DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52594#0547
Roman Sarcophagi.
the same time. In front of Pan are a satyr with a thyrsus,
a fully robed Maenad with billowing clothing and blowing
a double flute, and finally a Bacchante who, crowned with a
cloth and lifting her lyre with her left hand, stands with
her nude back and posterior turned towards the spectator.
This peculiar type of figure is repeated in a relief fragment
at Madrid (Arndt-Amelung 1742 left). Farthest right a runn-
ing satyr with a goatskin sack on his left shoulder is trying
to tear the Maenad’s clothing off with his right hand.
This elegantly composed but somewhat superficially exe-
cuted sarcophagus scene belongs, as the style shows (drilled
pupils, neutral background), to the time of Hadrian.
Billedtavler pl. LXVI. N. G. G. 150. Stuart Jones: Palazzo dei Conservatori
p. 181. Toynbee: The Hadrianic School p. 191 and pl. XXXIX 3. David Robin-
son, Amer. Journ. Arch. XXXVIII 1934 p. 507 note 2. The lid and its ritualistic
character treated in detail by E. Dyggve in Collections III 1942 p. 225 seqq.,
figs. 1-3. Cf. same author: Dodekult, Kejserkult og Basilika (Kobenhavn 1943)
p. 15 seq. and fig. 7, and for the significance of the bowl and the reclining
dead Fr. Cumont: Recherches sur le symbolisme funeraire des Romains p. 417.
In an article in Amer. Journ. of Arch. XXXVII 1933 p. 261 fig. 3 Cumont has
reproduced a corner of our sarcophagus and states Porta Salaria to be the
provenance, but this statement is evidently due to confusion with the Bacchic
sarcophagi from the Licinian grave, which have now been described by Leh-
mann-Hartleben and Olsen: Dionysic Sarcophagi in Baltimore 1942. Graindor
(Bustes et statues portraits de 1’Egypte Romaine p. 22 seq.) prefers the inter-
pretation of the attribute in the right hand of the figure as a marsupium,
leather pouch, and not as a wreath of flowers; the form in itself, however,
goes against this assumption.
777 a. (I. N. 2430). Sarcophagus with Bacchic procession. M.
II. 0.57, 1. 1.98, d. 0.60. The surface is much weathered and the
marble stained, but the composition is excellent, the scenes so full of
action that bruises and defects are not noticed. Acquired 1909 from
Rome.
Front: Farthest left a satyr standing on one leg and
drawing the other (partly broken off) upwards to avoid a
small panther which is snapping at it; at the same moment
the satyr is evidently pouring wine from a wineskin down
over the head of the panther. Dionysus and Ariadne are
following in their chariot, both with vine leaves in their
hair, Dionysus with a cantharus in the limp hand. The
chariot is adorned with masks and drawn by two centaurs;
the bearded one is playing a cithara and an amorino is
543
the same time. In front of Pan are a satyr with a thyrsus,
a fully robed Maenad with billowing clothing and blowing
a double flute, and finally a Bacchante who, crowned with a
cloth and lifting her lyre with her left hand, stands with
her nude back and posterior turned towards the spectator.
This peculiar type of figure is repeated in a relief fragment
at Madrid (Arndt-Amelung 1742 left). Farthest right a runn-
ing satyr with a goatskin sack on his left shoulder is trying
to tear the Maenad’s clothing off with his right hand.
This elegantly composed but somewhat superficially exe-
cuted sarcophagus scene belongs, as the style shows (drilled
pupils, neutral background), to the time of Hadrian.
Billedtavler pl. LXVI. N. G. G. 150. Stuart Jones: Palazzo dei Conservatori
p. 181. Toynbee: The Hadrianic School p. 191 and pl. XXXIX 3. David Robin-
son, Amer. Journ. Arch. XXXVIII 1934 p. 507 note 2. The lid and its ritualistic
character treated in detail by E. Dyggve in Collections III 1942 p. 225 seqq.,
figs. 1-3. Cf. same author: Dodekult, Kejserkult og Basilika (Kobenhavn 1943)
p. 15 seq. and fig. 7, and for the significance of the bowl and the reclining
dead Fr. Cumont: Recherches sur le symbolisme funeraire des Romains p. 417.
In an article in Amer. Journ. of Arch. XXXVII 1933 p. 261 fig. 3 Cumont has
reproduced a corner of our sarcophagus and states Porta Salaria to be the
provenance, but this statement is evidently due to confusion with the Bacchic
sarcophagi from the Licinian grave, which have now been described by Leh-
mann-Hartleben and Olsen: Dionysic Sarcophagi in Baltimore 1942. Graindor
(Bustes et statues portraits de 1’Egypte Romaine p. 22 seq.) prefers the inter-
pretation of the attribute in the right hand of the figure as a marsupium,
leather pouch, and not as a wreath of flowers; the form in itself, however,
goes against this assumption.
777 a. (I. N. 2430). Sarcophagus with Bacchic procession. M.
II. 0.57, 1. 1.98, d. 0.60. The surface is much weathered and the
marble stained, but the composition is excellent, the scenes so full of
action that bruises and defects are not noticed. Acquired 1909 from
Rome.
Front: Farthest left a satyr standing on one leg and
drawing the other (partly broken off) upwards to avoid a
small panther which is snapping at it; at the same moment
the satyr is evidently pouring wine from a wineskin down
over the head of the panther. Dionysus and Ariadne are
following in their chariot, both with vine leaves in their
hair, Dionysus with a cantharus in the limp hand. The
chariot is adorned with masks and drawn by two centaurs;
the bearded one is playing a cithara and an amorino is
543