If you read our entry yesterday, then you know that National Archaeological Museum is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Palazzo Massimo branch with a special exhibit called “Discovering the Massimo.” In honor of the fact that this fantastic museum has been open for a decade, they’ve cleaned up and restored some amazing ancient objects that have been out of the public eye for some time.
Yesterday we told you about the Doria-Pamphili Colombarium on display as part of this exhibit. Today, we bring you some super-cool photos of the Portonaccio Sarcophagus which is also making an extraordinary appearance.
Found in the Portonaccio area of Rome, along the Via Tiburtina, this newly-cleaned sarcophagus is carved in high relief and dates between 180-200 AD. It seems to have been used for the burial of a Roman general involved in the campaigns of Marcus Aurelius, who is depicted charging into battle on horseback front near the center of the scene on the front of the sarcophagus (see uppermost photo as well as the photo on the left directly above).
If you look closely at the face of the general, you’ll see that it’s unfinished. Scholars suggest that the sarcophagus was carved in a sculptor’s workshop and the face of the general was left blank, with the idea that it would be carved to resemble the deceased person it housed when the sarcophagus was purchased. For one reason or another, that never happened.
All around the general, Roman soldiers bravely slay their barbarian enemies, some of whom have fallen to the ground and are being trampled in the melee, and others of whom seem to be begging for mercy (see the image on the right, above).
Almost indubitably, the Romans won this battle, a fact that is attested on the left and right edges of the front panel, where over-sized barbarians captured in war are chained and restrained, while terrifying Roman trophies display the arms and armor of those defeated in the war (see above, left, and below).
Such sarcophagi, of course, were meant to commemorate the dead and their achievements, as well as to elevate them in the eyes of those who would have seen and admired the carved coffins in which they were laid to rest. Though 1800 years old, the Portonaccio Sarcophagus continues to serve this function, as its fine craftsmanship wows and amazes, especially seen under spotlights in a dark room, as currently displayed in the Palazzo Massimo.
For information on the Palazzo Massimo and its special exhibits, see the city of Rome’s tourism site (www.romaturismo.com) or the museum Web site, archeoroma.beniculturali.it/it/palazzo_massimo, which is in Italian-only.
