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@spiritstraveler.bsky.socialOct 2, 2026, 6:45 PM

Vatican City is home to one of the world’s most magnificent art collections. Here you can find works of Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Dali & Picasso, among many others.
The Vatican is wheelchair accessible.

#VaticanMuseums #Art #wheelchairaccessible #accessibilitymatters #Rome

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 9:00 PM

Into the West. For a late #SarcophagusSaturday, this Roman marine thiasos in the #VaticanMuseums depicts a horizontal journey to the afterlife. Stretching from #Hesiod to #Tolkien, it is a vision of eternal #ataraxia, mastering the turbulent sea of life. #AncientBluesky 🏺

MARINE THIASOS SARCOPHAGUS, C. 140-150 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS A rectangular marble sarcophagus on carved supports. The front features a high relief marine thiasos, with nude Nereids riding ichthyocentaurs and coiled sea monsters. Early modern scholars viewed these creatures literally as psychopomps carrying the dead across the river Oceanus to the western Isles of the Blessed. However, modern readings prefer a philosophical allegory, noting the conspicuous absence of any central figure representing a soul. Instead, the ocean represents the turbulent sea of life. The nymphs gracefully taming wild beasts symbolise the achievement of ataraxia, a state of profound inner peace and freedom from anxiety. This horizontal, westward journey to a maritime afterlife, entirely distinct from a skyward ascent or underworld descent, reflects a poetic continuity stretching from Hesiod in c. 700 BCE to Tolkien in the C20.
@cronologia.bsky.socialSep 19, 2026, 9:16 AM

Rome built the Column of Antoninus Pius in his honor, and the carved base still sits in the Vatican Museums. His years in power made the case that peace could govern an empire just as well as war. #VaticanMuseums #RomanHeritage

Historical image of Column of Antoninus Pius
@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.socialSep 16, 2026, 7:55 PM

The cuckoo in the nest. For #ReliefWednesday we have the magnificent Ara Casali from the late C2 CE, now in the #VaticanMuseums. Its reliefs show the domino effect of myths that led to the founding of #Rome. But the name of the dedicator is a later insertion. #AncientBluesky 🏺

ARA CASALI, C. 170-190 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS A richly carved marble altar showing the front and right side. On the front, a circular wreath encloses a dedication by Tiberius Claudius Faventinus from c. 230 CE, carved into an erased surface likely resulting from the Severan purges of the 190s CE. Above and below this palimpsest are reliefs of Sol and the lovers Mars and Venus. The altar operates like clockwork to narrate Roman destiny. The visible right side and unseen left side feature scenes of the Trojan War, leading to the inevitable conclusion on the unseen back depicting the discovery of Romulus and Remus. This repurposed monument was a happy purchase for Faventinus, allowing him to benefit from an implied connection to the first imperial house. The Julio-Claudians famously claimed descent from both Mars, via Rhea Silvia, and Venus, the divine ancestress of the Julian line.
@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.socialSep 5, 2026, 2:52 PM

Hello, mother. #SarcophagusSaturday in the #VaticanMuseums brings us this #sarcophagus, famous from the #Renaissance onward, which shows the tragedy of #Orestes as a metaphor for suffering and redemption, with a structural surprise hidden in the #relief. #AncientBluesky 🏺

ORESTES SARCOPHAGUS, C. 140 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS This marble sarcophagus front depicts the myth of Orestes carved in high relief. The scene shows the hero avenging his father by slaying his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Though seemingly too brutal for a tomb, Romans viewed his ultimate absolution as a salvific metaphor for the soul achieving divine purification and peace after earthly suffering. Displayed for centuries in the Aracoeli sacristy before passing to the Barberini and then Clement XIV, its accessible figures deeply influenced Renaissance artists. Beyond the narrative, the composition reveals a sophisticated geometry. The standing figures at the corners and centre act as vertical supports, while the sweeping arcs of drapery and the slumped bodies of the slain form two distinct drooping swags. This underlying structure transforms the scene into a hidden garland sarcophagus, proving how deeply established that rhythmic format was in Roman workshops.