COPENHAGEN, DENMARK—Science Nordic reports that a tiny bronze sculpture discovered by a metal detectorist on the Danish island of Falster has been identified as an image of Silenus, the companion and tutor of the wine god Dionysus, by experts at the National Museum of Denmark. The finely detailed figure depicts an elderly, bearded, balding man with thick lips and a plump nose that was originally a fitting from the headrest of a Roman dining couch, or a lectus tricliniaris. Such a bust of Silenus would have been paired with a figure of a mule’s head, since Silenus was often shown inebriated and carried by others or hanging over the back of a mule. The fitting may have come to Denmark on a Roman lectus tricliniaris, but it probably arrived as a loose object through trade, as a war trophy, or a gift. To read about a depiction of the god Silenus in one of the most famous works of ancient Roman art, go to "Saving the Villa of the Mysteries."
2,000-Year-Old Roman Decoration Found in Denmark
News January 21, 2015
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2024
Black Magic Seeds
Off the Grid May/June 2024
Lixus, Morocco
Letter from Rome January/February 2024
Secrets of the Catacombs
A subterranean necropolis offers archaeologists a rare glimpse of the city’s early Jewish community
-
Features November/December 2014
The Neolithic Toolkit
How experimental archaeology is showing that Europe's first farmers were also its first carpenters
(Courtesy Rengert Elburg, Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen) -
Features November/December 2014
The Ongoing Saga of Sutton Hoo
A region long known as a burial place for Anglo-Saxon kings is now yielding a new look at the world they lived in
(© The Trustees of the British Museum/Art Resource) -
Letter From Montana November/December 2014
The Buffalo Chasers
Vast expanses of grassland near the Rocky Mountains bear evidence of an extraordinary ancient buffalo hunting culture
(Maria Nieves Zedeño) -
Artifacts November/December 2014
Ancient Egyptian Ostracon
(Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL, UC15946)