Le statue loricate Latium-Pamphylia. Traiano Partico, Adriano e l’apoteosi di Alessandro

Among the cuirassed statues of Hadrianic and Antonine ages, a group attested in Latium and Pamphylia shows the image of a young naked man, with long hair covered by a lion skin, recently interpreted as Heracles in apotheosis. Through the analysis of the various specimens, the paper aims to reconstruct the iconographic prototype and define the paths followed in its creation starting from the image of the so-called Dionysus-Sabatius between panthers. Significant iconographical features, such as the youthful age, the lean body, the lion skin and especially the long wavy hair are clues to identify the scene as the apotheosis of Alexander the Great, the new Heracles. The development of this legendary episode and the creation of the iconography displayed on the Latium-Pamphylia cuirasses are interpreted within the context of the Trajan’s sought-after imitation of Alexander during the Parthian Wars: panegyrics or funeral orations might have explored the episode of Alexander’s apotheosis to celebrate Trajan, the new Alexander, and his successor Hadrian. Finally, the paper focuses on the Alexander’s ascension with griffins described in the Alexander Romance, an episode that seems to be circulating as early as the mid-imperial age but so far not attested iconographically before the 6th-7th century AD, even if clearly derived from imperial-era prototypes. Thus, it is proposed that Alexander’s apotheosis on the Latium-Pamphylia cuirasses may have constituted the visual suggestion around which, in the 2nd-3rd century AD, this fantastic tale was developed.