ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The Ludovisi Throne is a marble triptych dating back to 460-450 BC (although there are other hypotheses) and preserved in the Roman National Museum of Altemps Palace in Rome.

History and description
The work was found in Rome in 1887 during the construction of the Villa Ludovisi in the area corresponding to the ancient Horti Sallustiani, near the temple of Venus Ericina.

Single opera, without similar references, has been much discussed since its discovery due to the unusual form and the type of its relief. The fracture of the upper part does not allow to establish with certainty its original form and therefore its function. Some think it was part of the throne of a colossal statue of deities, perhaps Venus Ericina. Others believe it constituted the balustrade of a staircase, or even the upper part of an edifice or a temple.

Description
The bas-relief represents on the front a female figure dressed in chiton supported by two Horai who also support a light veil that in part hides the scene. On the right and left sides are represented two figures sitting on a pillow: on the left a naked girl (etera-ierodula) who plays the diaulos; on the right a woman (sacerdotessa-sposa) with chiton and mantle raised on the head that puts in a burningprofumes grani of incense taken from a pyxide. The work is dated to the 5th century BC, between 460 and 450 BC.

The most credited interpretation considers that the subject represents the birth of Venus (Aphrodite) from the sea's foam in Cyprus. Other scholars see you rather Persephone that dates back to the earth from the world of the Underworld.
The interpretation as the birth of Aphrodite is undoubtedly the most convincing, both for the presence of the Horais, and for the relationship with the figures of the lateral reliefs that represent the sacred and profane aspects of the essence of the cult of Aphrodite.

Many were the hypotheses on the destination of the work. Perhaps it was destined to furniture of a larger statue always dedicated to Venus. Some scholars, based on stylistic considerations and surprising analogies with the famous Locrese Pinakes of Mannella, indicated it as coming from the sanctuary of Aphrodite to Locri Epizefiri, in Calabria, in the Magno-Greek environment.

A fragment of pínax, a votive book in terracotta of 470-60 a. C. about found in the temple of Persephone in Contrada Mannella near Locri and currently in the National Museum of Magna Greece in Reggio Calabria, shows part of a female figure almost identical to one of the two women represented on the sides of the Ludovisi Throne.

Archaeologist Margherita Guarducci. suggested the fascinating hypothesis that interprets the throne Ludovisi as a kind of parapet mounted in front of the pit found in the temple in contrada Marasà (Locri Epizefiri), according to a sacred representation: once a year, on the occasion of the holidays on