CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D.

For reasons that we still do not fully understand, the burial customs of the ancient Romans changed by the end of the 1st Century A.D. from cremation to inhumation. Large marble sarcophagi were produced either decorated on three sides for placement against a wall, or on all four sides for placement in the middle of a tomb. Decorative scenes on the exterior varied enormously, according to taste and fashion, some showing the deceased, others not. Scenes included Greek mythology, every day life, and battles, hunting scenes and Greek drama.

This sarcophagus depicts eight of the Nine Muses including from the left: Polyhymnia, Muse of mimic art, leaning on a pillar; Euterpe, Muse of music, holding two flutes; Thalia, Muse of comedy, with a staff and a comic mask; Malpomene, Muse of tragedy, holding a bearded tragic mask in her left arm; and Erato, Muse of lyric poetry or hymns, resting her lyre on a pillar; Clio the Muse of history; Terpsichore, Muse of lyric poetry and dance, holding a kithara and a plectrum; and finally on the right, Urania, Muse of astronomy, who probably would have held a globe. The missing muse on the far right would have been Calliope, the Muse of heroic epic. For examples of Muse sarcophagi see "Apollo" in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol. II, Zurich and Munich, 1984, nos. 373-398. The central male figure may be a depiction of the deceased, holding a scroll. The five other bearded males visible behind may be philosophers. For a sarcophagus panel with a group of muses and philosophers in the Torlonia collection in Rome see Arachne no: 1086743.

As the goddesses of the arts and sciences, the Nine Muses inspired the knowledge necessary for excellence in such fields as poetry, history, music, drama and astronomy. In The Theogony, Hesiod relates that the Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, who once went to Mount Olympus where their singing stirred their father to set out provinces and declare norms for immortals, as if the gift of governance and equanimity were passed down through their song. Likewise, in the Homeric Hymn to the Muses and Apollo, the anonymous poet writes, “Happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows speech from his lips.”

The panel is inscribed in Latin over the top border with 'DEFV[NCT(VS)] VI NON(AS) OCTOB(RES)♡' which reads 'died the sixth day before the Nones of October', which corresponds to the 2nd October. It is very unusual for the date of death to be recorded without any further details of the deceased in a Roman epitaph of this date, as this becomes customary only from the 4th Century onwards, particularly on Early Christian sarcophagi. The quality of the lettering appears to be of lesser quality if compared to the workmanship of the carving and might possibly indicate a later re-use of the sarcophagus.