#rome museum

[paiawon]

another museum on camera: palazzo braschi

[sneak4peek]

Helmut Newton

Rome, 2024

[plantiyst]

Take me to art museums and tell me I’m the prettiest piece of art there

[paiawon]

terme di diocleziano (part 1)

[sneak4peek]

Villa Adriana

Tivoli, 2022

[paiawon]

of the archaeological discoveries i've studied and seen, perhaps the one that had the biggest impact on me is that of crepereia tryphaena.

my pictures (you can literally see my reflection)

now displayed at centrale montemartini in rome, crepereia tryphaena was a young woman, of about 20 years old, whose sarcophagus was found during the excavation works started in 1889 for the foundations of the palace of justice and for the construction of the umberto I bridge over the tiber in rome. the sarcophagus, engraved with a scene alluding to the girl's death (last row of pictures on the right), was found with four more, all buried between the middle of the 2nd century and the 3rd AD. only two were still sealed: that of tryphaena and crepereius euhodus, buried at the bottom of a well later filled with earth, and placed side by side and decorated only on two sides, like in a double burial.

the funeral equipment, present only in the tryphaena sarcophagus, included many gold ornaments (the intact skeleton of the girl was still adorned with several jewels and a crown of myrtle leaves blocked by a barrette made with small silver flowers. at the time of her burial she wore gold and pearl pendant earrings and a gold necklace with pendants formed by small beryl crystals, and er tunica was held by a gold brooch adorned with an engraved amethyst bezel), and placed next to her skeleton there was an ivory doll with her own doll's kit, matching the jewels of tryphaena. the presence of the doll in the funeral outfit may suggest that she died on the eve of her wedding, not having had time to donate her toys to the gods in the "farewell to childhood" ceremony.

the panel at the museum reads:

Crepereia Tryphaena On 10 May 1889, during the excavations for the construction of the Courthouse in the Prati district, an incredible discovery unearthed two sarcophagi placed next to each other, which held the remains of Crepereia Tryphaena and Creperio Euhodus. The discovery aroused great excitement, as one of the sarcophagi contained the body of a girl, lovingly placed with her opulent trousseau and her ivory doll. We do not know if Crepereia was a young bride or a girl who was soon to be married, but two of her rings, a carnelian signet ring with two clasped hands and another engraved with the name Filetus, immediately brought to mind a wedding ring and the name of her future husband.* Crepereia belonged to a family of wealthy freedmen, or descendants of freedmen, originating from a Greek-speaking region, perhaps Egypt or Syria, as demonstrated by the names of the deceased. The extremely refined manufacture of the doll is probably that of artisans from the city of Alexandria in Egypt. The burial area in the Gardens of Domizia, a property that passed into Imperial ownership during Nero's reign, leads us to believe that the Creperii were given the privilege of being buried here for their lead role in the administration of imperial property. The burial can be dated back to the mid-second century AD, a chronology that is also confirmed by the doll's coiffure, realistically inspired by the Antonine hairstyles of the time, and in particular the trend introduced by Empressed Faustina the Elder and Faustina the Younger. Even the doll had its own miniature trousseau; the objects were inside an elegant ivory and bone box, which was perhaps meant to be opened by the small key hanging from the ring in the doll's hand.

the trousseau and some details (pictures not mine):

*because of this giovanni pascoli, italian poet, composed a poem in latin which he presented on the occasion of the wedding of the daughter of the honourable benzoni, minister of public education of the time

the water imagery comes from the opening of the sarcophagus itself, which was still sealed: the young woman, submerged in the water coming from the nearby tiber river, "appeared as a nymph". archaeologist rodolfo lanciani wrote:

both her skeleton and that of crepereius euhodus are still preserved inside the sarcophagi

[sneak4peek]

Villa Adriana

Tivoli, 2022

[sneak4peek]

MAXXI

Rome, 2022