In the main hall of the Palazzo Altemps Museum in Rome you can admire, in addition to the Suicide Gaul (click here to know more about it), even a majestic marble sarcophagus of the roman era, dated around the III century d.C.

This work of art, so full of marble reliefs, so rich of artistic and historical interests, is called Great Ludovisi Sarcophagus. You can understand how it is also one of the valuable pieces of the collection belonged to the ancient noble family. There are many disputes still unresolved, and the scholars are still debating. It is clear that the scene represented is a battle, a battle with no holds barred between the Romans and the Barbarians, clearly recognizable for some of the aesthetic elements (such as the presence of beard and moustache, typical of the barbaric peoples), and for the posture. This last word is crucial for understanding the work of art and, above all, the same way to mean the art of the Romans of the time. All the artistic production of the roman, whether private or public, had a strong predisposition to propaganda, we would say today. Rome must always be seen as the victorious, the winner and the undefeated. Rome, also for the issuing and through its army, should always defeat its enemies. It must dethrone them. And the enemies, mainly the famous Barbarians, must always be represented as defeated, next to the defeat, ready to die at the hands of the Romans or even by the hand of his own.

A celebration of Rome, visible even through the attitude of the Barbarians, for example seen on this sarcophagus through poses and postures which suggest defeat and subjugation. Someone is pierced by a lance, others are trampled by a horse, barbarians were lying on the ground. It is easy to understand who wins and who loses, basically. But there is more in this extraordinary sarcophagus!

First of all we still don't know who, precisely, what kind of barbarians they are: to see the clothes, maybe they are Goths but still today wer are not completely sure (and even this meaning is wide enough). In addition, we do not know if here is staging a battle really taken place, or an ordinary scene of war. The tangled and buzzing bodies, the horses and riders almost melted and measured on a confined space, a space almost suffocated. There are areas which are free, everything is occupied by marble reliefs. Findings that, among other things, for their depth and creates a play of light and shade really exceptional, so as to give a sense of depth. Also, as mentioned before, the surveys are to cover all the space, in a horror vacui (literally: fear of vacuum), so much felt by the Romans and the Greeks. An architectural surface must be completely covered, since nothing must be left a prey to the Vacuum, that for the cosmogony of greek-roman equivalent to the Chaos. Among all the figures, finally, it stands out one in particular: at the centre there is a knight with the left arm raised, almost in the act to indicate the charge to their fellow soldiers. It almost looks like the general, or the man in the front row, he encourages her to climb over and destroy the enemy. This figure has, on the front, a species of X, which perhaps may emphasize the belonging of the military to the cult of Mithra, very popular and widespread at the time. Apart from this, I think it is easy to be baffled by the beauty of the Great Ludovisi Sarcophagus, the Ludovisi family, which still amazes with its details and the emotional charge that reveals.