By Anthony Bonanno
This article deals with a rectangular slab of white marble with a simple scene showing three male standing figures carved in very shallow relief against a neutral plain background. It was discovered somewhere within the confines of the ancient city of Melite, probably in the late 19th or early 20th century. The figured scene has always been associated with some Homeric theme or other, but lately a claim has been made that it represents a Mithraic cult scene. The following text intends to discuss this claim and provide a detailed analysis of the scene supported by detailed photographic images.
Keywords: Roman, Malta, sculpture, Iliad, Dolon
Discovery of Greco‐Roman sculptures and their local provenance
The stretch of land that in antiquity was occupied by Melite, the main urban settlement of the island of Malta,(1) has over the last five centuries yielded a substantial number of pieces of ancient sculpture.(2) The earliest of such finds we know of is that of the enigmatic draped statue of a female figure, probably a goddess manifesting multiple syncretic values, described and illustrated by Giovanni Francesco Abela in his monumental description of Malta published in 1647 (Abela 1647, 31-32: text and engraving).(3) Since then, many other finds of ancient sculpture have been made, some of which were illustrated mainly by visiting travellers, foremost among them, the French painter and engraver Jean-Pierre Houël (1787).(4) But the most important discovery of Roman sculpture remains that of 1881, consisting of fragments of at least seven different portrait statues, the main ones representing Emperor Claudius and members of the imperial family. They were discovered within the precincts of a large and stately Roman domus, but the precise find spot for the individual pieces is nowhere reported (Caruana 1881).(5) An additional statue belonging to the same cycle came to light during further excavations conducted by Temi Zammit in 1921-24 in the area immediately to the north of the peristyle of the domus (Zammit 1924, 7). The whole cycle has been published in Bonanno (2018). During the same excavation campaigns Zammit came across a bearded head, broken from a marble statuette, which he identified as Hades (Zammit 1925, 4), and which has more recently been attributed to Herakles (Bonanno 2010-2011).
Although incontestable and specific evidence of provenance of the relief slab is not available, circumstantial evidence suggests that it was found in the Rabat area that formed an integral part of the ancient city of Melite (Fig. 1). The first description of it, duly accompanied by a photograph, was published by Temi Zammit (1934). Zammit referred to its generic discovery ‘in Malta’ and its recent (‘lately’) acquisition by the Valletta Museum. He interpreted the figured scene as ‘the execution of an Asiatic prisoner’.(6) However, we find an earlier and more cryptic mention of ‘a slab representing in high relief some warriors, probably Greek or Roman, found near Saura Hospital, Rabato, Notabile’ among other antiquities in the private collection of a Mr Sant Fournier. The latter must have been the owner of the land on which that hospital was built because in his collection there was also a Roman statera that had been retrieved from ‘under the foundations of Saura Hospital’ in 1855 (Caruana 1882, 116). Although there are no other known sculptured slabs that might fit with Caruana’s description, this scanty mention, particularly its reference to ‘high relief’, does not fit with the slab in question, even less so if we are to take the words ‘lately discovered’ in the title of Zammit’s article at face value. The mention of ‘warriors’ also brings to mind another marble slab that formed part of a private collection housed in Villa Apap in St George’s Bay in the 1930s (Ugolini 1935-1936), but it also does not tally with Caruana’s relief slab because it was, in fact, part of a group of sculptures bought by the owner of the Villa in 1910 from an antiquarian who had imported them to Malta from Tunisia (Ugolini 1935-1936, 463, fig. 1).(7)
After Zammit’s short article, a comprehensive scholarly edition of the relief slab was published by the Italian archaeologist P. C. Sestieri who correctly identified the scene as representing the ambush and execution of Dolon, and dated it to the first century AD (1937). The majority of later writers agreed with Sestieri’s identification and date, including the present writer.(8) Others opted for other Homeric episodes and/or dates.(9) The exception is C. Sagona who sees a ‘Mithraic initiation scene’ (2009, 13-15, fig. 3; 2015, 285-90, fig. 8.5, no. 1).
