Bucolic Scenes - I
Tub sarcophagus decorated with pastoral scenes arranged on two registers.
In the upper register a man dressing a tunic with sleeves tied at his waist by a belt, boots and carrying a saddlebag, sits on an overturned basket in front of a building. He prunes a branch with his billhook. A dog helps the man to watch over the animals (horses, oxen, sheep and goats) that graze in an area surrounded by trees.
In the lower register a second man sitting on an overturned basket under a reed shelter and milking a goat. This man wears a tunic tied to his waist by a belt, and boots; his calves are wrapped in bandages, «fasciae». At the opposite side of this register there is another character dressed in the same way as the one depicted in the upper band, but, unlike the other two shepherds, he is beardless. Leaning on a pastoral staff, "pedum", he sits on a rock. A flock of sheep is carved in the central part of the lower band.
On the sides of the tub two lions biting deer or goats. The figures carved on the sides contrast with the peaceful pastoral scenes carved on the tub main body.
The sarcophagus lid features a frieze of Erotes driving chariots pulled by lions or deer. In the center there is a table with a dedicatory inscription reading:
D(is) M(anibus), / lullo Achilleo, / v(iro)
p(erfectissimo), ex prox(imo) mem(oriae), /
((ducenario)) Ludii Magni, qui / vixit annis XLVII, /
m(ensibus) X, AureIia Maxi/mina co(n)iux eius, /
marito dulclssimo.
According to the inscription, the sarcophagus was commissioned by Aurelia Maximina for her husband Iulius Achilleus, belonging to the equestrian order, who died at the age of 47 years and 10 months.
Achilleus had been conferred the title of «vir perfectissimus». He had an important career that began in a subordinate position as a person in charge of an office in the imperial chancellery, «proximus a memoriae», and ended as superintendent, «procurator», of the gladiatorial barracks of Rome, «Ludus Magnus»
The relief, at the time of its discovery, showed conspicuous traces of polychromy today only partially visible.
Source: S. Evangelisti, “Terme di Diocleziano, La Collezione Epigrafica”
Marble sarcophagus
H. 106 cm; W. 206 cm.; D. 74 cm.
CA. 270 AD
From Rome, foundnear The Therme of Caracalla
Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano - lnv 125802
Bucolic Scenes - I
Tub sarcophagus decorated with pastoral scenes arranged on two registers.
In the upper register a man dressing a tunic with sleeves tied at his waist by a belt, boots and carrying a saddlebag, sits on an overturned basket in front of a building. He prunes a branch with his billhook. A dog helps the man to watch over the animals (horses, oxen, sheep and goats) that graze in an area surrounded by trees.
In the lower register a second man sitting on an overturned basket under a reed shelter and milking a goat. This man wears a tunic tied to his waist by a belt, and boots; his calves are wrapped in bandages, «fasciae». At the opposite side of this register there is another character dressed in the same way as the one depicted in the upper band, but, unlike the other two shepherds, he is beardless. Leaning on a pastoral staff, "pedum", he sits on a rock. A flock of sheep is carved in the central part of the lower band.
On the sides of the tub two lions biting deer or goats. The figures carved on the sides contrast with the peaceful pastoral scenes carved on the tub main body.
The sarcophagus lid features a frieze of Erotes driving chariots pulled by lions or deer. In the center there is a table with a dedicatory inscription reading:
D(is) M(anibus), / lullo Achilleo, / v(iro)
p(erfectissimo), ex prox(imo) mem(oriae), /
((ducenario)) Ludii Magni, qui / vixit annis XLVII, /
m(ensibus) X, AureIia Maxi/mina co(n)iux eius, /
marito dulclssimo.
According to the inscription, the sarcophagus was commissioned by Aurelia Maximina for her husband Iulius Achilleus, belonging to the equestrian order, who died at the age of 47 years and 10 months.
Achilleus had been conferred the title of «vir perfectissimus». He had an important career that began in a subordinate position as a person in charge of an office in the imperial chancellery, «proximus a memoriae», and ended as superintendent, «procurator», of the gladiatorial barracks of Rome, «Ludus Magnus»
The relief, at the time of its discovery, showed conspicuous traces of polychromy today only partially visible.
Source: S. Evangelisti, “Terme di Diocleziano, La Collezione Epigrafica”
Marble sarcophagus
H. 106 cm; W. 206 cm.; D. 74 cm.
CA. 270 AD
From Rome, foundnear The Therme of Caracalla
Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano - lnv 125802