When Caligula attempted to remove a famed statue of Zeus from its temple at Olympia, the statue objected with peals of laughter. Greco-Roman literature is replete with stories of cult images protesting and conceding to removal from their intended contexts, and such accounts figure into ethical discussions about despoiling “cultural property.” Of greatest concern for writers like Cicero, whose Verrine orations become a template for successive debates, is the inappropriateness of plundering “sacred spaces,” as evidenced in part by responses of art objects themselves.

Cicero is working with a particular notion of sacred space and the distinctiveness of artworks consecrated there within. Although sanctuary looting is ever problematic, he is more comfortable when sacred objects are reinstated in suitable contexts (sacred or public) versus private collections. Observance or violation of sacred space also function as discursive categories for evaluating the figures who engaged in these practices.

My presentation examines the broader context of Roman attitudes toward plunder preceding Constantine’s mass despoliation of sanctuaries to enrich his new capital city. While Christian historians lauded this attempt to desacralize “idols” by putting them on display, his motivations were likely quite different and more complex. Ultimately, they raise questions about the relationship of sacred spaces to their sacra, and connotations the latter retain upon removal from an intended context.