Dai Galati a Decebalo. L’immagine del suicidio del “barbaro” nelle rappresentazioni storiche

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the meaning of the images of suicide in ancient monuments. A close examination of the ancient opinions about Gauls killing themselves on the battlefield, and the reactions to the Galatian invasion in contemporary Hellenistic sources prevent from a positive or heroic interpretation of the figure of the famous Galata Ludovisi who was slaying himself and his wife. His gesture had rather to show his irrational furor caused by the defeat of his people. For what concern the Roman monuments only the images related to the Dacian wars produced during the Trajanic age surely represented a barbarian warrior killing himself. Despite the fact that it was possible for a Roman historian to recognize that Decebalus was fighting for freedom, this aknowledgement did not obliterate the lack of fides, treachery and superbia of the Dacian king. Therefore, the representation of his suicide at the end of the Traian’s Column celebrated the fact that the emperor had placed him and his fellows in a condition of desperata salus. In fact, the Gallic vases produced by Cosius coherently put the image of his suicide into a contemptuous and mocking context.