Embracing Roman emperors on display for the first time

KOCAELİ

A relief depicting two Roman emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, embracing each other welcomes visitors for the first time after 23 years.

The relief was unearthed during the works initiated in the northwestern province of Kocaeli in 2001.

After encountering archaeological materials under and around a damaged building in the Çukurbağ neighborhood of the İzmit district after the 1999 Marmara earthquake, eight relief panels, two statues and 12 pieces of statues were found during the rescue excavations initiated in 2001 by the Kocaeli Museum Directorate. They were put on display for the first time in 2022.

The relief, which was found in the same period and restored using 10 separate broken pieces, depicts the scene where Roman emperors Diocletian and Maximian embrace each other after getting off the chariot during the parade at the entrance to the city.

Serkan Gedük, branch manager of the Culture and Tourism Ministry's General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, said that after the other artifacts were exhibited for the first time in the museum in 2022, they are now introducing an important scene to visitors.

Gedük explained that the restored work depicts an imperial procession approaching from both sides.

“One of the scenes depicts adventures, or parade, held at the entrance to the city, with Emperor Diocletian on the left and Emperor Maximian on the right embracing each other. We see that both emperors are depicted in magnificent attire, wearing a belted, sleeved tunic decorated with gold bands, trousers and a tasseled imperial cloak. Their short-cropped hair and beards are one of the most important scenes in terms of representing a typical example of the third-century Roman soldier emperors,” he said.

Gedük explained that the depiction of embracement symbolized the new multiple governance system of the Roman Empire, known as the tetrarchy (rule of four emperors in groups of two), which Diocletian implemented in Nicomedia, and the political harmony between the co-emperors.

Gedük noted that no emperor had ever been depicted so physically close in Roman art before.

“It is derived from the right-hand shaking motif, which is a common iconographic symbol of marriage in Roman art and literature, and we can describe it as a sign of political harmony. This panel belongs to the Tetrarchy Period. It is the oldest and most unique example of the 'Tetrarchic embracement motif' from various sculpture groups erected everywhere in the Roman Empire,” he added.

Gedük, who pointed out that they obtained a lot of information about that period from the reliefs, said that they could understand from these reliefs how the horse carriage that Maximianus rode was used at that time and what kind of ceremonial carriage it was.

Gedük emphasized the importance of displaying the embracement motif in terms of archaeology and museum studies, and said, "I invite all visitors to the museum to see this scene."