“Cursus honorum. The government of Rome before Caesar”, the exhibition at the Capitoline Museums | March 24
An integral part of the La Roma della Repubblica project. The story of archeology, the exhibition Cursus honorum. The government of Rome before Caesarhosted at the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo dei Conservatori from 24 March to 2 October 2022, is centered on the public offices of republican magistrates, the cursus honorum, a fundamental aspect of the political life of ancient Rome.
The exhibition project is intended by Roma Culture, Sovrnza Capitolina for Cultural Heritage and is curated by Claudio Parisi Presicce and Isabella Damiani. Organization of Zetema Progetto Cultura.
The protagonists of this story are five anonymous characters depicted by as many statues who act as narrators of exception: four are male figures to which a different voice is added, a female figure, who represents a reality otherwise absent in a necessarily dominated by men society. Their task is to bring the public closer to monuments of historical and symbolic value that celebrate memorable war exploits, together with others that illustrate roles related to the administration of the city and to the construction of the prestigious social status of individuals and their families.
With the help of these particular guides, visitors will be remember episodes of war and conquests which marked fundamental stages in the history of the expansion of Rome: a prominent example is the first naval victory over the Carthaginians in the waters of Milazzo, remembered by the Rostrata Column erected in honor of the consul Gaio Duilio. This and other events are narrated by three statue and portrait in travertine from the middle of the first century BC, already in Villa Celimontana, who wear the pallium, that is the cloak that was worn over the tunic.
The ius imaginum, i.e. the right to preserve at home the portraits of the ancestors to be exhibited during funeral portraits and on particular public occasions, initially exclusive to the aristocracy and extended in the fourth century BC also to plebeians when they had access to public offices, is instead narrated from the famous “Togato Barberini” (from the name of the collection of origin). The majestic marble statue, datable to the first quarter of the 1st century AD, is a unique testimony of the self-legitimation system that the families who held power put in place, using the fame and prestige of their ancestors.
The voice that animates the female figure, part of a funerary group with a girl, made of Lunense marble and datable to about the middle of the 1st century BC, finally introduces the funerary monuments, in particular the sarcophagi from the tomb of the gens Cornelia, a rare archaeological testimony of a noble tomb of the republican age. The exhibition, along the roads that came out of Rome, of the architecture and paintings of the noble tombs constituted another element of ostentation of the acquired power.
The exhibition also takes into account the characteristics of Roman magistracy: collegiate and of limited duration, mainly annually. The superior magistrates – consuls, praetors, censors – were elected by the citizens divided according to the census, gathered in centuriate rallies and characterized by special attributes such as the curule chair, the fasces (symbols of coercive power) and a special bordered toga. They were the only ones who could celebrate the triumph.
The minor magistrates – quaestors, builders – were elected by the citizens divided by tribe, gathered in tribute rallies. The order of succession of offices was established in the second century BC with a law that also specified the minimum age of candidates and the time that had to pass between one judiciary and the next. The stages, in ascending order, were: police headquarters, tribunate, building, district court, consulate and censorship, to which the temporary and exceptional investiture of the dictatorship must be added.
With the advent of the Republic, the powers, previously concentrated in the figure of the king, had been distributed between the pontiff maximum, who held the main religious prerogatives, and the consuls, a couple of magistrates with civilian competences and military command.
In addition to a minimum income, fame and prestige of the ancestors were necessary to access the cursus honorum: anyone who did not belong to a few illustrious families was a “new man”. The rules of entry to the judiciary and the articulation of offices underwent modifications over time: access to the main judiciary (consulate), initially limited by patrician families, was extended to the plebeians in the fourth century BC. With the progressive increase of the power of Rome, other elective magistracies were established with jurisdictional areas.
The exhibition makes exclusive use of works from the Capitoline collections, partly from the permanent exhibition Centrale Montemartini, and partly exclusively from the non-exhibited collection. It was – according to an intent that the Capitoline Museums and Archaeological Museums Direction to follow with the organization of basic exhibitions on this new opportunity to proceed with conservation, restoration and enhancement of the very rich heritage that must increasingly be made accessible to the public.
It is within this framework that an engaging multimedia installation was carried out, aimed at bringing visitors closer to complex topics and particular monuments; think of the epigraphic documents, very important direct sources of not immediate reading. Finally, the exhibition is an ideal trait-d’union between the video installation The legacy of Caesar and the conquest of time, visible in the Sala della Lupa e dei Fasti Antichi of the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the exhibition Roma della Repubblica. The story of archeology, soon to be realized at the Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Caffarelli.