Amphora transfer relief, 3rd century AD?, Stockholm Museum : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Amphora transfer relief, 3rd century AD?, Stockholm Museum / Joel Bellviure
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | This exceptional marble relief is kept in Stockholm's Mediterranean Museum. It is thought to come from Ostia, and parallels there have led scholars to suggest a dating of c. 2nd century AD. The back and bottom have traces of plaster or, most likely, mortar for inserting the relief into a structure.The depiction is exceptional because it records the transfer of produce in amphorae from the hold of a merchantman (navis oneraria), with furled sails, to a smaller boat. It is unclear to me whether this is a towed riverboat (caudicaria), given that there seems to be no mast (the transversal line seems to be the oneraria's forestay, rather than a caudicaria retractable mast). It is most likely a lenunculus-like boat. This suggests that the transfer is the open sea, but close to the shore, most likely the harbour at Portus itself.Most interestingly, the amphorae are not simply transported to the shore (as in the Torlonia relief). The contents are poured inside a quadrangular box. It is likely that this represents a container because if this is a small boat, there would not be any room in the hold. The shape is unusual as it does not seem to correspond to the two most likely candidates: a barrel or dolium (less likely by date). The typology of these slightly ovoid amphorae cannot be pinpointed with certainty. Wine, the usually presumed content, cannot be discarded, but the only wine amphora that fits the relief are Haltern 70 amphorae, which is too early for its date (first century AD). Spanish Garum amphorae (e.g. Dressel 7-11 or Beltran 2B) should not be discarded. My preferred candidate, given the shape are Lusitanian fish-sauce Almagro 51C (AD 175-450), which would suggest a dating around the third century AD instead. These are depicted in the relief of the tomb of Lucifer Aquatari. Other possible candidates are flat-bottomed amphorae of the type that is often recovered at Ostia.It is unclear whether the amphorae were recycled, used as ballast, or dumped into the sea, eventually generating a conundrum for maritime archaeologists, who often do not hesitate to identify an amphora concentration as a wreck.Bibliography: Winbladh, M.-L. (1976) ‘A Selection of Some Recent Acquisitions’. Medelhavsmuseet Bulletin 11, 71.48x27x7 cm, Medelhavsmuseet, Inv. no. MM 1975:001, collections.smvk.se/carlotta-mhm/web/object/3101456 |
| 撮影日 | 2025-04-06 06:10:04 |
| 撮影者 | Joel Bellviure , Oxford |
| 撮影地 |