Sunday, December 13, 2020

Ancient Roman Fragments, Friezes and Funerary Marbles

Roman Empire
Cinerary Urn
2nd-3rd century AD
marble
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky

Roman Empire
Achilles and Lycomedes
(sarcophagus front panel)
AD 240
marble relief
Musée du Louvre

Roman Empire
Achilles and Lycomedes
(sarcophagus front panel - detail)
AD 240
marble relief
Musée du Louvre

Roman Empire
Achilles and Lycomedes
(sarcophagus front panel - detail)
AD 240
marble relief
Musée du Louvre

Roman Empire
Labors of Hercules
(sarcophagus front panel)
AD 150-175
marble relief
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

Roman Empire
Labors of Hercules
(sarcophagus front panel - detail)
AD 150-175
marble relief
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

Roman Empire
Offering to Python
(sarcophagus end panel)
AD 150
marble relief
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Venice

Roman Empire
Sack of Troy - Achilles battling Troilus
(sarcophagus end panel)
AD 150
marble relief
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

Roman Empire
Sack of Troy - Trojan Women Mourning
(sarcophagus end panel)
AD 150
marble relief
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

Roman Empire
Sack of Troy
(sarcophagus front panel - detail)
AD 150
marble relief
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

Roman Empire
Sack of Troy
(sarcophagus front panel - detail)
AD 150
marble relief
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

"It was probably during the third century B.C.E. that the Trojan hero Aeneas came to be identified as the founder of the Roman people, and at the Peace of Apamea in 188 B.C.E. the Roman Senate officially recognized Troy as Rome's mother city.  Beginning in the second century B.C.E. Troy began to benefit both politically and economically from this link with Rome.  She received more land and was declared a free and federate city, which meant no taxes needed to be paid to Rome.  The city also became a favorite pilgrimage spot for aristocrats, emperors, and members of the Imperial family, and this would last until late antiquity.  . . .  The fortunes of Troy and the Trojan legend received even greater prominence during the first century B.C.E.  Both Julius Caesar and Augustus were members of the Julian family, which traced its descent from Aeneas and his mother, Aphrodite.  For them Troy was both the mother city of the Romans and the root of their family's genealogical tree."

– Charles Brian Rose, from Troy and the Historical Imagination, published in Classical World (1998)

Roman Empire
Capital Fragment - Winged Horse
(Forum of Augustus, Rome)
2 BC
marble
Museo dei Fori Imperiali, Rome

Roman Empire
Frieze Fragment - Gryphon
(Forum of Trajan, Rome)
AD 98-117
marble relief
Museo dei Fori Imperiali, Rome

Roman Empire
Frieze Fragment - Figure with Shield
AD 150
marble relief
Antikensammlung, Berlin

Roman Empire
Abduction of Ganymede
AD 140-150
marble relief
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence