"Indian" Figures as Living Loot on a Sarcophagus in Baltimore (20 min)

Presenters

Annemarie Catania, University of Chicago

Abstract

Seven Roman sarcophagi excavated from an underground tomb in Rome stand together in a small, dark room in the Walters Art Museum, with just enough light to directly illuminate each sarcophagus. Near one of the room’s two doorways, a meticulously ornate sarcophagus showing the Triumph of Dionysus depicts two men bound, back-to-back, atop an elephant, and two boys riding the tigers that draw the god’s chariot. Visual parallels demonstrate that the adult men are represented as human spoils in a procession depicting the myth of the god’s return from India in a visual play on Roman imperial triumphal art.

Several cues identify these four figures as other, in Roman terms. All four have curly locks, and the men wear caps. The man facing the viewer has a beard, and wears trousers with a tassel at the ankle. The figures’ physiognomy, along with the presence of elephants and a giraffe, identifies the figures as African to museumgoers today. For ancient Romans, the fluidity of the Roman concept of India, which could also incorporate Ethiopia, would allow the figures to be identified as Indian.

The current installation emphasizes the archaeological context of the findspot. This mythical allusion to the triumphal relief on the Arch of Titus also embodies sociopolitical complexities of the Mediterranean world, including varying resonances of Alexander as conqueror. This paper will consider the complexity of the term “Indian” and the challenge of discussing living loot, while encouraging the inclusions of sociohistorical context for elite Roman self-representation and commemoration.