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，该石棺仅残存左侧一角。画面中一群蒙着面纱的女性正向右侧行进，身旁伴随一名面向左侧的少女。在石棺下部、少女的右侧，矗立着普里阿普斯（Priapus）的小型雕像——这位罗马神祇司掌男性生殖力。将该场景认定为菲德拉（Phaedra）神话，其依据是与其他描绘同一场景的石棺进行比对：在那些石棺中，菲德拉的侍女们正试图劝慰自己的女主人——菲德拉爱上了继子希波吕托斯（Hippolytus），却落得一场单恋，而本件石棺上菲德拉的形象已佚失。另一处呼应菲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）的神庙——狩猎女神正是希波吕托斯所虔诚信奉的神祇。菲德拉对希波吕托斯的单恋与这名少年的悲剧性死亡，是罗马石棺上极为常见的题材：在丧葬语境中，菲德拉的爱之苦痛被用以象征痛失所爱之人的哀恸。根据人物发型与大量使用钻刻技法，这件作品被断代为公元2世纪末至3世纪初。