Roman Sarcophagi

Sarcophagus with a Greek Physician

Date: early 300s

Geography: Made in Ostia, Rome

Culture: Roman

Medium: Marble

Dimensions: 21 3/4 x 23 1/4 x 84 7/8 in. (55.2 x 59.1 x 215.6 cm)

Classification: Sculpture-Stone

Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Joseph Brummer and Ernest Brummer, in memory of Joseph Brummer, 1948

Accession Number: 48.76.1

Description

The tomb's owner is shown seated with an open scroll, the pose of a philosopher, demonstrating that he is a learned man. His profession can be identified by the open case containing surgical tools on the cabinet top. Other scrolls and a basin for bleeding patients within the cabinet offer further proof of his profession. The style of his dress and the language of the inscription indicate that he was one of the many Greeks living in Italy. Beginning in the 300s, Christians would adopt in their art the philosopher pose and the undulating motifs, or strigils, that appear on the sides of the sarcophagus.

Marble sarcophagus with garlands

Period: Severan

Date: ca. A.D. 200–225

Culture: Roman

Medium: Marble, Proconnesian

Dimensions: Overall: 53 x 88in. (134.6 x 223.5cm) 

Classification: Stone Sculpture

Credit Line: Gift of Abdo Debbas, 1870

Accession Number: 70.1

Description

The back and cover of this sarcophagus are unfinished, and its inscription tablet is blank, which may imply that it went unsold in antiquity. Garlands of oak leaves supported by two erotes and four Victories adorn the front and sides. Medusa heads fill the spaces above the garlands, except in the center of the front, where there is the blank inscription tablet. Six erotes hunt various wild animals along the front face of the cover, while two others stand at the corners. On the left end, Eros awakens Psyche with an arrow, and on the right, they embrace

Marble strigilated sarcophagus

Period: Imperial, Late Severan

Date: ca. A.D. 220

Culture: Roman

Medium: Marble

Dimensions: Overall dimensions: h. 32 5/16 x l. 85 7/16 x d. 35 13/16 in. (82 x 217 x 91 cm)

Classification: Stone Sculpture

Credit Line: Purchase, Ruth E. White Bequest and Leon Levy Foundation, Philodoroi, Renée E. and Robert A. Belfer, The Concordia Foundation, Dr. Lewis M. Dubroff, Roger and Susan Hertog, and The Joseph Rosen Foundation Inc. Gifts, 2005

Accession Number: 2005.258

Description

The sarcophagus was furnished with a lid and placed in a monumental tomb, probably in a niche or on a ledge, with its plain back against the wall. The ferocious-looking lions' heads stand out powerfully against the restrained, almost soothing effect of the strigilated panels on the front. Thisdistinctive type of decoration is restricted largely to sarcophagi made in Rome. The marble is Proconnesian, imported from northwestern Asia Minor.