A mythical flowerpot
In 1980 the Antikensammlungen in Berlin acquired part of a sarcophagus with scenes from Homer's Iliad. According to the seller it had been privately owned in Switzerland, and had served as a flowerpot in a garden. In 1976 the remaining parts had been found during excavations on the Pianabella, the necropolis to the south of Ostia. The fractures were fresh. It was not possible to prove beyond doubt that the flowerpot-story was a myth, but the Berlin museum decided to send its fragment to Ostia, as a permanent loan, in 1992. In return, two paintings with griffins from building IV,II,5 were sent to Berlin, also on permanent loan (not a bad idea at all, because unfortunately there is at present a lack of space in the museum of Ostia to display wall paintings).
The reunited parts of the sarcophagus in the museum of Ostia. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.The sarcophagus, two meters long, is made of Proconnesian marble, from the current Marmara Island of north-western Turkey. On the front the mourning of Patroklos by Achilles is depicted, as described by Homer in the Iliad:
Thus did they make their moan throughout the city, while the Achaeans when they reached the Hellespont went back every man to his own ship. But Achilles would not let the Myrmidons go, and spoke to his brave comrades saying, "Myrmidons, famed horsemen and my own trusted friends, not yet, I say, let us unyoke, but with horse and chariot draw near to the body and mourn Patroklos, in due honor to the dead. When we have had full comfort of lamentation we will unyoke our horses and take supper all of us here."
On this they all joined in a cry of wailing and Achilles led them in their lament. Thrice did they drive their chariots all sorrowing round the body, and Thetis stirred within them a still deeper yearning. The sands of the seashore and the men's armor were wet with their weeping, so great a minister of fear was he whom they had lost. Chief in all their mourning was the son of Peleus: he laid his bloodstained hand on the breast of his friend. "Fare well," he cried, "Patroklos, even in the house of Hades. I will now do all that I erewhile promised you; I will drag Hektor hither and let dogs devour him raw; twelve noble sons of Trojans will I also slay before your pyre to avenge you."Homer, Iliad XXIII, 1ff. Translation: Samuel Butler. In the first scene, on the left, we see Achilles putting on his armour. To the left are his mother, Thetis, and a young man holding a leg guard. A warrior to his right places the helmet on his head.
Detail, left part. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.In the next scene we see Achilles in a chariot. Two men control the horses. Between this scene and the next one, in the background, is a column.
Detail, centre left. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.In the third and final scene we see the mourning for Patroklos, Achilles' best friend. Patroklos was killed by the Trojan warrior Hektor. The scene begins with two mourning men.
Detail, centre right. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.Patroklos has been laid to rest on a bed. Behind the bed are two mourning women, the left one young, the other old. To the right is Achilles. Behind him are a young man pouring a liquid into a basin, and a mourning youg man.
Detail, right part. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.At the ends of the lid are theatrical masks. On the left part the body of Hektor, who has been killed by Achilles, is dragged on the ground by Achilles. Behind Achilles' chariot are Patroklos' tomb and a tree. Behind Hektor are two men flanking a column supporting an urn.
Detail, top left. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.On the right part of the lid the washing of the body of Hektor is depicted. To the left a man and a woman holding a basin flank a column supporting an urn. Next come a man holding what looks like a stretcher, a woman holding a sponge over a basin, and a man holding the shackles of Hektor's feet. On the sides of the sarcophagus are griffins.
Detail, top right. Photo: Wikimedia, Sailko.In the centre of the lid is a tabula ansata for an inscription with the name of the deceased. The sarcophagus has stylistically been dated to around 160 AD. It was not found on its original spot. In the third century it was sunk into the ground in a tomb, in a trench made especially for it. Presumably at this time the inscription was erased and replaced with a painted text for another body. The sarcophagus was now well-protected, but completely out of sight. Many centuries later, in the 1970's, modern robbers hacked it to pieces, to be sold on the art market. The Italian excavators found imprints of the relief in the mortar in which the sarcophagus was embedded.
