WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:01.810 Thank you very much. 00:00:02.070 --> 00:00:06.255 We would like to start our presentation today, our paper 00:00:06.256 --> 00:00:10.330 today, by thanking Edith and Pablo for inviting us. 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:18.370 Also, since Ted started defending why Dura, we want to do the same with Italica. 00:00:19.370 --> 00:00:27.370 Italica is nowadays still, not Italica, but Sevilla is still considered a seaport. 00:00:28.360 --> 00:00:30.850 So, I think we fit correctly. 00:00:32.999 --> 00:00:35.950 It took us some time to figure it out. 00:00:37.450 --> 00:00:45.450 Also, we are very grateful because they allow us to do a re-enactment of our Tueto 00:00:45.649 --> 00:00:46.650 presentations. 00:00:50.224 --> 00:00:52.510 Without further ado, I begin. 00:00:53.139 --> 00:00:59.410 The organizers of this conference invited us to reflect on how individuals and 00:00:59.411 --> 00:01:04.680 groups manage cultural differences in the conceptualization 00:01:04.681 --> 00:01:08.030 of and ritual communication with the divine. 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:13.669 They also encouraged us to assess the diverse 00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:16.710 outcomes of this management of cultural difference. 00:01:18.169 --> 00:01:23.750 Adopting a micro-historical approach centered on individual and group actions. 00:01:25.099 --> 00:01:26.390 This is our theme. 00:01:26.410 --> 00:01:29.270 This is a theoretically ambitious and complex approach. 00:01:30.059 --> 00:01:35.670 Closely connected, needless to say, to a lived ancient religion. 00:01:36.924 --> 00:01:42.530 From this perspective, divine meetings can also be understood as the result of 00:01:42.531 --> 00:01:46.471 individual actions that brought different gods and 00:01:46.472 --> 00:01:50.310 divine powers together within new religious contexts. 00:01:52.309 --> 00:01:58.770 Here we shall present the example of a particular actor who has frequently been 00:01:58.771 --> 00:02:04.030 left out of these recent micro-historical and individual approaches. 00:02:04.889 --> 00:02:05.910 The Emperor himself. 00:02:08.390 --> 00:02:16.390 The specific case we propose to SMI concerns the divine meetings that took 00:02:16.391 --> 00:02:23.090 place in the Vatican city of Italica as a consequence of its redesign and 00:02:23.091 --> 00:02:28.390 refoundation as a true ceremonial city conceived by the Emperor Hadrian. 00:02:29.815 --> 00:02:36.890 The present action and creative capacity of the Hispanic Emperor played a decisive 00:02:36.891 --> 00:02:40.949 role in devising the exceptional architectural and 00:02:40.950 --> 00:02:44.970 urban context in which these divine meetings took place. 00:02:46.540 --> 00:02:53.330 We start from the premise that the Emperor as an individual should be reinstated in 00:02:53.331 --> 00:02:59.470 the debate so that his agency can be reconsidered in light of the theoretical 00:02:59.471 --> 00:03:03.190 advances that lived ancient religion in particular 00:03:03.191 --> 00:03:06.310 has brought to the analysis of religious change. 00:03:07.600 --> 00:03:12.810 The Emperor possessed, in our view, what we have termed elsewhere adult 00:03:12.811 --> 00:03:19.910 agency, understood metaphorically as a form of individual action that structures 00:03:19.911 --> 00:03:24.050 the field within which other forms of agency operate. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:30.230 This does not mean that the divine meetings we shall describe did not involve 00:03:30.231 --> 00:03:34.343 other actors or that they did not respond to and 00:03:34.344 --> 00:03:38.330 were not motivated by local stimuli and traditions. 00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:42.329 The Emperor's capacity for action was not 00:03:42.330 --> 00:03:45.850 qualitatively different from that of other individuals. 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:51.670 Rather, it was extraordinarily amplified by the political, symbolic, and economic 00:03:51.690 --> 00:03:54.470 institutions that were attached to the Imperial office. 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:00.570 His ideas and words were not only more effective because they carried a 00:04:00.571 --> 00:04:04.670 particular weight and authority, but also because they traveled farther, 00:04:05.190 --> 00:04:09.770 reached almost everywhere, and lasted longer than those of most individuals. 00:04:11.190 --> 00:04:17.310 As a result, imperial agency did not simply coexist with the agency of others, 00:04:18.125 --> 00:04:21.670 but continuously shaped, channeled, and transformed the world. 00:04:21.690 --> 00:04:24.094 In other words, they constrained the conditions within 00:04:24.095 --> 00:04:28.490 which other religious actors exercised their own agency. 