I found this little bit of engraving interesting. I think it depicts sirens, in a sort of middling incarnation between their original depiction as birds with large heads, scaly feet, and manes like lions; and their later depiction as beautiful women or even mermaids. They could also be harpies, but I sense an ocean theme and thus favor the idea of sirens.

I didn't get a picture of the sign accompanying this statue, but the beard, the club, and the furry thing (a lion's skin) over his shoulder mark him as Heracles (or Hercules). I suspect this is a statue from the Flavian period, around the 1st century AD, because the hair is highly stylized, which was popular during that time. Somehow, I seemed to have learned something about Roman art. Heracles was the ultimate Greek hero. Collectively, the stories about him symbolize the victory of mankind over the forces of nature, usually taking the form of terrible monsters in the stories. The Romans called him Hercules, but generally adopted the Greek stories about him. Despite being the archetypical man's man he is also depicted playing games and enjoying playing with children. Legends of him exist in some form or another in nearly every culture in the region. The Etruscans called him Hercle. Unlike other warrior-heroes, though, no grave nor legend of a grave exists for him, and he was treated more like a deity by the people of the region. Israeli historians of the time note a king of Argos by the name of Hercules, just before the time of the Trojan war. Hercules is best known, of course, for his Twelve Labors, and perhaps second best for sailing with Jason and the Argonauts. Not all the stories about him were particularly nice, however. He was prone to fits of murderous rage - in fact, the Twelve Labors were an atonement for killing his first three children in such an incident. Being a Greco-Roman ideal of masculinity, Heracles had countless other children (60 that were noted and probably many more), four wives, and countless male lovers. Some of these male lovers are noted by name, and show up here and there in the legends. It is unusual in that this statue has retained its penis... or at least, it has one. A few of the statues with penises have a distinct seam in the groin, as though the penis had been knocked off and then replaced.

We did find a room with several penii in a display case. Perhaps these were some of the parts that are missing off of the other statues? The interesting factoid here is that the Romans saw a long, slender foreskin as the primary desirable feature of a penis. Indeed, most of the extant penii that we saw embodied this trait.

This is one of the more remarkable statues in the collection. It was found during the excavations for the Hotel Medici in 1906. It is called the Niobide Ferita, or "Wounded Niobid." The legend is that Niobe had fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters. She made the mistake of boasting to the gods that she was better than Leto, a goddess, because the goddess had only two children. The gods punished her boasting by striking down all fourteen sons and daughters (although in some versions of the legend, one or more of them survive). The statue depicts the death of one of the women, her beautiful body exposed as she tries to pull the arrow from her back. The statue is from 440 BC. Clearly the Romans already had excellent artistic skill by this time, although most of the great developments of Roman civilization were still in the future.

Ace in front of a Aphrodite pudica or modest Aphrodite. Aphrodite was the Greek name for Venus, the goddess of love. Statues of this type were extremely common - the depiction of Aphrodite as though she was caught unawares in her nudity, modestly trying to cover herself. The Greeks often referred to Aphrodite in two separate forms - Aphrodite Urania, born of blood and sea foam and representing the love of the mind and heart; and Aphrodite Pandemos, born of Zeus and Dione and representing the more physical love and desire. The blood in the sea-foam story came from the dismembered genitals of Uranus, cut off by Cronus. Dione means simply Goddess and probably traces back to the religion of the people before the Romans. Zeus was probably added to the story later on. In contrast to our modern ideas, the Aphrodite of higher love is associated with homosexual love, considered the highest ideal in Roman society; and the Aphrodite of physical lust associated with heterosexual love. Aphrodite herself is often depicted as vain, jealous, tempermental, and fickle. Many stories are of her causing great trouble, such as the Trojan war. Since the match which struck the fire of the Trojan war was, according to Homer, Paris's affair with Helen, there is likely some metaphorical truth to this myth. There is no doubt that the less noble aspects of love and desire have been the cause of much human strife, so it is no wonder that its goddess is depicted thus too. The modest Aphrodite is believed to be the invention of the sculptor Praxiteles in 350 BC. He created a marble Aphrodite which was a masterpiece of beauty, even among its peers. He placed Aphrodite's hands so, both decorously covering and at once drawing attention to the power of this goddess of love and desire. The style has been copied in depictions of Aphrodite ever since. This one is from the 1st century BC. The original modest Aphrodite was destroyed in a fire in Constantinople in 450 AD.

Nike Sacraficing a Bull - the first depictions of this sort can be found at the Acropolis, c. 420 BC. Nike was the goddess of Victory, the child of the Warrior (Pallas) and Hatred (Styx). She has little history or personality in Greek and Roman mythology, seen mostly as an aspect of Athena. She is depicted mainly in conjunction with Athena, and otherwise she is shown in activities symbolic of victory - erecting trophies or leading bulls to sacrafice. Animal sacrafice was common at various points in Greek and Roman history, and a bull was considered the ulitmate sacrafice. Aspects of this scene and the tauroctonies of Mithracism interwove with one another over time, although it is notable that Mithras is always shown looking away from the bull, as though sorrowed or ashamed by its death, while Nike shows no such aversion.