Page 37 - Osor v fokusu znanosti

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Old Discoveries, New Insights: Reconsidering
the Sculpture of Apsorus

Katarina Šmid 2025
Invited Lecture
November

Abstract The signiﬁcance of the municipium of Apsorus during the Early
Imperial period is also evidenced by its sculptural material, particularly the
marble portrait heads of members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which have 4–5
frequently been the focus of scholarly attention. By contrast, other sculptural
ﬁnds have received considerably less notice and will be re-examined in this
contribution. The Spinario relief presents the only known stone relief repre- Koper,
sentation of this celebrated Early Hellenistic motif, here reinterpreted by a
•
local workshop. Such adaptation of a Greek prototype was hardly inciden-
tal, as artworks derived from Classical statuary-especially in the province of
Dalmatia-appeared within a decade of the establishment of Roman author- Spotlight
ity.ThefunerarysteleofthenavalcenturionLiccaeusisparticularlyenigmatic
because of the circular object held in his hands. In comparison with Early Im-
perial stelae of naval centurions from Ravenna, it is possible that, at least in
that period, it symbolised the vitis, the widely recognised emblem of cen- Scientiﬁc
turions’ authority. The so-called Muse-Caryatid has been only sporadically
mentioned among the sculptural discoveries from Osor, as it entered the Gri-
mani collection in Venice as early as the 16th century. The statue reﬂects the the
Tralles/Cherchell type of Caryatids and is regarded as one of its derivations. in
Given the variations in arm position among extant examples, it seems likely
that such ﬁgures were originally conceived as complementary counterparts, Osor
servingasdecorativesupportsfor asinglearchitectural structure.
Key words Apsorus, sculpture, Caryatid, Liccaeus, Spinario

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