Description
The art object in question consists of a thin rectangular slab of white marble,(10) with one side carved in very low relief displaying an action scene consisting of three male standing figures (Fig. 1a). The opposite side is left with a rough surface but with a 2 cm-wide lowered margin on the two lateral sides and still carrying faint traces of plaster (Fig. 1c). The slab survives in relatively good condition, but both lower corners are broken. Two small horizontal holes (4 mm in diameter) have been drilled in the thickness of the left vertical side (Fig. 1b); in the one on the opposite side traces of a metallic dowel remain (Fig. 1d). This might indicate that the slab was attached to some architectural feature, for example, to cover a space of the same size in a wall. Alternatively, it might possibly have been attached to other slabs of the same size to form a frieze. Two other round holes perforate the thickness of the slab right through, the larger one between the shins of the central figure, the smaller one below the left knee of the figure on the right. A curved cut is also noted just above the chipped lower right corner.
The Scene
Three figures are carved in very low relief on a plain, neutral background: two armed warriors in heroic nudity flanking a shorter young man in a distinctive oriental costume.
The warrior on the left, the seemingly senior one, is shown in profile to right, with the upper torso and right leg facing the spectator. He is bearded and wears an unusual plumed version of a ‘Corinthian’ helmet without cheek guards (Fig. 2) as well as a very short mantle of apparently animal skin whose ends are joined by a knot on the right shoulder and which covers only half of his chest. In his right hand he brandishes a very short sword and with his left hand grabs one of the hanging flaps of the ‘Phrygian’ cap of the central oriental figure.
The latter is portrayed in movement to the left but turns his face back to the warrior on the right so that it appears distorted in an attempted three-quarter view (Fig. 3). Apart from the ‘Phrygian’ cap, he is wearing a typically ‘Asiatic’ tight fitting costume that covers his whole body, including the arms and legs and, on top of it, a loose-hanging cloak held by clasps on the shoulders. While he stretches his right arm toward the warrior on the left, his left forearm is hidden behind his back.
The younger-looking warrior on the right is clean-shaven and armed with a spear and a small round shield (Fig. 4), held together by his left arm, while with his right fist he grasps what looks like a rope coming out from behind the central figure. He wears a slightly different version of a ‘Corinthian’ helmet and a short chlamys that flutters behind him. He is shown almost completely frontal, with a slight bend of the upper torso to his left, but turns his head in profile towards the prisoner.
The Theme
Soon after it was acquired by the National Museum of Malta in 1934, this relief was interpreted as representing the ceremonial execution of an Asiatic prisoner, such as that of Trojan prisoners sacrificed on the tomb of Patroclos (Zammit 1934, 157). P.C. Sestieri’s interpretation, three years later, brought it, more convincingly, but still within the Homeric saga of the Iliad, to the capture and slaughter of Dolon by Odysseus and Diomedes, as narrated in Book 10 of that epic poem (1937, 28-29).(11) According to the original text Dolon in that episode was supposed to be disguised in a wolf ‘s skin;(12) so his Asiatic garb in this version seems to be intended to emphasise the alien, non-Greek identity in contrast to the Greek heroic nudity of the perpetrators. The scene fits much better with the Dolon ambush episode than with the murders of two other young Trojans, namely, Astyanax and Troilos, on the basis of circumstantial details. Astyanax, the son of Hector and Andromache, was still a child when he was discovered hiding in his father’s tomb and, according to most versions of the legend, thrown down from the fortification walls of Troy. Troilus was also a Trojan prince, one of the sons of Hecuba, queen of Troy, from her husband king Priam (or, according to another version, Apollo). When still a boy, he was ambushed and killed by Achilles while he was fetching water from a fountain.(13)
The story of the ambush and slaughter of Dolon, sometimes referred to as the ‘Doloneia’, is based on a self-contained episode in the tenth book of the Iliad and taken up and incorporated by the Greek tragedian Euripides in the play attributed to him, titled Rhesus. The episode is essentially a spy story. Briefly, Dolon, the son of a rich Trojan herald, offers to spy on the Greek camp wearing a wolf skin and a leather cap. Meanwhile, on the Greek side, Diomedes and the crafty Odysseus volunteer to conduct a spying expedition to the Trojan lines. They set a trap on Dolon who falls an easy prey and soon breaks down and discloses a number of military secrets to the Greek warriors who, in turn, show no hesitation to dispose of him there and then.
