Altar of Lucius Marcius Pacatus as Hercules

            This tombstone is in the shape of a miniature altar and was dedicated to a teenage boy by his mother Rodope (pronounced ‘Rod-OH-pea’). On each side it has relief decoration referring to the myth of Hercules.

The front shows a chubby baby wrestling with the many-headed Hydra. The sculptor has mixed up the story of Hercules strangling snakes when he was a baby, with Hercules killing the snake-like Hydra as an adult.

The back shows Hercules’ possessions: a quiver full of arrows, the Nemean lion’s skin, a bow and a club. The left side shows a bearded Hercules about to hit a centaur with his club. This is not one of the traditional 12 labors, but shows the story of his fight with Nessus.

The right side shows Hercules about to hit one of the Stymphalian birds with his club. It is more common for Hercules to be shown shooting the birds with his bow, but this image may have been chosen to balance the left side.

Latin:

d(is) m(anibus) L(ucio) Marcio / Pacato filio d/ulcissimo / fecit Ro/dope ma/ter in/[f]eli/cissima / qui vi(xi)t annos / XV m(enses) VIIII d(ies) VIIII

English translation:

‘To the departed spirits. Rodope, unhappiest mother did this for Lucius Marcius Pacatus, sweetest son, who lived 15 years, 9 months, 9 days.’

In the bottom two lines, the stonecutter has made a mistake. Instead of writing VIX. ANNOS (for ‘vixit annos’ - he lived for ... years’), he’s written VIT. ANNOS.

Roman
75-100 CE
Smyrna, Turkey

Ashmolean Museum (ANMichaelis.202)

Some rights reserved

Taken on: December 18, 2023

Tags:

ancient

funerary

teenager

Rodope

Hydra

Hercules

Herakles

snakes

Nemean Lion

lion skin

bow

club

centaur

Nessus

Stymphalian birds

Lucius Marcius Pacatus

son

Roman

Smyrna

Turkey

Ashmolean Museum

Oxford « less

Sets appears in: • Roman sculpture • Ancient funerary artifacts and art more » • Ashmolean Museum « less

Groups appears in: • Sculpture • Roman Empire more » • The Ancient World • Chiron, CC images of the Classical World • Museums and Galleries • World Archaeology & Arts/ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΑ&ΤΕΧΝΕΣ-Rea • Museums of the World • World Archaeology • Ancient Greek and Roman Art • Your Museum Images • Ancient / Archaeological • Photos at the Museum « less

Camera: Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, f/1.8, 1/50 sec, 6.9mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Lens:	iPhone 15 Pro Max back triple camera 6.86mm f/1.78
Aperture:	f/1.8
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	6.9mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	17.1.2
Show full info

Stats: 372 views

go back

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder