Domina Tempora

The 2,000-year-old sculpture of the Dying Gaul is a larger-than-life marble sculpture of a semi-nude man on the ground holding himself with one arm, resting weakly on an outstretched leg. His hand sits atop a broken sword on the ground and his head bent downward, the man is dying from a chest wound. The statue has been rediscovered in the early 17th century during excavations for the Villa Ludovisi, commissioned by art connoisseur Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, which was built on the site of the ancient Gardens of Sallust on Rome’s Pincian Hill.

The Dying Gaul is first mentioned in the Ludovisi collection’s 1623 inventory, when it is characterised as a dying gladiator instead of a dying Gaul, but at around the turn of the seventeenth century, experts came to recognise that the image represents a Gallic warrior. The torque around his neck, his moustache, and his leonine hair all indicate that he belonged to one of the Celtic tribes that the ancient Greeks and Romans regarded as barbaric. Therefore, for both the Romans and the Pergamene Greeks, the theme of the statue was civilization’s triumph over barbarism.    

The sculpture that we see today are Roman replicas of Greek bronze originals made in Asia Minor in the third century BC by the Hellenistic sculptor Epigonos to commemorate the king of Pergamon’s triumph over the invading Gauls.  The sculpture, created between 100 and 200 BC., is a Roman copy of a lost bronze Greek original created nearly a century earlier. The original statue was most likely installed in Pergamon’s Sanctuary of Athena, the city’s patron goddess. The Greek bronzes were later transported to Rome, presumably by Emperor Nero, to remind Romans of their own heroic conquest of Gaul.

The Dying Gaul and the Image of Death in Ancient Greek and Roman Art

Homer has given his readers a very sensual understanding of the concept of death. Nobody understood death like Homer did in his description of a human’s slow descent into death, or as Homer wrote, “dearer to the vultures” than to loved ones (Iliad, book 11), and “dropping to the world of night” (Iliad, book 16). Homer depicts death replacing life both instantly and millimetre by millimetre. His poetry depicts spears piercing armour, rending cloth, entering flesh, penetrating viscera, severing veins, piercing bone, marrow giving way, and swords cutting all the way through bodies into the dirt below. Homer’s death scenes were descriptive, direct, and detailed, without the use of the romance of salvation, thunderbolts, or even florid poetry characteristic to Roman writers.

While Dying Gaul that we know now is a Roman imitation, the statue’s true meaning is still very much Greek. Ancient Greek art was not as theatrical as Roman art, concerning itself more with philosophical structure and restrained sensuality. The Dying Gaul depicts someone in a slow process of death as his soul yields to the physical. Removing any allusion of hope, this is not the huge drama of a man rising valiantly against death. There is nothing heroic, no final outburst of vengeance or Roman patriotic self-sacrifice. In this statue, nothing accumulates against death.

Pergamon and the Gauls

As Pergamon was a melting pot of multi-cultural populations and groups from many regions of the ancient world, it played an essential role in the development of various arts. Because of the ongoing maritime trade, artistic creativity did not stop at the borders of the city, and instead spreading from one distant location to another.

The Persian invasion and the migration of artists to Greece prevented the great development of Greek art at Pergamon in the Classical era until Alexander the Great arrived in Asia in the autumn of 334 BC. But Pergamon became the most influential Hellenistic city under the Attalid Dynasty from 282 to 133 BC. Since the time of Philetaerus, Eumenes I’s uncle and the first Attalid monarch, the city of Pergamon has begun to prosper and expand during the Hellenistic Age, competing with the Athens School of Arts and writing its own history.

The Gauls posed several problems in Pergamon, as well as across Asia Minor and Athens, one of which was their demand for tributes to avert war or other ramifications. Eumenes I, like past emperors, dealt with them by paying tribute. However, the Gauls’ dominance was broken later when Attalus refused to pay them, being the first monarch to do so. As a result, the Gauls prepared to assault Pergamon. Attalus confronted them near the sources of the Caicus River and defeated them, driving the Gauls from the territory.

Following Attalus’ victory, he adopted the name Soter, which means “saviour,” and received the title of “King” which had not been used since the fifth century. The triumph and the title earned Attalus legendary status. Not only was the triumph over the Gauls significant for Pergamon and its borders, but it was also a message to the rest of the world, demonstrating Pergamon’s supremacy. Pergamon soon developed into a city that rivalled Athens’ golden era in all artistic and cultural sciences.

Years after their first victory over the Gauls, Pergamon and its ally, the Seleucid Empire in Asia Minor, were once again targeted by the Gauls. Attalus defeated both the Gauls and Antiochus at the fight of Aphrodisum, as well as a second fight in the east. As a result of these battles, Attalus gained control over most of Asia Minor. Pergamon was at its peak during the Hellenistic Age, and it rose to build monuments to commemorate the power and wealth gained from victories over the Gauls, particularly that of Attalus I, because sculpture, in general, reflects the spiritual and cultural development of the artists of his time.