00:04:29.670 --> 00:04:35.130 The importance of imperial agency in the divine meetings that took place at Italica 00:04:35.690 --> 00:04:41.950 has already been brilliantly explored by the chair of this panel, Jaime Albán, 00:04:43.215 --> 00:04:48.610 in his article El Panteón de Itanca, where he concluded that, and I quote, 00:04:48.611 --> 00:04:52.499 everything fits within the ideological construction 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:55.490 of the empire promoted by Hadrian, end of quote. 00:04:56.875 --> 00:05:01.170 To the reasons already put forward by Albán to explain the presence of a 00:05:01.171 --> 00:05:07.010 particular group of deities in Hadrian's hometown, we would like to add a factor 00:05:07.011 --> 00:05:13.370 that in our view was fundamental, the urban and ritual context that we have 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:15.390 termed the ceremonial city. 00:05:18.435 --> 00:05:21.621 As noted earlier, the fundamental purpose of Hadrian's 00:05:21.622 --> 00:05:25.910 transformation of Italica was to turn it into a ceremonial city. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:31.130 At the emperor's initiative, the city became a center for religious festivals, 00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:34.670 devoted to the Roman gods and to the emperors themselves. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.850 These celebrations included processions, banquets, athletic competitions, 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.930 theatrical performances, and lavish gladiatorial games, attracting large 00:05:46.931 --> 00:05:50.810 numbers of visitors, from across Hispania and beyond. 00:05:51.900 --> 00:05:55.294 This ceremonial function explained the extraordinary 00:05:55.295 --> 00:05:58.550 scale and magnificence of Hadrian's new urban design. 00:05:59.900 --> 00:06:06.430 Its principal elements were the great temple of the imperial cult, the so-called 00:06:06.570 --> 00:06:12.339 triuneum, which we shall return later, the broad 00:06:12.340 --> 00:06:15.590 avenues that served as processional routes, 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:29.577 the amphitheater, the baths with their palestra, and the 00:06:29.578 --> 00:06:35.230 extensive remodeling of the theater and its surrounding area. 00:06:37.985 --> 00:06:41.267 The scale and splendor of these buildings far 00:06:41.268 --> 00:06:45.290 exceeded the needs of a medium-sized provincial city. 00:06:45.970 --> 00:06:47.630 The population of perhaps... 00:06:47.905 --> 00:06:51.130 8,000 to 10,000 inhabitants. 00:06:53.165 --> 00:06:58.570 The colossal scale of these structures suggests that Hadrian conceived his 00:06:58.571 --> 00:07:02.234 ceremonial Italica as a palace of pilgrimage, 00:07:02.235 --> 00:07:05.210 intended to receive large numbers of visitors. 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:13.590 The luxurious phallic lighthouses built during the Hadrianic enlargement further 00:07:13.591 --> 00:07:17.186 reinforced the impression of a city designed to 00:07:17.187 --> 00:07:21.250 astonish through its scale, luxury, and originality. 00:07:23.270 --> 00:07:29.030 This vast ceremonial project was supported by substantial new urban infrastructure, 00:07:29.890 --> 00:07:35.730 a new land route, a new harbor, a new sewer system, and a new water supply 00:07:35.731 --> 00:07:40.510 designed to serve the recently constructed public buildings and houses. 00:07:41.710 --> 00:07:47.130 Hadrian's patria, also the birthplace of his predecessor, Trajan, thus came to 00:07:47.131 --> 00:07:51.284 reflect the Roman state at the height of its splendor and the 00:07:51.285 --> 00:07:55.130 broader project that Hadrian was pursuing across the empire. 00:07:57.580 --> 00:08:00.870 This ceremonial urban design was by no means unprecedented. 00:08:01.865 --> 00:08:06.230 It drew clear inspiration from models developed in the Greco-Roman East, 00:08:06.760 --> 00:08:12.390 where cities such as Ephesus, Pergamon, and Smyrna had already consolidated a 00:08:12.391 --> 00:08:17.770 close relationship between monumental architecture, the imperial cult, 00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:19.310 and the celebration of festivals. 00:08:20.710 --> 00:08:26.570 At the same time, it can be argued that the new Italica bears unique testimony to 00:08:26.571 --> 00:08:31.790 a century-long process of cultural hybridization across the Mediterranean, 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:36.830 which found one of its coolest expressions during the Hadrianic period. 00:08:38.029 --> 00:08:42.929 Its design brought together ideas, knowledge, traits, materials, and styles 00:08:42.930 --> 00:08:46.770 of different origins, combining documented Greek and 00:08:46.771 --> 00:08:49.810 Egyptian features with Roman forms and expressions. 00:08:50.909 --> 00:08:57.070 In this sense, Italica was the product of the profound cultural connections across 00:08:57.071 --> 00:09:01.590 the empire that were the hallmark of the Roman world during the second century. 