Le sculture di età augustea del Santuario di Ercole Vincitore a Tivoli

Abstract

This article analyzes some of the remarkable sculptures excavated on the interior of the sanctuary of Hercules Victor at Tivoli, focusing on the finds from the Augustan age. In comparison with the Republican sculptures, the archaeological finds of the imperial period are numerically fewer, and present a more fragmented state of conservation as well as greater dissimilarities in terms of stylistic and technical features. Despite this premise, few but interesting sculptural evidences date back to the Augustan age interventions on the sculptural decoration of the sanctuary that, connected to stratigraphic data, which have ascertained substantial building interventions in this period, document an interest of the princeps resulted in works aimed probably to compensate the sanctuary of money borrowed from his thesaurus during the civil war with Antonio. In the light of the new finds that emerged during the most recent excavation and restoration campaigns conducted at the archaeological complex, the study proposes an interpretation of the materials in connection with the construction phases and the decoration of the sanctuary from a later stage, with respect to the monumental building period of the Republican epoch. The study also advances a new interpretation of the noted colossal head referred to as Alexander, discovered in 1902 near the temple and now in the Museo Nazionale Romano, that the author hypothesizes depicting a young beardless Hercules. Among the pieces examined, the colossal head, so-called Alexander Helios, can be dated with certainty to the Augustan age on the basis of stylistic comparisons. Lastly the finding of the miniature torso of a probable statuette of Hercules allows to suppose an intervention in Augustan age on the sculptural furniture of the fountains in front of the temple staircase, supporting the hypothesis of a post-republican phase for this area.

Keywords: Tibur, Hercules Victor, sculptural decoration, Hercules colossal head, miniature torso