:Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome

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Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewSouvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome By Maggie Popkin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2022. Pp. 346. ISBN 9781316517567 (hardcover) $99.99.Karl M. PetrusoKarl M. PetrusoProgram in Anthropology (retired). University of Texas at Arlington Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreIn recent decades, souvenirs have been the subject of several publications, some in the form of delightful popular essays and personal reflections (e.g., Rolf Potts, Souvenir, Bloomsbury 2018), while others, including the work reviewed here, are scholarly analyses probing the deeper meaning and function of objects one acquires typically during travel. In the Western world in our time, the very word “souvenir” can elicit images of cheap, tacky tchotchkes. But such images are hardly characteristic of the artifacts examined here, which were not taw-dry knockoffs but rather products of careful design and manufacture. As the author ably demonstrates, ancient Roman souvenirs are of interest on many accounts, not least for the window on the world they provided to their ancient owners.In her new book, Popkin focuses on a class of portable objects she characterizes variously as souvenirs, mementos, or memorabilia, dating to a defined period of classical antiquity. She observes that neither Greeks nor Romans had a word for such items, and she acknowledges that the word “souvenir” in English is itself a slippery term. There is no doubt that ancient artifacts we now call souvenirs had many of the same functions as their modern counterparts: to evoke memories of people and places in the experience of their owners. These objects could have been intensely personal possessions, and our ability to identify the impetus for their original acquisition is limited. Only the most durable of ancient souvenirs have survived the centuries. And there is a corollary: many excavated objects that might have provoked strong feelings by their owners—seashells, rocks, fossils, coins—could also have been souvenirs, but none can be so labeled with any confidence. Early in the book, Popkin introduces the useful term “vicarious souvenirs” (8) to describe items that inspired their owners to imagine activities or places outside their personal experience.The data consist of a rather discrete number of artifacts fashioned in bronze, lead, clay, semiprecious stone, bone or antler, and glass, from findspots throughout the Roman world, dating from the Augustan period to the founding of the new capital at Constantinople (the better-known souvenirs of Christian pilgrimage are considered a separate phenomenon and are not part of Popkin’s study). She organizes these items into four categories based on what they represent. Analyses of a few featured artifacts can serve to illustrate her approaches to them.First to be considered are cult paraphernalia that evoked renowned religious sites, most prominently the sanctuary of Artemis at Ephesus. Six temple models of lead, reminiscent of the Artemesion, were recovered from a first-century BCE shipwreck off ancient Spina in the Adriatic. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 19, there is mention of models of the temple of Artemis made by a pagan silversmith. The leaden Spina examples would appear to be both mementos and westbound cargo; as such, they raise questions of source, transport, and marketing. Certainly, the justly famous Artemesion was always a desirable destination for persons in the Roman empire who had the means to undertake arduous and dangerous journeys. Some visitors to that sanctuary will have been religious pilgrims; others were perhaps attracted by the sheer scale and refinements of the temple as well as its extraordinary cult statue (the site was, after all, among the seven wonders of the ancient world). Perhaps demand by ancient pilgrims and tourists inspired creation of the little temples in Ephesian workshops. But the Spina models suggest that such items might have been manufactured for export. Indeed, Popkin observes that the Tyche of Antioch in Syria was especially well represented in specimens excavated far afield, in Spain, Hungary, Italy, Sicily, and Cyprus; and at Tarsus in Anatolia, terracotta fragments found indicate that Tarsus was a site of their manufacture, which suggests that production of religious souvenirs could be outsourced if demand warranted, which might in turn be evidence that a new level in supply and marketing had been reached.The author’s second category, souvenirs representing cities and sites, includes blown and molded vessels (bottles, beakers, bowls, and ampullae) in glass and metals, depicting famous monuments. The Pharos of Alexandria receives pride of place here, and the known specimens include architectural details and even identification labels. Popkin notes that metal pans labeled with the names of forts on Hadrian’s Wall in Britain might have been keepsakes for sale to Roman soldiers and veterans deployed there. Some of them appear to have been customized, perhaps even made to order. This feature suggests targeted branding for very select audiences. It recalls, inter