01-10-2005, 09:03 AM
Nice images Gregg.<br>
You wrote,<br>
"The seated guy isn't gesturing towards the soldier, he actually has his hand on the shoulder of the man standing next to him."<br>
<br>
Actually, I'm not so sure that arm belongs to the seated guy! From what I can see the seated official has his left hand planted beside him on the bench and his right on the other fella's shoulder?<br>
Seems to me the standing figure has his arm placed across his chest which is a fairly common posture in togate figures. An example that comes immediatly to mind is that of the mosaic portraying Virgil flanked by two muses.<br>
My own impression from the position of the seated man's body, is his attention is focused solely on his companion. I did wonder though, that if those two soldiers standing next to the officials are guards, the fact that they are looking in opposite directions could be interpreted as alertness as to what is going around them. I guess there would be a pretty large gathering at a census taking although the sculpture only depicts a small part of the scene. This might also explain why the one soldier has his hand to his forhead. If this was all going on outside in the sun, he might simply be shielding his eyes from the glare in order to see better. Just my denarius worth of speculation.<br>
Looking through a couple of books however, I did notice this hand to the forehead gesture appears in non military contexts too and could be interpreted in a number of ways. I saw one example on a funerary monument of a young man, where two figures by his couch have their hands to their forehead, and another on a sculpture of a bakery shop scene. There are also figures on the Parthenon frieze, including a young man amongst a group herding a bunch of sacrificial sheep. <p></p><i></i>
You wrote,<br>
"The seated guy isn't gesturing towards the soldier, he actually has his hand on the shoulder of the man standing next to him."<br>
<br>
Actually, I'm not so sure that arm belongs to the seated guy! From what I can see the seated official has his left hand planted beside him on the bench and his right on the other fella's shoulder?<br>
Seems to me the standing figure has his arm placed across his chest which is a fairly common posture in togate figures. An example that comes immediatly to mind is that of the mosaic portraying Virgil flanked by two muses.<br>
My own impression from the position of the seated man's body, is his attention is focused solely on his companion. I did wonder though, that if those two soldiers standing next to the officials are guards, the fact that they are looking in opposite directions could be interpreted as alertness as to what is going around them. I guess there would be a pretty large gathering at a census taking although the sculpture only depicts a small part of the scene. This might also explain why the one soldier has his hand to his forhead. If this was all going on outside in the sun, he might simply be shielding his eyes from the glare in order to see better. Just my denarius worth of speculation.<br>
Looking through a couple of books however, I did notice this hand to the forehead gesture appears in non military contexts too and could be interpreted in a number of ways. I saw one example on a funerary monument of a young man, where two figures by his couch have their hands to their forehead, and another on a sculpture of a bakery shop scene. There are also figures on the Parthenon frieze, including a young man amongst a group herding a bunch of sacrificial sheep. <p></p><i></i>
