Queens and Empresses as Goddesses: The Public Role of the Personal Tyche in the

Graeco-Roman World
Author(s): Amy C. Smith
Source: Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin , 1994, An Obsession with Fortune: Tyche
in Greek and Roman Art (1994), pp. 86-105
Published by: Yale University, acting through the Yale University Art Gallery

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/40514505

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54

Tetradrachm of Alexander I Balas. Obverse: Kleopatra Thea, as Tyche/Isis, and

Alexander I Balas. Minted at Seleucia Pieria, 150-145 b.c. Silver, diam. 29 mm.
American Numismatic Society. 19 59. 124. 2

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Queens and Empresses as Goddesses: The Public Role
of the Personal Tyche in the Graeco-Roman World
AMY C. SMITH

an inscription
In the Hellenistic period (third-first in Greek, Opßioc (fig. 5
centuries
inscription
b.c.), the personal tyche, the fortune withprobably refers to the Rom
Orbius, abecame
which every individual was endowed, family with mercantile conn
in popular
conflated with the increasingly Delos.1 A merchant in this family m
Tyche
who was revered as a goddess worn
by the Greeks.
the gem in hope of reaping the b
that
This fusion of the personal and Tyche
public would be inclined to besto
tychai
him.asThe
paralleled the goddess's dual role public Tyche thus took on a
guardian
sonal
of individuals and protector of aspect.
cities: eachIncreasingly in the Hellen
period,
individual's tyche would influence thehowever,
course people came to vener
of his or her life, while the public
tyche Tyche who whose good fortune th
of a ruler
hoped
represented and protected the to enjoy. In this sense, a person
city would
would
likewise protect the lives of the become a public Tyche, one sh
individuals
within that city. The conflation of personal
all the people of the city or even the em
Already
and public tychai may have resulted in the
from the fourth century B.c., A
Tyche
various perceptions of the personal (Good
tyche Fortune) was implicated
that
civic affairs.
derived from the diversity of cultural her- The concept of the tyche
Demos
itages in the Hellenistic period. (people)
It may also of the city is apparent
Athens by 337/6 B.c. (the year after Ph
have been affected by visual representations
Macedon's was
of Tyche. Non-aristocratic portraiture great victory over the Athe
and
rare in the Hellenistic period, their allies at Chaironeia), when i
so commoners
could scarcely afford portraits appeared on a public decree that aimed
of their tychai.
bolsterof
Rather, one would resort to images resistance
the to the incursion of ty
public Tyche, the city goddess, worn or other-
. . . with Good Fortune of the Demos of t
wise displayed as a symbol of protection and
Athenians^ be it resolved by the Nomoth
luck. This phenomenon, which continued in
If anyone rise up against the Demos for t
the Roman period, was particularly apparent
or join in establishing the tyranny or ove
in the proliferation in a variety of media of
the Demos of the Athenians or the demo
"souvenirs" of Eutychides' famous statue of
in Athens, whoever kills him who does a
the Tyche of Antioch. A personalizing inscrip-
these things shall be blameless?
tion might be added, as on a first- second-
In that
century A.c. carnelian ringstone this illus-
waning democracy, when the
still "ruled,"
trates the Tyche of Antioch surrounded by it is the tyche of the Dem

87

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55
Ringstone with image ofEutychides Tyche ofAntioch.
Graeco-Roman, ist- 2nd century A.c. Carnelian,
12 χ 9 mm. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 1938.876
is invoked. The people and the city have
been conflated, moreover, so that the tyche
of the Demos can correspond to the Tyche
of the city.4 It was clearly in the best interests
of statesmen to convey the impression that
the people shared fates and fortunes with
their city as a whole. A personal motive was
thus introduced into service to the city.
In the Hellenistic period, when monar-
chies rather than democracies evolved as the
prevalent mode of government, the tyche of
the people, as representative of the city, would
be superseded by the tyche of the ruler. Again,
a fourth-century b.c. precedent pertains.
In the 340s b.c., Agathos Daimon (Good
Spirit), a masculine divinity akin to Agathe
Tyche, was exalted by and for Timoleon,
restorer of Syracuse's autonomy: when the
Syracusans gave Timoleon a house as a thank-
offering, he dedicated it to Agathos Daimon.5
Although the Syracusan government at this
time could hardly be described as a monar-
chy, the essential element of one preeminent
leader is apparent. A cult was also established
for Alexander the Great when he founded
the city of Alexandria in 331 b.c.6 The cult
88
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temple was dedicated to Agathos Daimon,
presumably the good spirit of Alexander,
which itself became the object of worship.7
While this establishment of a cult to celebrate
the founder of the city accords with Greek
tradition, the particularization of Agathos
Daimon as Alexander's personal daimon may
have been based on an Egyptian prototype.
Both daimon and tychey as guardian spirits,
are analogous to the ka of Egyptian religion,
a personal spirit whom one would propitiate.
The Egyptian king's ka, as representative of
the people, had also deserved a special cult
complete with a temple, such as that in
which Alexander's daimon was worshipped.
The image of Tyche was most often
female, as befitted a personification derived
from a feminine noun. It is perhaps for this
reason that the tyche of the queen (rather
than that of the king) would be divinized
and popularized in the Hellenistic period,
particularly with the establishment of a ruler
cult under the Ptolemies at Alexandria. In
this cult, the tychai of the queens were propi-
tiated, and were represented on Ptolemaic
oinochoai (libation jugs), coins, and gems.
Tyche imagery as it evolved in the Ptolemaic
ruler cult was subsequently incorporated into
Roman imperial cult, although the cult wor-
ship in each case was not entirely analogous.
Thus women in the imperial family, like
their Ptolemaic predecessors, were divinized
in the guise of Tyche and related deities,
while a generalized Tyche, personified in
Roman Imperial art, retained her Hellenistic
roles as both guardian of the lives of individ-
uals and protector of cities.
Ptolemy II Philadelphos (reigned 285-246
b.c.), with his sister and second wife, Arsinoe
II Philadelphia (reigned 276/5-270 b.c.), for-
malized the ruler cult at Alexandria. The best
material evidence for this cult are the faience
oinochoai that have been found in complete
or fragmentary form there. Probably used
in the cult as libation vessels, Ptolemaic
oinochoai bear inscriptions that clearly iden-
tify them with the concept of tyche.9 Inscrip-
tions on the shoulders of the vessels just
below the neck, and on the images of the
altars illustrated on the vessels, name the
tyche of the ruler in the genitive (possessive
form), as exemplified on a well-preserved
oinochoe associated with Arsinoe II (fig. 57) ,10
which is inscribed: αγαθής τύχης 'Αρσινόης
Φιλαδέλφου (of the Good Fortune of Arsinoe
Philadelphos). The use of the genitive
implies that the contents and/or the vessel
itself are dedicated to the tyche of the named
queen.11 Additional evidence suggests that
Arsinoe II, Agathe Tyche, and Isis - the
Egyptian goddess of fertility as well as king-
ship-were worshipped together at Alexan-
dria and at Delos.12 Such blending of cultur-
56
ally distinct deities, in this case from Greek
Oinochoe fragment with image of Arsinoe II Phila-
and Egyptian sources, aimed at reconciling
delphia. Ptolemiac, 270s b.c. or later. Glazed faience,
the diverse societies within the state (Greeks
7x5 cm. Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 48.315
ruling an Egyptian populace). This syn-
cretized divinity is made explicit with an
inscription that appears on at least four
oinochoai: αγαθής τύχης / 'Αρσινόης /
Φιλαδέλφου / "Ισιος (of the Good Fortune of
Arsinoe Philadelphos /Isis).13 This inscription
differs from the more common one on the
British Museum oinochoe only in the addi-
tion of the name of Isis, also in the genitive.
These Ptolemaic oinochoai typically bear
images in relief that follow a predictable for-
mula. A woman stands between an altar and
a spindle-like shaft with a disc capital and a
pointed tip.14 She reaches toward the altar
with a phiale (a shallow offering bowl) in her
outstretched right hand and holds a cornu-
copia in the crook of her left arm.15 These
female figures, probably the tychai of the
queens, are highly individualized, and their
facial features are comparable to those of the
same queens on coin portraits. They have
several traits in common, however. Most
wear a royal diadem, which emphasizes their
primary aspect as rulers, or a more substan-
tial Stephane (a simple crescent-shaped
crown), which may indicate posthumous
57
divinization.16 All are bare-footed, which is
Oinochoe with image of Arsinoe II Philadelphia.
normally characteristic of divinities and is Ptolemaic, said to be from Canosa, 270s b.c. or later.
probably indicative here of the apotheosized Faience, h. 32.4 cm. London, British Museum, κ 77
nature of the tych ai of the queens. (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)

