Statue of a Man wearing a Lorica, torso

Roman art

Unearthed during the family’s excavations on its Mentana estates between 1832 and 1833, this headless torso was part of a statue of a standing male wearing a short-sleeved tunic under a decorated muscle cuirass and a mantle. The upper part of the cuirass, of classical inspiration, is decorated with a winged Gorgoneion and, on the pectorals, symmetrical spirals ending in phytomorphic motifs. In the middle, two Nereids, daughters of Nereus and Doris and sisters of Thetis (mother of Achilles), are riding sea serpents and carrying weapons. This imagery, an allusion to the delivery of weapons to Achilles in Homer, is found on many different types of supports and was part of late-Republican, Augustan and Julio-Claudian propagandistic tradition. In this case, it might be a reference to the delivery of weapons to the man wearing the lorica, making him a ‘new Achilles’.

Object details

Commentary

This statue was unearthed during excavations carried out by the Borghese family on their Mentana estates between 1832 and 1833. It has been described as a ‘torso from a heroic statue with a cuirass with interesting and rather strange attributes, the torso of which comes down to the knee, wrapped in a mantle that is draped over the left shoulder and covers the back’ (Moreno 2003).

The headless torso, which is of fine quality, belonged to a standing male figure wearing a short-sleeved tunic beneath a decorated muscle cuirass and mantle, which rests on the left shoulder arranged in the shape of a scroll. The mantle must have then wrapped around the left arm, hanging down along the side, while the right arm was probably held out in front of the body. Three rows of classically inspired short, tongue-shaped pteryges protect the area of the groin, the uppermost row of which is decorated with lion heads, while the lower two are smooth and overlapping. The upper part of the lorica is decorated with a winged Gorgoneion, with wild hair and little snakes knotted around the base of the neck. Below, two symmetrical spirals ending in phytomorphic motifs define the pectorals. This motif is echoed on the figure wearing a lorica from the temple of Luni, held to date to the Augustan period (Mannino 1999).

The middle of the cuirass is decorated with marine imagery: two Nereids wearing chitons and mantles, facing one another and riding sea serpents. The one on the left is holding up a helmet and the one on the right might be carrying a helm or a greave.

Based on comparison with the statue from Luni, the Borghese torso can also be dated to the first quarter of the first century CE. According to Matteo Cadario, the motif of Nereids carrying weapons started to be used for statues of figures wearing loricas during the early Imperial period. Examples include the one now in Sledmere House, from the so-called villa of Alexander Severus in via Ostiense (Cadario 2004, pp. 237–239) and the figure wearing a lorica in a scene of the theatre of Lecce, which has been dated to the Julio-Claudian period (Cadario 2004, pp. 239–240) or the Trajanic/Hadrianic one (Mannino 2015). This motif came before the diffusion of the chorus of Nereids without weapons, which seems to have enjoyed particular popularity during the Neronian period, to which four different statues can be dated (Bologna, Narona, Olimpia and Durrës) that might depict the emperor himself (Cadario 2004, pp. 328–340).

The story of the Nereids delivering weapons is found in Homer’s Illiad, in which Achilles’s mother, Thetis, and her sisters, the Nereids, give the hero weapons just forged by Hephaestus (Iliad, 18.615–616; 19.1–13). This gift turns out to be the indirect cause of the hero’s unlucky fate and the Nereids join Thetis in mourning Achilles next to his body (Odyssey, 24). The theme enjoyed considerable success and was widely used on Attic and, later, Italiot pottery (Barringer 1995, 17ff, 141ff.; Icard-Gianolio, Szabados 1992, pp. 812–814). The representation of sea divinities carrying weapons was also part of the late-Republican, Augustan and Julio-Claudian propagandistic tradition. The narrative was further developed in the production of luxury goods, as attested by a large marble bowl used as a fountain (Rome, MNR, inv. 113189; Bonanome 2018), probably made in Pergamon, and a silver kantharos from Pompeii (Naples, MANN, Medagliere, inv. 144802).

The representation of Nereids on the Borghese lorica and others like it could therefore be understood as an allusion to the delivery of weapons to the figure wearing the lorica, a theme closely connected to the celebration of military valour and therefore suited to honouring a valiant solider or even a young prince, making him a ‘new Achilles’ (Cadario 2004, p. 241).

Jessica Clementi