Stesichorus at Bovillae?

Abstract

The termTabulae Iliacaeis conventionally applied to twenty low reliefs scattered through museums from Warsaw to New York. The common name conceals a bewildering artistic farrago: the earliestTabula, theTabula Iliaca Capitolina(1 A; Plate II; Fig. 3), is mid-Augustan (cf.p. 48), the latest (19J) late Antonine (Sadurska 94). Five of theTabulaebear the name Theodorus and I shall argue (p. 27) that he is the craftsman responsible for their execution. Where provenance is known, it is always Rome or the Roman Campagna. The materials of theTabulaevary widely: most, but not all, are of some sort of marble, white, yellow, and Giallo Antico (Sadurska 13). Little can be said of their size, for not one survives complete. It would appear, however, that the largest rectangularTabula, the calcite 1 A, was originallyc.25 cm by 42 cm (Sadurska 14). Two, portraying the Shield of Achilles, were circular (4N and 5O) and 5O may have had a radius of 20 cm (Sadurska 47). The nameIliacaeis appropriate only in as much as eleven out of twentyTabulaeportray episodes from theIliad(Sadurska 15 + 20Par.) and six the Sack of Ilium; others, however, represent (e.g.) Alexander's victory at Arbela and the apotheosis of Hercules. What theTabulaedo display in common is a combination of low reliefs in miniature and inscriptions, often extensive and not always on the same topic as the reliefs (see Plate II). In ancient art, only the Megarian bowls (cf.p. 47) stand comparison, and their ratio of text to illustration is substantially lower.

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