Among the most precious statues of the magnificent Museum of Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, in Rome, we find the so-called Niobide, a magnificent work of art dating back to the 5th century BC. This would be enough to encourage you to visit a museum which, in the opinion of a tour guide like me, is a true gem of Rome. Its collection is unparalleled (try to th8ink about the numismatics one)  and here is an example...

Probably this masterpiece decorated a temple dedicated to Apollo, whose reliefs were later brought to Rome by Augustus himself. The subject of this sculptural work in marble is a Niobid. The young girl, naked from the waist up, painfully tries to take off what, according to the myth, is an arrow that stuck in her back, between the two shoulder. The dynamism given by sculptor is really incredible: the two arms are behind the back, in feverish search for the weapon that wounds the body and soul of the young woman. Her face is partially transfigured by pain, a personal pain that came as a surprise. The pathos is maximum, as well as the dynamism and naturalism of the body, with that drapery covering her right leg. But now, to complete, let's move on to the myth in question: who is the Niobid? Everything is centered on the figure of Niobe, a fickle woman and a proud mother who dared to confront Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana. Niobe had seven sons and seven daughters and not only stated that, in number of children, she must be superior to Latona, but also that her origins (she was Tantalus' daughter and one of the Pleiades, while Latona had for father Ceo, an unknown Titan) were more noble than the other. Niobe also reproaches Latona for having had difficulties in giving birth: since the latter, in fact, is the result of an adulterous relationship with Jupiter, Juno prevented all lands from hosting her in order to allow her to give birth. Only after a long wandering, and thanks to the help of Neptune God of the Sea and Waters, was Latona allowed to give birth on the island of Delos, which emerged on purpose from the sea depths to help her. Obviously Latona, offended as never before, asked to her two divine children to help her wash the shame of what she had to undergo and feel.

And immediately Apollo moved, killing the seven sons one by one. Niobe, however, despite the grave loss, during the funeral and in front of the funeral pyres, dared to continue on the path of his pride, going so far as to say (in this way Ovid handed down to us in his Metamorphoses) : "...I have more unhappy than you [Latona] happy: even after so many deaths, I am superior". And Diana, in this case, immediately set about killing the seven daughters of Niobe one by one. In a crescendo of excruciating pain, many of the sisters collapse, lifeless, on the bodies of their brothers already dead. Only at the end, when only one daughter was still alive, Niobe found herself full of shame and fear, so much so that she prayed to Latona saying: "Only one, the smallest, leave me: of many I ask you the smallest - se shouted - and only one". But even the last one died. A terrible myth that punished the grave sin of pride (hubris in Greek), which led to the ruin of a woman and an entire family. Surely this myth is sad, but it is made beautiful by the marble used by the masters. Moreover don't forget that it is only one of the masterpieces host in this incredible museum that is set inside a building which reminds us a very historical family of Rome. A family which owned other unusual buildings at the Eternal City (as you can read here).