88. Fragment of relief with flying Victory.

The fragment is bordered above by a narrow flat moulding and below by a leaf ornament (cyma reversa). The relief shows the larger part of a flying goddess of victory (Victoria). She is wearing a peplos with large buttons at the shoulders. Over the peplos she wears a mantle. The garment clings to the body, and the folds are rendered with sharp edges. The feathers of the wings are not rendered in any detail but roughly marked by contours and single strokes of the chisel. A drilled hole in her right fist shows that she once held the rod of a cavalry standard (vexillum) or a trophy (tropaeum). She is turning her head to the left.

The trapezoidal form of the relief, and the curved underside show that the relief once decorated the left spandrel of an arch.

E. Paribeni suggested that the Victory came from The Parthian Arch of Augustus in the Forum Romanum from 19 B.C., the foundations of which were excavated in the 1950s. The dimensions of the relief fit well with the Parthian Arch, but stylistically the rendering of the face, the drapery, the details of the wings and the execution of the cyma reversa are not in accordance with the Augustan style. Recently, N. Hannestad has argued convincingly that the relief is not Augustan, but belongs to the repairs to the original relief decoration carried out some time in late Antiquity.
Rome. 3rd century A.C.(?).

I.N. 842.
Marble.
H. 1.12; th. max. 0.15; w. max. 1.43.

The curved underside is broken. Substantial damage along the upper edge. Minor damage on the surface and the other edges. The tip of the nose of the Victory is missing. Acquired 1889 in Rome. Found in the vicinity of Castra Praetoria in 1886—87.