Sestieri seems to be also correct on the derivation of the composition from some other figurative work of art rather than directly from the literary tradition from which it differs in a number of details. Even more estranged from the literary tradition is the same scene represented taking place in the presence of goddess Athena on a Campanian bell-shaped krater attributed to the Dirce painter (c. 380-350 BC) from the Necropoli del Fusco in Syracuse (Forti 1970, 12, fig. 11; LIMC III,1: 662; III, 2, 528, no 17). In it Dolon is completely nude, except for his shoes and the characteristic ‘Phrigian’ cap, and is half-kneeling with hands tied behind his back. Of the two Greek heroes, the one on the left holds Dolon by the cap with his left hand and brandishes the sword in his right, very much as in the Malta relief, while the other one attacks the prisoner from behind, even though the two are interchanged. The two Greek warriors are naked except for the chlamys in both scenes. In this respect it is possible that a scene represented on a bronze cist (Br. 638) of the British Museum shows the same theme, but the context of the rest of the illustration suggests the sacrifice of Trojan prisoners on the tomb of Patroclos (Dohrn 1973, 1-34, pls 1-5).
Given all the above iconographic features, especially the nudity of the armed warriors, as well as the cited comparanda, it is difficult to conceive how the scene could in any way be connected with Mithras, as posited by C. Sagona in two of her works, including a short monograph on the presumed cult of Mithras in Malta (2009, 13-15, fig. 3; 2015, 287, 289, fig. 8.5, no 1).(14) Apart from the architectural layout of the rock-cut sanctuary at Wardija ta’ San Ġorġ in Gozo,(15) which manifests some vague similarities with that of most Mithraea, many of Sagona’s iconographic and archaeological associations with Mithras fit equally well, if not better, with Punic religious and funerary paraphernalia, as well as those of other Roman cults of oriental origin, like that of Attis. Limiting oneself to the item under examination in this article, there is absolutely no possibility of seeing any connection with a Mithraic initiation rite, as suggested by Sagona. In most surviving representations of the god Mithras, he is admittedly shown wearing the typical oriental garb and hat, but in the act of slaughtering a bull, often flanked by similarly clothed assistants (named Cautes and Cautopates) holding long lit torches (Fig. 7), but certainly not naked male warriors holding weapons.
Artistic Merits
The shape and size of the slab, the roughly chiselled surface of its back which preserves some traces of plaster, as well as its style, suggest that it was used as a household piece of decoration, inserted in a wall, like several similar slabs, admittedly showing different subjects, discovered in Pompeii.(16) Some slabs preserved in the Magazzino of the Vatican Museum, again displaying different scenes, seem to have had a similar function (Kaschnitz -Weinberg 1936-37: 189-92, 195, nos. 417-18, 424, 426, 434, pls. 77-79.(17)
The faces of the sculpted figures seem to be intended to emanate diverse expressions: of irony and even cool disdain in the warrior of the right, of surprise and anxiety in the prisoner at the centre and one of determination in the warrior on the left. The end result, however, is that this attempt appears forced and not quite successful. The treatment of the faces and bare body parts is somewhat sketchy and dry with some details, such as the eyes and hands, suggesting an unfinished, or unpolished, work rather than resulting from wear or mechanical erosion. The drapery shows greater sensitivity and ability of execution even if subjected to a degree of convention and schematism.
