ITEM OF THE MONTH Bronze hand
A FRAGMENT OF ROMAN MONUMENTAL BRONZE SCULPTURE FROM THE FORUM OF LUCENTUM.
Length, 35 cm: width, 11'2 cm; weight, 6'110 kg.
Found in 2005 during the excavation campaign at the head of the Roman forum of the ancient Roman city of Lucentum, located in Tossal de Manises (La Albufereta, Alicante). The fragment corresponds to the left hand and part of the forearm of a bronze statue, made using the lost wax technique, larger than life-size. Between the palm of the hand and the fingers, there is a sheathed sword hilt called a parazonium (a type of sword carried by the emperor, high-ranking members of the army and divinities related to military virtues).
This sculptural fragment presents details that distinguish it as a unicum, i.e. a piece that presents elements that have not been documented until now. Firstly, the pommel of the hilt consists of two eagle heads facing opposite sides, i.e. two-headed. In Greco-Roman iconography there are known sword hilts topped with the head of this bird, but this is the first time it has appeared double. Secondly, there are loose bronze swords and hands, never in which both elements were united, as occurs in many stone statues. This circumstance has allowed us to propose for some bronze sculptures that the object in the hand (today empty) would be a sword, as we think would be the case in the famous bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius in the Capitoline Museums in Rome.
The ring finger bears a ring decorated with the lituus, the curved staff of the Roman augurs. It is engraved on several rings of bronze sculptures of emperors or members of their families, as an emblem of membership of this priestly college.
Metallographic analysis has revealed a very good bronze alloy, with little lead, suggesting that the workshop was based in Italy or the eastern Mediterranean.
From the formal analysis of the piece and the comparison with other Roman statues, especially marble ones, the statue would be that of an emperor or a prominent family member, dressed in military uniform and holding a sword in his left hand. The size we suppose would be around 2.20 metres and it would be placed on one of the pedestals in the forum of Lucentum. It would be one of the most striking images that the citizens of ancient Alicante would contemplate when they visited the forensic space.
We do not know which emperor or relative the statue would represent. The fragment was found in the destruction levels of the forum in the 3rd century AD. We think, given the history of the Roman city, whose moment of splendour took place in the 1st century, that this period would have seen the installation of the sculpture.
Bibliography:
Olcina Doménech, M. (ed.), 2007, El báculo y la espada. On a fragment of Roman monumental bronze sculpture from Lucentum. Alicante.
