Marcellus

myminifactory

This statue serves as a posthumous tribute to Marcellus, the nephew and son-in-law of Octavian Augustus, who had hoped to name him his successor before his untimely passing in 23 BC. Marcellus is depicted according to a Greek model dating back to the 5th century BC. A funeral stele erected on the tomb of heroes who fell at the Battle of Coronado in 447 BC commemorates this decisive victory won by the Boeotians, defenders of aristocracy, over the Athenians, champions of democratic governments. The heroic nudity and probable presence of a caduceus in Marcellus's left hand equate him with Hermes, god of travelers, due to his role as psychopomp, guiding souls into the underworld. A tortoise, signed by Athenian sculptor Cléoménès (son of Cléoménès), alludes to Hermes' invention of the lyre and serves as an emblem of Venus, referencing the legendary ancestry of the Julio-Claudian dynasty through Aeneas, son of Anchise and Venus. To promote Imperial propaganda, Emperor Octavius Augustus drew inspiration from 5th-century BC Athens, favoring a classical Greek style characterized by frontal vision and idealized bodily proportions, with athletic musculature animated by contrapposto. The face is also idealized to create a harmonious connection between the body of god and this earthly form.