89

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 The cornucopia borne by each queen's
tyche is likewise a divine attribute that was
originally associated with deities of agricul-
tural wealth, such as those in the Eleusinian
circle.17 It also recalls the myth of the nymph
Amaltheia, owner of a she-goat whose broken
horn became Jove's everflowing source of
nourishment.18 Probably in reference to this
mythological precedent, Ptolemy II gave
Arsinoe II a two-horned cornucopia (dikeras)
on their return from the First Syrian War in
271 b.c. The doubling of the horn is repre-
sentative of the twin status of the rulers who
simultaneously awarded themselves the title
Theoi Adelphoi (Sibling Gods).19 The cornu-
copia became a standard Ptolemaic attribute
thereafter, an allusion to this historical event
as well as to the myth. Temple inventories
from the second Athenian period at Delos
(from 166 b.c.) list foremost among the con-
tents of the Temple of Agathe Tyche, at which
the Ptolemaic rulers were worshipped, a statue
of the goddess bearing a gilded cornucopia.
Athenaios's later testimony (second -third
century A.c.) to such statues of Arsinoe II,
commissioned by Ptolemy II, accords with
this description.20 Dorothy Thompson sug-
gests that the statue at the temple of Agathe
Tyche was intended "to define the queen as
Tyche carrying the horn of Amaltheia brim-
ming with the fruits of Egypt" and may have
been erected to commemorate the rulers'
return from the Syrian War and the initial
presentation of the dikeras to Arsinoe. This
likeness of Arsinoe might then have been the
one copied on her faience jugs, as exempli-
fied by the British Museum oinochoe and a
fragment in the Walters Art Gallery that
more clearly preserves her head, torso, and
dikeras (fig. 56, cat. 41). 2I As it is unknown,
however, whether the gilded cornucopia on
the statue at Delos had one or two horns, we
are unable to determine whether that partic-
ular statue was in the likeness of Arsinoe II -
in which case the figure would have held the
dikeras- or one of her successors. Indeed,
Berenike II (reigned 246 - 221 b.c.) does not
take over the double horn, but bears the
more common single horn on oinochoai that
90
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are dedicated to her tyche. The cornucopia,
representative of the bounty of the prosper-
ous dynasty, is further illustrated on Ptole-
maic coinage.22 Although the queen achieved
divinity in part through the conflation of her
public image with that of the goddess Tyche,
it seems that Tyche thus inherited the cornu-
copia from the queens rather than that they
gained this "divine" attribute from her.23
The divinized images of the tychai of the
Ptolemaic queens did not necessarily serve,
however, as symbols of the city of Alexan-
dria.24 The salient feature of the city goddess
at Antioch and elsewhere in the East, the
mural crown that represents the protective
city walls, after all, is clearly not depicted on
the oinochoai. The Asiatic cylindrical polos
(a small crown somewhat resembling a pill-
box hat) is, however, worn by a woman who
has been identified by Thompson as Arsinoe
III Philopator (reigned 217-206/5 b.c.), sister
and wife of Ptolemy IV Philopator, in a
faience head from an Alexandrian figurine
(fig. 58, cat. 42). 25 The polos had been a pop-
ular attribute of female deities, particularly
those associated with fertility, in Greek and
Near Eastern art for centuries.26 A taller ver-
sion of it is worn by a woman identified by
inscription as Oikoumene (the Inhabited
World) on a relief by the sculptor Archelaos
of Priene (fig. 60). This unusual work, dated
to ca. 220-150 b.c., may have been made to
celebrate a victory in a poetic competition at
Alexandria.27 The lowest of its three registers
shows Oikoumene and Chronos (Time)
awarding a wreath to the enthroned Homer
in the presence of his poetic children, the
///Wand the Odyssey. Myth (a boy), History,
Poetry, Tragedy, Comedy, Human Nature
(a small child), and the moral virtues of
Excellence, Mindfulness, Trustworthiness,
and Wisdom, are also in attendance (from
left to right) at a sacrifice replete with an altar
and a sacrificial bull.28 Whereas most of these
other figures are pure personifications with
generalized features, the individualized fea-
tures of Oikoumene and her companion,
Chronos, have encouraged scholars, notably
Carl Watzinger, to identify them as Arsinoe III
58 59

Head from a statuette ofArsinoe HI Philopator. Bust of Tyche. Ptolemaic, late 3rd- early 2nd century
Ptolemaic, said to be from Alexandria, b.c. Carved ringstone (garnet), 17.8 χ 14 mm.
217-206/5 b.c. Glazed faience, h. 6.1 cm. Bloomington, Indiana University Art Museum,
Bruce McAlpine, London Burton Y. Berry Collection. 76.85.15

and Ptolemy IV. 29 It is thus conceivable that

the faience head ofArsinoe III with ζ polos
was also a representation of the queen, or
rather her tyche, as Oikoumene. In both cases,
the tyche of the ruler would serve not simply
as the tyche of the city, but as the tyche of the
entire inhabited world over which the Ptole-
mies hoped eventually to rule. This is a logical
progression in the age of empires, for by the
late third century the Ptolemaic realm extend-
ed far beyond Alexandria, embracing Egypt,
Cyrene, Palestine, Cyprus, parts of Syria and
Asia Minor, and several Aegean states.
Tychai of Ptolemaic queens may have nev-
ertheless served as city goddesses, especially
when adorned with a mural crown, as on a
garnet ringstone in Indiana (fig. 59, cat. 40).
The woman represented on the garnet also
has a rolled hairstyle resembling that worn
by Hellenistic queens, particularly Arsinoe III
in her coin and stone portraits.30 This gem is
one of fifty related garnets that Jeffrey Spier
has attributed to a Ptolemaic workshop. Six
represent such Tyche images, and nearly all 60
fifty illustrate the head or bust of a ruler, god, Relief by ArcheUos. Hellenistic, ca. 220-150 b.c. Marble,
or divinized ruler, and are thus thought to η. 1.18 m. London, British Museum (Courtesy of the Trustees
reflect the royal cult. This cult would most of the British Museum)

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6i 62

Tetradrachm ofDemetriosISoter. Reverse: Tyche,
seated, holding a cornucopia and a scepter. Minted
at Seleucia ad Tigrim, 162-150 b.c. Silver,
DiAM. 30 mm. American Numismatic Society.
1944.100.71935
Tetradrachm ofAntiochos VIII Grypos. Reverse: Tyche,
standing, wearing a kalathos and holding a cornu-
copia and a tiller. Minted at Tripolis (Seleucia), 121-
96 b.c. Silver, DiAM. 29 mm. American Numismatic
Society. 1986.80.2

likely be the Alexandrian-Delian cult whosecrowns in Alexandrian art - e.g., on coins, as

