE

SPES

I. Iconography of Like Tyche-, with whom she is sometimes closely associated, Spes also arises as the personification of an abstract concept, but she seems to have been much less important in the pre-Roman world. 1 The Greek equivalent of Spes-'E).nic;-is sometimes found personified in Greek literature, but there is no evidence for a Greek cult of 'E).nic; nor is she represented in Greek art. 2 Spes, on the other hand, seems to have been one of the earliest personifications to be worshipped as a deity in . Her public worship was established at least as early as the when the first Spes temple in the was erected by A. Atilius Calatinus. 3 This structure was destroyed at least twice before the early Imperial temple was dedicated by in A.D. 17. 4 An earlier Spes cult area just ouside the Porta Praenestina, which probably goes back to the fifth century B. C., is now believed to have been private in nature. Nonetheless this personification must have been treated as a deity at a very early date. 5 Despite this early evidence for cult activity, our knowledge of the ap• pearance of this personification/deity does not predate the Imperial era and consists almost entirely of coin representations. 6 These begin early in

1 The origin and early imperial development of the cult of Spes is now fully treated in Clark 1983, with full bibliography, especially nn.1-2 on p.100. On the association be• tween Spes and Fortuna see his pp. 82, 86 and Latte, "Spes," RE 3A 2 (1929) 1635. On the iconography of Spes, also: Hartmann 1976-1980. For Spes types in marble relief: Cain 1985, 116-117. 2 Clark 1983, 85, 87 and Latte (supra n.1) 1634. This is in strong contrast with Tyche, who, as was shown in chapter 4, had many cults and statues in Greece at least as early as the late Classical period. 3 In 258 B.C. Clark 1983, 81. 4 Clark 1983, 96-97, has argued that this last temple, destroyed in 31 B.C., was rebuilt during the Augustan principate but not completed and dedicated until the reign of . Parts of the temple remain today; it is identified with the southernmost of three temples built into the church of S. Nicola in Carcere: Platner-Ashby 493-494. 5 The temple is mentioned by (II,51,2) and Dionysius of Halikarnassos (IX,24,4) in connection with events of 477 B.C. Latte (supra n.1) 1634; Clark 1983, 81. 6 One statue, once in the Ludovisi collection, can be identified as a Spes on the evi• dence of the inscription on its base: Q. Aquilius Dionysius et Nonia Faustina Spern Restituerunt. T. Schreiber, Die Antiken Bildwerke der Villa Ludovisi im Rom (Rome 1880) 241-242, no.292; G. Wissowa, Handbuch d.kl.alt. Wiss. v.5, pt.4 (1902) 274. While the statue is not available for study and no photographs are published, the descriptions by Schreiber and Wissowa indicate that it is a type of Archaic/archaistic kore. The statue is not included in the recent Terme sculpture catalogue; it is referred to in a table (Giuliano 1983 (v.I,4), 300 no.292) 104 SPES

the reign of Claudius and are found on coins as late as the second half of the third century A.C. Although there is some significant variation in the scheme (considered below) the general type is well established: a kore in chiton and Ionic mantle striding to the left, holding a flower in her right hand and pulling her skirt to the left. This is, of course, the scheme of the well-known Archaic statue type found in many Greek sanctuaries. It has even been suggested that the type used here for Spes is based on an Archaic statue in the Forum Holitorium temple. 7 However, despite the variation in the coin representations, it is clear that in each case there is depicted an archaistic, not an Archaic kore. All coin types include some post-Archaic features which betray their later date of creation and indicate their relationship to the Neo-Attic repertoire of archaistic figure types. The earliest reverse types depicting Spes occur on bronze coins issued under Claudius in A.D. 41 and 42; these show a draped female striding left with her right leg advanced and the legend SPES AUGUSTA (Fig.40).8 In this case the figure does not wear the Ionic himation/chiton arrangement usually encountered but a strange amalgam of garments and styles. She seems to wear a long diaphanous chiton with overfold which is more classicizing than archaistic. However, the skirt is pulled to one side in the Archaic gesture and a long section of zig-zag drapery falls down from over the right shoulder in apparent imitation of that feature on the Archaic short diagonal mantle. This mixture of styles recalls Neo-Attic work as does the figure's eloquent outline; the die-cutter shows concern here for legibility within the limitations of this two-dimensional medium. The Spes reverse type is revived in Flavian times, especially under Vespa• sian; there are now two quite different types, both of which are more thoroughly in imitation of Archaic forms than is the Claudian type. The more common Flavian type (Fig. 41) shares with the Claudian type its pose and subsequent distinct and comprehensible outline; it differs in wearing what is clearly shown to be a diagonal mantle and in having a cen• tral pleat in its skirt. 9 A second, quite different, Flavian type occurs on

as "statua di Spes." In the volume on Ludovisi marbles now dispersed (v.1,6, 1986, p.300) the concordance identifies Schreiber 292 with cat. no. IX,3; this identification is erronious, since IX,3 is Screiber 318, as listed in the entry under that number. 7 Clark 1983, 86; Bieber 1961, 182. Yet, this temple is believed to be a third century foundation. 8 Mattingly 1923-1962 v.I, nos. 124-134, 192-196. 9 This latter is a common illogical feature of archaistic figures which pull the skirt to one side. Cf. for example the Artemis on the Athens-Delos relief or the Tyche of Munich type. This variant is found on nearly all Flavian aes coinage: Mattingly 1923-1962 v.11 Vespasian nos. 481, 192, C. 208, 679, 703, 711, 719-120, 725-726, 728-729, 737, 748, 868, 874; Titus nos. C.218, 183-186, 214-215, 234,248,289, 295-296. The type occurs occa-