The Philosopher on the Throne

Catherine the Great, an Empress of Russia.  

Catherine was born in the spring of 1729 as Sophie Fredericke Auguste and married the crown prince of Russia in 1745.  Soon after her husband, Peter II, ascended to the throne, Catherine staged a coup d’état (Hughes 2008).  After taking control of Russia, Catherine began a major building campaign as well as supporting literature and the arts and creating initiatives towards improving education.

Catherine accomplished many great things during her time in power, including beginning a world-class art gallery at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, building throughout Russia, and seizing on any opportunity that she could to expand Russia’s empire.  Most notably, this included a religious war with the Turks in the 1780s as well as the annexation of Crimea.  Catherine’s political power found Russia allying at times with Austria and against Great Britain, symbols of a new and old colonial power, respectively.

While Catherine was obviously a woman of power in a male-dominated society, it probably seems strange to select an example like Catherine the Great as our final case study, but in some regards, imperial Russia was very similar to the Moche.  Catherine, like the Moche, struggled to create wealth for her society.  Furthermore, Catherine valued artistry, and as we have seen from the artifacts that survived the Moche culture, it was a valued commodity for them as well.  Additionally, Catherine did not hesitate to use violence to achiever her goals of expansion, something that we also saw as a characteristic of the Moche in relation to resource availability. The Moche lived in river basins on the coast of Peru the areas that had the most access to plentiful resources because outside of those coastal planes, resources were difficult to find (Talley 2002).  Indeed, the expansions of the Russian empire added resource-rich lands to be added to Russian domain, expanding its industrial capacity.

However, one of the biggest connections between Catherine and the Moche is the fact that they both believed in a class structure (Shimida 1994).  As we have seen throughout Moche iconography, there is a structure of power among all of the depicted persons.  In the sacrifice scene, for instance, there are priests who maintain utmost power and the highest social structure.  Catherine is noted historically for decreasing the quality of life for Russian serfs, the slaves who were tied to tracks of land.  Catherine believed in a social structure that was based upon birthright and that anyone below her in the social structure was subservient.

Catherine still remains archaeologically relevant today because in the middle of her reign she established the Hermitage, a leading art museum in the world. The museum was built in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and houses pieces from Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Giorgione, Titian and Michelangelo (Hughes 2008). However, in one of her ventures to obtain more paintings, Catherine's vessel crashed of the coast of Finland with several paintings of Dutch masters. The shipwreck was found in 1999 and has not be excavated because of disagreements of who the recovered paintings should belong to. This is akin to the controversy surrounding the Getty Bronze. Who owns antiquities when they are discovered in shipwrecks? The originating country, the country that discovers it or the country in whose water it is found? Watch this video to see the discussion.

Sources:

Hughes, L. (2008). The Romanovs: Ruling Russia 1613-1917. London: Hambledon Continuum.

Shimada, I. (1994). Pampa Grande and the Mochica Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Talley, S. R. (2002). The pyramid of doom: an ancient murder mystery. In Mummies and Pyramids: Egypt and Beyond [Motion picture]. United States: World Almanac Video