Ludovisi Gaul

myminifactory

A standing male figure is depicted in the act of piercing his neck with a short sword while supporting a dying woman who falls forward beside him with his left hand. The two figures, easily recognizable due to their long curly hair and the woman's oriental style of dress, rest on typical Celtic arms: an oval shield and the scabbard of a sword. The interpretation of the two characters as Gauls (or Galatians), a Celtic people from Asia Minor, links his work to the famous sculpture of the Dying Gaul now housed in the Capitoline Museums. They could have both belonged to a single sculptural group, a marble replica of the original bronze by the renowned artist Epigonos, commissioned by King Attalus I to commemorate his triumph over the Gauls in 240 BC. The two sculptures, the Gaul killing himself and his wife and the dying Gaul, likely originated from the area surrounding the Villa Ludovisi where the gardens of Sallust were located during Roman times. The site of their discovery, situated near Caesar's residence, suggests that they are to be considered symbolic replicas commissioned by Caesar in remembrance of his victories over the Gauls, a Celtic people from the west.