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oa De bronzen inscriptie van keizer Claudius’ rede in het heiligdom van de Tres Galliae in Lyon
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Lampas, Volume 56, Issue 4, Dec 2023, p. 368 - 389
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- 01 Dec 2023
Abstract
Claudius’ plea to admit the Gallic nobility to the Roman senate is known not only from the Annals of Tacitus, but also from the Tabula Claudiana, a monumental bronze inscription found in Lyon in the 16th century at a site where archaeologists situate the most important sanctuary of Roman Gaul. This paper focuses on the physical form and spatial context in which it was displayed. It tries to demonstrate that the inscription should not be viewed as a simple copy of an original text kept in the archives of the senate in Rome and sent from the centre of the empire to be slavishly published in Gaul, but rather as an initiative by the Gallic provincial elites. It will be argued that the extensive quotation of the emperor’s words, the use of costly material and the publication at a highly politically symbolic place all served the interests of the Gallic nobility.