Saturday, January 17, 2026

Roman Bodies

Roman Empire
Fragment with Torso of a Woman
1st century AD
fresco
Harvard Art Museums

Roman Empire
Bacchus
AD 180-220
marble table support
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Roman Empire
Torso of a Youth
2nd century AD
marble
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Roman Empire
Athlete
(the Berlin Athlete)
AD 150
marble
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Roman Empire
Athlete
1st-2nd century AD
marble
Skulpturensammlung (Albertinum), Dresden

Roman Empire
Athlete
AD 100-150
marble
Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Roman Empire
Apollo
AD 90-130
marble
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Roman Empire
Torso of Apollo
AD 80-90
marble
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Roman Empire
Apollo
2nd century AD
marble
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden

Roman Empire
Venus
AD 120-130
marble
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Roman Empire
Venus
2nd century AD
marble
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Roman Empire
Torso of Doryphoros
2nd century AD
marble
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Roman Empire
Torso of Hercules
2nd century AD
marble
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Roman Empire
Torso of a Youth
AD 50-100
marble
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Roman Empire
Dioscuro
AD 240-260
marble relief panel
(from Triumphal Arch demolished in Rome)
Giardino di Boboli, Florence

Roman Empire
Hercules
1st-2nd century AD
ivory
Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel

Herald of the Egyptians:  If you don't accept your fate and go to the ship, your finely worked clothes will be ripped without mercy. 

[The Herald and his men approach closer]

Chorus:  Help, noble leaders of the city, I'm being overpowered!

Herald:  It looks as though I'll be dragging you off by the hair, since you aren't hearing my orders very sharply. 

Chorus:  We're done for! My lord, we're being treated unspeakably!

Herald:  You'll soon be seeing plenty of lords – the sons of Aegyptus.  Don't worry, you won't be complaining about a lack of authority!

[Enter Pelasgus from the city, with armed men]

Pelasgus:  Here, you, what are you doing?  What's your idea in insulting this land of Pelasgian men?  Do you really think you've come to a city of women?  For a barbarian you are showing an unduly arrogant attitude towards Greeks; you have made a great mistake, and your mind has gone far astray.

Herald:  In what respect have I erred in doing this, or acted without right?

Pelasgus:  In the first place, you do not know how an alien should behave. 

Herald:  What do you mean?  I am finding and taking my own lost property. 

– Aeschylus, from Suppliants (ca. 470-460 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)