followers worshipped Ptolemaic queens as well as oinochoai - has in fact encouraged
Spier to speculate that such an image served
Tyche and Isis, for thirteen of the fifty garnets
depict women in the guise of Isis.31 Two as the seal of a local city official under Ptole-
Ptolemaic cameos that are stylistically closemaic influence in Asia, where the mural
crown type had originated, rather than in
to these garnets also illustrate heads of Tyche
with a mural crown.32 Another gem, in Egypt.34 Such devices would parallel the
Oxford, has been identified as Kleopatra II appearance of the cornucopia on contempo-
(reigned 170-164 b.c., co-regent with Ptolemy
rary Syrian coinage; as a Ptolemaic attribute,
VI Philometor and Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II)
its depiction further implied Ptolemaic polit-
shown as Tyche with a kalathos (a small cylin-
ical influence in the Seleucid kingdom.35 The
drical crown, similar in appearance to the cornucopia commonly appears on coins
struck at the Seleucid mint of Antioch on the
polos, but derived from the shape of a basket)
rather than mural crown as headdress.33 Orontes under Antiochos III (reigned 200 -
The abundance of images of women with187 b.c.).36 A seated Tyche, with a long chiton
mural crowns among these gems indicates and
an a cornucopia in her left arm, appears
overt identification of the Hellenistic queens
later on reverses of many coins of Demetrios
with the city-goddess aspect of Tyche; as I Soter (reigned 162-150 B.c.; e.g., fig. 61,
such the queens themselves may have served
cat. 44). 37 This figure may be interpreted as
as the personifications of particular cities the tyche of a monarch because she is seated
within the Ptolemaic Empire. Yet at Alexan-
on a throne and holds a short scepter, a
dria, as suggested above, imperial aspirations
symbol of sovereignty. Under Alexander I
would have deemphasized such city-specificBalas (reigned 150-145 b.c., the pretended son
imagery in deference to a broader Oikou- and successor ofAntiochos IV), the cornuco-
mene concept. The dearth of comparable pia and other Tyche imagery come together
images of Ptolemaic queens wearing mural once again. The obverse of a silver tetra-

92

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drachm struck at Seleucia Pieria illustrates a
profile head of his wife Kleopatra Thea, the
daughter of Ptolemy VI, as Tyche/Isis with
kalathosy diadem, and veil; Alexander's head
is portrayed in profile behind hers, and the
cornucopia symbol appears in the left field
(fig. 54, cat. 43). These superimposed profiles
mimic a Ptolemaic prototype on a gold
octadrachm (285-246 b.c.), on which the
profile of Ptolemy II overlaps that of Arsinoe
II. 38 The borrowing of Ptolemaic imagery, as
well as the prominence of the Ptolemaic
princess, are particularly significant in this
case, for Alexander I Balas's throne was
virtually given to him by his father-in-law,
Ptolemy VI of Egypt.
Kleopatra Thea was likewise influential
in the coinage of her son Antiochos VIII
Grypos. Shortly after the death of her second
husband, Demetrios II Nikator (reigned
145-140 b.c. and 129-125 b.c.), Kleopatra
murdered her eldest son, the rightful succes-
sor Seleukos V. She assumed supreme power
herself, but eventually brought Antiochos
VIII Grypos into joint rule with her. This
relationship between mother and son is
expressed on a silver tetradrachm that shows
Kleopatra Thea's portrait overlapping that of
Antiochos; as on the coin that shows her
with her husband, Alexander Balas, again
Kleopatra Theas portrait is dominant.39
Antiochos subsequently resisted and poi-
soned his mother (apparently with poison
she had prepared for him) and became sole
ruler (121-96 b.c.). Although he replaced the
double profile obverse with his single profile,
Antiochos used Tyche imagery at least once
again: on the reverse of a silver tetradrachm,
the Tyche used by Demetrios I Soter, dressed
in a long chiton and bearing a cornucopia,
reappears in a standing pose, wearing a
kalathos (fig. 62, cat. 45). 4°
The tradition of deifying rulers through
the addition of divine attributes thus contin-
ued through the Hellenistic dynasties, as
seen particularly in the case of the Ptolemies,
from whom it seems to have passed to the
imperial families in Rome. Augustus, the
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first emperor (27 b.c. -a.d. 14), succeeded
to the religious positions of the Ptolemies in
Egypt when it became a province of the
Roman Empire.41 Wolf-Rüdiger Megow
conjectures that the robbery of the Ptolemaic
treasuries by the Romans in the conquest of
Alexandria in 30 b.c. played an important
role in the Roman adoption of this Ptole-
maic artistic tradition.42 The art of cameo
carving is a prominent medium through
which the imagery from Hellenistic ruler
cults was perpetuated in the Roman period.
While in Egypt, Mark Antony, for example,
seems to have even commissioned a cameo
of himself adorned with the same horns of
Zeus Ammon that Alexander the Great was
given.43 Despite the potential for such art
works to serve as propaganda, such gems
were not intended for public consumption,
but rather for "private" use among the inner
circle of the imperial court.44
An early Imperial image of a woman
adorned with a mural crown appears on the
famous Gemma Augustea in Vienna (fig.
63). 45 The figures in the upper register of this
two-tiered cameo are generally identified,
from left to right, as Tiberius (heir to Augus-
tus, emperor a.d. 14-37), winged Victory,
Germanicus (a boy, the potential heir to
Tiberius), Dea Roma (the personification of
the city of Rome), Augustus, Oikoumene (in
mural crown), Tellus (Earth) with two bounc-
ing babies emphasizing her fertility, and
Okeanos (Ocean).46 It is the identification of
the mural-crowned figure who in turn crowns
Augustus with an oak wreath that perhaps
holds the key to this work's iconographical
meaning. The presence of Dea Roma on the
other side of Augustus precludes her identifi-
cation as simply Tyche: two city goddesses in
one scene would be redundant.47 She is rea-
sonably identified as Oikoumene, particu-
larly in analogy to the relief by Archelaos
(fig. 60), on which she also presents a wreath
from behind.48 On the Gemma Augustea,
however, the figure wears a mural crown
rather than a tall polos; this attribute makes
the conceptual link between Oikoumene and
93
Tyche, the city goddess, more explicit. Cor- the origins of the corona civica pertains to
nelius Vermeule has suggested that a colossal the role of Jupiter and Juno as guardians and
marble statue of Oikoumene, adorned with saviors of a city and its citizens; according
Tyche's mural crown, served as the light- to Plutarch, as the oak was sacred to these
house for the Porto Raphti harbor on the divinities, the oak wreath became an appro-
Attic Coast.49 In that context, "The notion priate indicator of the savior status of the
of Oikoumene on an Attic hilltop, facing bearer.52 It is thus fitting that Augustus, as
out toward the islands and Asia, was a truly savior, is crowned not by Victory (the
Roman symbol of global domination and a winged goddess on the left of the upper reg-
useful piece of propaganda worthy of their ister) but by a guardian deity, such as Tyche
practical natures."50 Although seated, she or Oikoumene. It is also appropriate that
would have been comparable in appearance, Oikoumene rather than a mere city goddess
and probably also meaning, to the mural- (Tyche or Roma) awards the crown, in order
crowned figure on the Gemma Augustea. to illustrate the imperial message that Rome
The role of Oikoumene on the Gemma has grown from a city to a worldly empire,
Augustea is clearly not simply that of a topo- and that her citizens reside throughout this
graphical personification, but also that of a empire. The visual and conceptual synthesis
goddess who rewards the emperor, presum- of Tyche and Oikoumene, witnessed in the
ably for his virtues and achievements, for she Hellenistic period on the Archelaos relief,
crowns him with an oak wreath, the corona has been transferred meaningfully here to the
civica (civic crown). This military decora- Roman imperial circle. This connection
tion, awarded to a Roman who saved the life might be better emphasized with the appella-
of a fellow citizen in battle, was adopted as tion of this goddess on the Gemma Augustea
an Imperial emblem after the Senate granted as Oikoumene/ Tyche.
Augustus the right to hang it over his resi- Both the figures of Dea Roma and Oik-
dence to symbolize his role as savior of the oumene/ Tyche on the Gemma Augustea
citizens of Rome.51 One suggestion regarding have been identified as Livia, the wife of

63
Gemma Augustea. Roman,
ca. a.D. 15. Sardonyx,
19 χ 23 cm. Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum.
ixa79

