Husillos sarcophagus

A very dynamic piece carefully carved in Rome, this was imported to Spain to hold the remains of an important Hispano-Roman leader. The sarcophagus is decorated with different scenes from the Oresteia, narrated by Aeschylus and Euripides, where the main theme is the matricide committed by Orestes. In the centre are depictions of Orestes and his friend Pylades with drawn swords, after having killed the two lovers. The palace nurse, overcome with fear, covers her eyes to avoid seeing the double crime. On the right, a slave hides from the bloodshed behind a stool, while the Erinyes or Furies haunt Orestes with torturous pangs of remorse. On the left end, three Erinyes sleep on Agamemnon’s burial ground. On the opposite end, Orestes, dodging a sleeping Fury, heads to Apollo’s sanctuary in Delphi to be cleansed of his crime. On the left side, the scene shows the Athenian court of Areopagus, where Athena uses her vote to sway the result of the trial in favour of Orestes. The sarcophagus was held at the Collegiate Church of Santa María de Defesa Brava in Husillos until it was moved to the National Archaeological Museum in 1870.