Ovid's Ibis

In 1 BCE, the Roman poet Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō , known to us as Ovid, penned three books, the Ars amatoria (The Art of Love) instructing Romans in the techniques of seduction and love. The first book addresses men and teaches them how to seduce women, the second, also to men, teaches how to keep a lover. The third book addresses women and teaches seduction techniques. Ovid describes the places one can go to find a lover, like the theater, a triumph, which he thoroughly describes, or arena – and ways to get the girl to take notice, including seducing her covertly at a banquet. Ovid emphasizes care of the body for the lover and advises men to avoid giving too many gifts, keep up their appearance, hide affairs, compliment their lovers, and ingratiate themselves with slaves to stay on their lover's good side.  Ovid gives women detailed instructions on appearance telling them to avoid too many adornments. He advises women to read elegiac poetry, learn to play games, sleep with people of different ages, flirt, and dissemble. Book three ends with his wish that women will follow his advice and spread his fame saying Naso magister erat, "Ovid was our teacher". (Ovid was known as "Naso" to his contemporaries.) 

Unfortunately for Ovid, the Emperor Augustus, who had enacted his Julian marriage laws which promoted monogamous marriage to increase the population's birth rate in 18 BCE, did not take kindly to Ovid's disregard for what Augustus viewed publicly as the serious crime of adultery. (According to Suetonius, Augustus himself was "given to adultery not even his friends deny, although it is true that they excuse it as committed not from passion but from policy, the more readily to get track of his adversaries' designs through the women of their households."  Even the boisterous Marc Antony charged him with taking the wife of an ex-consul from her husband's dining room before his very eyes into a bed-chamber, and bringing her back to the table with her hair in disorder and her ears glowing.) 

Although Augustus did not act immediately, after his daughter Julia's very public lascivious rebellion against her father's moral restrictions and possible implication in her husband's conspiracy against Augustus which Ovid may have known about, the poet was exiled to the island of Tomis by the Black Sea where he died in 17 or 18 CE. The order was issued by Augustus alone, without any participation of the Senate or of any Roman judge. Ovid himself wrote many references to his offense, but gave only obscure or contradictory clues.

Ovid wrote two poetry collections while in exile, Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, which illustrated his sadness and desolation. Being far from Rome, he had no access to libraries, and thus might have been forced to abandon his Fasti, a poem about the Roman calendar, of which only the first six books exist.  The Tristia expresses the poet's despair in exile and advocates his return.   The Epistulae ex Ponto was a series of letters to friends pleading with them to effect his return. But at one point his anger at what he viewed as his unjust punishment boiled over and he penned the Ibis, a curse poem attacking a powerful but unnamed adversary in Rome, modeling the work on a lost poem of the same title by the Greek Alexandrian poet Callimachus. Candidates for "Ibis" have been suggested including Hyginus, Cassius Severus, Titus Labienus, Thrasyllus of Mendes, Caninius Rebilus, Ovid's erstwhile friend Sabinus, and the emperor Augustus, but scholars cannot agree if "Ibis" refers to a single person, to more than one person, or to nobody at all. Ovid threatens his enemy in the second section of the poem (lines 251–638) with a veritable catalogue of "gruesome and mutually incompatible fates" that befell various figures from myth and history, ranging from laming and blinding to cannibalism to death by pine cone. (I tried to find out what "death by pine cone was, particularly since I live in the Pacific Northwest where coniferous trees are abundant, but had no luck!) Ovid also declares that even if he dies in exile, his ghost will rise and rend Ibis' flesh.

Image: Hollow cast bronze Ibis eating a lizard, Roman, 100 BCE - 100 CE, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, image courtesy of the museum. When I saw this beautiful sculpture I wondered if it could have been a symbol of resistance against Roman imperial rule in a well-read Roman household.

From Etruscan Lasa to Roman Lare

Although art historians are not certain whether a Lasa was a major or minor Etruscan deity, it is thought the domain and purpose of the lasa morphed into a being known as a Lar to the Romans. Lares are thought to have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgamation of these.

