Images

A Roman floor mosaic dating to between 350 and 375 CE and depicting a mushrooms. Food was a popular subject in mosaics throughout the Roman period. Provenance: Toragnola, Rome. (Vatican Museums, Rome).

A Roman relief panel from a frieze depicting the goddess Leto fighting Giants. She holds a torch in each hand while the Giants prepare to throw large rocks. From a public building, discovered on the Oppius Hill, Rome. 2nd century CE. (Vatican...

A marble bust of the Titan Oceanus, a personification of the sea which the Greeks and Romans believed encircled the earth. Part of a fountain decoration at Hadrian's Villa, Rome, 2nd century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A statue of a Dacian prisoner with typical pointed hat (pileus) and costume. From Rome, purple-white marble, date unknown. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A colossal marble head of Roman emperor Tiberius. From a public building in Rome, mid-1st century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A Roman marble relief depicting Mithras sacrificing a bull. From the Esquiline, Rome, date unknown. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A marble statue of Ganymede, the Trojan prince from Greek mythology who was abducted from Mt. Ida by Zeus to become the gods' cupbearer. Found on the via Tuscolana, Rome, 2nd century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

Marble head of a Galatian. Early 2nd century CE copy of an original from an altar at Pergamon to commemorate Attalus I's victory over the Galatians in 230 BCE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A bust of Roman emperor Septimius Severus, r. 193-211 CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

A bust of Roman emperor Commodus (r. 180-193 CE) as a young man. From Ostia. (Vatican Museums, Rome)