Roman Altar from Arezzo - Romulus and Remus

3D Model

Dated stylistically to the Augustan period.

Discovered in 1933 in Piazza di Porta Crucifera in Arezzo. Currently in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale “Gaio Cilnio Mecenate” in Arezzo. On the front Romulus and Remus, suckled by the she-wolf before the ficus ruminalis on a rocky outcrop, are discovered by the shepherd Faustulus and Mars (or a second shepherd). Two winged victories are depicted on the sides. One pours a libation from a patera and the other carries a cista on her head. Evans connects these to Augustan “Asia recepta” coins on which Victory appears with the cista mystica.

Evans, J.D. 1992. The Art of Persuasion: Political Propaganda from Aeneas to Brutus, Ann Arbor: University of Michgan Press, p. 72.

Del Vita, A. 1934. “Ara Marmorea trovata presso Porta Crucifera.” Notizie degli Scavi di antichità:429—433, tav. XV—XVI.

Model created in RealityCapture from photographs taken in 2019. Note: Scale is approximated, not exact.