Tonio Hölscher, Victoria Romana. Archäologische Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Wesensart der römischen Siegesgöttin von den Anfängen bis zum Ende des 3. Jhs. n. Chr., Mainz 1967

The depiction of the goddess of victory, Victoria, is a widespread motif in the Roman world of images, and their cultic worship can be traced back to the 3rd century BC. Of course, she often appeared in context of war and peace, which is why Victoria is an important element for studies of Roman war culture.

Although there was no lack of scientific work on Victoria and its Greek counterpart Nike, these remained increasingly general. Only Tonio Hölscher succeeded in creating a deeper understanding of the use and forms of representation of the Victoria motif with his dissertation “Victoria Romana”, completed in 1965 at the University of Heidelberg and published in 1967 at the Philipp von Zabern-publishing house in Mainz. Therefore, this work is still one of the standard works for a more in-depth investigation of the Roman goddess of victory. Tonio Hölscher is a classical archaeologist and was a professor of classical archeology at Heidelberg University from 1975 to 2009. Hölscher’s research focuses on ancient sculptures and their political and social function.

The main aim of his dissertation was “to understand tendencies, reasons, and goals of the Roman ideas of victory as historical phenomena” (p. 2). In this regard, he rates the depictions of Victoria as particularly fruitful. The dissertation is divided into six chapters. Chapters I to IV are devoted to different Victoria motifs: I. Victoria on globe (p.6-47), II. Victoria at Adventus and Profectio (p.48-67), III. Victoria in triumph (p.98-135) and IV. Victoria with shield (p.98-135). The individual chapters are structured similarly. The author first examines the origins of the respective motif, which can go back to the Greek era, and then describes its ongoing history of development up to the early imperial era and beyond. Furthermore, Hölscher analyzes different motif variants, their occurrence in different types of objects (gems, coins, sculptures, reliefs, etc.) and interprets their meaning in context of Roman society.

In Chapter V. “Geschichtliche Wandlungen des Victoria-Bildes” (p.136-172) he gives a comprehension of Victoria and her motif’s history of development from the beginnings in Roman Republic until the successors of Augustus. Finally, Hölscher draws his conclusion in Chapter VI. “Wesensart und Wirkungsweise der Victoria” (p.173-179) about the change in meaning and the development of Victoria images in Roman culture from the Republic to the late Imperial Era. In addition, he compares the nature of Greek Nike and Roman Victoria.

Tonio Hölscher’s dissertation is one of the most important works on the iconography and meaning of the Roman goddess of victory. A deeper examination of Victoria is therefore practically impossible without this work.