NOTE SULL'ICONOGRAFIA DI UN RILIEVO FUNERARIO DA AMITERNUM: MODELLI E SCELTE FIGURATIVE DI UN LIBERTO MUNICIPALE

The article aims to explain the ideological value of the imagery displayed in a Ist century freedman funerary monument found in Amiternum (Samnium, central Italy), through an iconographical analysis of the pompa circensis represented in the sculpted frieze of the tomb. The first section contains a description of the various elements of the relief derived partly from the 'italic tradition', partly from the new imperial art of the capital, in contrast with the common opinion which sees this monument as a paradigmatic example of Bianchi Bandinelli's 'arte plebea'. In the second section, a comparison with the funerary frieze of a late republican Roman magistrate (found in Rome, in the area of the Forum Boarium) shows a very close relationship in theme and iconography between the two monuments: it demonstrates the adoption by the municipal freedman of an iconography created for the urban elite of the Late Republic. In this way, the freedman confirms his new status as a citizen through the celebration of the typically 'Roman' virtues, presented as an ideological model (not only to the nobilitas but to a wider range of citizens, including freedmen) by the Augustan social policy. The final section includes a brief analysis of Trimalchio's epitaph (Satyricon 71.12), in which we observe a very similar attitude: Trimalchio, too, tries to legitimate his new status by adopting the typical language of the republican celebration of a citizen's virtues; Petronius satyrizes both the anachronism of this ideological model and its banalization as a consequence of its adoption by ex-slaves.