Editing Portland Vase (section)

==Iconography==
The meaning of the images on the vase is unclear, and none of the many theories put forward has been found generally satisfactory. They fall into two main groups: mythological and historical, though a historical interpretation of a myth is also a possibility. Historical interpretations focus on [[Augustus]], his family and his rivals, especially given the quality and expense of the object, and the somewhat remote neo-classicism of the style, which compares with some Imperial [[engraved gem|gemstone cameos]] featuring Augustus and his family with divine attributes, such as the [[Gemma Augustea]], the [[Great Cameo of France]] and the [[Blacas Cameo]] (the last also in the British Museum). Interpretations of the portrayals have included that of a marine setting (due to the presence of a [[Cetus (mythology)|ketos]] or sea-snake), and of a marriage theme/context, as the vase may have been a wedding gift. Many scholars (including [[Charles Towneley]]) have concluded that the figures do not fit into a single [[iconographic]] set.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

===Scene 1===
Interpretations include:
* The marriage of mortal [[Peleus]] and the sea goddess [[Thetis]], "the most enduring mythological interpretation".{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=292}}
* [[Dionysos]] greeting [[Ariadne]] with her sacred serpent, in the sacred grove for their marriage, symbolized by [[Cupid#Roman Cupid|Cupid]] with a nuptial torch, in the presence of his foster-father, [[Silenus]]{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}
* The story of the Emperor [[Augustus]]' supposed siring by the god [[Apollo (god)|Apollo]] in the form of a snake <ref>{{cite web |last1=thehistorianshut |title=Augustus Was Rumored To Be The Son Of Apollo |url=https://thehistorianshut.com/2018/12/09/augustus-was-rumored-to-be-the-son-of-apollo/ |website=The Historian's Hut |date=9 December 2018 |publisher=Keith Hansley |access-date=20 April 2022}}</ref>
* The younger man is [[Mark Antony]] being lured by the wiles of the reclining woman, [[Cleopatra VII]] (accompanied by an [[asp (reptile)|asp]], the alleged type of [[venomous snake]] involved in the [[death of Cleopatra]]),{{sfn|Roller|2010|p=178}} into losing his manly [[romanitas]] and becoming decadent, with the bearded elder male figure being his mythical ancestor [[Antonia gens|Anton]] looking on.{{sfn|Roller|2010|p=178}}
* The dream of [[Olympias]], mother of [[Alexander the Great]], who is emerging from the building to greet her, with his father Apollo as the serpent. This was the first theory, dating to 1633, and connected to Severus Alexander and his mother, "of whom a similar tale of reptilian paternity was told".{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=290}}

===Scene 2===
[[Image:Portland Vase BM Gem4036 n4.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Scene 2]]
Interpretations include:
* A divinatory dream by [[Hecuba]] that the [[Judgement of Paris]] would lead to the destruction of [[Troy]]<ref name="Corning Museum of Glass 2011 u436">{{cite web | title=All About Glass | website=Corning Museum of Glass | date=December 1, 2011 | url=https://www.cmog.org/article/portland-vase-iconography | access-date=January 13, 2024}}</ref>
* [[Ariadne]] languishing on [[Naxos Island|Naxos]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Journal of the Classical Association of Victoria |url=https://classicsvic.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/billot.pdf |access-date=3 March 2024 |website=Classical Association of Victoria}}</ref>
* The woman languishing is [[Octavia Minor]], abandoned by Mark Antony, between her brother Augustus{{sfn|Roller|2010|p=178}} (left, as a god, as on the contemporary [[Mainz Gladius|Sword of Tiberius]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/t/the_sword_of_tiberius.aspx |title=The sword of Tiberius |publisher=British Museum |date=29 September 2011 |access-date=16 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913161441/http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/t/the_sword_of_tiberius.aspx |archive-date=13 September 2012 }}</ref>) and [[Venus (mythology)#Epithets|Venus Genetrix]], the ancestor of Augustus and Octavia's [[Julia gens|Julian gens]].{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

====Octavian theory====
[[File:Portland Vase BM Gem4036 n3.jpg|thumb|left|Detail, with the figure who might be [[Octavian]]]]
Another variant theory is that the vase dates back to circa 32 BC, and was commissioned by Octavian (later Caesar [[Augustus]]), as an attempt to promote his case against his fellow triumvirs, [[Mark Antony]] and [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Marcus Lepidus]] in the period after the death of [[Julius Caesar]]. It is based on the skill of the famous Greek carver of [[engraved gem]]s [[Dioskourides (artist)|Dioskourides]], who is recorded as active and at his peak circa 40–15 BC and three of whose attributed cameos bear a close resemblance in line and quality to the Portland vase figures. This theory proposes that the first two figures are Gaius Octavius, father of the future emperor, and [[Atia (mother of Augustus)|Atia]], his mother (hence Cupid with the arrow) who had a dream of being impregnated by Apollo in the form of a sea serpent (ketos), note the snake's prominent teeth. The onlooker with his staff, could be [[Aeneas]], a hero of the Trojan Wars who saved his father by carrying him over his back (hence his hunched position, and his Trojan beard) and who is believed to have founded Rome, and from whom the [[Julian gens]], including [[Julius Caesar]] and Attia, claimed descent, witnessing the conception of Rome's future savior as an Empire, and the greatest of all the Emperors.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

On the reverse is Octavian, [[Octavia the Younger|Octavia]] his sister, widow of [[Mark Antony]] (downcast flambeau, broken tablets) and [[Livia]], Octavian's third wife who outlived him. These two are looking directly at each other. Octavian commanded she divorce her then husband and marry him with a few weeks of meeting, she was mother to the future Emperor [[Tiberius]].{{citation needed|date=August 2017}}

This vase suggests Octavian was descended partly from Apollo (thus partly divine, shades of [[Achilles]]), whom he worshiped as a god, gave private parties in his honor together with [[Minerva]], Roman Goddess of War, from the founder of Rome, and his connection to his uncle Julius Caesar, for whom as a young man he gave a remarkable funeral oratory, and who adopted him on his father's death, when he was only four. All the pieces and people fit in this theory and it explains most mysteries (apart from who actually made it). It would have been a fabulously expensive piece to commission, so that few men of the period could have afforded it. Several attempts at creating the vase must have been made, as modern reproduction trials show today (see below). Historians and archeologists dismiss this modern theory as gods and goddesses with mythical allegories were usually portrayed.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}