letto funerario

This is a Roman funerary bed, a piece of furniture designed not for sleep, but for the long, still journey of the dead. Its Latin name, lectus funebris, belies a surprisingly ornate afterlife. The bed is amphikephalos, meaning it has two headboards, or fulcra, whose curved profiles frame the rectangular frame and four legs. The original wooden structure has been carefully restored.

At the tips of the fulcra, cast in the round, are mule-head protomes, their equine faces turned in realistic profile to regard the viewer. Ivy and vine leaves crown them, and their saddlecloths are sumptuously decorated with silver and copper inlay, one with a simple Greek key, the other with the same meander framed by a wave-and-triangle border. The fulcra’s medallions hold busts: one, a mature figure with flowing beard and thick hair, likely a god of the underworld, perhaps Hades, or Dionysus. The bed is a microcosm of Roman funerary art, blending everyday luxury with the profound mystery of what lies beyond.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.