alia, the World War I campaign souvenirs produced in Europe.The ancient souvenirs that made the deepest impression on the Roman populace—in both the city of Rome and other cities with amphitheaters—depicted gladiatorial combats and chariot races. Figurines of individual gladiators in bronze and clay, armored up and confronting their opponents in the several outfits that reflected standard arena pairings, are illustrated in the book. Popkin devotes much thought and space to their interpretation: here she moves beyond matters of pilgrimage, distribution, and marketing to consider the impact of local spectacles. The suspense and brutality of events in the arena and the circus inspired craftsmen to meet consumer demand with a variety of mementos. Together with contemporary testimonia, reliefs, and mosaics, these souvenirs make it clear that individuals who had distinguished themselves in arena combats, as well as the fastest teams in the biga and quadriga races, had devoted followings, attracting no less passion and reverence than the most celebrated sports figures of modern times. This tribal phenomenon was attested throughout the empire, even in remote areas where such events had likely never been staged. It is manifested in a variety of decorated trinkets, including oil lamps, knife handles, and fibulae. The edge of the tondo of a terracotta oil lamp (fig. 56) depicts in stunning detail a panoramic view of an audience surrounding and watching four teams of quadrigas in its center; other lamps and medallions feature pairs of gladiators facing off; and still another shows two attendants supporting a wounded combatant, who walks away unsteadily at the conclusion of his match. These miniature images would have enabled their owners to relive thrilling, gruesome, and moving events they had witnessed previously. It is easy to imagine such souvenirs being in high demand—and collected by sports fans—throughout the empire.The author’s fourth category of souvenirs focuses on the theater. Figurines of actors in costume, some with exaggerated expressions and hairdos, survive in bronze and clay. These items typically represent comic actors and mimes; images of actors on lamps and vessels are less well represented than their contemporary counterparts in the arena. Type-characters (e.g., the slave) are the most recognizable, and masks—especially comic masks—are particularly well known among actor figurines. Type-characters are more identifiable than characters in specific plays or, indeed, actual professional actors. Roman theatrical memorabilia are less well known than their Hellenistic counterparts. These finds clearly represent the world of the theater (they are characterized by Popkin as “theater merchandise,” the property of aficionados). One is inclined to consider this category as most likely to have been made and consumed locally.Popkin seeks in the early chapters to identify the meanings and functions these varied memorabilia had in the lives of their owners. She argues that possessable and portable cult statues, for instance, were polyvalent, “expressions of religious affinity, civic identity, [and] cultural cachet” (59). That workshops around the Roman world produced and distributed such images implies an effort to create and sustain a cultural koine that invited less affluent persons in the remotest regions of the empire to identify with the larger Roman community.The two final chapters present carefully constructed arguments and reflections arising from consideration of more recondite issues concerning the social and political fabric of the Roman empire. The story of the rise and fall of Rome, known in voluminous and exquisite historical detail, is arguably the most intensively studied narrative epic of all antiquity. Popkin has reached beyond the familiar primary sources and venerable histories of Rome; her research is illuminated by several modern theoretical approaches to her material that might be unfamiliar to her readers, including semiotics, technology of memory and knowledge, sociology of sport, sport theory, and Thing Theory, among others. Having surveyed overlapping ancient class- and economy-based group identifications, she considers affiliations generated in entertainment and sport. She makes clear that the empire exhibited and exploited popular culture just as all complex societies are tempted to do. The events of the arena and circus provide both impetus and laboratory for the author to explore social and psychological dimensions of these artifacts. And she is fond of the phrase “imagining the Roman Empire,” which she applies with great acuity.This is an unusually perceptive, engaging, and thoroughly readable study, originating in a small but representative sample of artifacts rarely featured in the archaeological literature. The author is to be congratulated for both recognizing their value and making them sing.Notes[email protected] Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Archaeology Volume 127, Number 2April 2023 The journal of the Archaeological Institute of America Views: 89Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/724681 Views: 89Total views on this site HistoryPublished online March 07, 2023 Copyright © 2023 by the Archaeological Institute of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.