University of Southampton Faculty of Humanities Archaeology Understanding Egyptianizing Obelisks: Appropriation in Early Imperial Rome by Katharine Hoare Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2017 University of Southampton Research Repository Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis and, where applicable, any accompanying data are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis and the accompanying data cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content of the thesis and accompanying research data (where applicable) must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder/s. When referring to this thesis and any accompanying data, full bibliographic details must be given, e.g. Thesis: Author (Year of Submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University Faculty or School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Archaeology Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy UNDERSTANDING EGYPTIANIZING OBELISKS: APPROPRIATION IN EARLY IMPERIAL ROME by Katharine Hoare Re-use of ancient Egyptian architectural styles outside Egypt began in the time of the pharaohs and continues to the present day. The style draws on the structures, elements and motifs of ancient Egypt using both ancient and replica/pastiche pieces. I will argue that appropriation of the style should be seen as an active process designed to create a cultural object with specific meaning within the coeval social world. Drawing on the tenets of reception theory, I aim to explore the appropriation of Egyptian obelisks to early imperial Rome by considering the social circumstances, possible producer motivation and potential audience responses to the monuments. I will propose that the appropriation of Egyptian obelisks to Rome is a creative negotiation that prioritises particular aspects of the monument to address specific economic, political and religious circumstances within the appropriating society. At the same time it is important to consider the coeval perceptions of Egypt circulating in Rome and how these perceptions impact on the selection and reception of obelisks in the city. Central to my research is the presentation of a data set relating to fourteen obelisks appropriated to Rome, a detailed discussion of the ‘transfer vehicles’ which carried crucial information about ancient Egypt and obelisks from Egypt into the Roman world, and the identification of clusters of appropriation points within the imperial period; all of which help to create a more nuanced picture of why at least fifty obelisks were raised in Rome and how we might start to understand these acts of appropriation two thousand years later. i ‘Spend your day writing with your fingers and read at night! Be close to the roll and the palette - they are sweeter than pomegranate-wine. Writing, for she who knows it, is more excellent than any office. It is sweeter than provisions and beer, than clothing, than ointment. It is more precious than a heritage in Egypt, than a chapel in the West.’ Extract from papyrus roll BM EA 9994 Thebes, 1187-1064 BC ii Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Research aims 4 1.3 Research context 7 1.4 Data selection 8 1.5 Reception theory 9 1.6 Study structure 17 1.7 Summary 18 Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Introduction 19 2.2 Defining Egyptianizing architecture 19 2.3 Literature on Egyptianizing architecture 23 2.4 Literature on Egyptianizing obelisks 28 2.5 Explaining Egyptianizing architecture 33 2.6 Summary 49 Chapter 3: Data 3.1 Introduction 51 3.2 Data set 51 3.3 Obelisks 52 3.3.1 The obelisk in ancient Egypt 53 3.3.2 Quarrying obelisks 62 3.4 Obelisks included in the research data set 64 3.4.1 Evidence for the data set obelisks 67 3.5 Appropriation to Rome 67 3.6 Topography of Rome 69 3.7 Summary 71 Chapter 4: Methodology 4.1 Introduction 73 iii 4.2 Reception theory approaches to material culture 73 4.3 Griswold’s cultural diamond 77 4.4 Augmenting the cultural diamond 82 4.4.1 Cultural object 86 4.4.2 Producer 90 4.4.3 Social world 92 4.4.4 Audience 97 4.5 Point of appropriation 103 4.6 Summary 106 Chapter 5: Cultural objects 5.1 Introduction 107 5.2 Cultural objects 107 5.2.1 Obelisks 1 and 2 116 5.2.2 Obelisk 3 120 5.2.3 Obelisks 4 and 5 122 5.3 Summary 127 Chapter 6: Social world 6.1 Introduction 129 6.2 Early imperial Rome 129 6.3 Egypt becomes Roman 132 6.4 Transfer vehicles 134 6.4.1 Texts 134 6.4.2 Images 141 6.5 Summary 146 Chapter 7: Producers 7.1 Introduction 147 7.2 Producers 147 7.2.1 Augustus 147 7.2.2 Caligula 166 7.3 Summary 174 iv Chapter 8: Audience 8.1 Introduction 175 8.2 Audience 176 8.3 Reading