A Roman Marble Trapezophorus in the Form of a Barbarian Captive

Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.

Height 24 1/4 inches (62 cm).

Property from Mr. Radu Moldovan, Skokie, Illinois

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:

B.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.

Jonathan Piser, Chicago, Illinois and Mexico, acquired from the above in the 1970s.

Direct Auction Galleries, Chicago, Illinois, Sale 436, 14 July 2022, Part of Lot 2.

The inspiration for this sculpture likely comes from the series of bound Dacian captives that decorated Trajan’s Forum. The campaign took nearly 50,000 Dacians as slaves and was commemorated on a triumphal column. There the Dacians are depicted in submission and serve as a symbol of Rome’s expansion and imperial power.

The last king of Dacia, Decebalus, was a long-standing foe of Rome. In 101 A.D., Emperor Trajan led a major campaign in person to conquer the region. Trajan’s engineers constructed an impressive timber bridge over the Danube and the Emperor led his troops into Dacia quickly defeating Decebalus’ army. The two sides signed a peace treaty, but Decebalus couldn’t resist continuing to raid Roman territory. Soon war broke out again. The Dacians fought vigorously, but Trajan brought overwhelming force to bare employing no fewer than 13 legions. The Romans ground forward inexorable into Dacia eventually capturing the capital city. Decebalus fled with the Roman cavalry in hot pursuit. Finally, with Roman troopers closing in and his bodyguards slain, Decebalus took his own life.

With the death of Decebalus in 106 A.D., the Dacian Wars ended, and the Kingdom of Dacia was annexed and turned into a Roman province. These foreign conflicts resulted in changes to the physical landscape of Rome itself. Dacia was a region with abundant mineral resources and when Rome annexed it, they also took control of especially rich gold and silver mines. Ancient historians claim Trajan acquired nearly 550 tons of gold and silver from Decebalus’ treasury. Much of this staggering wealth was expended on spectacular building projects in Rome, the centerpiece of which was Trajan’s Forum.