Roman writers sometimes conflated the Lares with domestic Penates but the Lares had much broader domains. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities, the state, and its military were all under the protection of their particular Lar or Lares. Those who protected local neighborhoods (vici) were housed in the crossroad shrines (Compitalia), which served as a focus for the religious, social, and political lives of their local, overwhelmingly plebeian communities. Their cult officials included freedmen and slaves, otherwise excluded by status or property qualifications from most administrative and religious offices. Despite official bans on non-Christian cults from the late fourth century CE onwards, unofficial cults to Lares persisted until at least the early fifth century CE. 

Although the Etruscan Lasa could be female, Roman Lares were described by Plutarch as  two small, youthful, lively male figures clad in short, rustic, girdled tunics – made of dogskin. They take a dancer's attitude, tiptoed or lightly balanced on one leg. One arm raises a drinking horn (rhyton) aloft as if to offer a toast or libation, the other bears a shallow libation dish (patera). 

Traditional Roman households owned at least one protective Lares figure, housed in a shrine along with the images of the household's penates, genius image and any other favored deities. Their statues were placed at table during family meals and banquets. They were divine witnesses at important family occasions, such as marriages, births, and adoptions, and their shrines provided a religious hub for social and family life. Care and cult attendance to domestic Lares could include offerings of spelt wheat and grain-garlands, honey cakes and honeycombs, grapes and first fruits, wine, and incense. They could be served at any time and not always by intention - in addition to the formal offerings that seem to have been their due, any food that fell to the floor during house banquets was considered theirs.

By the early Imperial period, household shrines of any kind became known generically as lararia (s. lararium) because they typically contained a Lares figure or two. In households of modest means, small Lar statuettes were set in wall-niches, sometimes merely a tile-support projecting from a painted background. In wealthier households, they tend to be found in servant's quarters and working areas. The sumptuous House of the Vettii in Pompeii had two lararia.  One was positioned out of public view, and was probably used in private household rites. The other was placed boldly front-of-house, among a riot of Greek-inspired mythological wall-paintings and the assorted statuary of patron divinities.

Domestic Lararia were also used as a sacred, protective depository for commonplace symbols of family change and continuity. In his coming-of-age, a boy gave his personal amulet (bulla) to his Lares before he put on his manly toga (toga virilis). Once his first beard had been ritually cut off, it was placed in their keeping. On the night before her wedding, a Roman girl surrendered her dolls, soft balls, and breastbands to her family Lares, as a sign she had come of age. On the day of her marriage, she transferred her allegiance to her husband's neighborhood Lares (Lares Compitalici) by paying them a copper coin en route to her new home. She paid another to her new domestic Lares, and one to her husband.

The city of Rome itself was protected by a Lar, or Lares, housed in a shrine (sacellum) on the city's ancient, sacred boundary (pomerium). Each Roman vicus (pl. vici – administrative districts or wards) had its own communal Lares, housed in a permanent shrine at a central crossroads of the district. These Lares Compitalicii were celebrated at the Compitalia festival (from the Latin compitum, a crossroad) just after the Saturnalia that closed the old year. In the "solemn and sumptuous" rites of Compitalia, a pig was led taken in celebratory procession through the streets of the vicus, then sacrificed to the Lares at their Compitalia shrine. According to Plutarch, Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome who was assassinated in 579 BCE, is credited with the founding of the Lares' public festival. 

Etruscan Lasa, once the support for a patera, bronze with silver inlays, 3rd - early 2nd century BCE, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, image courtesy of the museum.

Dancing Roman Lare holding a rhyton and a patera. Bronze statuette, First century CE, in the collections of the Capitoline Museum, Rome. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Figurine of a Lar, 0-200 CE, at the Gallo-Roman museum, Tongeren, Belgium, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sam Donvil.

