Seite - 115 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

7 Aquatic Pasts& theWateryPresent:Water andMemory in the Foraof Rome 115 Fig. 7:Rome, Museodella Civiltà Romana, reconstructionof RostrateColumn ofDuilius. rostrated columns – columns with curved ships’ rams sticking out perpendicular to the col- umn–markingnavalvictories fromtheRepublicon, includingthatofC.Duilius (260BCvictory over the Carthaginians),M. Aemilius Paullus (255BC), andAugustus (Naulochus in 36BC and Actium in31BC) (Fig. 7).62 The ForumRomanum, it seems, was litteredwith the beaks of enemy ships ormodels of them.By the Imperial period, therewas theAugustan rostra, theAugustan rostrated columns, alongwith thenearby temple rostra.WhenDiocletian lateraddedanother rostra, themessageof Romannaval victorywasonlymademoremanifest. First, the long-standing traditionof rostra- tionmeans that,whenAugustus installedhis own rostrated columns, heharkenedback to the memory ofDuilius,whose owncolumnAugustus refurbished, thusmarking the restoration an actofpietasandtheconstructionofhisowncolumnasaway touse thepastasanexemplum.63 Augustus’ newmonument then gains legitimacy froman older, similarmonument. The beaks of ships automatically evokewater for the passer-by, in addition to the victory that occurs on the seas. The great number of beaks that were in the forumwould have reminded viewers of the longhistoryof theRomandominationof theMediterranean,prompting themto thinkback to the victories against a variety of foes, fromLatins, Carthaginians, to fellowRomans, as the case was in the civil wars. Further, the rostra is also a symbol of the power of the Roman aristocracy,whoused the speaker’s platforms throughout theRepublic and into the Empire as a place to not only to sway fellow citizens, but also to celebrate fellowRomans in funeral ora- tions, such as those of Julius Caesar and Augustus. The rostra and their use of beaks as a 62 Richardson 1992, 96f.;Muth 2012, 11. 24; Roller 2013, 120–126. Themost in-depthdiscussionof these columns is Palombi 1993. For amodern example, the column in themiddle ofNewYorkCity’s ColumbusCircle, dedicated toChristopherColumbus, is rostrated. 63 Roller 2013, 122f. explores this relationshipmore fully.