AEGYPTIACA IN CONTEXT. An object-centered approach to ‘Egypt’ at Hadrian’s Villa

This thesis investigates the presence of Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects at the Villa Hadriana – a large Imperial Villa built 19 Roman miles from Rome by the Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century A.D.. The Villa was rediscovered in the 15th century and from very early on, ‘Egypt’ at the Villa played a prominent role in the understanding and interpretation of the site. In traditional approaches, Hadrian’s mourning for his young lover Antinous who drowned in the Nile and a subsequent fascination with Egypt are commonly brought forward as explanations for the presence of ‘Egypt’ at the Villa. The Egyptian and Egyptianzing objects are seen in isolation, believed to have originated in specifically ‘Egyptian’ localities within the Villa. Subsequently, an exotic and/or religious meaning was awarded to them, because that was how Egypt was perceived to have been. This approach to Egypt was not unique to the Villa but deeply embedded in the discourse that investigated ‘Egypt’ in the...Show moreThis thesis investigates the presence of Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects at the Villa Hadriana – a large Imperial Villa built 19 Roman miles from Rome by the Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century A.D.. The Villa was rediscovered in the 15th century and from very early on, ‘Egypt’ at the Villa played a prominent role in the understanding and interpretation of the site. In traditional approaches, Hadrian’s mourning for his young lover Antinous who drowned in the Nile and a subsequent fascination with Egypt are commonly brought forward as explanations for the presence of ‘Egypt’ at the Villa. The Egyptian and Egyptianzing objects are seen in isolation, believed to have originated in specifically ‘Egyptian’ localities within the Villa. Subsequently, an exotic and/or religious meaning was awarded to them, because that was how Egypt was perceived to have been. This approach to Egypt was not unique to the Villa but deeply embedded in the discourse that investigated ‘Egypt’ in the Roman world. However, recently scholars in the field have started to move away from a priori interpretations of Aegyptiaca in the Roman world and towards a more contextual approach in which both the wider cultural-historical framework and the direct spatial context are considered. In this thesis, three localities from within the Villa have been selected: The Canopus, The Antinoeion and the Palestra. Although they have very different research trajectories, all three have been interpreted as Egyptian religious monuments built out of a special relation between Hadrian and Egypt, based on the presence of Aegyptiaca. This thesis has challenged these interpretations and has taken an object-centered approach to Aegyptiaca at the Villa to understand why Hadrian used and appropriated Egypt at the Villa, and how he did it. Aegyptiaca were studied not as an isolated and conceptually different category, but in dialogue with the architecture and (Hellenistic-Roman) material culture around them. In this thesis, objects were first studied at the level of the individual object, second at the level of the spatial context and lastly at the level of the wider Imperial Roman context. The resulting conclusion of this alternative approach is that Egypt was used and appropriated differently in the so-called Canopus, Antinoeion and Palestra and that it cannot be assumed that they were isolated localities with religious or exotic meaning. On a more general level, this thesis argues that Egypt could mean and do different things in different contexts. At the Palestra, for example, Egyptian and Hellenistic-Roman styles can be seen fully integrated within indicidual objects. An important answer to the question why Hadrian used and appropriated Egypt is the legitimization of his Imperial power. At the Canopus, Hadrian stressed Egypt’s deep past as a cultural constituent for the Roman world, in opposition to Greece. As such, he created a long term Mediterranean-wide continuity that stretched far back. At the Antinoeion, amongst other things through associations with the Flavian Iseum Campense, Egypt is stressed as a more historical continuity. Egypt had been symbolically very important to both the Julio-Claudian and Flavian dynasties and as such had become a powerful symbol Hadrian could use for his own new Dynastic rule.Show less

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AEGYPTIACA IN CONTEXT. An object-centered approach to ‘Egypt’ at Hadrian’s Villa