Frescoed and columned lararium in the house of Marco Epidio Sabino in Pompeii watercolor by Luigi Bazzani. Currently housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England that I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Watercolor of a red Pompeii interior with lararium by Luigi Bazzani that I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons

Lararium of the House of Dioscuri at Pompeii, 1902 watercolor by Luigi Bazzani that I uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Lararium in the Casa degli Amorini Dorati (House of the Golden Cupids) in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Miguel Hermoso Cuesta

Lararium from the Casa del Efebo in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Miguel Hermoso Cuesta

Pompeii lararium courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor ho visto nina volare.

An elaborate Lararium with niche from Pompeii, Roman, 1st century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Claus Ableiter.

Lararium in the peristyle of the Villa Romana del Casale courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro.

Lararium in the Casa del Criptoportico (1.6.2), Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Maltaper

Kitchen lararium in Pompeii courtesy of Pompeii in Pictures (https://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/index.htm)

Another niche lararium from the south wall of a garden area in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Stanley A. Jashemski.

Niche lararium from the west wall of a garden area in Pompeii courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Stanley A. Jashemski and Pompeii in Pictures.

Lararium niche on west wall of peristyle garden in Pompeii courtesy of Pompeii in Pictures

The Meidias Painter: Art amidst the Peloponnesian War

The Meidias Painter was an Athenian red-figure vase painter active in the last quarter of the 5th century BCE (fl. c. 420 to c. 400 BCE). He is named after the potter whose signature was found on a large hydria, depicting the rape of the daughters of Leucippus (Leukippos), prince of Messenia, by the Dioscuri, excavated from an Etruscan tomb.  John D. Beazley, renowned connoisseur of Greek vases, said of Meidias' work, "Here there is beauty: The gleam of gold, loves and ladies with soft limbs, in soft raiment, and all that is shining, easeful and luxurious: perfume, honey and roses." 

The Meidias Painter was known for combining his theatrical “florid” style with his “flying drapery.”  He worked during the period of the Peloponnesian War and his depiction of many Attic legends, particularly those involving Erichtonios, son of Hephaistos, points to "a clear assertion of local pride prompted by the Athenians' decisive role in the fight against the barbarian" according to Jenifer Neils, Assistant Curator of Ancient Art at Case Western Reserve University.

He ranged his scenes across the entire background of most vessels, especially kraters.  This reflects the influence of monumental wall painting during this period. The Meidias Painter is thought to be one of the best pupils of the Eretria Painter, who initially popularized non-mythical scenes of Aphrodite with four to five of her richly dressed attendants, Eudaimonia (Happiness or Prosperity), Eukleia (Good Repute), Eunomia (Good Order), Eutychia (Good Luck), Harmonia (Harmony) , Hygieia (Health), Paidia (Play), and Peitho (Persuasion).   Sadly, the personification of Eirene (Peace) did not make an appearance in Greek art until the early fourth century BCE.  Instead, the Meidias Painter focused on themes of love and music instead of heroes and the battlefield, possibly as an escape from the brutality of the war engulfing his world at the time.

Read more about it: https://www.academia.edu/12707446/A_Greek_Nativity_by_the_Meidias_Painter

Attic red-figure hydria of the Leucippides depicting the Dioskuroi, Kastor and Polydeukes, in their chariots raping the Leukippides Elera and Eriphyle by the Meidias Painter, 420-400 BCE, now in the British Museum courtesy of Wikimedia contributor ArchaiOptix.

Another scene on the Attic red-figure hydria of the Leucippides by the Meidias Painter, 420-400 BCE, now in the British Museum courtesy of Wikimedia contributor ArchaiOptix.

Red-Figure Squat Lekythos (Oil Vessel) depicting the Birth of Erichthonios attributed to the Meidias Painter, 420-410 BCE, now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, image courtesy of the museum.

Attic red figure loutrophoros depicting a draped woman standing beside a groom in a wedding scene with Eros between the bride and groom painted in the "manner" of the Meidias Painter.