The flat, often summary treatment of the figures and the lack of fresh inspiration that is so evident in this marble betray a product of a mediocre, provincial or second-rate Roman marble carving workshop. Indeed, Sestieri assigns it to Greek art (based on the origin of the marble), but from the Roman period, more precisely to the second half of the first century AD, based on the style of the figures (1937, 43). A relief in the same, but not so summary, style appears on the left short side of an Amazon sarcophagus in the Liebieghaus Museum in Frankfurt, dated to the first half of the 3rd c. AD (Eckstein & Beck 1973, no 69).
Although it can be argued that the shallowness of relief on its own does not warrant a 1st c. AD date, the total absence of the use of the running drill suggests it, even though a 4th c. AD date has also been posited (Rumpf 1937).
Significance for Malta’s cultural history
The presence of this piece of figurative art in ancient Melite contributes significantly to the overall impression that this urban centre, like its counterpart for Gaulos, did not miss out on a certain degree of cultural attainment, on a par with certain provincial urban communities overseas. Witness the very high quality of the imperial sculpture retrieved from them, as well as a small number of isolated finds relating to the current religious iconography of a domestic nature, like the head of a veiled statuette of Hercules from the grounds just outside the Roman domus.
Outside the urban contexts of Melite and Gaulos the Maltese countryside has rarely produced any art products, except for a few marble pieces from the sanctuary of Juno at Tas-Silġ in Malta, two female marble statuettes from the Żejtun area (close to Tas-Silġ) that await a proper study and publication, and the missing sculptures from the Roman villa of Ramla Bay, Gozo. One still hopes that, with the increasingly greater awareness of the potential artistic treasures still hidden under Maltese soil and the increasing meticulous and exhaustive monitoring activity of excavation involved in construction works, this unsatisfactory picture will progressively improve.
Acknowledgements
The work on this article was conducted with the assistance of several libraries and institutions. I am grateful to the University of Malta and its academic and administrative staff for providing conducive environments for study and research, as well as financial resources. I am indebted to the staff of the University of Malta Library and to the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library for their help whenever it was needed, as well as to the reviewers of this article for their comments. Special thanks are due to Heritage Malta, in particular Sharon Sultana and Franceen Galea, for facilitating autoptic access to, and photography of, the Roman sculpture in its reserve collections.
Anthony Bonanno
Department of Classics and Archaeology
University of Malta
MSIDA MSD 2080
Malta
[email protected]
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Anthony BONANNO is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology and a Senior Fellow at the University of Malta. Having previously headed the Department of Classics and Archaeology, he has lectured and published extensively on Maltese prehistory and Mediterranean archaeology. His primary research interests include prehistoric Malta, Mediterranean island cultures and Roman art and archaeology, with a particular focus on Roman sculpture within the Maltese Islands and the broader Roman Empire.
Notes
- For the general layout and topography of ancient Melite, see Bonanno (1998; 2005, 245-4).
- A catalogue raisonné of the Greco-Roman sculpture in the national collections of antiquities of the Maltese islands, including the ones of documented local provenance, is currently in the process of being compiled online by the present writer for easier and wider access (https://classicalsculpture/heritagemalta.org/five- columns-grid-2/).
- Illustrated and discussed in Bonanno (2020). The only earlier writer to focus attention on Maltese antiquities before Abela, the French cleric Jean Quintin (1536), did not mention any statuary or other sculpture.
- Most of his illustrations of Maltese antiquities, including sculpture, were published in monochrome lithographs in volume 4 of his Voyage Pittoresque, but many of the original drawings and coloured gouaches are preserved in the Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg. (https://picryl.com/topics/ paintings+by+jean+houel+in+the+hermitage/ drawings+of+malta).
- It has been mooted that the fragments were brought there from elsewhere, destined for the lime kiln for the production of lime (Wilson 2023, 216-17). This remains a possibility, but no corroborating proof has been brought forward.
