VATICAN MUSEUMS - GREGORIAN EGYPTIAN MUSEUM (third part)

Room VI - Votive bronzes of the first millennium BC
 

“Magic stele” to heal the bites of scorpions and snakes, with a representation of the child god Harpokrates

“Ibis of God Thoth” late period 712/332 BC in gilded bronze

“The bird ibis was an animal common in the Nile Valley. It is identified with Thoth, the patron god of writing and calculating, the divine scribe and patron of scribes. In Egyptian funerary speculation, Thoth is the one who weighs the heart of the deceased before the divine tribunal of the afterlife. This beautiful ibis in gilt bronze was restored in 2002 thanks to a grant of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums” (Web site of the Vatican Museums - mv.vatican.va)

Figurines of sacred animals as votive offerings:

“Fishes”, “Crocodile god Sobek”, “Bull Apis and the cow his mother”, “Icneumone (called “rat of the pharaohs”), animal sacred to the sun god of Heliopolis Atum, “Scorpion of the goddess Selket”, “Hawk of the god Horus”, “Female cat of the goddess Bastet”, “Some aspects of the snake-goddess”

“Imhotep” the famous vizier of the pharaoh Zoser of the Third Dynasty, the architect who built his pyramid at Saqqara and was deified in the Late Period

Room VII - Bronze and clay figurines of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt

 

“Aurora Goddess” minor Greek deity becoming more important in Hellenistic Egypt in syncretism with other Egyptian goddesses

Alexandrian Triad, Serapis, Isis and Harpokrates represented in various forms: “God Harpokrates sitting on a lotus flower”. Harpokrates was the Hellenized god Horus

“Priest in the guise of the god Anubis”

Number of molded terracotta figurines called Alexandrian

Christian objects from Coptic Egypt dating from the fifth to the eighth century AD, including oil lamps, incense containers and clay phial for holy water

Egyptian Islamic objects from the eighth to the fourteenth century AD

Room VIII - Mesopotamia, Syria-Palestine and Federico Zeri Collection from Palmyra

 

Cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia including:

“Sale of a piece of land” about 2500 BC by Fara in Central Iraq

“Nail” 1865/1833 BC from Uruk, Southern Iraq, with the name and title of the King Sin-Kashid of Uruk

“List of rations of dates” from Central Iraq

“Cylindrical seals of Mesopotamia” used since the third millennium BC to authenticate the cuneiform documents

Extraordinary “Clay cylinder” of the famous Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605/552 BC) in which he recalls the foundation of the Temple of God Lugal-Marda in the town of Maradda

Nebuchadnezzar II subdued the kingdom of Judah, destroyed the Temple of Solomon and deported the Jews to Babylon

“Mesopotamia is the place which gave birth to cities, to writing, to the idea of state. Of the extraordinary process of formation of the first civilization are eloquent witnesses the tablets written in cuneiform writing and cylindrical seals, which were used to validate the documents produced by the first public administration in history” (Web site of the Vatican Museums - mv.vatican.va)

“Kit of a tomb of the Bronze Age I” 3150/3050 BC from Bab edh-dráha in Jordan, one of the largest cemeteries in the Early Bronze Age I

“Vase from burial ornaments of the Early Bronze Age IV” 2300/2200 BC from the Necropolis of Jericho

“The Early Bronze Age IV is the period of Palestinian history in which the region's population abandons the system of urban life to return to the agricultural economy of the village” (Web site of the Vatican Museums - mv.Vatican.va)

“Group of thirteen funerary reliefs” first to third century AD, ten of which left by the will of the late art historian Federico Zeri, exhibited since 2000 in a display inspired by the niches of the family tombs of Palmyra

They illustrate some of the most common types of extraordinary sculptural production of the city of Palmyra

“Red Ceramic Pitchers ingubbiata” (covered with a thick layer of liquid clay just before cooking, forming a coating film) and polished (rubbed with a wooden or cloth), a characteristic production of the Syro-Palestinian's Iron Age II (1000/800 BC)

“Six bronze arrowheads” of a type characteristic of the Iron Age II B and C (800/586 BC) found in Jerusalem near the fortifications and probably referable to one of the attacks suffered by the city by the Assyrians (702 BC) or Babylonians (589 and 586 BC)

Room IX - 883/612 BC - Reliefs from Assyria (Northern Iraq)

 

