The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius is one of the most remarkable surviving bronzes from ancient Rome. Today, the original stands inside the Musei Capitolini, while a replica occupies its historic position at the center of the Piazza del Campidoglio. It is the only ancient Roman equestrian bronze of its kind to have survived essentially intact.

The statue’s survival is particularly remarkable because ancient and late antique Rome contained numerous monumental equestrian statues. Late imperial descriptions of the city record 22 larger-than-life equestrian monuments known as equi magni. Most ancient bronze statues were eventually melted down so that their metal could be reused, but the Marcus Aurelius monument escaped this fate.

The statue’s original location is unknown. It was in the Lateran by the Middle Ages, with its presence there first securely recorded in the tenth century. It may, however, have stood there since at least the late eighth century. Medieval sources called it the Caballus Constantini, or “Horse of Constantine,” because the rider was mistakenly identified as Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor. This identification is generally thought to have contributed to the statue’s survival, since a statue believed to represent a Christian emperor was less likely to be destroyed than one recognized as a pagan monument.

In 1538, Pope Paul III ordered the statue moved from the Lateran to the Capitoline Hill. It became the centerpiece of Michelangelo’s redesign of the Campidoglio, where it stood at the center of the Piazza del Campidoglio for centuries. The statue remained there until the late twentieth century, when concerns about conservation and exposure to the elements led to its removal. In 1981, the original was moved indoors to the Capitoline Museums and replaced in the piazza by a bronze replica.

Date and Purpose

There is no surviving ancient literary account that explicitly records the commission of the statue. The Capitoline Museums place it after Marcus Aurelius’s Germanic campaigns and suggest two principal possibilities. It may have been erected in 176 CE to commemorate the emperor’s triumph, or in 180 CE shortly after his death. Other scholars have proposed dates within the broader period of the Germanic and Sarmatian wars.

The statue depicts Marcus Aurelius mounted on a powerful horse, with his right arm extended in a gesture known as adlocutio. This was a conventional Roman gesture associated with an emperor addressing soldiers or a gathered crowd. The emperor is dressed in a tunic and cloak, while his feet wear civilian shoes rather than military footwear. His left hand probably held an object that is now missing.

The statue may originally have included a defeated enemy beneath the horse’s raised right foreleg. Medieval descriptions, including the Mirabilia Urbis Romae, refer to a small captive figure beneath the horse. No such figure survives, however, so its original appearance and precise relationship to the monument remain uncertain.

The absence of obvious military equipment is also significant. Rather than presenting Marcus Aurelius simply as a conquering general, the monument may have emphasized the emperor’s authority, restraint, and role as a bringer of peace.

The Saddle Cloth and Gilding

The horse is shown without stirrups, which were not part of Roman riding equipment. The saddle cloth, or ephippium, has also attracted scholarly attention. In a detailed study of the monument, Helmut Nickel argued that its design may have Sarmatian associations, potentially connecting the sculpture to Marcus Aurelius’s victories over the Sarmatians.

The statue was originally gilded, although only traces of the gold surface survive today. The combination of monumental scale, bronze construction, and gilding would have made the statue an especially striking public monument in ancient Rome.

The Statue on Roman Coinage

The monument’s design can also be compared with contemporary Roman coinage. Aurei struck during Marcus Aurelius’s reign depict the emperor on horseback with his right hand raised in a gesture closely resembling that of the surviving statue. These coins are particularly important because they demonstrate that the equestrian image was part of Marcus Aurelius’s official visual language during his lifetime.

The Capitoline Museums also preserve three large marble reliefs associated with an honorary monument or triumphal arch dedicated to Marcus Aurelius. The reliefs depict episodes connected with his victories over the Germanic peoples and Sarmatians, including the submission of defeated peoples, the emperor’s triumph, and a sacrifice before the Temple of Jupiter. The arch was probably erected in connection with the victories celebrated in 176 CE and had most likely been dismantled by the sixth century, when the reliefs were reused in the Roman Forum.

Together, the statue, contemporary coins, and surviving reliefs provide a glimpse into how Marcus Aurelius and his victories were presented to the Roman public. The equestrian statue is especially important because it survived the destruction that claimed almost all of Rome’s other monumental bronze equestrian images. It therefore provides a rare opportunity to study an imperial Roman bronze monument that has remained substantially intact from antiquity into the modern era.

Bibliography

Fehl, Philipp. “The Placement of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in the Middle Ages.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 37, no. 1 (1974): 362–367.

Marabelli, Maurizio. The Monument of Marcus Aurelius: Research and Conservation. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 1995.

Nickel, Helmut. “The Emperor’s New Saddle Cloth: The Ephippium of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 24 (1989): 17–24.

Parisi Presicce, Claudio, and A. M. Sommella. The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Campidoglio. Milan: Silvana, 1990.

Ryberg, Inez Scott. Panel Reliefs of Marcus Aurelius. Monographs on Archaeology and Fine Arts 14. New York: Archaeological Institute of America, 1967.

“Statua equestre di Marco Aurelio.” Musei Capitolini. https://www.museicapitolini.org/it/opera/statua-equestre-di-marco-aurelio?tema=1