Образы спартанских героев в иконографии надгробных памятников римских воинов

Abstract

Images of the Spartian heroes Helen, Menelaios, Castor and Pollux became popular in the Roman culture of Second – Third Centuries AD. They were spread not only in elitist genres of art (like sculpture) and in «mass» culture also. Images of Helen, Menelaios and Dioscures became the popular theme of funeral art not only in Italy and on Danubian limes also. Appearance of these images on military tombstones was not only the reflection of fashion on «Hellenic classics». Choosing the «classic» themes for decoration of tombstones the Roman warriors tried to underline their attachment to the Roman civilization. It was very actual for them because majority of soldiers were the people of provincial and semi-barbarian origin. The study of the Roman military tombstones shows that soldiers with successful career and veterans with social state of decurion prefered «heroic» themes for tombstones more often. The specific «militarian» society that was formed on European limes in II–III Cent. AD. in some characters of their mentality – masculinization of religious life, domination of military and aristocratic deities and heroes, demonstrative etatism and loyalism – was similar to Spartan community during Classical period.