DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52594#0548
Roman Sarcophagi.
dancing on his back; the beardless one with bulging cheeks
is playing the double flute (partly broken off) and prancing
forward with forelegs raised high (cf. Amelung: Vatik.
Katalog II pl. 7 No. 76). On the far side of a leafless tree
Pan is dancing, trampling with one foot on a cista mystica
as if it were a crupezion; the offended snake has come for-
ward and is biting his foot; Pan’s arms are broken off; he
was presumably making tinkling noises with metal bowls
raised high. In front of him a Maenad is hurrying off with
billowing robes, furiously sounding a tympanum. Then follow
against the background of a tree, three satyrs who are haul-
ing the dead-drunk silen away on a deer hide; the rear one
is also using his teeth to carry with. Below the silen a gallop-
ing panther. The corner is covered by a magnificent nude
Bacchante who has earlier carried some object or other on her
head. A magnificent termination, a breaking of the move-
ment, transition to the decorative-architectural of excellent
effect. (Cf. Altmann: Architectur und Ornamentik der an-
tiken Sarkophage p. 88 seqq.).
On each end is a standing griffon.
Several of the scenes are known from elsewhere, for in-
stance the group with the dancing Pan, the tree, the basket
and the fleeing Maenad with the tympanum on a sarco-
phagus fragment at Constantinople (Mendel: Cat. I, No. 5).
One is reminded of some lines from Catullus (64, 255 seqq.)
about Dionysus’ train where “some were shaking thyrsi
with concealed points, some brandishing the limbs of the
dismembered kid, others girdling themselves with snakes,
and some celebrating obscure orgies in hollow cists ,
others were beating tambourines with rigid hands or making
faint clashing noises with the delicate metal cymbals ,
some blowing the horn, others the flute.”
Tillteg til Billedtavler pl. XII. The sarcophagus was bought for Rome at
an auction, at Florence. Collezione Gagliardi e Riofreddo, Firenze 1908, pl.
IX. 429. Not. Scavi 1934 p. 239 fig. 11; ibid. p. 230 seqq. Pietrogrande treats
the large group of sarcophagi with similar scenes and figures. Bull. Com.
LXXII, 1951, p. 150.
778. (I. N. 843). The. Casali sarcophagus. M.
II. 0.68, 1. 2.22, d. 0.83; H. of lid 0.31. The lid has been broken.
The rest excellently preserved. Found 1775 in a grave at Via Appia
and kept in Villa Casali on Mons Cad ins at Rome for more than a
544
dancing on his back; the beardless one with bulging cheeks
is playing the double flute (partly broken off) and prancing
forward with forelegs raised high (cf. Amelung: Vatik.
Katalog II pl. 7 No. 76). On the far side of a leafless tree
Pan is dancing, trampling with one foot on a cista mystica
as if it were a crupezion; the offended snake has come for-
ward and is biting his foot; Pan’s arms are broken off; he
was presumably making tinkling noises with metal bowls
raised high. In front of him a Maenad is hurrying off with
billowing robes, furiously sounding a tympanum. Then follow
against the background of a tree, three satyrs who are haul-
ing the dead-drunk silen away on a deer hide; the rear one
is also using his teeth to carry with. Below the silen a gallop-
ing panther. The corner is covered by a magnificent nude
Bacchante who has earlier carried some object or other on her
head. A magnificent termination, a breaking of the move-
ment, transition to the decorative-architectural of excellent
effect. (Cf. Altmann: Architectur und Ornamentik der an-
tiken Sarkophage p. 88 seqq.).
On each end is a standing griffon.
Several of the scenes are known from elsewhere, for in-
stance the group with the dancing Pan, the tree, the basket
and the fleeing Maenad with the tympanum on a sarco-
phagus fragment at Constantinople (Mendel: Cat. I, No. 5).
One is reminded of some lines from Catullus (64, 255 seqq.)
about Dionysus’ train where “some were shaking thyrsi
with concealed points, some brandishing the limbs of the
dismembered kid, others girdling themselves with snakes,
and some celebrating obscure orgies in hollow cists ,
others were beating tambourines with rigid hands or making
faint clashing noises with the delicate metal cymbals ,
some blowing the horn, others the flute.”
Tillteg til Billedtavler pl. XII. The sarcophagus was bought for Rome at
an auction, at Florence. Collezione Gagliardi e Riofreddo, Firenze 1908, pl.
IX. 429. Not. Scavi 1934 p. 239 fig. 11; ibid. p. 230 seqq. Pietrogrande treats
the large group of sarcophagi with similar scenes and figures. Bull. Com.
LXXII, 1951, p. 150.
778. (I. N. 843). The. Casali sarcophagus. M.
II. 0.68, 1. 2.22, d. 0.83; H. of lid 0.31. The lid has been broken.
The rest excellently preserved. Found 1775 in a grave at Via Appia
and kept in Villa Casali on Mons Cad ins at Rome for more than a
544