Art History Paper 2

Paper Assignment I The “Sarcophagus Depicting a Battle between Soldiers and Amazons” is a Roman sarcophagus dedicated for an important Roman soldier. It was made sometime between 140 A.D. to 170 A.D. and was made out of marble. The lid of coffin was designed to appear like that of a roof Greek temple due to it triangular shape. There are five rows of vertical tiles along the side of the lid and at the end of each row is a lion head. Along the side of the sarcophagus is a high relief, the subjects appear almost free standing and not appear to be attach to the stone that it was carve from, depicts a battle scene. All these features on the sarcophagus is intended to glorify the soldier intern within and to demonstrate his achievement in life.
The relief depicted a battle scene between a soldier and two warriors who appear to be women with one warrior lying dead on the ground. The soldier was shown wearing helmet, plate body armor, and short tunic. He holds a sword on the right hand while raising his round shield on his left hand. On the soldier armor is a knotted belt. On the other hand, the two warriors women was depicted riding horse. They were dressed in tight-fitting tunic and each of the two warrior wear crescent-shaped shield on their left hand. The first warrior near the soldier is armed with a two-sided axe and the warrior behind her wielded a spear. Both of the warriors have their weapon raised, intending to strike down the soldier in front of them. There also a dead warrior lying under the second warrior. This same scene was repeated on all four side of the sarcophagus. On the four corner of the sarcophagus is what appears to be the result of the battle. It shows a Roman soldier standing behind a warrior who was kneeling on the ground, head facing down, and both her hand was tied behind her back.
We know that this sarcophagus is intended for a Roman soldier and it intended to glorify him is due to several elements that we can find on the relief. in the