Sarcophagus with the myth of Phoedra

This relief decorated the front of a large marble sarcophagus, of which only the left corner is preserved. The scene depicts a group of veiled women turning toward the right, accompagnied by a girl who looks toward the left. In the lower part of the sarcophagus, to the right of the girl, is a statuette of Priapus, the Roman god of virility. The identification with the myth of Phoedra is based on the comparison with other sarcophagi representing the same scene, where a group of women, the handmaidens of Phoedra, whose image has been lost in this sarcophagus, is trying to console their mistress, who is in love with her stepson, Hippolytus- an unrequited love. Another element that recalls the story of Phoedra is the little temple in the upper left, interpreted as a temple of Artemis/ Diana, goddess of the hunt, to who Hippolytus was devoted. Phoedra's unrequited longing for Hippolytus and the tragic death of the boy are quite commonly depicted on Roman sarcophagi, for the love-pains of Phaedra came to symbolize in the funerary context the grief for the loss of a beloved one. On the basis of the hair styles and the extensive use of the drill, the work has been dated between the end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd century A.D.这件浮雕装饰于一具大型大理石石棺的正面，该石棺仅存左侧一角。画面中一群裹着面纱的女性朝向右侧行进，身旁伴随一名面向左侧的少女。在石棺下部、少女的右侧，设有一尊普里阿普斯（Priapus）的小雕像——普里阿普斯是罗马的男性生殖力之神。 将此场景认定为费德拉（Phaedra）神话，依据是与其他表现同一题材的石棺比对：在这类作品中，费德拉的侍女们正试图劝慰自己的女主人——后者爱上了继子希波吕托斯（Hippolytus），却遭遇了无果的单恋；而本件石棺中费德拉的形象已佚失，仅存其侍女群体。 另一处呼应费德拉故事的细节是画面左上角的小型神庙，该建筑被解读为阿尔忒弥斯/狄安娜（Artemis/Diana）神庙——狩猎女神阿尔忒弥斯正是希波吕托斯所虔诚信奉的神祇。费德拉对希波吕托斯的单恋与少年的悲剧性死亡，是罗马石棺上极为常见的题材：费德拉的情伤在丧葬语境中，逐渐演变为对亡亲之痛的象征。 依据人物发型与广泛使用的钻具雕刻技法，这件作品的创作年代被定为公元2世纪末至3世纪初。