Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T22:25:46.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What's in a hump? Re-examining the hunchback in the Villa-Albani-Torlonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Lisa Trentin
Lisa Trentin*
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The private collection of the Villa Albani-Torlonia in Rome holds the only surviving large-scale sculpture of a hunchback [fig. I]. Although this hunchback has been intensely studied, it remains enigmatic. The hunchback is generally agreed to be Roman and dated to the second century CE on the basis of its portrait head, particularly in the drilling technique of its hairstyle, though the realism of its misshapen and ugly body is in the direct tradition of works of the third century BCE.

Whether this hunchback is an original of its time or a copy of a now lost Greek work is still contentious. Since its discovery in the Baths of Caracalla, the figure has been identified as the famous Greek fabulist Aesop, who, according to literary tradition, may have been a hunchback. Although several scholars have suggested new possibilities for the identity of this hunchback, including the proposition that it is a Roman original representing a jester of the imperial court, its association with Aesop has remained. But is its identity necessarily key to understanding its significance? This article intends to move away from the identification of this figure to consider the hunchback primarily as a type, rather than a person, and shifts the emphasis to its context within a bathhouse.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 55 , 2009 , pp. 130 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ajootian, A. (1997) ‘The only happy couple: hermaphrodites and gender,’ pp. 220–33 in Koloski-Ostrow, A. and Lyons, C., eds. Naked Truths. Women, sexuality and gender in Classical art and archaeology, London.Google Scholar
Ajootian, A. (1995) ‘Monstrum or diamond. Hermaphrodites in ancient art and culture,’ pp. 93–108 in Berggreen, B. and Marinatos, N., eds. Greece and Gender, Norway.Google Scholar
Ajootian, A. (1990) ‘Hermaphrodites,’ LIMC V.I: 268–85.Google Scholar
Ajootian, A. (1988) ‘ Ex utroque sexu: the sleeping hermaphrodite and the myth of Agdistis,’ AJA 92, 275–6.Google Scholar
Baratte, F. (1986) Le trésor d'orfèvrerie romaine de Boscoréale, Paris.Google Scholar
Bartman, E. (1992) Ancient sculptural copies in miniature, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beard, M. (1996) ‘Le mythe (grec) à Rome: Hercule aux bains,’ pp. 81–104 in Vernant, J.-P. and Georgoudi, S., eds. Mythes grecs au figuré: du Parthénon a Paul Klee, Paris.Google Scholar
Bernoulli, J. J. (1901) Griechische Ikonographie mit Ausschluss Alexanders und der Diadochen, Munich.Google Scholar
Bloch, H. (1947) I bolli laterizi, Rome.Google Scholar
Bol, R. (1989) ‘Porträt eines Buckligen,’ pp. 227–31 in Bol, P.C., ed. Forschungen zur Villa Albani. Katalog der antiken Bildiuerke I, Berlin.Google Scholar
Bradley, K. R. (1984) Slaves and masters in the Roman Empire. A study in social control, Oxford.Google Scholar
Brendel, O. J. (1953) ‘Prolegomena to a book on Roman art,’ MAARome 21, 7–73.Google Scholar
Brinkmann, V. and Wünsche, R.. (2004) Bunte Götter: die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur, Ausst. Kat. München, Munich.Google Scholar
Brisson, L. (2002) Sexual ambivalence. Androgyny and hermaphroditism in Graeco-Roman antiquity. Trans, by Lloyd, Janet, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Brödner, E. (1951) Untersuchungen an den Caracallathermen, Berlin.Google Scholar
Calandra, E. (1996) Oltre la Grecia: alle origini del filellenismo di Adriano, Naples.Google Scholar
Chambry, E. (1927) Aesop, Fables, Paris.Google Scholar
Chelotti, M. A. (1973) ‘Osservazioni sull'Eracle del tip Farnese,’ Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia 16, 169–96.Google Scholar
Cimok, F. (2000) Antioch mosaics: a corpus, Istanbul.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. (2005) ‘Look who's laughing at sex,’ pp. 149–181 in Fredrick, D., ed. The Roman gaze. Vision, power, and the body, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. (1998) Looking at lovemaking: constructions of sexuality in Roman art, 100 B.C.–A.D. 250, Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, J. (1996) ‘Hypersexual black men in Augustan baths: ideal somatotypes and apotropaic magic,’ pp. 184–198 in Kampen, N., ed. Sexuality in ancient art, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Cokayne, K. (2003) Experiencing old age in Ancient Rome, London.Google Scholar