Attic red figure squat lekythos depicting Oedipus killing a sphinx with his spear while a seated Apollo looks on painted in the "manner of the Meidias Painter, now at the British Museum, courtesy of Wikimedia contributor ArchaiOptix.

Agamemnon seated on a rock and holding his sceptre, identified from an inscription. Fragment of the lid of an Attic red-figure lekanis by the circle of the Meidias Painter, 410–400 BCE. From the contrada Santa Lucia in Taranto. Stored in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico in Taranto (Italy), courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Phaon and Aphrodite on an Attic red-figure clayx-krater dated from 420-400 BCE now in the collections of the Regional Archaeological Museum of Antonino Salinas courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marie-Lan Nguyen.

Attic Red-figured kylix depicting Peitho, the goddess of Persuasion, who stands addressing a woman named Demonassa, sitting in a rocky landscape looking rather dejected , 410 BCE attributed to the Meidias Painter, now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum. 

Red-figured squat lekythos depicting female allegories with Eros in a garden, Hygieia, Pandasia with wreath and phiale, flying Eros, Eudaimonia seated, standing youth (Polyeidos or Polykles) in chlamys with 2 spears, plants. Said to be a "poor" attempt (I still thought it was beautiful) to copy the Meidias Painter by Greek ceramic expert John D. Beazley, now at the British Museum, courtesy of Wikimedia contributor ArchaiOptix.

Closeup of red-figured hydria painting depicting Phaon and women from Lesbos, 410 BCE, now in the collections of the Archaeological Museum in Florence, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Shakko.

Small hydria with Eros, carrying a tambourine, flying towards a woman, in a flowered chiton and long mantle, whose right foot is on a foot stool. Behind her a girl in a Doric chiton, seated, playing with a panther. Before the Eros an acanthus ornament. Painted in the "manner" of the Meidias Painter, end of the 5th century BCE now in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, image courtesy of the museum.

 

Ancient Amber

 Despite fanciful descriptions by some ancient sources like Nicias (470-415 BCE) that amber "is a liquid produced by the rays of the sun, and that these rays, at the moment of the sun's setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the Ocean, and thrown up upon the shores of Germany", Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder cited sources who were well aware of amber's actual origin from tree resin.

In Book 37, section XI of Natural History, Pliny wrote:

"Amber is produced from a marrow discharged by trees belonging to the pine genus, like gum from the cherry, and resin from the ordinary pine. It is a liquid at first, which issues forth in considerable quantities, and is gradually hardened [...] Our forefathers, too, were of opinion that it is the juice of a tree, and for this reason gave it the name of "succinum" and one great proof that it is the produce of a tree of the pine genus, is the fact that it emits a pine-like smell when rubbed, and that it burns, when ignited, with the odour and appearance of torch-pine wood."

Pliny says that the German name of amber was glæsum, "for which reason the Romans, when Germanicus Caesar commanded the fleet in those parts, gave to one of these islands the name of Glæsaria, which by the barbarians was known as Austeravia". 

As an important commodity, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt over a period of thousands of years. The oldest trade in amber in antiquity originated from Sicily. The Sicilian amber trade was directed to Greece, North Africa and Spain. Sicilian amber was also discovered in Mycenae by the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. This amber also appeared in sites in southern Spain and Portugal and its distribution is similar to that of ivory, so it is possible that amber from Sicily reached the Iberian Peninsula through contacts with North Africa. After a decline in the consumption and trade of amber at the beginning of the Bronze Age, around 2,000 BCE, the influence of Baltic amber gradually took the place of the Sicilian one throughout the Iberian peninsula starting around 1000 BCE. 

From at least the 16th century BC, amber was moved from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean area. The breast ornament of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen (c. 1333–1324 BCE) contains large Baltic amber beads. Amber was also sent from the North Sea to the temple of Apollo at Delphi as an offering.