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Augustus, in divine guise.53 It is certainly
true that Augustus at least is shown in divine
guise on this cameo, as Jupiter with an eagle
beneath his throne. Yet the plenitude of pure
personifications in this "historical allegory"
strongly encourages us to refrain from view-
ing the mural-crowned figure as a specific
historical personage. Indeed, she lacks the
drilled pupils and individualized features
of the historical figures on the Gemma
Augustea, which further distinguish them
from such personifications.54 A sardonyx
cameo, datable at the earliest to the Tiberian
period (a.D. 14-37), illustrates a woman who
can be more securely identified as Livia (fig.
64). 55 She is adorned with mural crown and
Stephane and holds up a type of cornucopia
from which emerges the bust of Divus
Augustus. His radiate crown indicates that
he has been apotheosized: posthumously,
for the Julio-Claudians were not formally
divinized during their lifetimes (hence a.d.
14 as a terminus ante quern for the cameo).
On the basis of facial features and historical
deduction, the female bust can be inter-
preted as a portrait of Livia, the widow of
Augustus, so honored by Tiberius or
Claudius and likened here not to Tyche but
rather to Cybele, the great mother goddess
of Anatolian origin (Magna Mater to the
Romans).5 This association is virtually
assured by the tympanon beneath Livia's left
arm on which a lion, Cybele's mascot, is
carved in relief. Cybele and Tyche neverthe-
less share several attributes. Foremost among
these is the mural crown. Cybele wears it in
her role as Meter Dindymene (Mistress of the
Mountains), for in this context the crown
represents the fortification walls around an
acropolis that protects Cybele's subjects,
particularly in time of war.57 On this cameo
Livia also holds corn and a poppy in her left
hand, agrarian attributes that Tyche and
Cybele share with fertility deities such as
Demeter, Ceres, and even Isis.
Cybele/Tyche attributes - mural crown,
poppy stem, ear of corn - similarly adorn a
full-length standing statue, possibly of Livia,
from the vicinity of the theater at Leptis
64
Cameo of Livia and Divus Augustus. Roman,
ca. a.d. 15 or later. Sardonyx, 9 χ 6.6 cm. Vienna,
Kunsthistorisches Museum. ixa95
Magna. An inscription found at the temple
near which the statue was discovered, how-
ever, honors Ceres Augusta.58 Siri Sande sug-
gests reconstructing a cornucopia or rudder
in the left hand of this figure.59 One could
then interpret this figure as Livia in the syn-
cretized guise of Ceres/ Cybele/Tyche, as the
maternal protector of the city's fecundity.
As Sande mentions, the worship of Livia as
a maternal figure (thus associated with
Cybele/Magna Mater) in the Tiberian period
at Leptis Magna is not inconceivable.
Although Tiberius had refused Livia the title
of Mater Patriae (Mother of the Country),
she was nonetheless celebrated during his
reign with that title on coins of Leptis
Magna- coins that were probably produced
locally and unofficially. Sande argues for a
later, Claudian date (ca. a.d. 41-54) for this
statue. Claudius was the first to honor Livia
with the title Magna Mater. ° Thus, in the
words of Margarete Bieber, she became
"great mother of the globe and the ruling
emperors, just as Cybele is the great mother
of the heaven and the gods . . . Portrait and
allegory have become a consummate
unity." l

95

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6?
Statue of a seated woman in the guise ofCybele/Tyche.
Roman, mid-ist century A.c. Marble, h. 1.62 m.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu,
California. 57.AA.19
The statue of a seated woman with a
mural crown in the J. Paul Getty Museum in
Malibu portrays the likeness of an elderly
woman, of Claudian or later date, who has
also been identified as Livia by Bieber and
others (fig. 65). 2 A mantle cascades from her
crown, and she holds ears of corn in her
right hand. Bieber reconstructs a rudder in
the woman's left hand, along with the fruit-
ful cornucopia, and interprets these (along
with the crown) as attributes of Tyche/ For-
tuna. The Cybele aspect, represented by the
lion at her feet, is undeniable. Bieber explains
that "in Rome Cybele has taken over the
function as leader of men's fate." 3 The iden-
tification of the figure as Livia is more prob-
lematic, however, as this portrait falls outside
of the known Livia types, and the facial char-
acteristics are quite different from Livia's
usual appearance. Other imperial identifica-
tions have been proferred. Most recently,
Sande has suggested that she is Domitia
Lépida, mother of Messalina and aunt of
Nero, to whom care of this future emperor
was given by Agrippina Minor (his mother),
according to Suetonius. Yet, as Sande admits,
this suggestion is hypothetical at best, for it
is based on historical deduction rather than
iconographical investigation.64 Regardless of
the specific identification, however, the
Getty portrait betrays a clear intent to
divinize a mortal through the addition of
attributes of goddesses.65
Another Julio-Claudian cameo, the
Gemma Claudia (fig. 66), represents Claudius
and his wife Agrippina Minor emerging
from cornucopiae on the left. As suggested
first by Siegfried Fuchs, they face Germani-
cus (Claudius's father-in-law as well as half-
brother) and Agrippina Major, similarly
emerging from cornucopiae on the right.66
This gem is also called the "Marriage Cameo,"
because it is thought to commemorate the
wedding of Claudius and Agrippina Minor,
which establishes a terminus post quern of a.D.
49. 6? While Claudius is shown in the guise
of Jupiter, Agrippina Minor wears a mural
crown with two sheaves of grain (in the form

96

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of a corona spiced) and a poppy- Ceres/
Cybele/Tyche attributes once again, as on the
images of Livia on the Gemma Augustea and
the Leptis Magna statue. The absence of
the specific Cybele attributes (tympanon and
lion), however, suggests a clearer association
here of Agrippina Minor with Tyche.
A bellicose aspect is emphasized on the
Gemma Claudia by the military equipment
that fills the field of the cameo below and
around the cornucopiae, while Jupiter's eagle
spans the space between the cornucopiae.
The representation of Agrippina Major as
Minerva/Mater Castrorum, a syncretized
image of Minerva as war goddess and Mother
of the Military Camps, furthers the military
meaning inherent in this cameo. 9 Agrippina
Minor as Tyche, the protector of cities, thus
appropriately balances the opposite image of
Agrippina Major as the protector of the mili-
tary realm.70 Tyche and Mater Castrorum are
distinct here, but they represent concepts
that became more closely related in the late
Empire (second- third centuries A.c.), when
the fate of city and Empire relied heavily on
military prowess. A second-century A.c. por-
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66
Gemma Claudia.
Roman, a.d. 49-54.
Sardonyx, 12 χ 15.2
cm. Vienna, Kunst-
historisches Museum.
ixa63
trait in the Museo Torlonia identified by
Sande as Faustina Minor (wife of Marcus
Aurelius, emperor a.d. 161- 180) bears both a
particularly tall mural crown and a Stephane
and may represent the empress as Mater Cas-
trorum?1 Faustina Minor, acclaimed as
Augusta upon the birth of her first child in
a.d. 146/7, prominently accompanied her
husband on military campaigns to the North
in a.d. 170 -174. 72 She received the title Mater
Castrorum after her husband's victory over
the Quadi in 174. 73 She died soon thereafter
(175), so if this portrait does represent
Faustina Minor, it should be narrowly dated
between these two events (a.d. 174-175).
While Tyche imagery is necessarily more
suited to the representations of imperial
women - given Hellenistic precedents and
the feminine gender of the noun from which
Tyche derives - the importance of the tyche
of the emperor is manifest in literary sources
for the Flavian period (a.d. 69-96). Josephus
tells the story of Titus (emperor a.d. 79-81),
for example, who left three towers of Jerusa-
lem standing in his famous sack of that city
(a.d. 70) in grateful memorial to his tyche.74
97

