A Bonus Ancient Artefact of the Day: A two-handled silver cup, showing Odysseus about to enter the Underworld, ca. 1st Century AD. #AAOTD
Image: J. Paul Getty Museum (96. AM. 57)
Image: J. Paul Getty Museum (96. AM. 57)
Roman silverware frequently featured scenes drawn from mythology, but this one seems to be a curious merging of Greek myth and Roman philosophy, as while the figure with raised sword seems likely to be Odysseus, the other figures are less clear.
The other side of the vessel shows a group of seven men dressed as 'philosophers', certainly not the individuals whom Odysseus encountered on his katabasis.
This juxtaposition of scenes is particularly highlighted under the handles, where the slaughtered ram - a detail that links that scene to the opening of Odyssey 11 - is prominent.
Pliny the Elder (NH 33.139) notes that "Vasa ex argento mire inconstantia humani ingenii variat nullum genus officinae diu probando".
'Fashions in silver plate undergo marvellous variations owing to the vagaries of human taste, no kind of workmanship remaining long in favour.'
This kind of conspicuous consumption doubtless accounts for the sheer volume of decorative silverwork that were extant.
This kind of conspicuous consumption doubtless accounts for the sheer volume of decorative silverwork that were extant.
For more on this, see:
Oliver, Andrew. “The Changing Fashions of Roman Silver.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 63, 2004, pp. 3–27.
#AAOTD
Oliver, Andrew. “The Changing Fashions of Roman Silver.” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, vol. 63, 2004, pp. 3–27.
#AAOTD