00:09:02.269 --> 00:09:05.692 A design with deeply Eastern roots, conceived and 00:09:05.693 --> 00:09:08.670 built at the very opposite end of the Mediterranean. 00:09:08.671 --> 00:09:14.290 Architecture, construction techniques, and materials, religious practices, 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:21.030 and urban forms thus converge in a single coherent imperial venture, providing an 00:09:21.031 --> 00:09:25.950 outstanding expression of Rome's capacity to incorporate and combine different 00:09:25.951 --> 00:09:31.536 cultural traditions and the auspices of Hadrian and the 00:09:31.537 --> 00:09:36.550 new imperial elite that had risen to power with him. 00:09:36.551 --> 00:09:42.250 This imperial combination of elements from across the Mediterranean, which was never 00:09:42.251 --> 00:09:45.888 an innocent one, also shaped the kinds of 00:09:45.889 --> 00:09:49.390 divine encounters that took place in Italica. 00:09:50.819 --> 00:09:54.530 Tracing this process in its entirety would be difficult. 00:09:55.424 --> 00:09:59.770 We shall therefore focus on two issues that, in our view, can be particularly 00:09:59.771 --> 00:10:03.470 well understood through the lens of the ceremonial city. 00:10:04.189 --> 00:10:07.598 First, the fascinating combination of divine powers 00:10:07.599 --> 00:10:10.490 that came together in the so-called triuneum. 00:10:11.699 --> 00:10:16.270 And secondly, the significant presence of Egyptian elements in the city, 00:10:16.839 --> 00:10:19.250 particularly the goddess Isis. 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:28.880 At the highest point of Hadrian's new city, stood its principal architectural 00:10:28.881 --> 00:10:35.140 landmark, a monumental sacred complex covering more than 11,000 square meters. 00:10:36.169 --> 00:10:41.040 At its center rose a colossal perimeter, a cathedral and an 00:10:41.041 --> 00:10:45.480 octagonal temple built on a podium and oriented toward the vetis. 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:52.060 The abundant use of marble, even for its roof and its commanding scenographic 00:10:52.061 --> 00:10:56.924 position, made it visible from afar, particularly from 00:10:56.925 --> 00:11:00.920 the river, almost as a beacon overlooking the new city. 00:11:02.579 --> 00:11:07.600 The sanctuary was directly connected by a processional avenue with the amphitheater, 00:11:08.520 --> 00:11:14.480 which played a determining role in the organization of the Hadrianic urban expansion. 00:11:16.764 --> 00:11:23.260 Around the temple extended a large portico, squared, articulated by 00:11:23.261 --> 00:11:28.880 semicircular and rectangular et cetera, providing additional spaces for cult 00:11:28.881 --> 00:11:32.800 images alongside those housed in the temple's cellar. 00:11:33.429 --> 00:11:38.684 What interests us most here, however, is the concentration 00:11:38.685 --> 00:11:42.680 of divine powers within this monumental setting. 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:49.840 The epigraphic evidence documents a remarkable, diverse divine presence. 00:11:52.400 --> 00:12:00.400 The genius of the colony, Apollo Augustus, Jupiter, Victoria Augusta, Isis Domina, 00:12:01.169 --> 00:12:09.020 Ceres, Juno Regina, to these traditional gods, all probably represented with, 00:12:10.449 --> 00:12:16.526 we know of them through priesthoods, also images, all 00:12:16.527 --> 00:12:19.740 this information is gathered in the epigraphical record. 00:12:20.434 --> 00:12:26.860 To these traditional gods, we can add also the imperial gods, the Divi, the Augusti, 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:34.320 Hadrian we know for sure, Divus Traius, Traianus, probably Divus Augustus too. 00:12:34.321 --> 00:12:39.600 So many different gods, both traditional and imperial. 00:12:40.809 --> 00:12:45.271 The sculptural evidence may add yet another dimension 00:12:45.272 --> 00:12:49.260 to this remarkable concentration of divine powers. 00:12:50.169 --> 00:12:56.720 Three different colossus, colossal statues are attested by the surviving fragments. 00:12:57.829 --> 00:13:00.640 Although their identification remains uncertain. 00:13:01.260 --> 00:13:09.260 We have one forearm, measuring more than a metre and a half, the palm of another 00:13:09.261 --> 00:13:12.744 colossal statue, and then the biggest one, 00:13:12.745 --> 00:13:19.000 which is the fingertip of 30 metres of size. 00:13:20.419 --> 00:13:26.400 It has been suggested that they may have represented Jupiter, Trajan, Hadrian, 00:13:27.079 --> 00:13:29.267 following a divine dynastic association 00:13:29.268 --> 00:13:33.100 effected elsewhere, for instance, at Pergamon. 00:13:34.174 --> 00:13:39.800 If so, their colossal presence would have provided a particularly powerful visual 00:13:39.801 --> 00:13:45.220 expression of the meeting of traditional and imperial gods within the sanctuary. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:51.540 Beyond this colossi, the picture may have been even richer. 