Two Reliefs from Arles

[Nathan Ross]

Last week I had the opportunity of visiting the excellent Musée de l'Arles Antique, in Arles. Two reliefs there caught my eye - I'm sure they must be familiar to many people, and have probably appeared in published works, but they were new to me, so I thought I'd share them here.

The first is a sarcophagus, dated to the 1st century - looks Augustan to me. No inscription, but the relief shows military figures, with some great detail: coolus and montefortino helmets, some horsehair and huge feather plumes, lots of pteruges and some prominent lorica squamata:

[attachment=9733]Arles3.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=9734]Arles4.jpg[/attachment]


The other one is a fragment, and shows a helmeted head looking over the rim of a shield. It could represent an early gladiator, but also perhaps a legionary. The helmet looks quite unique, and the feather plumes might suggest the 'alaudae' legion, originally raised in this region - perhaps a local style? Great expressive face too:

[attachment=9736]Arles5.jpg[/attachment]


[attachment=9735]Arles1.jpg[/attachment]

mile:

[AMELIANVS]

Great resolution!Yes it is dated to Augustus time.

[Nathan Ross]

I should add that the sarcophagus, and perhaps the other piece, were both discovered in 1902 during the demolition of the medieval Porte de L'Aure to clear the ground around the Roman theatre (nice demonstration of priorities there!). I'm not sure whether the pieces had been used in the later wall as building material, but they presumably came originally from the vicinity.

Does anyone know if either piece has been mentioned or described in recent publications? I'm sure they must have been.

[Urselius]

The flaring brim combined with cheekpieces and the apparent embossed decoration to the front of the skull of helmet, worn by the single soldier, look quite Hellenistic.

Not unlike this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thesp...helmet.jpg

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Isn't that the Prodromi Cuirass in your link?