67
Cameo showing Tyche/Isis crowning Claudius.
Roman, A.D. 41-54. Sardonyx, 8 χ 6.4 cm.
Cologne, Dom, Dreikönigenschrein
His younger brother Domitian (emperor a.D.
81-96), in his deeds as in his art, consciously
advertised his "divine" status. Consequently,
oaths were sworn by his geniusy his tychey or
his own person.75 In these cases, the tyche of
the emperor would not have appeared as a
visual twin to the male emperor, but would
have been a generalized female image.7 Such
non-individualized Tyche images continue in
the repertoire of imperial cameos. A Tyche
figure on a sardonyx in Cologne (fig. 6j)77
wears an Isis headdress rather than a mural
crown, but she holds a cornucopia in the
crook of her left arm; this image thus refers
back, perhaps intentionally, to the syncretized
Tyche/Isis image that was worshipped as part
of the Ptolemaic ruler cult. Although this
Tyche/Isis has been identified as Agrippina
Minor because she crowns Claudius - again
represented as Jupiter- with a wreath, it
would be inconsistent with standard imperial
iconography to depict the empress or any
woman towering over the divinized emperor,
despite his seated posture.7 I would suggest,
rather, that this Tyche/Isis be interpreted as a
pure personification like the Oikoumene/
98
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Tyche on the Gemma Augustea. What then
of the woman with mural crown crowning
Hadrian (emperor a.D. 117- 138) on a sar-
donyx gem in Berlin (fig. 68) ? She too has
been thought to be his wife, Sabina.79 The
facial features, however, are inconsistent with
those on portraits hitherto identified as
Sabina. In pose and role she more closely
matches the appearance of Oikoumene/
Tyche on the Gemma Augustea, and should
likewise be interpreted as a pure personifica-
tion. On the Hadrianic gem, moreover, this
figure is endowed with the quintessential
Tyche/ Fortuna attributes: the rudder points
to her role as the guardian of fortune and
fate, of human lives,80 while the mural
crown, as always, emphasizes her role as pro-
tector of the city/empire and the people
within it. As in the Hellenistic period, after
all, the success of the rulers depended on the
fortune of the city and the empire.
The Ptolemaic and Roman rulers clearly
exploited their personal tychai in a very
public sense. As a result, the conceptual role
of Tyche, as well as her visual image, evolved
dramatically. In the context of the Ptolemaic
ruler cult, the tyche of the queen became a
focal point of reverence. The prominence
given to her tyche (rather than that of the
king) may be due to the inherent femininity
of the noun "tyche" in the Greek language as
well as to the increased importance of
women as rulers and vital participants in the
matter of dynastic succession. The apotheo-
sis of the queen's tyche was ensured through
syncretism with the Greek goddess Tyche
and the Egyptian goddess Isis and through
the accompanying embellishment of her
image with divine features. The primary
attribute that Tyche received in this context
was the cornucopia that symbolized the
fecundity of the dynasty, the city, and the
empire. It also suited the syncretism of Tyche
with Isis in the context of the ruler cult, for
Isis herself was a fertility deity as well as the
goddess of kingship. The appearance of
Ptolemaic queens in the guise of Tyche and
Isis on gems, as on coins, suggests the use of

the queens' tychai as symbols of Ptolemaic
political influence in the broader empire,
particularly the Seleucid realm, rather than
in Alexandria alone. The appearance of Arsi-
noe III as Oikoumene on the relief by Arch-
elaos, and perhaps on the faience statuette
that has been associated with the ruler cult
(fig. 58), suggests an expansion of Tyche's
geographical significance, from a city goddess
to a world goddess, that suits the grandiose
imperial aspirations of the Hellenistic rulers.
In the Roman world, eclecticism is mani-
fest in art and religion. Thus, as in the Greek
world, some attributes of Tyche, particularly
the cornucopia and the mural crown, were
shared among several other deities such as
Ceres, Cybele/Magna Mater, and Fortuna.
These attributes were subsequently borrowed
by the empresses in their portraiture, particu-
larly to suit elevating titles that they received
during their lifetimes, such as Magna Mater,
Mater Patriae, and Mater Castrorum.
Although it is difficult to distinguish these
different divinities and quasi-divinities from
each other in the Roman visual arts, they are
all endowed to some degree with the various
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68
Cameo showing Tychel
Fortuna crowning
Hadrian. Roman, a.d.
117- 138. Sardonyx,
18.5 χ 21.5 cm. Antiken-
sammlung, Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin. 11056
capacities of the Hellenistic Tyche: guardian,
savior, and bearer of fortune and fecundity.
In the guise of such divinities, the capacities
of Tyche were thus conferred on the em-
presses. Conceptual flexibility is particularly
well represented by adaptation of the mural
crown as an attribute of Mater Castrorum.
Just as Oikoumene may have evolved from
Tyche in response to the imperialism that
characterized the Hellenistic world, Mater
Castrorum was simply a tyche of the military
realm who evolved in response to the increas-
ing role of the army in the Roman Empire of
the second century A.c. Tyche as a general-
ized personification representing the fortune
of the city/empire and the guardian of the
ruler's fate, however, continued to appear on
Roman imperial cameos. Despite her various
syncretic incarnations - Oikoumene/ Tyche
on the Gemma Augus tea, Tyche /Isis on a
Claudian cameo, and Tyche /Fortuna on a
Hadrianic cameo - in each example she is
shown in her fundamental role as a bearer of
fortune, crowning the emperor.
99
NOTES
10 Thompson, no. 1; Henry B. Walters, Catalogue
of Roman Pottery. . . in the British Museum (London,
I wish to thank Michael J. Behen, Susan B. Mathe-
1908), 12, κ jj, pl. 5. Similarly, inscriptions on oino-
son, and Jerome J. Pollitt for reading earlier drafts
choai dedicated to Berenike II read: βασιλίσσης
of this essay. I also wish to thank the following
βερενύκης αγαθής τύχης (Thompson, no. 139) or
individuals for their kindnesses in helping me to
βερενίκης βασιλίσσης αγαθής τύχης (Thomp-
obtain illustrations: Bruce McAlpine of McAlpine
son, nos. 29, 75> Ι9°> Ι91)' Both translate to "of the
Ancient Art Ltd., London, Gertrud Platz of
Good Fortune of Queen Berenike."
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Jerome J. Pollitt, Homer and Dorothy n Thompson,
Thompson,19 interprets only the contents as
dedicated
and Michael Vickers of the Department oftoAntiq-
the named queen and compares this
uities, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.use of the genitive with the genitive usage for
toasts. Fritz Taeger, Charisma. Studien zur
ι Select Exhibition of Sir John and Lady Beazleys
Geschichte des Antiken Herrscherkultes 1 (Stuttgart,
Gifts to the Ashmolean Museum 1912-1966
1957), 36-43 proposes that the first phrase (exem-
(London, 1967), 171, no. 661, pl. 82; Gertrud
plified on the British Museum oinochoe, Thomp-
Horster, Statuen auf Gemmen (Bonn, 1970), 105,
son, no. 1) means simply "of the Good Fortune of
no. 3; Baity, "Antiocheia," no. 97. For the cog-
Arsinoe Philadelphia," rather than "of Good For-
nomen Orbius see RE 35, 878-80.
tune and of Arsinoe Philadelphia," which would
2 This tradition seems to have begunbe a with the
reference pro-
to two distinct divinities.
pitiation of Alexander the Great's tyche: see Pollitt
12 Thompson, 83.
1986, 1-4; republished in this catalogue, 12-17.
13 Ibid., nos. 142-47 and pp. 52-53. See also Peter
3 Trans. Benjamin D. Merritt, "Greek Inscrip-
M. F raser, Ptolemaic Alexandria (Oxford, 1972), 241.
tions," Hesperia 21 (1952): 356. See also Antony E.
Raubitschek, "Demokratia," Hesperia 14 The
31 identification
(1962): of this shaft continues to be
238-43. This decree is inscribed on debated,
a reliefbutthat
I concur with Thompson that at least
illustrates a draped woman crowning it may be regarded as a sacred pillar, such as prolif-
a seated,
bearded man: Democracy crowning erated throughout the ancient world in all periods.
Demos.
See Thompson, 62-67, with a full bibliography.
4 Such a conflation is seen frequently among ora-
15 This imagery
tors of the fifth century, e.g., Demosthenes, Deof the tycheof the queen, with
Corona 202. libation phiale in outstretched left hand and cor-
nucopia in right arm, mirrors the pose of the
5 Plutarch, Moralia 542E.
Genius Augusti (Spirit of the Emperor) revered
6 Arrian, Anabasis 3.1.1-3.2.2.
under the Julio-Claudians (27 b.c.-a.d. 68), and
7 Lily Ross Taylor, "The Cult of Alexander at subsequently the Genius Populi Romani (Spirit of
Alexandria," CP22 (1927): 162. the Roman People), which became especially
8 William M. Flinders-Petrie, Religious Life in apparent under the Flavian dynasty, late first cen-
Ancient Egypt (London, 1924), no. tury A.c. This particular aspect of continuity of
imagery from the Ptolemaic to Roman imperial
9 These oinochoai and related faience portraits
ruler cults goes beyond the scope of this essay. For
have been thoroughly studied by Dorothy B.
more on these Genii in Roman religion, see Lily
Thompson, Ptolemaic Oinochoai and Portraits in
Ross Taylor, The Divinity of the Roman Emperor
Faience. Aspects of the Ruler-Cult (Oxford, 1973).
(Middletown, ct, 1931), 181-239. For relevant
Evaristo Breccia, Le Necropoli di Sciatbi. Catalogue
imagery, see Inez Scott Ryberg, Rites of the State
générale musée dAlexandrie (Cairo, 1912), 180 - 92,
Religion in Roman Art. MAAR 22 (1955), particu-
nos. 581-92 found too many fragments (and many
larly fig. 33c- d: a small marble altar in Naples,
of inferior quality) to infer that they served royalty
probably of Augustan date (27 b.c.-a.d. 14), that
itself, as discussed by Thompson, 49 - 50. Louis
depicts (on two of its four sides) a seated veiled
Robert, "Sur un décret d'Ilion et sur un papyrus
woman with patera (Roman parallel to phiale) in
concernant des cultes royaux," in Essays in Honor of
outstretched right hand and cornucopia in left
C. Bradford Welles. American Studies in Papyrology 1
arm, and a youthful togate male, standing, but
(New Haven, 1966), 208-210 first associated these
with the same attributes.
jugs with the ruler cult and related them directly
to the popular side of this Ptolemaic "religion."