Compton, T. (1990) ‘The trial of the satirist: poetic Vitae (Aesop, Archilochus, Homer) as background for Plato's Apology ,’ AJP III.3 : 330–47.Google Scholar
Dasen, V. (1993) Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece, Oxford.Google Scholar
DeLaine, J. (1997) The Baths of Caracalla: a study in the design, construction, and ecomonics of large scale building projects in Rome, Rhode Island.Google Scholar
DeVillefosse, A. (1899) ‘Le trésor de Boscoréale,’ Mon.Piot 5, 1–290.Google Scholar
DuBois, P. (2003) Slaves and other objects, Chicago.Google Scholar
Dunbabin, K. (1989) ‘Baiarum grata voluptas: pleasures and dangers of the baths,’ PBSR 57, 6–49.Google Scholar
Dunbabin, K. (1986) ‘Sic erimus cuncti. The skeleton in Graeco-Roman art,’ JdI 101, 185–255.Google Scholar
Dupont-Sommer, A. (1949) Les Araméens, Paris.Google Scholar
Edwards, C. (2005) ‘Archetypally Roman? Representing Seneca's ageing body,’ pp. 13–22 in Hopkins, A. and Wyke, M., eds. Roman bodies: antiquity to the eighteenth century, London.Google Scholar
Edwards, C. (1993) The politics of immorality in Ancient Rome, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elworthy, F. T. (1895) The Evil Eye: an account of this ancient and widespread superstition, London.Google Scholar
Garland, R. (1995) The eye of the beholder. Deformity and disability in the Graeco-Roman world, London.Google Scholar
Gasparri, C. (1983/1984) ‘Sculture proveniente dalle Terme di Caracalla e di Diocleziano,’ Riv.IstArch., Supplement III.6–7, 133–50.Google Scholar
Gauckler, P. (1895) Musées d'Algérie de la Tunisie 4, Musée de Cherchel, Paris.Google Scholar
Gazda, E. (2002) The ancient art of emulation: Studies in artistic originality and tradition from the present to Classical Antiquity, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giuliani, L. (1988) ‘Bildnis-Statuette des Diogenes,’ pp. 180–184 in Bol, P. C., ed. Forschungen zur Villa Albani. Katalog der antiken Bildwerke I, Berlin.Google Scholar
Giuliani, L. (1987) ‘Die seligen Krüppel,’ AA 102, 701–21.Google Scholar
Gleason, M. (1995) Making men. Sophists and self-representation in Ancient Rome, Princeton.Google Scholar
Goldhill, S. (2002) Who needs Greek? Contests in the cultural history of Hellenism, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Goldman, H. (1943) ‘Two terracotta figurines from Tarsus,’ AJA 47, 22.34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grmek, M. and Gourevitch, D. (1998) Les maladies dans l'art antique, Paris.Google Scholar
Haskell, F. and Penny, N. (1981) Taste and the Antique: the lure of classical sculpture, 1500–1900, New Haven.Google Scholar
Helbig, W. (1963–1972) Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen klassischer Altertümer in Rom, Tübingen.Google Scholar
Hermann, L. (1949) ‘Une caricature de Phèdre,’ pp. 435–7 in Mélanges Charles Picard I, Paris.Google Scholar
Herter, H. (1932) De Priapo, Gießen.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holländer, E. (1912) Plastik und Medizin, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Hopkins, K. (1993) ‘New evidence for Roman slavery,’ Past & Present 138, 3–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hülsen, C. (1898) Architektonische Studien von S. A. Iwanojff 3, Berlin.Google Scholar
Jahn, O. (1857) Die Wandgemälde des Columbariums in der Villa Pamfili. Munich.Google Scholar
Jedrkiewicz, S. (1989) Sapere e paradosso nell'antichità: Esopo e la favola, Rome.Google Scholar
Johansen, F. (1995) Catalogue of Roman portraits, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Kleiner, D. (1992) Roman sculpture, New Haven.Google Scholar
Kondoleon, C. (2000) Antioch: the lost ancient city, Princeton.Google Scholar
Lake, K. (1934–1939) Dated Greek minuscule manuscripts to the year 1200, Boston.Google Scholar
Lanciani, R. (1888) Ancient Rome in the light of recent discoveries, Boston.Google Scholar
La Penna, (1962) ‘Il Romanzo di Esopo,’ Athenaeum 40, 270–84.Google Scholar
Levi, D. (1947) ‘House of the evil eye—lower level,’ Antioch mosaic pavements, Princeton.Google Scholar
Levi, D. (1941) ‘The evil eye and the lucky hunchback,’ pp. 220–32 in Stillwell, R., ed. Antioch-on-the-Orontes 3, Princeton.Google Scholar
Liddell, H. G. and Scott, R.. (1958) A Greek-English lexicon, 9th edition, Oxford.Google Scholar
Lippold, G. (1912) Griechische Porträtstatuen, Munich.Google Scholar
Lissarrague, F. (2000) ‘Aesop, between man and beast: ancient portraits and illustrations,’ pp. 132–149 in Cohen, B. ed. Not the classical ideal. Athens and the construction of the Other in Greek art, Leiden.Google Scholar