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:58.260 Some scholars have suggested that a number of divine statues later found in the 00:13:58.261 --> 00:14:03.260 monumental area of the Cerro de San Antonio, closer to the theatre, 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:08.380 in the picture, in the image, may originally have belonged to the Trajaneum 00:14:08.381 --> 00:14:15.980 and been transferred there after its abandonment early in late antiquity. 00:14:17.640 --> 00:14:25.640 Be that as it may, the statues included representations of Diana, Mercury and 00:14:25.641 --> 00:14:33.420 Venus, other imperial statues, Alexander the Great, If some of these 00:14:33.421 --> 00:14:39.300 images originally stood in the Trajaneum, they would add another dimension to the 00:14:39.301 --> 00:14:43.560 already remarkable concentration of divine powers attested here. 00:14:44.959 --> 00:14:50.440 Thus, whatever the precise identity of the temple's tutelary deity or deities, 00:14:51.124 --> 00:14:57.600 the available evidence does not allow us to be more precise about it, the Trajaneum 00:14:57.601 --> 00:15:03.440 emerged as an extraordinary setting for the kind of divine meetings discussed 00:15:03.441 --> 00:15:10.800 here, a sacred space in which traditional gods, imperial gods, and other divine 00:15:10.801 --> 00:15:16.540 powers could be brought together within a single monumental and religious program. 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:22.240 One 00:15:27.069 --> 00:15:30.179 of the goddesses included in the religious 00:15:30.180 --> 00:15:33.660 program of the so-called Trajaneum was Isis. 00:15:34.634 --> 00:15:39.020 The presence of Isis at Italica was not what one would call unexpected. 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:45.840 Egyptian gods were worshipped in many cities throughout the empire, although we 00:15:45.841 --> 00:15:51.000 do not know to what extent this was the case in Hispania, where so far, 00:15:54.680 --> 00:16:02.580 only a few temples, such as the one at Paello Claudia, in Cádiz, a sanctuary 00:16:02.581 --> 00:16:09.260 dedicated to Serapis at Emporium, the northeast of Spain, and perhaps a 00:16:09.261 --> 00:16:15.480 Serapeum at Carthago Nova, and that's all for the time being. 00:16:16.369 --> 00:16:19.594 But the reasons that might explain her presence 00:16:19.595 --> 00:16:22.760 at Italica were not exactly the same as elsewhere. 00:16:23.649 --> 00:16:29.000 In our view, the place occupied by Isis in the sacred topography of Italica, 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.717 may have been directly connected with Hadrian's 00:16:32.718 --> 00:16:35.960 ideological program and with the new ceremonial city. 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:43.060 The presence of Egyptian gods at Italica, in fact, was not limited to the small head 00:16:43.061 --> 00:16:48.060 that we saw Vivian Modesta offer in the imperial cult temple. 00:16:49.389 --> 00:16:56.080 The new Italica accommodated an entire series of Egyptian or Egyptianizing elements. 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:05.480 For instance, Egyptianizing mosaics, Egyptian statuettes, lamps, representing 00:17:05.481 --> 00:17:12.000 different members of the Gens Isiaca, and a fountain, probably representing the Nile. 00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:18.540 From the Flavian period onwards, and decisively under Hadrian, the city 00:17:18.541 --> 00:17:25.180 acquired a certain Egyptian touch, so to speak, which by then probably formed 00:17:25.181 --> 00:17:29.540 part of the broader appearance of Romanitas throughout the Mediterranean. 00:17:30.954 --> 00:17:34.631 The presence of Egyptian elements in very different 00:17:34.632 --> 00:17:38.820 urban contexts went far beyond a taste for exoticism. 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:45.980 The gradual integration of the empire, particularly encouraged at moments such as 00:17:45.981 --> 00:17:50.640 the reign of Hadrian, was based, among other things, on the normalization 00:17:50.641 --> 00:17:55.660 of the use of elements originating in diverse cultural contexts. 00:17:56.909 --> 00:18:02.760 The spread of Egyptian culture achieved unprecedented success during Hadrian's reign. 00:18:03.569 --> 00:18:07.270 The emperor's reign saw an extraordinary proliferation 00:18:07.271 --> 00:18:09.880 of Isiac sanctuaries throughout the Mediterranean. 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:16.240 And here you have a list of what could be considered Isiac sanctuaries. 00:18:17.849 --> 00:18:19.776 Even more interesting was the special 00:18:19.777 --> 00:18:22.880 relationship between Hadrian and the god Serapis. 00:18:23.549 --> 00:18:29.660 Under the epithet, Sius Serapis, or better still, Sius Helios Megas 00:18:29.661 --> 00:18:35.000 Serapis, an innovation of the Trojanic period that spread widely under Hadrian. 