1st century AD, From Rome, Relief, Sala degli Horti Tauriani e Vettiani II

Fragment of a relief depicting a Dionysian city

Inv. Scu 960

The largest fragment shows a perimeter wall in the foreground. It is made of squared blocks, crowned by merlons. There are eight tambourine and two flutes in front of it.

On the left, there is a leafy tree intertwined with grapevine leaves. One of its branches extends under the arch of a tower built upon the wall.

The other fragment, that does not fit together with the larger one, is decorated with the depiction of a four-column Ionic temple (tetrastyle), with another Dionysian symbol on the pediment: a basket overflowing with fruit (liknon), used during Dionysian rituals.

The fragment dates to the mid-1st century (40-60 AD).

From Church of San Vito on the Esquiline Hill