The exploits of kings who extended the boundaries of the first great empire in history from Persia to the Mediterranean, from Anatolia to Egypt were celebrated in grand palaces decorated with cycles of reliefs

ASHURNASIRPAL II (883/859 BC)

“Winged Genius kneeling adoring the tree of life” and “Winged Genius as eagle's head” in limestone alabaster from Nimrud room I of the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883/859 BC)

“The kingdom of Ashurnasirpal II marks the first great flowering of neoassirian figurative, art which is expressed in the decoration of the monumental Royal Palace that the King built on the north-west of the Acropolis of Nimrud, the ancient Khalku. The two reliefs belong to the exposed plates dedicated to the mythical-symbolic theme of the worship of the Sacred Tree, a symbol of royalty bringer of fertility and life” (Web site of the Vatican Museums - mv.vatican.va)

SARGON II (721/705 BC)

“Brick with inscription of Sargon II” (721/705 BC) 706 BC in fired clay, glazed and stamped by the Royal Palace of Khorsabad. The inscription extols the unique construction of the Palace

SENNACHERIB (704/681 BC)

“Assyrian soldiers carrying stools” part of the spoils of a conquered city (perhaps in Syria), in limestone alabaster from Nineveh (Kuiunjik), South-West Palace of Sennacherib (704/681 BC)

“Captain of the archers in battle” from Nineveh

“Workers involved in the transport of a colossal human-headed bull” from Nineveh, Southwest Palace

ASHURBANIPAL (680/636 BC)

“Tents of the Arabs in the desert burned by Assyrian soldiers” in limestone alabaster from Nineveh, North Palace of the Arab Hall of Ashurbanipal (680/636 BC)

It is a celebration for the victories against the Syro-Arabian desert nomads

Other reliefs from Ashurbanipal's North Palace including: “Dead bodies floating on a river”, “Grooms hold horses” and “Chaldeans prisoners conducted in a palm grove”

CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS - NEW PALACE (first part)

Palazzo Nuovo

Project by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564) only for a façade with no building

It was begun by Girolamo Rainaldi (1570/1655) in 1603 for Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605) 

The work was resumed and completed in the years 1654/55, after a long interval, by Carlo Rainaldi (1611/91) son of Girolamo for Innocent X Pamphili (1644/55)

It was licensed for use to the Guild of the Arts of Wool and Silk and then at the Guild of the Arts of Agriculture

The museum was established in 1734 by Clement XII Corsini (1730/40), who bought the Albani collection of 418 sculptures to which statues bought by Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740/58) were added later

The exhibition, which has remained substantially unchanged to this day, was arranged by the Marquis Alessandro Capponi

This is the first ever public collection of antiquities in the world from which all similar museums drew inspiration and were modeled on

CORTILE

Courtyard

Exedra by Filippo Barigioni (about 1680/1753), a pupil of Carlo Fontana, with "Marforio" the colossal statue of Oceano first century AD, one of the talking statues of Rome on which signs were posted with anonymous phrases, mostly sarcastic, like Pasquino

The name traditionally comes from Martis Forum (Forum of Mars)

It was moved to the Capitoline Hill in 1594 but it was already known in the Middle Ages, when it was described and drawn near the Arch of Septimius Severus, in the Roman Forum

Above "Bust of Pope Clement XII Corsini (1730/40)" the promoter of the museum of sculptures with marble plaque celebrating the opening

In the courtyard "Three granite columns with Egyptianising reliefs" from the early imperial period, probably originally located along the road leading to the main temple to Isis in Rome, the Iseo Campensis

On the sides "Statues of satyrs" second century AD from the Theatre of Pompey formerly exhibited in the courtyard of the Palazzo Della Valle

ATRIO

Atrium

"Statue of Minerva" second century BC from the original of the fifth century BC Athena Parthenos by Phidias (about 490/430 BC), the main cult statue in the Parthenon in Athens

"Statue of Faustina the Elder" portrayed as Ceres, with remains of gilding

"Group of Polyphemus" mistakenly restored in 1636 as Pan

"Endymion" from original of the end of the fourth century BC

Colossal statue of "Mars" end of first century AD from the Forum of Nerva, maybe part of the Temple of Mars Ultor in the Forum of Augustus and probably reproducing the cult image of the temple itself, which would have been of course be much larger. The lower part is a modern restoration

