Votive Relief from Cyzicus with a Sacrificial Procession
Unknown · c. 46 BC
A procession moves toward an altar in the lower band of a marble slab. A worshipper wrapped in his cloak raises a hand in prayer and holds a double pipe; a veiled priest carries a small box; a servant leads a ram to sacrifice; a girl balances a tray on her head. Beside the square altar stands a tree hung with two bells and tied with ribbons. Of the upper register only the bottom survives: a man's leg and the paw of a lion, enough to suggest the deity enthroned above, very possibly the mother goddess Cybele, whose companion the lion was. Between the registers and beneath the scene runs a Greek dedication. The right side of the slab is missing.
The inscription is what makes the stone remarkable, for it refers to the battle of Thapsus, Julius Caesar's victory in North Africa in 46 BC, and so fixes the relief to that year. It comes from Cyzicus, a wealthy Greek city on the Sea of Marmara that had taken Rome's side and was rewarded for it. The relief entered the Louvre at a Paris sale in October 1818 with a group of antiquities from the Greek East.
Did You Know? A battle fought in Africa in 46 BC, Caesar's victory at Thapsus, is what allows this stone from the Sea of Marmara to be dated.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.