Abstract:
The significance of precious stones during the principate is looked into, then a new interpretation of the Grand Camée de France, is introduced.
This agate, composed of five differently coloured bands of quarz and worked into a relief showing 24 persons and a winged horse, was once contained in the imperial treasury and is kept today in Paris. It shows us a scene from the court of Tiberius. Comparing the portraits on the cameo with contemporary marble portraits, as scholars have them by now identified, it is possible to date the stone between 23 and 29 of the Christian era, identify the chief actors and interpret the scene: it deals with the problem of succesion to the throne of Tiberius after his son’s death in 23. Tiberius’ dead sons are shown in ‚heaven’, at his predececessor Augustus’ side, while in front of his throne the sons of Germanicus seem to be starting on a military career. For serving as a military commander was essential for a later succession to the throne.
The third chapter tries to reconstruct the scene as an astral allegory. The heavenly figure in oriental costume can be interpreted as Ganymedes, changed into the stars of Aquarius. Following that example, it is possible to name the winged horse as a symbolic image of the constellation Pegasus and the Cupid as an image of the constellation Pisces. The imperial family’s dead members are shown staying among the stars, while still living family members appear as gods and goddesses. These each have a connection to still more constellations, so that the cameo indirectly depicts stars of the northern hemisphere as a symbolic picture of the role of the Roman emperor, his heirs and his family. The constellations alluded to by the members of the imperial family could be seen at Rome during dusk at the end of May/the beginning of June, when the constellation Aquila had its late rise. The ‚rise of Aquila’ marks the beginning of the young princes’ military careers. Following up the symbolism of the gods and constellations to which the imperial persons point, we find a political allegory that puts the Roman Emperor in the place of heavenly Jupiter. As Jupiter in philosophical theory is Kosmokrator, the lord of the universe, so likewise the Roman Emperor, the Augustus, is the ruler of human society and lord on earth. His duties are protection of the Empire, through the princes acting as his military deputies, the creation of public good and the maintenance of concord.
This allegorical scene is connected with the historical record in chapter 4. In 24, a lingering military campaign ended victoriously in the province of Africa, and it is postulated here that the young princes were planning to have a part in it. If this holds true, the cameo would have been cut between the death of Drusus in the autumn of 23, and the second half of 24. With Drusus’ death a new succesor to the throne had to be found. The sons of Germanicus, who were thought to be Tiberius’ heirs in the long run, were still too young in 23. A political group supporting the youth’s mother, Agrippina, nevertheless campaigned for Nero Germanicus to succeed to the throne immediatly, arguing that the sons of Agrippina were Augustus’ great-grandchildren and heirs to the ‚divine lineage’ of the Iulii. Tiberius, on the other hand, who was born a Claudian, had become emperor because of his personal achievements and would not accept a successor who hadn’t done some public service first. Like Agrippina, he argued that children of the imperial family had inherited the virtues of their ancestors (a thought developed by stoic philosophers), and were therefore qualified as future rulers. But he insisted that his heirs would have to prove themselves through personal achievements first. This position is illustrated on the Grand Camée. Because of their personal virtues, the members of the imperial family, including the former Claudians, are ‚close to heaven’. The dead family members have already earned their place among the stars. Their virtuous example will be followed by the sons of Germanicus, because of the princes’ very nature. It is in this way that they will earn their succession to power, as their ancestors did before them. For the moment, power is wielded by the emperor, him who is the earthly Kosmokrator. It probably was Tiberius who ordered the cameo to be cut, since it illustrates his political point of view. He may have intended it to point out his arguments to the political élite. However, the dynastic plans it propagates were never put into existence. Agrippina and her factio put much pressure on Tiberius, so he may well have thought his own legitimation to be at stake, and perhaps the augustan res publica restituta as well. The Grand Camée, therefore, is a highly political work of art. It illustrates an important moment in the evolution of the Roman monarchy, and it is an authentical source recording a Roman Emperor’s view of his station at the same time.