IOO

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i6 Dorothy Β. Thompson, "A Numismatic Com-
mentary on the Ptolemaic Cult Oinochoai," in
Greek Numismatics and Archaeology. Essays in
Honor of Margaret Thompson, ed. Otto Morkholm
and Nancy M. Waggoner (Wetterin, 1979), 253
distinguishes between posthumous images on
commemorative oinochoai as on coins, particu-
larly in the case of Arsinoe II and Arsinoe III, as
distinct from contemporary images of Berenike II
and others.
17 The tradition of divinization of Hellenistic
rulers through the addition of such divine attrib-
utes had begun with posthumous representations
of Alexander the Great. On the obverse of a tetra-
drachm issued by Ptolemy I Soter (318-315 b.c.),
for example, Alexander's head is shown in profile
with the horns of Zeus Ammon. Fostering the
claim of Alexander's divine ancestry, these rams
horns commemorated the time that Alexander,
while in Egypt, visited the oracle of Zeus Ammon
(at Siwa), whereupon the priest of Zeus acclaimed
him a son of the god (reported by Kallisthenes,
according to Strabo 17.1.43 [814]). See Günter
Grimm, "Die Vergöttlichung Alexanders des
Grossen in Ägypten und ihre Bedeutung für den
ptolemäischen Königskult," Das ptolemäische
Ägypten. Akten des internationalen Symposions 2/.-
29. September ΐργό in Berlin, ed. Herwig Maehler
and Volker M. Strocka (Mainz, 1978), 103, fig. 70.
18 Ovid, Fasti 5. 1 1 5. According to an earlier vari-
ant, told by Kallimachos, Amaltheia was the she-
goat that suckled the infant Zeus on Mt. Dikte,
Crete: Callimachus, Hymnus in Jovem 1.45-48. For
complete bibliography see W H. Roscher, Lexicon,
s.v. "Amaltheia" (262-66).
19 The dikeras of the Philadelphoi is celebrated in a
verse attributed to Theocles by Athenaios 11.497c,
that connects it with a religious festival, most
likely connected to the ruler cult: "έθύσαμεν γαρ
σήμερον Σωτήρια πάντες οι τεχνίται· μεθΊ ων
ττιών το δίκερας, ως τον φίλτατον βασιλέα
πάρει μι" (For all we artists have today celebrated
with sacrifice the Festival of Salvation; in their
company I have drunk the double horn and am
come into the presence of our dearest king; trans.
Charles B. Gulick, Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists 5
[London, 1933], 219).
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20 The Temple of Agathe Tyche may be a
later name of the structure originally called the
Philadelpheion: Fraser, 241. Inscriptions de Délos,
ed. Félix Durrbach and Pierre Roussel (Paris,
1935), 1417A, lines 22ff. Athenaios n.497b-c.
21 Thompson, 83, 127-28, no. 5, pls. a, iv. For the
fragment, see also Dorothy K. Hill, "Four Frag-
ments of Ptolemaic High-Relief Faience," /M43
(1954): 44-46, fig. 1.
22 The reverses of several coins minted under
Ptolemy II Philadelphos and Arsinoe II Philadel-
phia show the dikeras; e.g. a gold octadrachm
minted at Paphos (271-246 b.c.). Coins minted
under Ptolemy III Euergetes and Ptolemy IV
Philopator show the single cornucopia, e.g., a
gold octadrachm minted in 221-204 b.c.: Kraay
and Hirmer, nos. 802 and 807. Also see Ioannes
Svoronos, Τα Νομίσματα των Πτολεμαίων
(Athens, 1904), nos. 520 and 1159.
23 Pausanias 4.30.6 reports, however, that in
an altogether different part of the Greek world,
Boupalos gave his statue of the Tyche of Smyrna a
cornucopia. The cornucopia subsequently became
most prevalent among the images of Tyche's coun-
terpart, Fortuna, in the Roman world.
24 E. Beulé, "Le Vase de la reine Bérénice, " Jour-
nal des savants (1862) : 163-72, concluded (seem-
ingly on insubstantial grounds) that the vase dis-
covered at Benghazi, now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris (Thompson, no. 29) showed
Berenike II as the Tyche of the city that was
named after her, Berenike-Euhesperides. See also
Thompson, 49.
25 This particular polos may be a variant of the
mural crown, if its broken upper surface bore
crenellations or battlements, as suggested by Ibid.,
90. I have not had the benefit of firsthand investi-
gation. The statuette was probably a votive, associ-
ated with the ruler cult, used in a house shrine
{Ibid., 89-90, 200, no. 273, pl. 64). Although no
inscriptions in the name of Arsinoe III survive on
oinochoai, three faience oinochoe fragments
clearly resemble coin portraits of this queen {Ibid.,
nos. 109, 270-71).
26 Muller, 56-70.
27 Pollitt 1986, 16.
28 In the upper register, Zeus is seated, with
scepter and eagle, on a mountain peak. He is
flanked by Memory, the ultimate source of poetic
inspiration. The mountain is presumably Helikon
ΙΟΙ
or Parnassos on account of the presence of the
nine Muses (embodying the various poetic and lit-
erary pursuits) on the slopes below and in the
middle register. The middle register also depicts a
Muse with Apollo Kitharoidos (bearing a kithara,
the musical instrument that marks his capacity as
god of poetry and song) within a shrine. This
shrine is probably at Delphi, as suggested by the
omphalos, or conical stone, that stands between
December 1957, lot 91 (a gold ring from the Arthur
Evans and Jacob Hirsch Collections). For the other
cameo see Marie-Louise Vollenweider, Die Stein-
schneidekunst und Ihre Künstler in Spätrepublikanis-
cher und Augusteischer Zeit {Baden-Baden, 1966), 82,
n. 6 who refers to Georg Lippold, Gemmen und
Kameen der Altertums und der Neuzeit (Stuttgart,
1922), pls. 31.4, 31.7; Adolf Furtwängler, Die Antike
Gemmen. Geschichte der Steinschneidekunst im klas-

