The tomb's owner is shown seated with an open scroll, the pose of a philosopher, demonstrating that he is a learned man. His profession can be identified by the open case containing surgical tools on the cabinet top. Other scrolls and a basin for bleeding patients within the cabinet offer further proof of his profession. The style of his dress and the language of the inscription indicate that he was one of the many Greeks living in Italy. Beginning in the 300s, Christians would adopt in their art the philosopher pose and the undulating motifs, or strigils, that appear on the sides of the sarcophagus.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Sarcophagus with a Greek Physician
Date:early 300s
Geography:Made in Ostia, Rome
Culture:Roman
Medium:Marble
Dimensions:21 3/4 x 23 1/4 x 84 7/8 in. (55.2 x 59.1 x 215.6 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Stone
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Joseph Brummer and Ernest Brummer, in memory of Joseph Brummer, 1948
Object Number:48.76.1
Trattoria della Barcaccia, via Condotti, Rome (by 1794–at least 1822); Giuseppe Balestra, Villa Balestra, Monti Paroli, Rome (by 1881–at least 1900); Prince Giovanni Del Drago ; [ Veneziani, Rome (sold 1931)]; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1931–1948)]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
Visconti Ennio Quirino. Iscrizioni greche triopee, ora borghesiane: con versioni ed osservazioni. Rome: Stamperia Pagliarini, 1794. p. 72.
Mazois, Charles François. Le palais de Scaurus, ou Description d'une maison romaine: fragment d'un voyage de Mérovir à Rome vers la fin de la République. 2nd ed. 1822. pp. 292–93, pl. VIII.
Corpus inscriptionum graecarum. Vol. 3. Berlin: Berolini ex Officina Academica, 1853. no. 6307, p. 938.
Daremburgh, Charles, and Edmund Saglio, ed. Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines d'Après les Textes et les Monuments. Vol. 1, pt. 1. Paris: Hachette Livre, 1873. p. 432, fig. 524.
Kaibel, Georg. Epigrammata graeca ex lapidibus conlecta. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1878. no. 712, pp. 286–87.
Matz, Friedrich. Antike Bildwerke in Rom, mit Ausschluss der grösseren Sammlungen. Vol. 2. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1881. no. 3127a, pp. 346–47.
Zaccherini, Goffredo. L'iscrizione di Abercio. Rome, 1898. p. 57.
Petersen, Ernst. "Der Sarkophag eines Arztes." Mitteilungen des kaiserlich deutschen archaeologischen instituts, Roemische abtheilung 15 (1900). pp. 171–76, fig. 5.
Clark, John Willis. The Care of Books: An Essay on the Development of Libraries and their Fittings, from the Earliest Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1901. pp. 38–39, fig. 13.
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de reliefs grecs et romains. Vol. 3. Paris: E. Leroux, 1912. p. 235, fig. 2.
Calza, Raissa. Ostia. Florence: Sansoni, 1959. pp. 77–78, fig. 111.
McCann, Anna Marguerite. Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978. pp. 138–40, fig. 174, 175.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. no. 256, pp. 279–80.
Callmer, Christian. "Tre bilder av grekiska läkare." Sydsvenska medicinhistoriska sällskapets årsskrift (1981). pp. 34–36, fig. 3.
Dresken-Weiland, Jutta. Reliefierte Tischplatten aus theodosianischer Zeit. Vatican City: Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, 1991. pp. 6, 38.
Bodel, John P., and Stephen Tracy. Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA: A Checklist. Rome: American Academy in Rome, 1997. p. 191.
Ewald, Björn Christian. "Der Philosoph als Leitbild: ikonographische Untersuchungen an römischen Sarkophagreliefs." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, Roemische Abteilung 34, supp. (1999). p. 164, pl. 38, no. 2.
Evans, Helen C., Melanie Holcomb, and Robert Hallman. "The Arts of Byzantium." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 58, no. 4 (Spring 2001). pp. 10–11.
Gontar, Cybèle. "The Campeche Chair in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum Journal 38 (2003). p. 192, fig. 19.
Treasure hunt for book lovers: a self-guided tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 3, ill.
Kispal, Anne, and Greg Brooks. "Translation of Balogh, J. (1921) The Voices of the Pages: Contributions to the Question of Oral Reading and Writing." Histoire Épistémologie Langage (2023). fig. 1, p. 161.
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