Dioniso come paradigma del potere: dalla conquista dell’Oriente a Roma. Percorsi archeologici

This contribution focusses on the figurative use of Dionysus as a paradigm of power in Rome. The earliest evidence (which dates back to long before the creation of the myth of the Indian Triumph which has its roots in Alexander the Great’s eastern conquests) consists of the fragmentary terracotta group from the decorations of the triumphal sanctuary of Sant’Omobono, which most probably depicts Dionysus with a female companion, Ariadne or Ino-Leucothea. There then follows an analysis of the links between Dionysus and the (self-)representation of the power of the imperatores of the late Republican era, down to Mark Anthony, and the much-debated question of the inclusion of multi-form depiction of Dionysus in Augustan ideology. Particular emphasis is given to the Dionysian symbology of the chariot drawn by elephants, which was codified during the Augustan period and is found in official imagery of the Domitian era down to the first half of the second century A.D. (Porta Triumphalis, the Torlonia relief, urban and provincial coinage).