00:18:36.429 --> 00:18:42.000 The emperor and his immediate circle, but above all, the economic and cultural 00:18:42.001 --> 00:18:47.840 networks activated as a result of Hadrianic policies, helped to explain the 00:18:47.841 --> 00:18:51.540 growing presence of Egyptian elements in the cities of the empire. 00:18:52.849 --> 00:18:56.615 It was therefore hardly surprising that Italica should have 00:18:56.616 --> 00:19:00.420 reflected the spirit of the times with particular fidelity. 00:19:01.729 --> 00:19:02.760 But there is more. 00:19:03.749 --> 00:19:08.740 We should not forget that the construction of the ceremonial city made Italica a 00:19:08.741 --> 00:19:15.300 destination for spectacular shipments of stone, many of them coming directly from 00:19:15.301 --> 00:19:21.230 the quarries of Egypt's eastern desert, where coincidentally 00:19:21.231 --> 00:19:25.240 at least three Aesiac centuries were founded in Hadrian's time. 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:33.220 Among other materials, Egypt supplied the porphyry marble that added the color red 00:19:33.221 --> 00:19:38.040 to Hadrian's multicolored buildings in Italica. 00:19:39.114 --> 00:19:44.300 It is also likely that the numerous ships transporting these precious cargoes 00:19:45.069 --> 00:19:48.300 brought also people from the Nile region to Italica. 00:19:49.739 --> 00:19:53.475 Indeed, we know of one specific case, at least 00:19:53.476 --> 00:19:56.800 one, illustrating the mobility of Hadrian's agents. 00:19:57.859 --> 00:20:04.340 A certain Epaphroditus was an imperial slave responsible for managing the 00:20:04.341 --> 00:20:08.100 imperial quarries in the eastern desert of Egypt. 00:20:08.829 --> 00:20:11.547 And there he dedicated two temples of Serapis to 00:20:11.548 --> 00:20:18.300 the greater glory of Hadrian between 117 and 119 AD. 00:20:19.679 --> 00:20:21.320 Here you have the two dedications. 00:20:22.779 --> 00:20:30.420 Interestingly, at an unspecified point in the second century, a man, also named 00:20:30.421 --> 00:20:36.920 Epaphroditus, offered an altar to Jupiter Serapis in the city of Ostia in Italy. 00:20:37.879 --> 00:20:44.200 The port of Ostia, where there was already a serapeum that was dedicated on Hadrian's 00:20:44.399 --> 00:20:50.620 Dies Natalis, was one of the ports of arrival for the Egyptian fleet and it was 00:20:50.621 --> 00:20:55.740 also one of the places through which the abundant supply of building materials 00:20:55.741 --> 00:21:00.860 required for Hadrian's impressive building programs entered Italy. 00:21:02.349 --> 00:21:07.660 Although it is impossible to prove, it is very tempting to identify the 00:21:07.661 --> 00:21:14.400 Epaphroditus at Egypt with the one at Ostia and to imagine that he or others 00:21:14.624 --> 00:21:19.400 like him may also have accompanied Egyptian materials all the way to Italica, 00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:22.020 one of Hadrian's most ambitious projects. 00:21:23.719 --> 00:21:29.460 Be that as it may, in the vicinity of the port of Italica, one of the most important 00:21:29.461 --> 00:21:34.640 pieces of evidence for Egyptian cults in Hispania has recently come to light. 00:21:35.989 --> 00:21:42.180 A sanctuary situated in the porticus post Skaenum of the Theatre of Italica. 00:21:43.074 --> 00:21:50.120 The sanctuary was presumably dedicated at least to Isis, judging from four inscribed 00:21:50.121 --> 00:21:54.476 marble slabs that were found directly in front of the podium 00:21:54.477 --> 00:21:58.280 of the tetrastyle temple that presided over the sanctuary. 00:21:59.814 --> 00:22:06.180 What at first appeared to be no more than a modest little temple set into the 00:22:06.181 --> 00:22:12.940 portico of the theatre has proved to be a veritable sanctuary dedicated to the 00:22:12.941 --> 00:22:20.640 goddess of the Nile, comprising a temple of considerable dimensions, a rectangular 00:22:20.641 --> 00:22:23.633 basin in the middle of the courtyard, aligned with the 00:22:23.634 --> 00:22:29.220 main entrance to the temple, a crypt, a focus and an altar. 00:22:30.849 --> 00:22:33.612 In our opinion, the particular location of 00:22:33.613 --> 00:22:36.320 the temple of Isis deserves further attention. 00:22:37.739 --> 00:22:42.400 Some other Aesiac sanctuaries were located in the vicinity of theatres too, 00:22:43.149 --> 00:22:47.760 but only the temple at Italica was situated in the porticus post Skaenum. 00:22:47.761 --> 00:22:52.440 This type of porticus was quite common in theatres. 00:22:52.849 --> 00:22:57.680 They were used mainly as meeting places before, during or after performances. 00:22:58.849 --> 00:23:03.720 As such, they provided a perfect setting for displaying the power of local events. 00:23:05.099 --> 00:23:09.411 But porticus were also frequently used for ritual purposes, 00:23:09.412 --> 00:23:12.100 particularly in connection with the imperial cult. 00:23:13.309 --> 00:23:18.300 The special bond between Havian and the Egyptian cults together with the 00:23:18.301 --> 00:23:23.600 increasingly frequent association between the emperors and gods such as Isis and 00:23:23.601 --> 00:23:30.220 Serapis who came to form part of imperial ideology may have played a role in the 00:23:30.221 --> 00:23:34.440 location of the sanctuary of Isis in such a prominent urban setting. 