Regional features of the corpus of Roman bronze statuettes in Cisalpine Gaul

Abstract

The subject of the contribution is the relationship in northern Italy between the small Hellenistic-Late Republican bronze sculpture and that of the Imperial age, to verify whether any iconographic influences of one on the other could have given rise to local features and to emphasize any formal and functional changes in the figurines following the completion of Romanization. The chosen geographic borders are the Alps to the north and the Po River to the south. First, a survey of the bronzes dated between the third and first centuries BC is proposed, in which the western and central areas of the Cisalpine Gaul show fewer testimonies than north-eastern Italy. Then, similarities and differences with the Imperial age will be examined, considering especially the deities which appear in both periods. Of particular importance are those places of worship (as Lagole in Cadore) in which the transition from the pre-Roman world to the Imperial age can be seen.