Historically, a work of art attempts to encapsulate the era’s conditions and components, as well as its achievements. This is clear when Attalus achieved one of his goals by erecting statues on the Acropolis at Pergamon, which spawned a new school of sculpture for political propaganda, including The Great Altar and The Dying Gauls. The Great Altar is the most significant monument in Gaul’s history, not only in Asia Minor but across the Greco-Roman world. Its construction was like what happened in Athens after the Persians were beaten and the Acropolis and Parthenon were built to commemorate the victory.

The Acropolis of Pergamon is built on a hill in the same style as the Acropolis of Athens, making it the focal point for the spread of civilisation over the world. It evolved not just creative ideas, but also all scientific and intellectual components of their relationship with one another; as art served politics, politics contributed to religion, and the economy influenced art and politics. As a result, any breakthrough in any area of life helped to advance all others.

Cities, like as Pergamon and Athena, had a strong motivation for building monuments: to demonstrate their might and wealth to people, visitors, and the globe, as well as to commemorate the defeat of a significant opponent. In these works, the Gauls are converted into Giants, transforming the historical into mythological, in order to commemorate the universal dimension of Pergamon’s victory against them to save the world. They were viewed as worldwide adversaries and a threat to universal security because they had plagued the Greco-Roman civilisation for millennia.

The concept of heroism appears to have shifted from depicting the enemy’s physical strength and courage during battle, as well as their effort to overcome defeat, to reflecting the strength of the victor, since he is an opponent whose victory deserves to be immortalised for his courage and power. Attalus intended to announce that his army had vanquished the capable Gallic soldiers. He also wanted to show his people, the Athenians, what his soldiers went through while battling the cruel Gauls, those giants with massive muscles and impenetrable bodies. As a result, all the sculptural groupings were designed in a particular manner to convey Attalus’ message. He also intended the sculptures to depict acts of war. As a result, in Pergamon’s war against the Gauls, the Greeks are shown as fighting savage the enemy, as if they were Olympian gods battling giants, because physical and visual symbols of power were extremely significant.

These monuments became significant in religious and political contexts. The Gauls share similarities with the ancient Giants, who defied Olympic, and by extension the Greek, and Roman rules. The Attalids functioned on a worldwide scale, bringing the Greco-Roman world together not only by instilling fear of the Gauls, but also by showing thanks and favour for any triumph over them. As a result, the depiction of the Gauls as barbarians was very likely devised for political and propaganda purposes.

The image of the Celt in the Minds of the Greeks

The Dying Gaul is based on a historical ethnic stereotype that uses artefacts and physical characteristics to portray Celts as both outsiders and uncivilised barbarians. The Romans later adopted the concept to remember their own victory over Celtic armies.

Celtic artworks show how Celts perceived themselves. Such sculptures have received significantly less attention than the Dying Gaul, owing to artistic preferences for naturalism over more abstract representations. The sculpted arms of the Glauberg warrior, for example, resemble cylinders, whilst those on the Dying Gaul show definite muscles. However, although high naturalism contributes to the Dying Gaul’s long popularity, it does not inevitably elevate the work’s importance or truthfulness. To understand the Dying Gaul’s significance for modern artists and spectators, the ancient Greeks’ stereotyping of Celtic people must be investigated and juxtaposed against images created by the Celts themselves. This reveals the propaganda’s shortcomings.

The Greeks in the eastern Mediterranean developed a conception of Celtic people in the fourth and third centuries BC, when Celts arrived from their ancestral homes and effectively claimed new territory in Gallia Cisalpina and Galatia. Later, as Rome’s power spread, Roman officials used the Greek archetype to create their own monuments honouring victories over the Celts.

According to the Roman historian Livy, the Celts of Asia Minor battled nude, with their scars visible on their white bodies. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek historian, considered this a foolish technique, stating that if the opponents battle nude, their long hair, ferocious expressions, and clashing arms would not have made a dent in the Roman army. Thus, he theorizes in his Roman Antiquities (XIV.9) that the Celts’ perceived habit of fighting in the nude are just symbols of barbarian boastfulness.

The Roman version of the Dying Gaul was popular particularly at a time when Rome had captured almost all of the Celtic lands. Ireland and a significant portion of Scotland ultimately escaped Roman authority, which is why Celtic civilisations thrived in those regions.

To see the stereotype in more detail, one can examine the Dying Gaul’s goods, body, and pose.
A striking open necklace known as a torc defines the warrior’s Celtic identity. Celtic self-representations, such as the Trémuson head and Entremont’s broken warrior statues, contain similar objects. Torcs can still be found in ancient Celtic Europe. The torc discovered at Tayac even has a twisted shape comparable to that worn by the Dying Gaul. During military operations, the Romans targeted these necklaces for robbery; seizing one from an opponent was regarded as a show of valour. Torcs also appeared on Roman coins to represent Celtic defeat. Because Greek and Roman men did not wear such ostentatious necklaces, this jewellery contributed to the Celtic soldier’s image.