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:41.140 It is possible that the local elites approved of and some of them even financed 00:23:41.464 --> 00:23:47.220 the new sanctuary of Isis as a form of energetic action that was perfectly 00:23:47.221 --> 00:23:50.935 consistent with imperial interests but also with the 00:23:50.936 --> 00:23:54.720 position occupied by the Egyptian gods within Roman culture. 00:23:56.389 --> 00:24:01.800 If this was indeed the case, indeed the case, the porticus of the theatre would 00:24:01.801 --> 00:24:04.916 have become yet another place where interesting 00:24:04.917 --> 00:24:07.460 divine encounters took place at Italica. 00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:13.520 It is not difficult to imagine that the sanctuary of Isis was one of the ritual 00:24:13.521 --> 00:24:18.720 stops along the processions that made their way from the city's main temple, 00:24:19.169 --> 00:24:25.900 the so-called Trianeum, to the theatre where the emperors were habitually honoured. 00:24:26.919 --> 00:24:32.180 The statues housed in the Trianeum undoubtedly portraits of the emperors but 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:41.180 also Victoria, Juno, Ceres, Isis herself and surely other gods would have proceeded 00:24:41.181 --> 00:24:46.980 in processions and encountered Isis in her own home before entering the theatre. 00:24:47.849 --> 00:24:50.998 Italica does witness a distinctive series of 00:24:50.999 --> 00:24:54.360 divine encounters between equally distinctive gods. 00:24:55.949 --> 00:25:02.200 This selection of divine powers was certainly not an innocent one nor was it 00:25:02.399 --> 00:25:06.240 exactly what one would find in any imperial city. 00:25:07.299 --> 00:25:11.780 Behind it we can recognise the powerful hand and agency of Hadrian. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:17.380 The construction of Hadrian's ceremonial city decisively shaped the religious 00:25:17.381 --> 00:25:23.060 landscape of the new Italica alongside of course the individual agency of local 00:25:23.061 --> 00:25:26.620 notables who contributed their own dedications and choices. 00:25:27.859 --> 00:25:32.820 The divine meetings that took place in the Traianeum and in the sanctuary of Isis 00:25:33.219 --> 00:25:37.002 were thus the product of the interaction between imperial 00:25:37.003 --> 00:25:40.440 agency and the actions of other individual religious actors. 00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:41.700 Thank you. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:48.780 Thank you very much. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:57.060 Is there any question, short question at the beginning of this part? 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:03.880 Here please. 00:26:05.600 --> 00:26:06.600 Yeah, very interesting. 00:26:08.619 --> 00:26:12.748 I was thinking about that inscription the health 00:26:12.749 --> 00:26:15.560 and salvation of Hadrian the great traitor. 00:26:17.269 --> 00:26:20.400 And but what was salvation of Hadrian? 00:26:21.080 --> 00:26:22.080 What was what? 00:26:22.250 --> 00:26:23.300 Salvation of Hadrian. 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:26.380 You mean let's move back. 00:26:28.719 --> 00:26:31.500 You mean you mean not this way? 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:35.160 Sorry, sorry, sorry. 00:26:38.299 --> 00:26:40.300 Can you move around a little No. 00:26:41.120 --> 00:26:42.140 Can you go back? 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:43.420 Back? 00:26:44.159 --> 00:26:51.240 You mean I mean salvation is that for the health and salvation of Hadrian? 00:26:53.560 --> 00:26:54.560 What do you mean? 00:26:55.529 --> 00:27:00.900 Well, I mean, obviously, in our context of salvation as a kind of Christian patient, 00:27:01.100 --> 00:27:04.100 obviously, but what would that have meant then? 00:27:04.399 --> 00:27:05.719 They didn't have the same answer. 00:27:06.509 --> 00:27:13.980 Well, it's the Greek Soteria, you know, that was very used in most of all in 00:27:15.624 --> 00:27:23.600 mysterious contexts from Archaic Greece and Eleusis to pre-Christian and Christian 00:27:24.779 --> 00:27:32.380 times calls such as Serapis, Isis, Cybele, and and it means what it means. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:36.520 We have a special Soteria here, but what does salvation mean? 00:27:39.499 --> 00:27:44.921 Salvation means that the God is granting your life after 00:27:44.922 --> 00:27:50.560 death, but also also your happiness here in this in Earth. 00:27:51.865 --> 00:27:53.000 Maybe, no? 00:27:53.080 --> 00:27:53.956 More or less. 00:27:53.980 --> 00:27:54.645 Yeah. 00:27:54.669 --> 00:27:57.580 Happiness here and in the life after death. 