Sarcophagus with Dionysus and Ariadne

From Ostia. Bought by the dealer Cardoni in 1826.
Date: second century AD. W. 2.12, h. 0.48.

On the left are Dionysus and Ariadne in a chariot, pulled by two Centaurs playing a lyre and a double flute. To the left of the couple is a Satyr, to the right Eros standing on a Centaur.

In the centre are two dancing Satyrs and Maenads.

On the right half, at the left, is Silenus carrying a cista mystica on his head. To his right are a Satyr reaching for the basket and a Maenad with a tambourine. Between them, on the ground, is another cista, from which a snake emerges. At the far right a Satyr is carrying a Pan, who is being punished with a belt by another Satyr.

Furtwängler 1910, 365-6, nr. 365. Photo: Wikimedia, Bibi Saint-Pol.