Liverani, P. and Bankel, H.. (2004) I colori del bianco: policromia nella scultura antica, Rome.Google Scholar
Maloney, C. (1976) The Evil Eye, New York.Google Scholar
Manderscheid, H. (1988) Bibliographie zum römischen Badewesen, Munich.Google Scholar
Manderscheid, H. (1981) Die Skulpturenausstattung der kaiserzeitlichen Thermenanlagen, Berlin.Google Scholar
Mansuelli, G. (1958) Galleria degli Uffizi: le sculture, Rome.Google Scholar
Marvin, M. (2008) The language of the Muses: the dialogue between Roman and Greek sculpture, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Marvin, M. (1989) ‘Copying in Roman sculpture, the replica series,’ Retaining the original. Multiple originals, copies and reproductions, in Studies in the History of Art 20, 29–45.Google Scholar
Metzler, D. (1971) Porträt und Gesellschajt: Über die Entstehung des griechischen Porträts in der Klassik, Münster.Google Scholar
Moreno, P. (1982) ‘Il Farnese ritrovato ed altri tipi di Ercole in riposo,’ MÉFRA 94, 379–526.Google Scholar
Nagy, G. (1979) The best of the Achaeans: concepts of the hero in archaic Greek poetry, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Orrells, D. (2005) A history of the critical theories and approaches regarding the phallus in Antiquity: the Greeks and modern masculinity. PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (1998) ‘Sculpted men of Athens: masculinity and power in the field of vision,’ pp. 23–42 in Foxhall, L. and Salmon, J., eds. Thinking men. Masculinity and its self-representation in the Classical tradition, London.Google Scholar
Østergaard, J. S. (2004) ClassiColor. Farven in antik Skulptur, Ausst. Kat. Kopenhagen, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Papademetriou, I.-T. (1997) Aesop as an archetypal hero, Athens.Google Scholar
Perdrizet, P. (1921) Les terres-cuites grecques d'Égypte de la Collection Fouquet, Paris.Google Scholar
Perry, B. E. (1952) Aesopica, Urbana.Google Scholar
Perry, B. E. (1936) Studies in the text history of the Life and Fables of Aesop, APAM 7, Haverford.Google Scholar
Perry, B. E. (1933) ‘The text tradition of the Greek Life of Aesop ,’ TAPhA 64, 198–244.Google Scholar
Perry, E. (2005) The aesthetics of emulation in the visual arts of Ancient Rome, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pierce, R. (1965) ‘Thomas Jenkins in Rome,’ Ant.J 45, 204–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollitt, J. J. (1986) Art in the Hellenistic Age, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pollitt, J. J. (1978) ‘The impact of Greek art on Rome,’ TAPhA 108, 155–174.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, S. B. (1975) Goddesses, whores, Wives and slaves. Women in Classical Antiquity, New York.Google Scholar
Richter, G. M. A. (1965) Portraits of the Greeks, London.Google Scholar
Ridgway, B. S. (1984) Roman copies of Greek sculpture: the problem of the originals, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Schefold, K. (1943) Die Bildnisse der antiken Dichter, Redner und Denker, Basel.Google Scholar
Seligmann, S. (1922) Die Zauberkrajt des Auges und das Berufen: ein Kapitel aus der Geschichte des Aberglaubens, Hamburg.Google Scholar
Slane, K. W. and Dickie, M. W. (1993) ‘A Knidian phallic vase from Corinth,’ Hesperia 62.4, 483–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, W. E. (1975) The pathological grotesque representations in Greek and Roman art. PhD Thesis, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Trentin, L. (forthcoming, 2010) ‘Roman emperors and their deformed slaves: a case study of Commodus and the two hunchbacks,’ Greece & Rome.Google Scholar
Vermeule, C. (1975) ‘The weary Herakles of Lysippos,’ AJA 79.4, 323–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visconti, E. Q. (1811) Iconographie grecque, vol. I, Paris.Google Scholar
Vout, C. (2006) ‘What's in a beard? Re-thinking Hadrian's hellenism,’ pp. 96–123 in Goldhill, S. and Osborne, R., eds. Rethinking revolutions through Ancient Greece, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wace, A. J. B. (1903–1904) ‘Grotesques and the evil eye,’ ABSA 10, 103–114.Google Scholar
Waile, V. (1891) De Caesareae monumentis quae supersunt, Algiers.Google Scholar
Weichers, A. (1961) Aesop in Delphi, Meisenheim/Glan.Google Scholar
Yegül, F. (1992) Baths and bathing in Classical Antiquity, New York.Google Scholar
Zanker, P. (1995) The mask of Socrates. The image of the intellectual in antiquity, trans, by Shapiro, A., Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zanker, P. (1988) The power of images in the age of Augustus, trans, by Shapiro, A., Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar