Das Altertumswissenschaftliche Kolloquium der Universität Augsburg vereint auch in diesem Semester wieder verschiedene Beiträge aus den Feldern der Alten Geschichte und der Klassischen Archäologie. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich eingeladen!

Animated figures and other similar contrivances from the Graeco-Roman period are mainly discussed from a technical viewpoint in literature related to the history of ancient science and technology. H. von Hesberg was the first who explored the political dimension of such inventions in the realm of the Hellenistic monarchy, in his article “Mechanische Kunstwerke und ihre Bedeutung für die höfische Kunst des frühen Hellenismus” (1987). The results of his study definitely apply to Lagid Alexandria, where several automata are attested as a means of enhancing the kings’ authority and public image. The most striking example is the colossal mobile statue of Dionysus’ nurse Nysa, described by Callixenus as part of the spectacular procession which took place in the reign of Ptolemy II. A magical rhyton set in the temple of Arsinoe II at Cape Zephyrion, and the queen’s suspended effigy in another edifice dedicated to her cult also assume clearly ideological connotations. The peculiar qualities of such astonishing devices enable us to take a step forward and specify their propagandistic value and function: imitating and manipulating physical phenomena or imbuing inanimate matter with life implicitly demonstrated the sovereign’s dominion over nature. The dynast thus appeared as the master of the universe or even as a god on earth, as illustrated by the automatic theatre play entitled “The apotheosis of Bacchus”