FRIEZE/ARCHITRAVE, 113 CE. TRAJAN'S MARKETS This huge piece of Luni marble comes from Trajan's rebuilding of the temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Julius Caesar. In fact the construction of the Forum of Trajan required a major reconstruction of the Forum Iulii and of the streets and neighbourhood behind it, including major structures like the Atrium Libertatis where the ceremony of manumission was held and the records of the freeing of slaves were kept. As a result, the already magnificent temple of Venus the Ancestress, Caesar's divine antecedent, was rebuilt in even grander style. Here we have a wonderful procession of Erotes, multiplications of the son of Venus and therefore a direct reference to Caesar's ancestry. At left an Eros is pouring wine from an amphora into a large bowl held by another Eros, while at centre two more cherubs are struggling with the arrows of Apollo and at right two more are holding the shield of Athena, with the Gorgoneion on it. This frieze once adorned the first order of an interior wall of the temple. A mirror below shows a decoration of coffers containing rosettes on the underside.

For #ReliefWednesday we're in the #MuseodeiForiImperiali in #TrajansMarkets, to look at an exquisite fragment showing a #relief of #Erotes from the temple of #VenusGenetrix in the Forum of #Caesar, rebuilt by #Trajan. #AncientBluesky 🏺