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Five gladiators, overview. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Five Gladiators
- Date
- 3rd or 4th C. AD, Roman
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- NoEx61.004
- Material
- Marble, Stone
- Object Type
- Sculpture
- Sculpture Type
- Funerary Relief, Gladiator
- Inscription Text
G. Petzl:
Ἄρτεμειν Μητροδώρου, γυναῖκα δὲ Ἀττάλου τοῦ Νικάνδρου.
- Inscription Translation
- “Artemeis, daughter of Metrodoros, wife of Attalos, the son of Nikandros.”
- Inscription Comment
- Site
- Mersindere
- Findspot
- Near village of Mersindere, W. of Sardis.
- Description
A horizontal frieze shows five gladiators, fighting in pairs. Just above their heads is a projecting ledge, above which are traces of a second frieze. Each man wears a helmet with projections to protect the neck, and each has padded legs. The second and third from the l. have their faces exposed; on the others this cannot be seen. The same two figures carry large round shields and seem to be attacking each other with daggers held in the r. hands. The man at the far l. also carries a dagger. The two figures at the far r. seem to carry large rectangular shields.
The style is crude and provincial. A date in the 3rd or 4th C. is likely.
- Condition
Marble.
Top and side edges broken away, also lower r. corner. Heavy surface damage and earth incrustation.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.37; W. 0.54; Th. 0.12-0.14.
- Comments
- See Also
- See also: M14, No. 638.
- Bibliography
- For another example of pairs of gladiators fighting, and two registers, compare a relief from Ephesus, Robert, Gladiateurs, 200-201, no. 218, pl. XVI. Here the other register, below instead of above the gladiators, shows laden ox-drawn carts and men walking along with them. There is a similar thick band between the two registers. The carving here too is fairly crude.
- Author
- NHR