Laudator Temporis Acti

Paul Zanker, Roman Art, tr. Henry Heitmann-Gordon (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010), p. 158:

However, the great majority of subjects chosen for representation, both on sarcophagi and on the walls of the burial chambers, were of a completely different nature. From the very beginning, what owners preferred were Dionysiac thiasoi or naked Nereids with their half-human lovers. The latter (tritons and sea-centaurs) woo the beautiful sea-nymphs, carry them on their backs, and serve them in every way they can. There are of course erotic connotations; the satyrs and maenads represent sheer joie de vivre and sensual pleasure. They dance and sport, lead a drunken Dionysus to a sleeping Ariadne, or accompany him on his triumphal return from India (Fig. 95). Dionysus with his gift of wine liberates human beings from the troubles and narrowness of their everyday lives. This is also why we need to understand the drunken figures in his thiasos as positive figures in this context. His friend Hercules, the satyrs, and old Papposilenus, who has to be supported on his mule to prevent him from falling off, are all images of a joyful lust for life, images that are common to both house and grave.

How should we interpret these images of pleasure and happiness in funerary contexts? It seems that people wanted to reassure each other in the face of death that life—this life—is beautiful and worth living, exactly in the sense of the motto carpe diem: use the time you have left; enjoy your days as well as you can; celebrate every day like a holiday, knowing that we all have to die.

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From Eric Thomson:

Your post reminded me of this Nereid sarcophagus in Cagliari: