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The ''Lovatelli urn'' is a 1st century BCE marble
The urn was discovered during the excavation of the columbarium of the Statilii family by Italian archaeologists
Digital LIMC
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Funerary art 1st-century BC sculptures Collections of the National Roman Museum 1875 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Italy Eleusinian Mysteries
funerary urn
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
from the early Roman imperial period. It is thought to depict Persephone
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...
, Demeter
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (; Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Although s ...
and Triptolemus, the triad of the Eleusinian mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries ( el, Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Elefsina in ancient Greece. They are the " ...
, however, there are several different competing interpretations about the figures and their meaning in the literature.
It was found during an 1875 excavation of the columbarium of the Statilii
The gens Statilia was a plebeian family of Lucanian origin at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the third century BC, when one of them led the Lucanian assault on the city of Thurii, and another commanded an allied cavalr ...
on the Esquiline Hill near Porta Maggiore in Rome, Italy. This area contained the remains of freed slaves and servants of the family. The object is named after Ersilia Caetani Lovatelli
Ersilia Caetani-Lovatelli or Ersilia Caetani (12 October 1840 – 22 December 1925) was an Italian aristocrat, art historian, cultural historian and archaeologist.
Personal life
Caetani-Lovatelli was born in Rome in 1840 to Michelangelo Caetani, ...
, an Italian art historian and archaeologist who first published a description of it in 1896. It is held in the collection of the National Roman Museum.
Background
The urn was discovered during the excavation of the columbarium of the Statilii family by Italian archaeologists Edoardo Brizio
Edoardo Brizio (March 3, 1846, Turin – May 5, 1907, Bologna) was an Italian archaeologist. He was a student of Giuseppe Fiorelli’s school of archaeology in Pompeii. Brizio became a professor of archaeology at the University of Bologna in 1876, ...
and Rodolfo Lanciani
Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani (1 January 1845 – 22 May 1929) was an Italian archaeologist, a pioneering student of ancient Roman topography. Among his many excavations was that of the House of the Vestals in the Roman Forum.
Lanciani earned LL.D. d ...
from 1875 to 1877. They discovered three chamber tombs referred to as N, O, and P.
Description
The urn depicts three separate scenes, thought to portray a preliminary initiation and purification rite from the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, often described as ''myesis''. The imagery is often compared and contrasted with the Torre Nova sarcophagus first identified by Giulio Emanuele Rizzo in 1910. Lovatelli describes such an urn in 1879 in her work "Di un vaso cinerario con rappresentanze relative ai misteri di Eleusi". Her style is evident in her writing. She talks within the scientific methods required but she pulls in other related and referenced works. This differed from her male contemporaries.See also
*Roman funerary art
Roman funerary art changed throughout the course of the Roman Republic and the Empire and comprised many different forms. There were two main burial practices used by the Romans throughout history, one being cremation, another inhumation. The ves ...
* Roman funerary practices
References
Further reading
* Borbonus, D. (2014). ''Columbarium Tombs and Collective Identity in Augustan Rome''. Cambridge University Press. . * Burkert, W. (1987). ''Ancient Mystery Cults''. Harvard University Press. . * George, M. (2013). ''Roman Slavery and Roman Material Culture''. University of Toronto Press. pp. 44–46. * Mylonas, G. E. (1961). ''Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries''. Princeton University Press. {{isbn, 9781400877294External links
Digital LIMC
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Funerary art 1st-century BC sculptures Collections of the National Roman Museum 1875 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Italy Eleusinian Mysteries