The moustache also set the Dying Gaul apart from Greek and Roman males who either grew beards or were clean-shaven. However, moustaches were not the only distinguishing feature of the Celts. Men in Celtic sculptures could be totally bearded, completely clean-shaven, or with a moustache.

The Dying Gaul’s haircut and features are more difficult to assess for a couple of reasons: Firstly, the entire antique statue no longer exists as prior restorers rebuilt the missing nose and clipped the broken hair tips to improve the appearance for display. Secondly, the ancient image was filtered through Greek and Roman concepts of Celtic bodies and hairstyles. Diodorus Siculus, for example, described the Celtic men as “…tall in body, with rippling muscles and white skin, and their hair is blond, … and they pull it back from the forehead to the top of the head and back to the nape of the neck, so they look like Satyrs and Pans…” (Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 5.28.1-2)

The visage of the Dying Gaul is also similar to Greek and Roman representations of satyrs. For example, the Barberini Faun and the Dying Gaul both have a furrowed brow and a v-shaped face with wavy hair although the Barberini Faun has a tail and pointed ears, whereas the Dying Gaul has not. The Celts’ own images show a variety of haircuts and faces, but none appear to depict men as beasts.

The nudity and wound of the Dying Gaul has no known parallels in Celtic art. In Greek and Roman art, the nudity of a finely toned male physique might represent heroism or sexuality. Nude, finely toned male physique is also a distinctive image of satyrs. The sword wound is prominently displayed on the dying Gaul’s bare chest. The dripping blood would have been significantly more visible had the sculpture been painted. The wound’s location on the front of the torso suggests that the Celt demonstrated heroism by confronting his attacker face-to-face rather than turning away. However, the heavy injuries clearly indicates that he was defeated by his opponent. It would have been understandable for modern spectators to react to this image of defeat with pity, but we do not know what thought occurred in the ancient mind and how much they appreciated the demonstration of heroism.

As the soldier succumbs to his wound, his posture is rigid and balanced. One knee points upward, while the chest and head droop downward, foreshadowing his fall. This stance exposes the man’s naked, dying body to our gaze while simultaneously sealing him in a defeated fate. When we look at Greek and Roman images of Celtic soldiers, we notice that they are frequently represented dying or taken, their hands bound, beneath displays of their seized weapons. Movement is limited to rushing away, as depicted in Civitalba’s terracotta sculptures of Celtic soldiers. By contrast, the Celts naturally did not show their own defeat. In fact, they defeated Greek and Roman troops and sacked Rome in 387 BC.

Celtic viewpoints might be difficult to restore due to their ancient emphasis on oral transmission of their ideas and traditions. Because of this, the Celts left little documents for future generations to study compared to the Romans or Greeks. In addition, most Celtic peoples preferred elaborate patterns in their art over accurate depictions of people or events. Several towns, however, included warriors in their art, and these experiments help us comprehend heroism from a Celtic perspective.

Celtic coins removed lettering and displayed very abstract artwork. However, in the first century BC, the names of Celtic leaders appeared on several coins, sometimes accompanied by martial images. At the time, the region’s peoples were forming political alliances and responding to frequent Roman invasions. The coins served a practical purpose, securing alliances and paying warriors.

One somewhat damaged coin shows a Celtic soldier standing and facing the observer. The warrior is dressed with a helmet, armour, and belt over a short tunic. His left hand carries a long oval shield. His right hand holds a sculpted boar. An upright spear rests behind the soldier’s right wrist. Unlike the Dying Gaul, this warrior is prepared for fight, wearing armour to protect himself from hostile weapons, and carrying his own weapon.

The boar sculpture represents a military standard. Boars were significant emblems of ferocity in the region’s culture, and bronze military standards similar to the one on the coin have been discovered in France. Whereas the coin’s soldier wields a well-crafted animal symbol as a show of authority, the Dying Gaul’s soldier is designed to look a half-wild beast himself due to his satyr-like hair.

The name Viipotal curls around the coin’s upper right side. Viipotal is not mentioned in any other textual sources, thus we have no idea who he was or why a soldier’s image appears next to his name. Nonetheless, coins like Viipotal’s allow us to refer to specific Celts rather than generic caricatures like the Dying Gaul.

Of all these Celtic military representations, the Dying Gaul which was produced by the Ancient Greeks and copied by the Romans, is by far the most well-known and the Celtic coins and statues are much less so and the layers of interpretation that it provides contributed greatly to its popularity. The Dying Gaul blends adoration in which the Greeks and Romans admired the Celts bravery in the face of death with the plain reality of the Celts wearing torcs. However, the artwork also included insult to the Celts by depicting them as animalistic and fiction by implying that the Celts always lose against the Greeks and the Romans. Today, such enemies are more frequently shown in films, however these modern-day antagonists vary from one decade to another and from one nation to another. The problem with the Dying Gaul is that it stereotypes a fleeting opponent in an artwork that has attained long-term global fame.