Battles and Warriors

One of the first representations of battle in Roman art is the fresco with military scenes from the tomb of the Fabii, an exceptional testimony of the first half of the 3rd century BC.

A fighting scene between Greeks and Amazons was instead imprinted in stone and decorated the pediment of the temple of Apollo Sosianus in Rome, which stood in the area of the southern Campus Martius. The statues, brought to Rome from Greece, belong to the 5th century BC.

The military trophies were erected to celebrate the Roman victories in battle: this is the case of the marble trophy discovered on the Quirinale, in the area where the ancient gardens of Sallust stood. It most likely referred to the triumph of Augustus in Egypt in the war that ended with the battle of Actium in 31 BC.

Affresco con scene militari dalla tomba dei Fabii
Fresco
First half of the IINDIrd century BC
AntCom01025
Testa di barbaro
Sculpture
IInd century BC
MC2084
Statua di generale romano
Sculpture
Copy from the Hadrianic period of a IVth century BC original
MC2418
Trofeo militare
Sculpture
Augustan period
MC0042
Testa di Marte
Sculpture
Severian copy of a Greek original by Alkamenes of 420 BC
MC0795
Fregio con scena di battaglia
Sculpture
Augustan period
MC1788
Decorazione frontonale: statua di Teseo
Sculpture
450-425 BC
MC3529