Moonbase Alpha Male wrote:I think your summary very ably describes it and fully captures the nuances of the issue. Where something isn't an actual historically documented item, to at least the level of an Osprey illustration, then it can pull in one of two directions. Some things pull you out of history altogether, more like pop art or some comic book or videogame augmented reality. The other direction is where something doesn't break the fundamental illusion of history, and it appears loosely "credible," even if the exact thing never existed.
I think this one is reasonably the latter. Actually I do not think that one specific physical throne was a Roman thing at all (where would it have been, Capitoline Hill?) though surely the Emperor got the biggest and most ornate chair wherever he was. The Greek and Roman Gods were portrayed on thrones, which was carried onto Christianity, but I think the whole specific ritual that went with one chair being the seat of governance Ex Cathedra was more of a later, Papal or Napoleonic thing. But we might have to take into account that Commodus, especially the fictional versions of him, could be an exception to the "playing too humble." Note that HY's chosen backdrop drops this throne into some building of spectacle, like a roofed circus, or maybe the coloseum with a velarium, rather than some marble hall of politics.
The text on the throne might be too limiting for more general use (though a seated figure obscures it). Can anyone read it fully or identify it? From "AVRP MPP IMP CAES," apart from the Imperator Caesar bit, I wonder if it is maybe something taken from a Roman coin?
Thank you. I think you are being a bit too generous for the piece, although it does not look completely impossibly fantastical. There were chairs of state for the two consuls in the Roman senate, and although he was not an emperor in the royal sense of the word, Caesar is said to have been given, among other excessive honors, a golden throne in the senate house. There probably was no extremely elaborate throne until the late 3rd century, when emperors became increasingly more monarchical in their trappings and appearance. Rome was still technically a Republic, and the emperor was an extra-constitutional monarch who pretended to be first among equals helping to keep peace and security. "Bad" emperors (and Commodus was not the most eccentric) might flout social conventions, but they did so privately and not in public. From that point of view, the piece is over the top. But that is the movie designers' doing. Here is a photo of the relevant part of the actual prop:
The inscription, which is very reminiscent of a coin legend, reads:
IMP CAES L AVR COMMODUS ANT AVG F M AVRP M P P =
Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus F (?) M (?) Aurp (?) M (?) Pater Patriae
Note the correct use of the letter form V instead of U, except in the name "Commodus," where the designers slipped and used the modern form. The first seven elements are abbreviations of titles and names, and are correct for one fleeting point early in Commodus' reign (his style changed several times), which would make sense (insofar as anything makes sense) within the film's twisted historical background. What follows AVG, however, is confusing and likely confused. It occurred to me that F might be for Felix ("fortunate"), but then it should follow a P for Pius ("pious"). More likely, they goofed up and tried to go for "filius Marci Aurelii" ("son of Marcus Aurelius") in abbreviation (getting the order wrong, as it should be "Marci Aurelii filius," and, besides, the correct form in this instance actually would have been "Divi Marci Antonini filius"), then forgot to insert the "period" before adding the P, followed by a "period" and M, for "pontifex maximus." The P P at the end stands for "Pater Patriae" ("Father of the Fatherland"). So, perhaps they were aiming at:
Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus, filius Marci Aurelii [recte: Divi Marci Antonini filius], Pontifex Maximus, Pater Patriae
For a list of the actual labels on coins, see here:
https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/commodus/i.html
For Commodus' full titles at various points in his reign, see here:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_r%C3%B6mischen_Kaiser_der_Antike
This was for the movie design. It looks to me like HH & HY made some mistakes in reproducing the inscription, apparently replacing the name of Commodus with that of Constantine or Constantius or Constans (it is abbreviated as CONS), then messed up the few letters that follow, placing AVG too early, and including INV? (for "Invictus"?). They also missed the flower or rosette under the eagle.