The great bronze statuary in Nyon
When the city was populated by bronze giants...
It’s sometimes hard to imagine today what our town of Nyon must have looked like when it was still the capital of the Colonia Iulia Equestris. While its location has remained unchanged since its foundation in 44 B.C., the organization of its urban center and the customs and habits of its inhabitants have not ceased to evolve over the centuries. The only evidence of this rich past are the numerous archaeological remains and artefacts that lie beneath our feet and have been uncovered during excavations over the last two centuries. Among them are several bronze fragments, some richly elaborate and indicative of the ancient presence of large sculptures.
A silent but conspicuous presence
During the Roman period, bronze statues played a prominent role in everyday life. They were ubiquitous, representing key figures in the daily lives of Roman citizens. Ranging in size from human to monumental, sculptures were generally dedicated to a divinity, prominent political figures or, more frequently, the emperor or his family.
Statues with a political or religious role were generally displayed in public places. The forum (the city’s commercial, legal, political, religious and economic meeting place) was the site par excellence. Bronze sculptures were also found on many street corners, show monuments, baths and administrative buildings. Temples, home to imperial worship as well as those dedicated to other divinities, were predisposed locations for statues.
In a private context, these sculptures adorned wealthy estates and their gardens. In this case, the subjects chosen could be taken from mythological or everyday scenes, and sometimes represented family members. Some sculptures were also dedicated to artists or athletes, a practice inherited from Greek tradition. The Roman author Pliny the Elder (23 to 79 A.D.) mentions the poet L. Accius, “who had a very large statue erected for himself in the temple of the Muses, even though he was very small”. (Pliny the Elder, Natural History, book XXXIV, 10, 2).
Although the iconographic diversity of these representations was vast, the emperor remained the main subject. His various effigies took many forms: on horseback, in a chariot or simply on foot… They made him omniscient and part of the life of the city. This was all the more decisive in provincial territories far from Rome, such as the Colonia Iulia Equestris. In public and legal places such as the courts, these representations symbolized the emperor’s authority, validating the decisions taken there.
Making clues talk
Walking around Nyon today, it’s difficult to appreciate just how prominent these statues once were. Over the ages, their precious alloys meant that they were regularly recast. Once the place where they were displayed had been abandoned, or when the person represented was no longer part of civic life, the statues were generally dismantled and their metal reused to create smaller bronze objects (crockery, statuettes, fibulae…).
Of the few sculptures that have survived the test of time, many considered pagan were destroyed in medieval times… with a few exceptions. There is an equestrian statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius on Rome’s Capitoline Hill, which owes its salvation to the fact that it was mistaken for a representation of the Christian emperor Constantine. Other exceptions include the sculptures at Herculaneum and Pompeii, which were preserved from the ravages of time by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
A few fragments have survived from Nyon. The one illustrating this article was discovered during construction of the Duche parking lot in 2005. It was found near a portico and a richly decorated space whose function has yet to be determined. The building had undergone a refurbishment that can be dated, thanks to the study of the wooden piles in its foundations, to between 143-145 AD. The object could thus have come from a statue that previously sat in the building and was subsequently dismantled. The function of the site is unclear, but given the resources involved in its construction, researchers have assumed that it was a large-scale public building.
But what does this fragment tell us?
The first thing that stands out is its color. Although bronze originally had a coppery color, far from the green usually left by time and oxidation, the Romans sometimes chose to cover it with a patina. Here, the gilding is based on gold leaf. This practice was reserved for representations of important figures such as divinities, emperors or even high dignitaries. In the first case, the representations were generally nude, which contrasts with the fragment. Here, the piece consists of a smooth section followed by the characteristic bangs sometimes found on the pallium (male cloak) of high-ranking figures.
The evidence thus suggests that this object is all that has come down to us of a gilded bronze statue of an important figure, probably an emperor in a fringed cloak, whose size must have been at least close to life-size. Assuming that the statue originally adorned the unidentified Duche building, this could help confirm the official role played by the building.
Other fragments of large Roman bronzes from Nyon bear witness to the Colonia‘s rich past. These include a sword and a horse’s ear, probably from a cuirassed statue and an equestrian statue respectively, which are still being studied. These bronze sculptures, which once populated our streets, may well have one last message for us, so that we can learn a little more about our region’s Roman past. Proof, if proof were needed, that the city still has many secrets to reveal!