- The ‘One marble bas-relief (Roman Period)’ in the list of accessions made by the Museum Department for the year 1933-1934 (Zammit 1934a, M5) quite certainly refers to the same slab.
- Apart from one of the illustrated items in this article, the inscribed stele, which was seen by the present writer in a private collection in Gozo in the 1970s, the whereabouts of the rest of the Apap collection are unknown.
- Such as: Pietrangeli (1942, 7): ‘uccisione di Dolone’; Gallet de Santerre (1956, 229-34, pl. 1); Meschini (1960, 163): ‘Doloneia. La stessa scena su un sarcofago clazomenico di Berlino’; Bonanno (1971, 213-18); Bonanno (2005, 6); Bonanno (n.d).
- Including (Rumpf 1937, 406, pl. 58, 2): 4th c. AD; Bulas (1950, 115): death of Astyanax, 1st c. AD; Brommer (1983, pl. 3a): 3rd-4th c. AD; Touchefeu (1984, 935): ‘death of Dolon unacceptable, death of Astyanax unlikely, death of Troilos a possibility’; Williams (1986, 662): supports Touchefeu’s Astyanax.
- National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta. Inv. no. 102012. The marble is fine-grain, identified as ‘Pentelic’ by Sestieri (1937, 21); followed by Touchefeu (1984, 935) who might not have seen the slab itself. Dimensions: H. 43 cm; L. 49 cm; Th. (slab) 3.2 cm; Max. Th. (including relief) 0.7 cm.
- On Dolon and the respective Homeric episode see Wagner (1903, cols 1287-88); Meschini (1960, 163-64); Williams (1986: 660-64). The ‘Doloneia’ has been the object of a long and intricate philological discussion among scholars as to its relation to the whole Homeric epic (Tsagalis 2024) and as to who of the two heroes actually dispatched Dolon (see, for example, Stagakis 1987). However, as the subject illustrated by our relief slab is limited to the instance of the capture of the Trojan victim, the reader may well be spared the intricacies of that controversy.
- As in the Ilias Ambrosiana (Bianchi Bandinelli 1955, pl. 1, figs 35, 36, 70); (Fig. 5) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Ambrosian_Iliad#/media/ File:AmbrosianIliadPicXXXIVCaptureDolon.jpg), and on the red-figure krater by the Dolon Painter in the British Museum illustrated by Stenico (1960, 163-64), and in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (henceforth LIMC) 3,2: 527 (Fig. 6).
- See LIMC under the respective lemmata.
- Reviewed by A. Klingenberg (http://hsozkult.geschichte.huberlin.de/rezensionen/2011-2-149.pdf), and A. Bonanno (2021) respectively. For the oriental (Iranian) origins and diffusion of the cult of Mithras, as well as his iconography see Vermaseren (1963).
- A different part of this sanctuary (the ‘temple’ structure at the bottom end of the terraced rock-cut complex) has recently been identified with a temple of the Punic goddess Ashtart, on mainly epigraphic grounds (Spagnoli 2022; 2023).
- See, for example, Spinazzola (1928, pls. 70-75); Sogliano (1907, 558-61, figs. 8-11); and Pailler (1971). Some of these rectangular marble slabs, precisely the ones with relief decoration on both sides, were intended as oscilla, like the Gozo oscillum (Bonanno n.d.). The ones carved only on one side were obviously not. Spinazzola (1928, xxv, no 54) thought that some of these reliefs blocked ventilation apertures or small niches in the walls, such as the one found in situ in the House of the Golden Cupids, also illustrated in Pailler (1971, fig. 2); but the general view is that these ‘plaques’ or ‘pinakes’ were intended to be placed on top of small, low columns in the gardens of houses (Pailler 1971, 129, 134).
- No. 484 displays the same treatment of both the drapery and the naked body parts as in the Malta slab.
Malta Archaeological Review 2026, issue 14, https://doi.org/10.46651/mar.2026.1
Received: 14 April 2025 | Accepted: 22 May 2025 | Published online: 20 May 2026
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