SARCOPHAGUS "OF THE TWO BROTHERS", C. 350 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS Though the Christian iconography of this high-status sarcophagus is interesting, beginning at top left with the resurrection of Lazarus in which he is for once not wrapped tightly in bandages but seems to be apologising for arriving late to the party, the main curiosity of this relief is the double portrait at centre, within a carved scallop shell. This was certainly carved as a "pre-need" box for a generic Christian husband and wife joined in the dextrarum iunctio: the figure at left still has a breast swelling its dress. But both faces are of bearded men. The "female" figure has had her hand recarved in a gesture of blessing, and the "male" figure has had his left arm removed and recarved. Despite being known as the "two brothers", these two men don't resemble each other. We don't have to presume a same-sex union but these men were very close.

#SarcophagusSaturday this week gives us the monumental #sarcophagus "of the Two Brothers", from about 350 CE, in the #VaticanMuseums. Two registers of Biblical scenes have a scalloped portrait #clipeus inserted at centre, originally a married couple but recarved to show two men. #AncientBluesky 🏺

MOSAIC FEMALE PORTRAIT, 340-345 CE. S. COSTANZA The imperial mausoleum attached to the cemetery basilica of S. Agnese has its fair share of mysteries. One is the identity of the two clipeated portraits in mosaic in the right and left centres of the corridor around the central space of the mausoleum. For years one was identified as Constantina, and the other her husband Hannibalianus, both of them decided unsaintly (Ammianus Marcellinus calls them "insatiable in their taste for human blood"). However, both portraits are of women, albeit with short hair and an upward gaze à la Alexander the Great. The current theory is that these are portraits of Constantina and her sister Helena, wife of the later and short-lived emperor Julian "the Apostate".

For #MosaicMonday, a #clipeus portrait of a daughter of the emperor #Constantine, either #Constantina or #Helena, wife of the emperor #Julian, from the anular corridor of #SantaCostanza in #Rome, 340-345 CE. She's oddly masculine, with short tousled hair and eyes looking upward. #AncientBluesky 🏺

CHILD'S SARCOPHAGUS WITH EROTES, C. 240-250 CE. PALAZZO ALTEMPS This tiny sarcophagus of Luni marble was able to be replaced here in the courtyard fountain of palazzo Altemps, after the family had removed it when they sold the palace. Now it is dry, but it once had a jet of water pouring into it, and emerging from the hole at bottom centre to fall into a lower basin, also now dry. The inscription says "D. M. FYRMIUS METRAS ET AELIA CHRYSOTYCHE C. FYRMI METRAE FILIO DULCISSIMO FEC(ERUNT)", "to the departed shades. Fyrmius Metras and Ælia Chrysotyche made this for their sweetest son C. Fyrmius Metras." The central clipeus bearing the epitaph is held by two Erotes and supported by two winged sphinxes. At right and left are four other Erotes which represent the seasons, of which I can only identify one, Winter, at far right, because he's wearing a tunic and cloak instead of just a cloak. The seasons evoke circular time and the hope of rebirth.

A C3 CE child's #sarcophagus for #SarcophagusSaturday, this one from the Altemps collection in #PalazzoAltemps in #Rome. Two #Erotes hold up a central #clipeus with a sad inscription on it, and on either side are two more, the other four representing the seasons. #AncientBluesky 🏺

SARCOPHAGUS WITH CLIPEUS AND EROTES, C. 250-300 CE. BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN This large white Proconnesian marble sarcophagus has a simple theme: love, love, love. Against a smooth background, two mourning Erotes (or genii) are leaning on their downward-turned torches, symbols of death. Two further Erotes, on a larger scale than the other and truly chubby, occupy both sides of the front, flying with wings spread and legs kicking as if swimming. On the ground at left is a quiver, and at right a bow. The heads of the Erotes are punctuated by the short drill, giving body to their hair. The two main Erotes are looking away from the clipeus, as if in sorrow at the end of love. The husband and wife in the clipeus are shown in formal dress: he is wearing the toga contabulata, with its distinctive chest band, and she is generously built and wearing a clinging dress. But her face was never finished.

Love is in the air in today's #SarcophagusSaturday, as we stumble upon a huge two-person #sarcophagus in a ruined hall of the #BathsofDiocletian. Crossed #cornucopiae below the #clipeus suggest the fruitfulness of love. But the wife's face was never carved. #ClassicsBluesky 🏺