Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Hero Relief

Artist/Maker Artist Unknown (Artist Unknown)

Date2nd to 3rd century

Mediummarble

DimensionsOverall: 19 x 28 x 3 1/2 in. (48.3 x 71.1 x 8.9 cm)

ClassificationsVisual Works

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Terms

Object number91.0413

On View

On view

Collections

Art of the Ancient Mediterranean

DescriptionThis relief, posthumously honoring a heroized mortal, might be a commemorative plaque, part of a funerary monument, or a panel of a sarcophagus. The composition describes a Roman ritual in which the dedicant, his wife, and children visit the deceased’s burial site. The imagery is typically Roman and reveals the influence of the Etruscans, a highly cultured Italian civilization of pre-Roman time. In the lower zone is a formal procession of adults and children. Above right, the hamation-clad hero gesticulates from a couch. He supports himself Etruscan fashion, on his left arm, holding a rhyton in his raised right hand, and is accompanied by his wife, who is seated, traditionally, on the edge of the couch. In this scene the hero is probably banqueting in the after-life, a concept adapted from Etruscan sculpture and painting, which in turn, it is believed derives from Egyptian art. Actual banquets for families formed part of Etruscan and Roman funeral rites, and sarcophagi often imitated domestic furniture: beds or couches for men, chairs for women. The profiled head of a horse, framed within a window grid, might suggest the hero’s status as an equestrian, while the braided coiffure of the hero’s wife supports the dating of the work. Finally, the crude carving and modeling of the marble reflects its provincial origin.