O COPIE A LUI APOLLO DIN BELVEDERE DESCOPERITĂ LA APULUM
A COPY OF APOLLO FROM BELVEDERE DISCOVERED AT APULUM

Summary/Abstract: This study deals with a provincial Roman copy of Apollo Kallinikos, called Belvedere. It was discovered in 1900, near the office of the governor of the Roman province Dacia, praetorium consularis. The statue is made of white/light-grey marble. The deity has an effeminate, youthful face and an expressive look exuding force and equilibrium. The question that arises is where this artifact was made. The artist who made this statue had a good knowledge of classic prototypes. He was clearly a specialized craftsman whose orders came from the town’s magistrates or rich men. Only they could buy such artifacts characterized by refinement and good taste. The author of this sculpture was most probably a Greek or Hellenized Oriental. He may have come from Asia Minor, where several sculpture schools existed. A local sculptor could definitely not have made this work of art. The prototype of the Apulum copy is the white marble statue of Apollo Belvedere. It is a Roman copy of a lost Greek statue. The Roman copy was made at the beginning of the 2nd century A. D. and is exhibited to the Vatican Museum. According to professor Diaconescu, one more marble copy is known, which is kept at the Basel Museum. The same professor mentions several bronze copies circulating in Imperial Italy, as proven by several plasters of Apollo Belvedere unearthed at Baiae. This marble head discovered accidentally at Apulum, in the vicinity of the governor residence – praetorium consularis, is the only statue representing Apollo Kallinikos/Belvedere found in the Roman province of Dacia. Furthermore, it is a very rare marble copy in the entire Roman Empire.

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