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| Hellenistic workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel ca. 100 BC marble Glyptothek, Munich |
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| Hellenistic workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel (detail) ca. 100 BC marble Glyptothek, Munich |
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| Hellenistic workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel (detail) ca. 100 BC marble Glyptothek, Munich |
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| Hellenistic workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel (detail) ca. 100 BC marble Glyptothek, Munich |
The reliefs illustrated above (four panels, now in Munich) and below (three panels, now in Paris) were once united on a single Roman structure, traditionally identified as the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus. "These reliefs are in fact not from an altar, but probably once adorned the base of a large statue-group set up ca. 100 BC. The reliefs have different origins and themes, and their combination is an interesting illustration of the processes of acculturation taking place in Rome at the time. The decorative reliefs on three sides of the base [above] were taken from a monument made in the Greek East and were probably brought to Rome as booty, while that on the fourth [below] was made in Rome to serve as the monument of a Roman official. The Greek reliefs celebrate the marriage of Poseidon, god of the sea, to his bride, Amphitrite, who is seated demurely beside him on a chariot drawn by Tritons – strange hybrid creatures that are half man, half fish. The panels are dominated by the cheerful procession and its attendants, beautiful Nereids (sea-nymphs) riding on sea-beasts and Tritons. By contrast, the far less artistic images carved in Rome for the fourth side presumably allude to the actual occasion that the monument commemorated, namely a Roman censor's final sacrifice to Mars; the god is depicted as physically present, dressed in his armor. To the left of the altar is an administrative scene, with tax officials registering information on tablets and (to the right of the procession) examining the horses of Roman equites (cavalrymen) liable for military service."
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| Roman workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Census relief-panel ca. 100 BC marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Roman workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Census relief-panel (detail) ca. 100 BC marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Roman workshop Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus Census relief-panel (detail) ca. 100 BC marble Musée du Louvre |
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| Roman workshop Sarcophagus - Selene and Endymion AD 240 marble Galleria Doria Pamphilij, Rome |
"The moon-goddess Selene/Luna visiting her lover Endymion. When inhumation came into fashion soon after AD 100, so did luxurious coffins in the form of marble sarcophagi with carved reliefs. The reliefs often use mythical scenes to allude to the sorrow felt by the mourning relatives and to evoke the virtues of the dead. In the myth, Luna would halt her chariot every night in order to visit Endymion, who, asleep in a cave, never aged. On sarcophagi the pair became a symbol for lovers who manage to maintain their connection even beyond the separation of death."
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| Roman workshop Sarcophagus - Dionysus and followers mid-3rd century AD marble Musée du Louvre |
"Sarcophagi with images of Dionysus and his followers were especially popular. The retinue of the wine-god, playing musical instruments, dancing and reveling, is celebrated as the embodiment of vitality, manifesting itself in ecstatic festivity. The figures of the drunken Silenus and Hercules are thus intended to be regarded positively. How should we interpret these images of pleasure and happiness in funerary contexts? It seems that people wanted to reassure each other in the face of death that life – this life – is beautiful and worth living, exactly in the sense of the motto carpe diem: use the time you have left; enjoy your days as well as you can; celebrate every day like a holiday, knowing that we all have to die. Many inscriptions invoke such a view of life."
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| Attic workshop Sarcophagus - Discovery of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes mid-3rd century AD marble Musei Capitolini, Rome |
"This sarcophagus, more than nine feet long, made in an Attic workshop, was found near Rome in the sixteenth century. The lid is crafted in the likeness of a bed (kline) with an extremely decorative mattress. On it, we see a married couple, whose hairstyles suggest a date around the middle of the third century AD. Unlike Roman sarcophagi, this one, like most sarcophagi made in Attica, is decorated with reliefs on all four sides. On the front face is represented the discovery of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes. A trick devised by Odysseus involving trumpeters and weapons causes Achilles, who had been hiding among these women, to reveal his warlike nature. The relief shows the moment when he tears off his women's clothes and snatches up a sword. The Attic relief emphasizes the physical beauty of the young warriors."
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| Workshop in Asia Minor Sarcophagus - Columnar type 3rd-4th century AD marble Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Melfi (Italy) |
"Like Attic sarcophagi, those made by workshops in Asia Minor were very popular as impressive personal or family monuments and were exported to large towns all over the Mediterranean. The one shown here is an especially fine example of the Anatolian "columnar" type. The deities between the columns are represented using typical statue poses. To contemporary viewers, this would have triggered associations between this dwelling for the dead and a palace. The "door" of the sarcophagus is probably to be understood in the same way."
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| Roman workshop Sarcophagus - Military commander 2nd century AD marble Palazzo Ducale, Mantua |
"This second-century sarcophagus shows a military commander in various roles; the iconography is derived from the official art of the Empire. We can assume that all three scenes show the same person at different stages of his life: in the sacrificial scene in the center, he appears as a young beardless man; in the two outer scenes, as an older man with a beard. On the right, the man appears in a private scene of marital harmony: husband and wife clasp hands in a gesture of marital concord, while behind them we see the goddess of harmony who oversees peace in the household."
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| Roman workshop Statue of Augustus (detail of cuirass) before AD 14 marble Musei Vaticani, Rome |
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| Roman workshop Statue of Augustus before AD 14 marble Musei Vaticani, Rome |
"Cuirassed statue of Augustus. Marble copy from the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta. The original was a bronze, probably erected by the Senate, honoring Augustus for his success in persuading the king of the Parthians to return the legionary standards that had been lost by Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC. The ornamentation and reliefs on the cuirass promote the event as a turning point of history with cosmic significance. The emperor's bare feet associate him with heroes; the Eros riding a dolphin designates him as a descendant of Venus. In the center of the image on the cuirass, the Parthian king can be seen returning one of the lost standards to a representative of Rome (perhaps Mars). Beside the Roman is a dog (or perhaps the she-wolf). The Parthian king's attire characterizes him as a "barbarian." Lower down on either side of this main scene, Augustus's patron deities – Apollo (left, on a griffon) and Diana (right, on a hind) – signify the divine favor he enjoyed. Higher up, two mourning women, representing nations subjected by force of arms, frame the scene. One of them holds an empty sword sheath, meaning that her people have been disarmed and incorporated into the Empire; the other still holds a sword in her hand, meaning that her people have been forced into dependency and must now defend the imperial borders. Thanks to the emperor's victories, happiness and opulence reign throughout the Empire, symbolized here by Tellus (Earth, below the main scene), holding a cornucopia and surrounded by infants. In the top register, we see Night making way for Day, or rather Luna fleeing before Sol in his quadriga, beneath the sky's mantel spread by Caelus (the heavens)."
– Paul Zanker, from Roman Art, originally published in 2008, translated by Henry Heitmann-Gordon and published in English by the Getty Museum in 2010