Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)

Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

As soon as he took power, the emperor Augustus set in motion a program aimed at restoring the time-honored values of virtue, honor, and piety. Religious cults were revived, temples were built, public ceremonies and sacrifices filled the calendar. Men of every rank chose to be portrayed in the act of pious sacrifice. The popular type of sculpture seen here showed young boys who served as acolytes at religious ceremonies. The identification of this figure as a camillus, an attendant at sacrifices who was chosen from the noblest families, is based on comparisons with other stages and reliefs, most notably those of the famous monument, the Ara Pacis of Augustus. According to Roman tradition, a camillus had to be below the age of puberty, and both parents must be alive. This statue may have been dedicated at a sanctuary by the boy’s parents, in recognition of his service to the gods. Alternatively, its refined decorative qualities may signal its use as an adornment within a religious precinct, for instance in a dining room for priests. The figure’s eyes are inlaid with silver, the lips with copper, and the tunic with strips of copper to suggest woven or embroidered bands of color. He likely held ritual objects such as a container for incense in his left hand and a jug for wine or a ladle in his right.


Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte)

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.