Viriato or the Monument to Viriathus is an instance of public art in Zamora, Spain. Dedicated to Viriathus and located in the , the monument consists of a bronze sculpture of the Lusitanian chieftain-shepherd put on an unpolished stone pedestal that features a battering ram.
History and description
The statue is a work by Eduardo Barrón cast in bronze in Rome at Nelli's foundry in 1883; it was later bought by the Spanish State.
The leading statue of the sculptural ensemble represents a standing and almost naked full-body figure of Viriathus, with his right arm extended in attitude of rallying his troops, while the left forearm holds a tunic and the left hand grabs a sheathed sword below the level of an abnormally long handle (creating a phallic perception from certain angles).
The statue stands 2-metre high and its bronze base reads ("terror of the Romans"), an epithet for Viriathus attributed to the Orosius' chronicles. The statue and the quadrangular base stand on a granite pedestal taken from , one of the pretenders claimed to be the Viriatho's birthplace. The granite block features a battering ram emerging from its front side, cast in bronze in 1903.
Failing to undergo a proper ceremony of inauguration, the monument was casually unveiled by transients on 12 January 1904.
The monument, with Viriathus' posture identified as performing a Roman (fascist) salute, was embraced by the Falange as an icon during the Francoist dictatorship.