them. To the right stands the unidentified poet, sischen Altertum (Amsterdam, 1964), pl. 34.
on a pedestal, with a victory tripod. 33 Boardman and Vollenweider, 83, n. 291; Oxford
29 Carl Watzinger, Das Relief des Archelaos von no. 1892. 1348, Spier, no. 27.
Priene. Berliner Winckelmannsprogramm 63 (1903) : 34 Spier, 32.
17-22.
35 Thompson, 31-32.
30 Jeffrey Spier, "A Group of Ptolemaic Engraved
36 Edward T. Newell, The Western Seleucid Mints
Garnets, "JWAG 4.7 (1989): no. 28, fig. 20 dates this
from Seleucus I to Antiochus Him NumSt 4 (1941) :
gem to the first half of the second century b.c.
153-54, series 4, nos. 1118 and 1125.
Identification of the portrait as that of Arsinoe III
would date it to her reign, 217-206/5 b.c. Cf.37 For a silver tetradrachm, minted ca. 162-156
Kraay and Hirmer, 808 for her portrait on theb.c., see Edward T. Newell, The Seleucid Mint of
obverse of a gold octadrachm, on the reverse Antioch
of (New York, 1918), 34, no. 79, pl. v; also
Greek Coins. ip$o to 1965. Museum of Fine Arts,
which is pictured her dikeras (London, British
Boston (Boston, 1964), 62, nos. 277-79, pl· 25·
Museum); also Thompson, pl. 71. c for a basalt
head in Copenhagen (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, This Tyche figure in the coinage of Demetrios I is
discussed by Robert Fleischer, "Die Tyche des
no. 329). For marble heads identified as Ptolemy
Demetrios I von Syrien," AA (1986): 699-706.
IV and Arsinoe III, in the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, see Pollitt 1986, 253, figs. 270-71. Although earlier interpreted as a figure of Deme-
ter, she was first identified as Tyche by Percy Gard-
31 Spier convincingly presents the uniformity of
ner, "Countries and Cities in Ancient Art," JHSy
style, iconography, material, and shape of these
(1985)178.
gems as ample evidence for their relation to one
another, and dates them generally to the 38 Pollitt 1986, fig. 293a.
second -first centuries b.c. The Tyche images39are
This coin is thus dated to 125 -121 b.c. {Ibid.,
found in Frederick H. Marshall, Catalogue of 274,
thefig. 293d).
Finger Rings. Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, in the
40 Barclay V Head, Historia Nummorum: A
Department of Antiquities, British Museum
Manual of Greek Numismatics, 2nd ed. (Oxford,
(London, 1907), nos. 518 and 396 (Spier, nos. 29
1911), 770.
[fig. 21] and 31; André de Ridder, Collection de
41 Taylor 1931 (cited in n. 15), 5. Augustus was not
Clercq 7.2. Les Bijoux et les Pierres Gravées [Paris,
1911], nos. 2971 and 2973); John Boardman and worshipped in his lifetime as a divinity at Rome,
but he was given a divine aspect with the confer-
Marie-Louise Vollenweider, Catalogue of Engraved
ence of titles Divifilius (son of a god) and Augustus
Gems and Finger Rings 1. Greek and Etruscan
(venerable), and his cult as Divus Augustus (Divine
(Oxford, 1978), no. 291 (Spier, no. 27, fig. 19); de
Ridder, nos. 2972 and 2974 (Spier, nos. 30 and 32); was formally instituted (on 17 Septem-
Augustus)
ber a.D. 14) on the Palatine Hill, after his death.
Munich, Staatliche Münzsammlung (Spier, no. 33,
fig. 22). The Isis gems are catalogued in Spier,42 nos.
According to Wolf- Rüdiger Megow, Kameen
13-24. von Augustus bis Alexander Severus. Antike Münzen
und Geschnittene Steine (Berlin, 1987), 2, the
32 Spier, 32, n. 64, with one depicted in fig. 42;
(Ptolemaic) dynastic origin of this medium
Marie-Louise Vollenweider, Deliciae Leonis. Antike
explains
geschnittene Steine und Ringe aus einer Privatsamm-
the popularity of cameo carving in the

lung(Mzinz, 1984), no. 260 (third quarter of third

Julio-Claudian epoch and subsequently in the
Flavian7and Severan periods.
century b.c.) and Hess-Schaub auction, Lucerne,