In Roman times, a main route ran south from the Baltic coast (modern Lithuania), the entire north–south length of modern-day Poland (likely through the Iron Age settlement of Biskupin), through the land of the Boii (modern Czech Republic and Slovakia) to the head of the Adriatic Sea (Aquileia by the modern Gulf of Venice). Along with amber, other commodities such as animal fur and skin, honey and wax were exported to Rome in exchange for Roman glass, brass, gold, and non-ferrous metals such as tin and copper. As this road was a lucrative trade route connecting the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, Roman military fortifications were constructed along the route to protect merchants and traders from Germanic raids.

Amber occurs in a range of different colors. As well as the usual yellow-orange-brown that is associated with the color "amber", amber itself can range from a whitish color through a pale lemon yellow, to brown and almost black. Other uncommon colors include red amber (sometimes known as "cherry amber"), green amber, and even blue amber, which is rare and highly sought after. As amber ages, however, it often becomes opaque and crackled. 

Amber has been crafted into jewelry and pendants since the Stone Age, from 13,000 years ago. Amber ornaments have been found in Mycenaean tombs.  However, it has also been used in folk medicine for its purported healing properties. Hippocrates and other ancient physicians used amber extracts for a wide variety of treatments. In ancient China amber was heated under specific conditions to produce oil of amber that, when combined with nitric acid, was used to produce artificial musk.

 

Amber head of a woman or goddess, Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber figurine of a dog, Roman, from a tomb in Aquileia, 90-110 CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber ring with the form of a female bust, 1st century CE, in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber figural sculpture from a tomb in Aquileia, 90 CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber figural sculpture of a woman with a melon hairstyle from a tomb in Aquileia, 90 CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber head of a satyr, Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Amber sculpture of winged figures, Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE, now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Carved amber bow of a fibula depicting a couple reclining on a couch, with attendant and bird at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While numerous details are Etruscan, it is impossible to identify where the artist came from and whether the figures are mortal or divine.

Amber pendant in the form of a sphinx, from south Italy, Taranto, late 6th century BCE now in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Weight with Ram and Tiger, Early Western Han Dynasty, 3rd-2nd century BCE, Bronze inlaid with gold silver and amber that I photographed at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum.

Amber amulet depicting a boar between two lion heads, Italic, 500-400 BCE, that I photographed at the Getty Villa.

Amber Amulet depicting a Boar's Head, Italic about 500 BCE that I photographed at the Getty Villa.

Amber amulet depicting a woman holding a child (Kourotrophos), Italic or Etruscan, 500-400 BCE, that I photographed at the Getty Villa.

Amber pendant in the form of a Satyr Head in profile, Etruscan, 525-480 BCE now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum.

Amber bead and pendant necklace, Italic, 700-475 BCE, BCE now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum.

Amber Gorgoneion (Medusa Head), Roman, 1st - 2nd century CE now in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, image courtesy of the museum.

Barbarians in Roman art

From the 1st century BCE onwards, the Roman army began to deploy "barbarians" to protect Roman frontiers. This trend continued into the Imperial Period and the expanded borders necessitated the use of increasing numbers of foederati to defend the empire.  By the 4th century CE, of more than 75,000 troops stationed in Gaul, most hailed from Germania, an area stretching as far north as Scandinavia and as far east as the Vistula River.  

Fortunately for historians, the grave goods of these Germanic warriors both in and outside the empire have provided a treasure trove of information about the money, gifts, and often elaborately decorated military insignia these men acquired during their service to Rome.  

"Promises of Roman citizenship and military and economic support encouraged barbarian leaders to assist their wealthy neighbor, primarily by providing troops," observes Melanie Holcomb in her paper, Barbarians and Romans, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  "Such arrangements permitted barbarians of high status to accumulate great wealth, in the form of direct gifts of jewelry from the empire and payments in gold coin. These, in turn, could be used to commission luxury objects of personal adornment from local artists."

