Illustration
"The deities Athena, Zeus, and Hera, assembled at the far left, preside over a musical contest between the Muses and Sirens. The Muses, associated with
the highest intellectual and artistic aspirations, are defeating the Sirens, creatures that are half woman and half bird who lured men to destruction with their song.
A drawing of the sarcophagus was commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo, one of the most respected patrons of art and scholarship in Rome during the first half of the seventeenth century. It belonged at that time to the del Nero family, who apparently converted it into a chest with a keyhole cut into the upper center of the frontal panel and had their coat of arms, a rampant hound, carved on the short ends
of the sarcophagus."
Roman, 3rd quarter of 3rd century CE
55.3 x 196.2 x 57.2 cm
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1910, 10.104
Related Images
Odysseus & the Sirens
The Nine Muses of Greek Mythology
Odysseus and the Sirens (NAM, Athens, 1130)
Odysseus and the Sirens
The Sirens
Cylinder Seal Showing a Contest Scene
Cite This Work
APA Style
Art, N. Y. M. M. o. (2015, April 16). Marble Sarcophagus with the Contest between the Muses and the Sirens. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/3810/marble-sarcophagus-with-the-contest-between-the-mu/
Chicago Style
Art, New York Metropolitan Museum of. "Marble Sarcophagus with the Contest between the Muses and the Sirens." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified April 16, 2015. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/3810/marble-sarcophagus-with-the-contest-between-the-mu/.
MLA Style
Art, New York Metropolitan Museum of. "Marble Sarcophagus with the Contest between the Muses and the Sirens." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 16 Apr 2015. Web. 20 Nov 2024.