"Statue of Diana the huntress" from an original of the fourth century BC. "Juno Lanuvina" or maybe Ceres dating back to the early imperial age, from an original of the fifth century BC. It was found in the Vatican area

"Statue of woman with Julia Domna's portrait" with body copy from original of the middle of the fourth century BC and head-portrait of Septimius Severus' (193/211) wife of the beginning of the third century AD

Opposite "Statue of woman with Livia's portrait" 30/20 BC from the Belvedere Palace in the Vatican

Both statues are placed over "Bases with inscriptions of the heirs of Caius Cestius" 18/12 BC from the Pyramid of Caius Cestius

"Statue of Hadrian as Pontifex Maximus" 117/138 from the area of S. Stefano Rotondo

"Draped headless statue" in porphyry marble first century AD

Around the niches many Roman inscriptions are included, most of which are funerary ones

EGYPTIAN COLLECTION

Original Egyptian pieces set up in 1907 by the archaeologist Orazio Marucchi

They were mainly found in Rome in 1883 in the area of the Temple of Isis also known as Iseum Campensis, corresponding to the church S. Stefano del Cacco and surrounding area

In the same 1883 the collection of Egyptian antiquities formerly present in the Capitoline Museums was moved to the Vatican Museum where it still is now

"Caligula (37/41) rebuilt the temple more magnificent than ever, and gave a big boost to the neighborhood that once stood around the Egyptian Iseum. This district was formed by the dwellings of the priests who used to worship, but also artisans and traders, and corresponded - in the area and extent - to a similar 'Roman' neighborhood in Alexandria, where also stood a temple dedicated to Jupiter of the same size as the Iseum Campensis. This indicated the sense of equivalency that Rome had wanted to give Egypt and its former glory. Not vanquished people but nation on a par with Rome, as evidenced by the coin depicting two hands shaking, the Nile's and the Tiber's from the time of Antoninus Pius" (Anna Maria Partini)

"Columns with decorative plants"

"Crocodile" from the Ptolemaic or early imperial period in pink Aswan granite, incarnation of the god Sobek

"Two of Nectanebo II cynocephali" 359/341 BC gray granite embodiment of the lunar god Thoth

"Sphinx in pink granite" 144/30 BC from Via S. Ignazio

"Sphinx of Pharaoh Amasis II in basanite" 568/526 BC found near the apse of S. Maria sopra Minerva. The inscription on the breast of the pharaoh was sufficient for identification, although much of it had been scratched away, maybe by the Persians led by Cambyses II (son of Cyrus the Great and Darius I's father), who conquered Egypt six months after Amasis II's death

"Figured bell-krater" dark gray granite from the Canopus of Hadrian's Villa

"Fragment of capital bell-shaped" in marble first century AD

STANZETTE TERRENE

Small rooms on the ground floor

Epigraphic monuments, portraits and sarcophagi in three small rooms accessible from the Atrium through one door

"Fragments of Roman calendars" that Caesar defined with 365 days

"Minor Fasti" lists of magistrates

"Portrait of a member of the Julio-Claudian family" maybe Germanicus or his father Drusus Major

"Two male portraits" of the fourth century A D

Huge and significant "Attic Sarcophagus with scenes from the life of Achilles" with representations on the four sides dating to the early third century AD. It was found in 1582 or just before near the Monte del Grano between Via Tuscolana and Via Labicana. The quality and beauty of the relief are amazing

"Altar-urn of the builder, Titus Statilius Aper" with writing tools first century AD from the Janiculum Hill

"Funerary relief with three characters" early first century AD

"Base with labors of Hercules" first imperial age

"Aebutii family's funerary stele with measuring instruments" in travertine first century AD

"Cippus of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus" and his wife Fabia Paulina Aconia. He was a prefect of the fourth century AD, one of the last politicians who sought to protect and preserve the ancient Roman religion from the advance of Christianity. He was a priest and started several cults, as well as a scholar of literature and philosophy

SCALONE

Staircase

"Front of a sarcophagus with lion hunt" third century AD from the Appian Way

"Fragment of a sarcophagus with lion and antelope" in Pentelic marble of the late imperial period. The muzzle of the lion is represented schematically with expressionistically and artificially ferocious expression, but the ribs of the feline are realistically visible

"Statue of a priest in the act of bringing a vessel" with a not relevant female head copy of a Hellenistic original from Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. The drapery is rendered in an exquisite and extraordinarily realistic way