Sarcophagus lid with scenes of the birth of Apollo and Artemis and their entrance into Olympus, acroteria with personifications of the Winds (not original)

Roman art

Of unknown provenance, this front of a sarcophagus lid was placed on top of the back of the sarcophagus with the labours of Hercules (VC) in the new installation of the collection in the Villa after Camillo Borghese sold the archaeological collection to his brother-in-law, Napoleon, in the nineteenth century. This was probably when the acroterial faces, representing personifications of the Winds, were added. The relief, many of the details of which are restored, tells the story of the birth of Apollo and Artemis and their entrance into Olympus, culminating in the middle with their presentation to Zeus, in the presence of Athena and Hera. The lid presumably belongs to a sarcophagus with reliefs of the ‘Massacre of the Niobids’, the fourteen children of Niobe, daughter of the king of Lidia, Tantalus, and Amphion, king of Thebes, and stood as a declaration of the divinity of Leto’s twins.

Object details

Commentary

Of unknown provenance, this front of a sarcophagus lid was mentioned for the first time in 1827 in the list compiled by the Borghese family’s administrator, Evasio Gozzani, detailing the works selected for restoration by Antonio D’Este. The works were to be restored in view of the new installation of the collection in the Villa after Camillo Borghese sold the archaeological collection to his brother-in-law, Napoleon (B. 8097: Moreno, Sforzini 1987, p. 355). In Nibby’s guide to the collection, the piece is described as placed on top of the back of the sarcophagus with the Labours of Hercules (VC) in its current location in Room II (1832, pp. 75–76). The lid had been seen and partially published by Winckelmann, who, misunderstanding the subject, interpreted the portion of the scene on the right as the dismissal of Hebe, handmaiden of Juno and cup bearer of the gods, who was replaced by Jupiter’s favourite, Ganymede (Winckelmann 1821, p. 15, pl. XVI). However, Nibby also misinterpreted the scene as the assembly of the gods to authorise the wedding of the mortal Peleus and the nymph Thetis, future parents of Achilles.

Many of the details are restored. The most substantial modification was the insertion of an elongated section of marble, extending the full height of the panel, with part of Jupiter’s throne and the god’s right arm, with the lightning bolt. From the left, the powerful, nude male figure sitting on a rock has been interpreted as Poseidon protecting Leto, who is pregnant with Apollo and Artemis, from Python of Delphi. Next to him, there is a nude man with one foot resting on a rock and holding up a small female figure on one of his shoulders. This pair probably represents the giant Aigaion transporting the island of Delos – floating in the sea – anchoring it to the land. This interpretation links back to the story of the hard-won birth of the twins, told in the third Homeric hymn to Apollo, in the hymn to the island Delos by Callimachus and in Ovid, through the arrogant words of Niobe (Met. 6.186–191). The female figure a little further on with the large mantle swelling above her body like a sail has been identified as the island of Delos, which sheltered the fugitive in labour, despite the ban issued by Juno forbidding all the cities and regions of Greece to give sanctuary to her rival. The figure could also be the goddess Themis, who is described as witnessing the birth of Apollo in the Homeric hymn to the god. These figures are followed by the scene of the presentation of Apollo and Artemis to Hera/Juno, holding a sceptre, and Zeus/Jupiter, who forms the central axis of the composition, with Athena/Minerva in attendance. On the right, Demeter, leaning on a basket, and Kore are sitting on thrones. The composition is completed on the right with Iris, messenger of the gods, who has come to ask for help for Leto from Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, who is the woman wearing a chiton and mantle in the background.

The lid belonged to a sarcophagus with a relief of the ‘massacre of the Niobids’, the fourteen children of Niobe (daughter of the king of Lidia, Tantalus) and Amphion, king of Thebes. This episode was closely linked to the story of the birth of Leto’s twins and their entrance into Olympus, constituting a declaration of their divinity, which Niobe had discredited, provoking Leto’s wrath and the death of the Niobids (see, for example, the sarcophagus lid in Providence, Rhode Island School of Design; M. Osterstrom Ranger 1969).

There are two acroterial masks (not original) on the two ends of the lid, which depict personifications of the Winds and were added to the relief for the new installation of the collection in the nineteenth century, which was also done for the lid with a relief of the Amazons in Troy, displayed with similar acroteria on top of the front of the sarcophagus with the labours of Hercules (LXXX). The full faces, with high cheekbones and prominent noses, have large eyes with well-defined eyelids and incised pupils. There are two small wings above their foreheads amidst their short, wavy, unruly locks. The Anemoi, the sons of Astraeus, Titan god of dusk, and Eos, goddess of the dawn, were conceived in Roman iconography is entities that could cross the barrier between life and death, overcoming the distinction between mortal and immortal (Coppola 2010, p. 119). They were therefore used in funerary art as transporters of souls to the Heavens.

The detailed, sculptural rendering of the figures, with minute attention to detail, suggests a date for the lid in the Antonine period, most likely the same as the two acroterial faces.

Jessica Clementi