Base of the statue of Titus Antonius Martialis Pudentianus
This marble base was unearthed during excavations carried out in 1826 in Olevano Romano for Camillo Borghese. Resting on a moulded base and crowned by a cornice with a listel, smooth ovolo and cyma reversa, it was the support for a (lost) statue of Titus Antonius Martialis Pudentianus, a magistrate of senatorial rank who became first quaestor of the province of Africa, then tribune of the plebs, then praetor and, finally, legatus propraetor (assistant to the governor) of the same province. His posts are listed in the honorary inscription on the front.
Object details
Inventory
Location
Date
Classification
Medium
Dimensions
height 103 cm, width 72 cm; depth 51 cm; 3.5-4 cm letters
Provenance
Gregorio Castellani’s excavations on the Olevano Romano estate (1826); Inventario Fidecommissario Borghese, 1833, C., p. 41, no. 7. Purchased by the Italian State, 1902.
Conservation and Diagnostic
- 2008 Consorzio Capitolino
Commentary
This marble base can be identified as the one found during excavations carried out for Camillo Borghese on the Olevano Romano estate, in via Nomentana, in 1826 and headed by the excavator Gregorio Castellani. Described on the list of finds as a tomb inscription, the honorary statue base was unearthed along with the torso of Hercules (XII) as well as terracotta panels, an inscription referring to the restoration of a Fanum Bonae deae, tomb inscriptions, including the two of gens Vallia, and various architectural materials (ASR, Camerlengato, II, tit. IV, b. 167, fasc. 430, prot. 13981-14910).
Initially displayed in the basement, it is described in the guide by Venturi published in 1893 as serving as a base for a torso of a man (XXIX).
The four-sided base has a socle composed of a listel, a cyma reversa, a second listel and a band worked coarsely with a claw chisel. The upper moulding comprises a listel, a smooth ovolo and a cyma reversa. The front is decorated with a two-listel cornice framing an inscription. The text T(itus) Antonius T(iti) filius/ Martialis Pu/dentianus q(uestor)/ p(rovinciae) Afr(icae), tr(ibunus) pl(ebis), p(raetor), leg(atus) pr(o) pr(aetore) p(rovinciae) Afr(icae) diachronically lists the cursus honorum of Martial Pudentianus, a magistrate of senatorial rank who became first quaestor of the province of Africa, then tribune of the plebs, then praetor and, finally, legatus propraetor (assistant to the governor) of the same province. This was the subject of the (lost) statue that stood on the base.
Stylistic and palaeographic analysis allow us to date the base to the second century CE.
Jessica Clementi
Bibliography
- CIL, VI 1346, p. 3141, 4684
- A. Venturi, Il Museo e la Galleria Borghese, Roma 1893, p. 12.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, pp. 140-141, n. 104.
- P. Moreno, C. Sforzini, I ministri del principe Camillo: cronaca della collezione Borghese di antichità dal 1807 al 1832, in “Scienze dell’Antichità”, 1, 1987, pp. 339-371, in part. p. 350.
- P. Moreno, A. Viacava, I marmi antichi della Galleria Borghese. La collezione archeologica di Camillo e Francesco Borghese, Roma 2003, pp. 78-79, n. 27.
- Scheda di catalogo 12/99000431, G. Ciccarello 2021.
