Statues, Coins, and Dedication to Germanicus – Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiae
Statues, Coins, and Dedication to Germanicus
Engraving from Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiae (Leiden, 1704–1725), edited by Johann Georg Graevius and published by Pieter van der Aa.
This plate combines classical statuary, coins, and an elaborate dedicatory inscription. At upper left stands a nude male figure with staff, labeled Tynnino; beside him are four Roman coins inscribed CONSECRATIO, each showing a temple façade, commemorating the apotheosis of an emperor. Below is a draped figure crowned with laurel and holding a branch, embodying civic honor or devotion.
At the bottom right appears an ornate tablet framed with scrollwork and surmounted by a medallion portrait of Germanicus Caesar. The inscription reads: Germanico Caesari Ti. F. Aug. N. Cos optimo numini Brixia Romana D. D., a dedication from the city of Brescia to the divine Germanicus, consul and adopted heir of Tiberius.
Germanicus (15 BC – AD 19) was the great-nephew of Augustus, adopted son and heir of Tiberius, and a brilliant general. He avenged the Roman defeat in Germania by recovering legionary standards lost in the Teutoburg Forest disaster and defeating Arminius. Beloved by soldiers and citizens alike, he died suddenly in Antioch at the age of 33, widely believed to have been poisoned. His premature death shocked the empire, and provincial cities such as Brescia honored him with inscriptions and dedications celebrating his memory.
The juxtaposition of statues, coins, and dedicatory tablets reflects the antiquarian method of assembling evidence of Roman civic cult and commemoration, linking imperial imagery with local archaeological finds.
Leiden between 1704 and 1725
Each Plate Approx 28 x 48 cm (Full Sheet Including Margins)
The Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum Italiae formed part of the monumental Thesaurus Antiquitatum et Historiarum series compiled by Johann Georg Graevius (1632–1703) and published in Leiden between 1704 and 1725. Overseen by the Dutch publisher Pieter van der Aa, the folio volumes combined texts, inscriptions, and richly engraved illustrations of monuments and antiquities from across Italy.
Many of the plates, such as those from the Monumenta Brixiana section devoted to finds from Brescia, document Roman statues, coins, inscriptions, and architectural remains. Executed in van der Aa’s workshop, the engravings often drew on earlier antiquarian sources but were presented in a format that reflected the 18th-century revival of interest in classical antiquity.
Conceived as a comprehensive resource for scholars, the Thesaurus also became a visual library for artists and thinkers of the early Neoclassical age, preserving and disseminating the legacy of ancient Italy through both scholarship and imagery.
Sheet with margins
