Sarcophagus of the Battles Between the Greeks

From the second century AD, Athenian workshops competed with those of Rome in the production of monumental sarcophagi, which were often exported to other parts of Greece or across the Mediterranean. One such example is this sarcophagus, made circa AD 180 and found in Thessaloniki. The roughly hewn lid represents the deceased couple on their funeral bed. The box portrays the legendary battle between the Greeks and the Amazons; the back is adorned with garlands and griffons. This monumental sarcophagus was discovered in 1836 in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. It entered the Louvre in 1884, two years after the consul M. Gillet had given it to Louis-Philippe. Despite its provenance, the box is an Attic creation from the second century AD. Athens was the third largest center for the production of sarcophagi after Rome and Asia Minor; its sculptural tradition was perpetuated by relief-decorated sarcophagi, often destined for a foreign clientele and exported across the Mediterranean or within Greece itself (as in the present case). Production ceased during the late third century under the impact of the economic crisis, which was partly due to the Herulian invasion of Attica in AD 267. In accordance with a practice that was also attested in Etruria, Italy, and Rome, the sculptor personalized this sarcophagus by portraying the deceased couple, half-reclining on the lid. The structure of the box resembles that of the funeral bed, supported at the corners by caryatids and terminal figures, with its thick mattress and embroidered cushions. Several indications suggest that these portraits date from circa AD 180: the woman's hairstyle, for example, with large waves on either side of a central parting and a chignon at the nape of the neck, resembles the imperial hairstyle worn by noble Roman women during the late Nervan-Antonian dynasty (AD 96-192). The couple's strongly chiseled features attest to the work of a local sculptor, who added these portraits to an unfinished sarcophagus imported to Northern Greece from Attica. Attic sarcophagi were placed in edifices that were open to public view and, unlike Roman models (sculpted on three sides only), they were decorated with reliefs on all four sides. In the present case, the choice of theme was inspired by an episode from mythology: the main panel and short sides depict the battle of the Greeks and Amazons during the Trojan War. This episode was marked by the death of Queen Penthesilea in the arms of Achilles, who fell in love with her after delivering her death blow. The dense, violent composition plays on the tangle of figures, with contorted poses and effects of drapery that contrast with the nudity of the bodies. Although modified, the fighters' poses were inspired by traditional Greek sculpture. The monumentality of the figures reflects the Greek artists' taste for decoration resembling sculpture in the round, where the characters are treated like individual sculptures. On the back of the box, two griffons in low relief face each other inside garlands that hang from an eagle and from two terminal figures of Heracles.自公元2世纪起，雅典工坊与罗马工坊在巨型石棺（monumental sarcophagi）的制作领域展开竞争，这类产品常被出口至希腊其他地区或地中海沿岸各地。其中一件代表性藏品便是这件制作于公元180年左右、于塞萨洛尼基出土的石棺。其棺盖经粗凿加工，刻画了躺卧在丧葬床上的逝者夫妇；棺身描绘了希腊人与亚马逊人的传奇之战；背面则装饰有花环与格里芬（griffons）。这件巨型石棺于1836年在希腊北部城市塞萨洛尼基被发现，1884年入藏卢浮宫——此时距领事M.吉莱将其赠予路易-菲利普已过去两年。尽管有此出土背景，这件石棺的棺身实则为公元2世纪的阿提卡制品。雅典是继罗马与小亚细亚之后的第三大石棺制作中心，其雕塑传统以带浮雕装饰的石棺得以延续，这类石棺常面向海外客户定制，被出口至地中海沿岸或希腊境内（即本次藏品的情况）。石棺制作产业在公元3世纪晚期因经济危机走向衰落，这场危机部分源于公元267年赫鲁利人对阿提卡的入侵。参照意大利伊特鲁里亚与罗马的既有惯例，雕塑家通过刻画斜倚在棺盖上的逝者夫妇实现了这件石棺的个性化定制。棺身结构模仿丧葬床，四角由女像柱（caryatids）与立像支撑，配有厚实的床垫与刺绣靠垫。多项线索表明这批肖像创作于公元180年左右：例如这位女性的发型，中分两侧带有大波浪卷发，脑后挽有发髻，与内尔瓦-安敦尼王朝晚期（公元96-192年）罗马贵族女性所流行的皇室发型如出一辙。夫妇棱角分明的面部特征表明其出自当地雕塑家之手，这位雕塑家为一件从阿提卡进口至希腊北部的未完工石棺添加了这批肖像。阿提卡石棺被安置在对公众开放的建筑中，与仅三面雕刻的罗马式石棺不同，它们四面均饰有浮雕。本次藏品的主题灵感源自一则神话典故：主饰板与两侧短面板描绘了特洛伊战争期间希腊人与亚马逊人的战斗。这一典故以彭忒西勒亚王后死在阿喀琉斯怀中为高潮——阿喀琉斯在给予她致命一击后爱上了她。构图紧凑激烈，人物交织缠绕，姿态扭曲，衣褶与裸露的躯体形成鲜明对比。尽管经过调整，战士们的姿态仍源自传统希腊雕塑。人物的纪念碑式体量体现了希腊艺术家对圆雕式装饰的偏好，即像对待独立雕塑一样处理人物形象。在棺身背面，两只低浮雕格里芬面对面伫立在由一只鹰与两个赫拉克勒斯立像悬垂的花环之间。