102

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43 Grimm (cited in η. 17), io8, fig. 8i; Marie-
Louise Vollenweider, Die Porträtgemmen der
Römische Republik (Mainz, 1972), 80, pl. 136.4
(Cades Collection iv c 256 [37a] DAi-Rome), a
cameo that is identified as a portrait of Mark
Antony with horns. See also the "Berlin Cameo,"
in Wolf- Rüdiger Megow, "Zu einigen Kameen spät-
hellenistischer und Frühaugusteischer Zeit," Jdl
100 (1985): 445-96, where Megow argues that this
cameo illustrates Mark Antony and Kleopatra VII.
44 Megow 1987, 1. Divinizing imagery of living
members of the imperial family was not estab-
lished in public state art until the Flavian dynasty
(a.D. 69-96), when living emperors received
divine honors as evidenced in coins, and were seen
in the company of divinities and personifications
on public architectural monuments, e.g., the Arch
of Titus in Rome (erected a.d. 81 or later).
45 Ibid. y aio. This sardonyx is dated variously to
the Augustan and Tiberian periods (27 b.c.-a.d. 37).
See, most recently, John Pollini, "The Gemma
Augustea: Ideology, Historical Imagery, and the
Creation of a Dynastic Narrative," in Narrative
and Event in Ancient Art, ed. Peter J. Holliday
(Cambridge, 1993).
46 The lower register shows soldiers capturing
Barbarians and raising a trophy. According to
Kleiner, 71, the scorpio on this trophy's shield sug-
gests that the victory celebrated was one of
Tiberius's military achievements, because scorpio
was his birth sign. This conforms with the fact that
Tiberius and personified Victory are adjacent in the
upper tier. Dea Roma may be taken also to repre-
sent the citizens of Rome; Augustus is thus seated
alongside the people because his role in Rome is as
primus inter pares (first among equals). Ronald
Mellor, "The Goddess Roma," ANRWZ.17.Z
(1981): 956-57 elaborates on Roma as symbolic of
the Roman people in parallel to the Athenian
Demos. Roma herself was first revered by the
Greeks and her earliest cult established at Smyrna
in 195 b.c. (Mellor, 956). Roma on the Gemma
Augustea is the "Athena type," but the more popu-
lar "Amazon type" may have derived from
Smyrna's Amazonian Tyche, as illustrated on the
reverse of an Antonine coin: Barclay V Head, Cat-
alogue of Coins in Ionia (London, 1964), 254,
Smyrna 155, pl. 27.1. The proximity of Oikoumene
and Chronos on the relief by Archelaos would, by
analogy, suggest an identification of the bearded
man next to Oikoumene on the Gemma Augustea
as Chronos. Yet the appearance of Chronos on the
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relief by Archelaos is vastly different: he is
unbearded and winged on that Hellenistic work.
Okeanos, who is traditionally represented as a
bearded man, would also be a more likely inclu-
sion in this large assemblage of personifications of
place, particularly given his proximity to Tellus.
47 Up to four city goddesses are seen in a single
scene on the Arch of Trajan at Benevento (ca. a.D.
114). These Tychai are shown as identical figures,
however, a formulaic representation of the
plethora of cities in the Roman Empire.
48 Megow 1987, 157-58.
49 Cornelius C. Vermeule, "The Colossus of
Porto Raphti in Attica," Hesperian (1962): 62-81,
pl. 27 dates this statue to the early Antonine
period (ca. mid-second century A.c.). See also Ver-
meule's Roman Imperial Art in Greece and Asia
Minor (Cambridge, 1968), 35-36, fig. 13. A replica
of this image was formerly on sale at Sotheby's:
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., Important Greek,
Roman, Etruscan, Egyptian, and Western Asiatic
Antiquities (New York, May 1979), no. 203; Ver-
meule 1968, fig. 15.
50 Ibid., 36.
51 Dio Cassius 53.16 discusses Augustus's adoption
of the corona civica. In the first description of the
corona civica, in Caecilius Statius fr. 25OW=2O9R
(early second century b.c.), it is referred to also as
a crown of oak {corona iligna). Lengthy ancient
discussions appear in Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae
5.6.13 -14, and Pliny, Naturalis Historia 16.12- 13.
See also Valerie A. Maxfield, The Military Decora-
tions of the Roman Army (Berkeley, 1981), 70-74.
52 Plutarch, Quastiones Romanae 92.
53 On the difficulty in identifying Roman as well
as Hellenistic portraits on cameos and gems see
Rolf Winkes, "Der Kameo Marlborough: Ein
Urbild der Lívia," AA (1982): 131; Helmut
Kyrieleis, "Der Kameo Gonzaga," BJbiyi (1971):
162-93; and Hans Jucker, "Der Grosse Pariser
Kameo. Eine Huldigung an Agrippina, Claudius
und Nero," Jdl 91 (1976): 211-50. For Dea Roma
as Livia, see Robert West, Römische Porträtplastik
(Berlin, 1933), 138, and Ferdinand Eichler and
Ernst Kris, Die Kameen im Kunsthistorischen
Museum, Wien (Vienna, 1927), 52-56, with previ-
ous bibliography. For Oikoumene as Livia, see
Pierre Lambrechts, "Livia-Cybèle," La Nouvelle
Clio 4 (1952): 260; Jacques Schwartz, "Recherches
sur les dernières années du règne d'Auguste
(4-14)," RPhiliÇ) (1945): 59; and Joseph Aschbach,
Livia (Vienna, 1864), 40.
103
54 Kleiner, 69. John Pollini, "Studies in Augustan
Historical Reliefs," Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Califor-
nia, Berkeley (1978), 182.
55 Megow 1987, 254, no. B15, pl. 9.1-3; mentioned
also in Margarete Bieber, The Statue ofCybele in
the J. Paul Getty Museum. J. Paul Getty Museum
Publication 3 (Malibu, 1968), 12, 25, n. 44. Vollen-
weider 1966 (cited in n. 32), pl. 86.4-6 illustrates
three other cameos that similarly illustrate women
holding up the bust of Augustus in a cornucopia.
The Stephane, a crescent-shaped crown, was
shown on images of Arsinoe II and Arsinoe III.
56 Most recently, Siri Sande, "Römische Frauen-
porträts mit Mauerkrone," Acta AArtHist 5 (Rome,
1985): 154. Cybele was officially brought to Rome
from Asia Minor in 205/4 b.c. and was worshipped
in her Palatine temple under the Republic. Her
worship was probably expanded considerably when
Claudius opened up the priesthood to citizens.
57 OCD 303. This title can be conceptually linked
to Mater Castrorum, for which see p. 97.
58 John A. Hanson, Roman Theater-Temples
(Princeton, 1959), 59-60, fig. 21; see also Heinrich
Bartels, Studien zum Frauenporträt der augusteis-
chen Zeit (Munich, 1964), 55. The inscription
would date the temple and perhaps also the statue
to late Tiberian times. C. Rubellius Blandus,
whose proconsulship is dated to A.D. 35/36 by an
inscription on the Arch of Tiberius at Leptis-
Magna (Pietro Romanelli, "Gli Archi di Tiberio e
di Traiano in Leptis Magna," Afrit 7 [1940] : 91) is
the dedicator of this building; see Giacomo
Caputo and Gustavo Traversari, Le Sculture del
teatro di Leptis Magna (Rome, 1976), 77, no. 58,
fig. 54-55, who identify the statue simply as "Livia
as Ceres-Tyche."
59 Sande, 155.
60 Ibid. y 158, 163-65. Claudius gave her the title
Diva (Goddess) in a.d. 42 on the centenary of her
birth, soon after his accession to the throne
(Bieber, 10).
61 Ibid., 17.
104
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62 Ibid. The dating of the statue to the Claudian-
Flavian period (second half of first century A.c.)
has been conjectured by Cornelius C. Vermeule,
Bulletin of the J. Paul Getty Museum of Art ' (1957):
22-25, whereas Bieber, 15 suggests an Antonine date
(mid-second century A.c.) on account of the boring
technique used especially on the cornucopia and
the lion. She suggests that it may have been copied
from a seated Livia statue set up by Claudius in
the Temple of Augustus, and compares this statue
to a Livia portrait from Puteoli in the Ny Carls-
berg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (28).
63 Ibid, τ.
64 Sande, 230-31. Suetonius, Nero 6.
65 Sande, 231 argues, on the basis of a single head
of a vestal virgin with tall crenellated crown,
which she dates to the Hadrianic period, that from
the Flavian period on, non-imperial personages
too began to be represented with divine attributes.
(This portrait of the vestal virgin was on the
market in Rome at the time of Sandes publica-
tion.) The vestals, however, held a particularly
esteemed status that surely falls closer to that of
imperial women than of the non-imperial elite.
Should one be inclined to adhere to Sandes point,
one must date the Getty statue much later than
the Claudian period (which is itself unlikely), or
alternatively identify her as an imperial personage.
Such a generalization is difficult to accept, how-
ever, while both the dates and specific identifica-
tions of so many portraits are hypothetical.
66 Megow 1987, 78-80, 200-201, no. a8i, pl. 31;
Sande, 165; Siegfried Fuchs, "Deutung, Sinn und
Zeitstellung des Wiener Cameo mit den Fruch-
thornbüsten,"/?M 51 (1936). The two figures on the
right side are alternatively interpreted as Tiberius
and Livia (see, most recently, Kleiner, 151).
67 A terminus ante quern is provided by the date
of Claudius's death, a.D. 54.
68 Sande, 166. On the corona spicea, see Barbette
S. Spaeth, "The Goddess Ceres on the Ara Pacis
Augustae," AJA 98 (1994): 92.
69 Megow 1987, 78. Magna Mater, who was repre-
sented frequently in Roman art in Phrygia, as else-
where, with mural crown, tympanon, and lion,
also served as protector of cities and military
camps (Bieber, 3).
jo A contemporary stone bust of a woman with
Stephane and mural crown in Nîmes has been
identified as Agrippina Minor. On account of
physiognomic discrepancies, Sande, 198 rejects this
attribution in favor of Messalina. Messalina is like-
wise a debated candidate for a stone bust of a
mural-crowned woman in Dresden (Vagn Poulsen,
"Portraits of Claudia Octavia," OpRom' [1962]:
107-15) that is interpreted alternatively as Mes-
salinas daughter, Claudia Octavia (Sande, 217). The
challenging identification of these portraits as par-
ticular imperial women is beyond the scope of this
paper. Yet clearly the mural crown was popularly
used as a divinizing attribute in imperial circles.
80 Although the maritime Tyche was prevalent in
Greek literature from the fourth century b.c. and
later, the rudder rarely appears in Hellenistic and
early Imperial works. It becomes increasingly
important in the Roman Empire, particularly on
personal gems, as an attribute of Tyche's Roman
counterpart, Fortuna.
Amy c. smith is a doctoral candidate in
Classical Art and Archaeology at Yale University.
She is writing her dissertation on personifications
in Classical Greek art.

71 Sande, 236, fig. 34, bases her identification

mostly on the hairstyle; the facial features are less
convincingly those of Faustina Minor.
72 Her maternal qualities had been celebrated
throughout the reign of Marcus Aurelius, as she
gave birth to an unprecedented twelve or more
children. See J. P. V D. Balsdon, Roman Women.
Their History and Habits (London, 1962), 143.
73 ScriptoresHistoriae Augustae,Af^rr«i26.8. Julia
Domna, wife of Septimius Severus (emperor, A.D.
193 -211), received the title Mater Castrorum- ont
of her many maternal titles - in a.d. 196, when her
husband defeated the Adiabeni (Balsdon, 151).

74 Josephus, Bellum Judaicum 6.413 and 7.1-4.

75 Kenneth Scott, The Imperial Cult Under the
Flavians (Stuttgart, 1936), 99-100.
76 Earlier male Tychai are not representations of
individual tychai, but of civic Tychai that generally
result from conflation of local deities with Tyche.
See the essays by Susan Matheson and Pieter
Broucke in this catalogue.
77 Megow 1987, A98, pl. 35.1-2, 149, 213-14.
78 The Livia and Divus Augustus cameo (fig. 64)
does not conflict with this "rule" because it clearly
represents an image of a bust of Divus Augustus
rather than a direct portrait of Augustus.

79 Megow 1987, A128, 230-231, pl. 42.12. He

compares this representation to a Sabina head
capite velato in the Terme Museum, Rome (no.
727) to substantiate this identification (230); see
also Max Wegner, Hadrian, Herrscherbild 2.3
(Berlin, 1956), pl. 47b.

105

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