00:27:57.920 --> 00:27:58.920 Thank you. 00:27:59.080 --> 00:28:05.080 As you probably know, it's a long discussion on Earth. 00:28:05.540 --> 00:28:11.780 And the thing is that in the last years have been a very, very strong current 00:28:12.104 --> 00:28:17.260 against the idea of transcendent salvation. 00:28:18.649 --> 00:28:26.600 And they want they want to put this Soteria in the real world. 00:28:27.729 --> 00:28:32.660 But the thing is that we have, that this is my opinion, and it is just a 00:28:35.500 --> 00:28:43.500 partial view, that we have enough information concerning the possibility of 00:28:43.749 --> 00:28:49.880 using salvation Soteria in both senses. 00:28:50.669 --> 00:28:57.160 Not only the contingent world, but also when we read in Metamorphosis 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:03.191 Napoleus that when you arrive to the soil of Prosertina 00:29:03.192 --> 00:29:08.460 and then it will offer you a better life after all. 00:29:10.560 --> 00:29:15.072 And so it is not the only example but so long 00:29:15.073 --> 00:29:19.280 discussion everyone can feel whatever they want. 00:29:20.629 --> 00:29:21.640 Yeah, there was 00:29:27.509 --> 00:29:29.540 another have a sign correct. 00:29:29.859 --> 00:29:33.860 There is a pool, a basin in the temple, in the temple. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:38.060 And it's this one. 00:29:42.064 --> 00:29:44.740 No, this is not in the triangle. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:45.960 in the triangle. 00:29:48.609 --> 00:29:53.220 Are they a common feature in Roman temples this age or they 00:29:53.221 --> 00:29:57.160 could be connected to the present of Isis in both sides? 00:29:58.840 --> 00:30:06.840 In Roman temples in general the Iberian period is quite common to have water. 00:30:07.944 --> 00:30:10.680 The temple of peace in Rome brings that. 00:30:10.760 --> 00:30:15.280 And in the Iberian peninsula is extraordinarily common. 00:30:15.734 --> 00:30:19.453 The only problem is that usually it has not been excavated 00:30:19.454 --> 00:30:22.000 correctly and it has not been recorded correctly. 00:30:22.609 --> 00:30:27.360 But there are many, many, many of this type of construction. 00:30:27.500 --> 00:30:32.580 The one in the Trianeum is quite big, but there are many like in Ethica they 00:30:32.581 --> 00:30:39.860 have also fountains and sometimes it is an estanque but it's very common. 00:30:40.480 --> 00:30:48.480 And it should not be necessarily related to a specific divinity but it is a sacred 00:30:48.481 --> 00:30:53.720 water supply that is used also it has also a practical use. 00:30:54.764 --> 00:31:01.940 But your question is very interesting because if I may when we see the just a 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:12.720 minute the sorry here no not here as you see the the pond here 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:25.460 but in what you suggest or might suggest is that maybe Isis brought the necessity 00:31:26.280 --> 00:31:34.280 of having water and here in the Isis temple there is a crypt which has water 00:31:34.281 --> 00:31:38.940 all the year long because it has phreatic waters under 00:31:49.780 --> 00:31:57.780 So, probably we think that the water needed for ISIS cult was not from the 00:31:57.781 --> 00:32:02.620 pool, but from the crypt, which had water all the year. 00:32:03.219 --> 00:32:05.120 Anyway, just to clarify. 00:32:05.400 --> 00:32:06.400 Thank you. 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:11.240 Thank you. 00:32:11.280 --> 00:32:14.980 I much enjoyed when you were talking about the amalgamation of different traditions 00:32:14.981 --> 00:32:18.220 and the idea of adding a Syrian and Egyptian touch. 00:32:18.899 --> 00:32:21.900 And I wanted to ask, especially from drawing from the king of the formula, 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.640 and the fact that, for instance, you have a multiplication of Zuls and 00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:30.460 Egistus in pan-Roman contexts, how much we can say about this soteria as 00:32:30.609 --> 00:32:35.960 a calco from proselyte imperial dedications that are extensively formed? 00:32:36.829 --> 00:32:41.120 Because in some funerary traditions, for instance, you have the expansion of 00:32:41.121 --> 00:32:45.060 sandrine in Latin speaking, for instance, in Sicily, that they are a calco from 00:32:45.060 --> 00:32:49.600 Jaire, which is a Greek tradition, and conversely, the Catastonian steloids 00:32:49.601 --> 00:32:52.220 appear more in Roman times than in Greek times. 00:32:52.834 --> 00:32:56.800 Can we use this soteria as an expression of the agharization of tradition without 00:32:56.801 --> 00:32:59.382 losing the original meaning, having employed a 00:32:59.432 --> 00:33:01.960 calco of the Roman-Latin formula for imperial pride? 00:33:03.749 --> 00:33:05.960 The description again, which is this one. 00:33:11.319 --> 00:33:12.320 I would say yes. 00:33:12.789 --> 00:33:16.140 And in any case, these are inscriptions from Egypt. 