MarsyasANCIENT_Capitoline

Statue of Marsyas about to be flayed, Roman copy of a Hellenistic original (perhaps from 4th century BC), Pavonzetto marble, about 2.7 meters tall; found (1876) on the Esquiline Hill in Rome near the ancient Auditorium of Maecenas, now curated at the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Musei Capitolini, Rome, inv. no. MC1077.

The agony of Marsyas is evident on dramatic sculpture. Marsyas sculptures were often appropriated by early Christians who apparently saw depictions of Christ's crucifixion or at least an iconic foreshadowing of it.

Although the Capitoline sculpture lacks it, Marsyas originally was displayed with a pendant sculpture of his flayer, the Scythian slave tasked by Apollo to cut the skin off the impertinent satyr. In and individual sculpture meant to be displayed together but later separated, the Uffizi Knife Grinder sharpens his knife while looking up at his victim. The two personages were probably displayed so as to make eye contact. This is apparent in the Metropolitan Sarcophagus fragment (3rd Century).

The present sculpture, though fractured and restored, seems to depict the gruesome removal of Marsyas' skin in the luscious purple-hued Pavonzetto marble chosen for a, no doubt, elite application. The archaeological data of the Auditorium Maecenatis fits the chronologically possible ownership of Maecenas; but the sumptuous nymphaeum just outside the Severan Walls got its name in the 19th century without certain evidence.