the obelisks 178 8.4 Topography 183 8.4.1 Campus Martius 185 8.4.2 Circuses 193 8.5 Obelisks as monuments 199 8.5.1 Modifications 201 8.5.2 Inscriptions 209 8.6 Moving the obelisks 212 8.7 Summary 217 Chapter 9: Conclusion 9.1 Introduction 219 9.2 Concluding discussion 194 9.3 Recommendations for future research 199 9.4 Concluding summary 201 Tables Keys to Table 1 and Table 2 229 Table 1 Height of core data set obelisks 204 Table 2 Obelisks in Rome 25 BC - AD 399 205 Appendices Appendix A: Obelisks of imperial Rome 206 Appendix B: Dating and spelling conventions 239 Appendix C: Order of obelisks in current literature 271 Bibliography 273 v Figures Figure 1.1 Pottery lamp showing a winning chariot team and obelisk in a circus, AD 30-70 15 Figure 3.1 Reconstruction of the sun temple of Nyuserra at Abusir 54 Figure 3.2 Burial amulet in the shape of an obelisk 56 Figure 3.3 Obelisk of Senusret I at Heliopolis 57 Figure 3.4 Sandstone relief from Karnak showing Hatshepsut (left) presenting a pair of obelisks to the god Amun-Re 59 Figure 3.5 Reconstruction of the eastern end of the sun temple at Karnak 60 Figure 3.6 The unfinished obelisk at the quarries at Aswan, Egypt 64 Figure 3.7 Map of the traditional Seven Hills of Rome 69 Figure 3.8 Map of ancient Rome 70 Figure 3.9 Contour map of Augustan Rome 71 Figure 4.1 Griswold’s cultural diamond 77 Figure 4.2 Griswold’s cultural diamond through time 80 Figure 4.3 Understanding the appropriation of obelisks through an augmented cultural diamond 83 Figure 4.4 The Mensa Isiaca, AD 41-54 88 Figure 4.5 Figure of Anubis on shrine, tomb of Tutankhamun 94 Figure 4.6 Glass beaker with chariot racing scene, AD 43-100 96 Figure 4.7 Pottery lamp showing a race in the Circus Maximus, AD 175-225 96 Figure 4.8 Campus Martius eighth century BC 99 Figure 4.9 Campus Martius monuments 146 BC 99 Figure 4.10 Campus Martius monuments AD 14 100 Figure 5.1 Obelisks 1 (left) and 2 (right) in their current locations in Rome 108 Figure 5.2 Obelisk 3 in its current location in Rome 109 Figure 5.3 The obelisk currently in New York standing in Alexandria in the late 1850s 114 Figure 5.4 Bronze crab supports for the obelisk known as Cleopatra’s Needle 115 Figure 5.5 Fragments of pavement below Via di Campo Marzio 117 Figure 5.6 Reconstruction of obelisk 1 118 Figure 5.7 First century AD relief showing the Circus Maximus with obelisk 2 on the spina 120 vi Figure 5.8 Map of the northern Campus Martius and the Vaticanum 121 Figure 5.9 Obelisk 3 standing to the south of Old St Peter’s Basilica c. 1535 121 Figure 5.10 Obelisks 4 (left) and 5 (right) in their current locations in Rome 123 Figure 6.1 Palestrina Nile mosaic 143 Figure 6.2 Detail from the Palestrina Nile mosaic showing obelisks 144 Figure 6.3 Pottery lamp with an Egyptianizing scene, AD 40-90 145 Figure 6.4 Cameo glass flask, 25 BC-AD 25 145 Figure 7.1 Silver coin (observe and reverse) issued in Rome, 16 BC 155 Figure 7.2 Plan of the northern Campus Martius around AD 12 156 Figure 7.3 Reconstruction of northern Campus Martius 10-1 BC 157 Figure 7.4 Silver coin (observe and reverse) issued in Rome, 118-107 BC 160 Figure 7.5 Tazza Farnese 165 Figure 7.6 Tiberian inscription on shaft of obelisk 3 (west side) 168 Figure 8.1 Funerary monument of Caius Cestius, Rome 179 Figure 8.2 Marble statue of Isis, early second century AD 180 Figure 8.3 Gem engraved with chariot race and obelisk 182 Figure 8.4 Fourteen Augustan regions of Rome 185 Figure 8.5 Map of Rome in 52 BC 186 Figure 8.6 The reassembled Ara Pacis in its modern museum setting 188 Figure 8.7 Members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis 189 Figure 8.8 Reconstruction of the Mausoleum of Augustus 190 Figure 8.9 Diagram showing the angle of alignment between obelisk 1, the Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus 191 Figure 8.10 Axial alignment of the Pantheon and the Mausoleum of Augustus 192 Figure 8.11 Bronze coin (reverse) issued by Trajan, AD 103 195 Figure 8.12 Set of three bronze strigils 196 Figure 8.13 Detail of handle of bronze strigil 196 Figure 8.14 Gem engraved with circus chariot race scene 197 Figure 8.15 Detail of map of ancient Rome showing northwest region of the city 198 Figure 8.16 Silver coin (observe and reverse) issued by Augustus, 28 BC 201 Figure 8.17 Silver coin (reverse) issued in Rome, 16 BC 202 Figure 8.18 Cameo glass fragment, AD 1-25 204 vii Figure 8.19 Gold coin (reserve) issued by Augustus, 27 BC 205 Figure 8.20 Silver coin (reserve) issued by Augustus, 29-27 BC 205 Figure 8.21 Silver coin (obverse and reverse) issued by Augustus, 29 BC 206 Figure 8.22 Detail of a map of ancient Rome showing location of