00:33:16.744 --> 00:33:21.680 Not exactly... so these are not inscriptions from Italica. 00:33:22.219 --> 00:33:27.140 So I would say the presence of this inscription is in Greek. 00:33:27.395 --> 00:33:28.395 So... 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:31.440 It's a bit separated from the main roots. 00:33:31.989 --> 00:33:34.900 It's more related with the Roman art there. 00:33:35.539 --> 00:33:36.899 There is a vision from everywhere. 00:33:37.715 --> 00:33:39.376 There is a connection with Veranite and Harvard. 00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:40.400 Absolutely. 00:33:41.014 --> 00:33:42.560 But the inscription is in Greek. 00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:48.100 And so I don't think that this is a translation in the sense that you were 00:33:48.249 --> 00:33:49.249 suggesting. 00:33:49.679 --> 00:33:53.080 If we found the prosalute... I don't know. 00:33:53.260 --> 00:33:54.420 This is a very good question. 00:33:54.600 --> 00:33:55.960 I have never thought about that. 00:33:56.115 --> 00:33:58.240 I think it's a very good question. 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:06.040 And also, I think not today, but not in the past and not even today, when they 00:34:06.041 --> 00:34:13.860 create this formula, even though they are the same, I think that there is a local 00:34:13.861 --> 00:34:17.980 context to them and an individual context to them. 00:34:18.120 --> 00:34:24.280 They are not completely... they don't have an exact meaning when they use it. 00:34:25.120 --> 00:34:31.900 And also, with the complexity of what we call the imperial code, the emperor is 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:38.403 both a recipient, a recipient of health sacrifices 00:34:38.404 --> 00:34:43.020 for his health and for the soteria of the emperor. 00:34:44.560 --> 00:34:48.800 And here we usually follow the interpretation of Evan Friedrich that the 00:34:51.260 --> 00:34:55.487 king and the emperor, his health means the 00:34:55.488 --> 00:34:59.300 stability and health of the empire as a whole. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:00.976 Prosalute. 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:02.120 That is clearly prosalute. 00:35:02.540 --> 00:35:07.722 But then at the same time, the emperor can be the 00:35:07.723 --> 00:35:11.720 donor and the giver of soteria himself and health. 00:35:12.145 --> 00:35:16.300 And we know many, like in Greece, the soter and founder. 00:35:16.930 --> 00:35:21.720 So I think it's a very complex issue. 00:35:22.395 --> 00:35:26.220 The question you raised is a very interesting one. 00:35:26.380 --> 00:35:31.700 But I think that there is what we could say a mantra. 00:35:31.701 --> 00:35:37.260 For the salute, for the health of the emperor throughout the empire. 00:35:37.480 --> 00:35:38.900 And this is what we have here. 00:35:39.860 --> 00:35:44.500 But what you say is very interesting, because I really don't know if the 00:35:44.501 --> 00:35:48.100 prosalute inscriptions are later than the... 00:35:49.335 --> 00:35:51.560 for the salvation in Greek. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:53.360 That's the case. 00:35:53.520 --> 00:35:54.520 But... 00:35:55.760 --> 00:35:56.760 That's fine. 00:35:57.055 --> 00:36:01.520 They come from Hellenistic times, so they are necessarily previous to the prosalute. 00:36:01.521 --> 00:36:04.820 This is the multiplication in the sailing context. 00:36:05.070 --> 00:36:06.720 Like the mantra idea of repeating it. 00:36:06.890 --> 00:36:10.720 But perhaps thanks to the fruition of the imperial habit. 00:36:11.680 --> 00:36:18.220 But the problem is that the word has different meanings depending on the use of it. 00:36:20.740 --> 00:36:28.740 And it is completely different when you found the same word in a phrase like 00:36:29.190 --> 00:36:30.440 prosalute. 00:36:31.770 --> 00:36:35.920 And the meaning has not to be probably with other uses. 00:36:36.060 --> 00:36:38.080 For instance, in literature. 00:36:39.460 --> 00:36:45.549 And then that's the reason why, at the same time, 00:36:45.550 --> 00:36:48.900 the meaning has different ways of interpretation. 00:36:49.020 --> 00:36:52.000 By the user and by the reader. 00:36:54.195 --> 00:37:01.320 But not when it is a fixed phrase like the prosalute. 00:37:01.321 --> 00:37:04.300 It is quite common for everyone, the meaning of it. 00:37:04.520 --> 00:37:07.600 And there is no problem to interpret it. 00:37:16.250 --> 00:37:17.840 If there are no more questions... 00:37:18.140 --> 00:37:19.180 I hope not. 00:37:19.560 --> 00:37:21.060 Because I'm really hungry. 00:37:21.300 --> 00:37:23.900 We are running a little bit out of time. 00:37:24.490 --> 00:37:28.180 So maybe it's better for a debate session of this evening. 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:31.860 So thanks so much, Fernando and Elena, for this great conversation.