However, although Rome depended on these "others," Roman citizens and the state itself wished to distinguish themselves which they perceived as civilized from their more barbarous residents not only in social situations but in art.  They did this through words, customs, clothing, and the use of colored marbles and brightly painted patterns in statues of barbarians or easterners in Roman art.

"The clothing we wear, and imagine others wearing, is an important way we signal who we are, and aren’t," points out Sarah Bond and Sean Burrus in their paper 'Barbarians and Sculpture's Color Barrier in Ancient Rome'.  "When Romans wanted to depict other non-Roman peoples, whether on statues, reliefs, mosaics, or frescoes, they often used clothing as a way to visually signal differences between them. For example, Romans typically depicted barbarians clothed in trousers. Although we take them for granted today, pants were once highly controversial indicators of the difference between the barbarian and the Roman citizen. "

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE at Dura-Europas, Roman soldiers in the local garrison are portrayed in military dress while local civilians are depicted in tunics and trousers. Parthian dress including trousers, a tunic, and a Phrygian cap associated with the followers of Mithras and easterners in general, adorn depictions of individuals in the local mithraeum.

The use of distinguishing color in sculpture included colored marbles to accentuate the difference between native Romans and local residents. By so doing, sculptors could not only take advantage of the stone's ability to add a dynamic aspect to the work but communicate social context to the viewer.

In addition to clothing and color, artists used gestures and poses to transmit the subordinate nature of the conquered peoples.  The vanquished are often depicted kneeling or supporting objects or structures.

Read more about it: https://hyperallergic.com/440466/barbarians-and-sculptures-color-barrier-in-ancient-rome/

 

Closeup of The Ludovisi Gaul thought to be a Roman copy of Greek original by Epigonus commissioned by Julius Caesar 1st century BCE that I photographed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome

The Ludovisi Gaul thought to be a Roman copy of Greek original by Epigonus commissioned by Julius Caesar 1st century BCE that I photographed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome

Statue of a conquered barbarian, likely a Dacian. He is wearing a Phrygian cap. The statue dates to the second century CE, perhaps during the reign of Trajan, and it may come from Forum of Trajan in Rome. It is made of green breccia marble from Egypt and is now at the Louvre Museum in Paris (image by Carole Raddato, CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Closeup of Seated Captive in Phyrgian Cap Roman 1st-2nd century CE Green Egyptian Marble that I photographed at The Louvre in Paris.

Closeup of Heroic Head of a Barbarian (probably a Gaul) 2nd century CE Roman copy of 250-180 BCE Greek original reportedly from Trajan's Forum that I photographed at "The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece" exhibit at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum.

Closeup of Heroic Head of a Barbarian (probably a Gaul) 2nd century CE Roman copy of 250-180 BCE Greek original reportedly from Trajan's Forum that I photographed at "The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece" exhibit at the Portland (Oregon) Art Museum.

Statue of “Capitoline Gaul” also known as "Dying Gaul" From a Pergamene original Marble that I photographed at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

Grand Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus depicting Roman conquest of Barbarians 2nd - 3rd century CE Proconnesian Marble  that I photographed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome.

Closeup of Colossal statue of a Dacian Roman 2nd century CE that I photographed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome.

Portrait Head of a Barbarian (probably a Dacian) Roman Trajanic Period  1st - 2nd century CE Marble that I photographed at the Seattle Art Museum

Roman bronze statuette of a barbarian, 1-100 CE, now in the collections of the Cleveland Art Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, image courtesy of the museum (CC0 1.0)

The ‘Kneeling Barbarian’ sculpture from the Palatine Hill in Rome, dates to the first century CE, made of pavonazzo marble and nero antico, in the Naples National Archaeological Museum (image by Carole Raddato, CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Front seated figure from the Mithraeum at Dura-Europos wearing a Phrygian cap (image courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery and is in the public domain)

Julius Terentius Performing a Sacrifice, paint on plaster, from Dura-Europos and dating to the third century CE (image courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery and is in the public domain)