Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
The Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus (more properly called the Statuary group base of Domitius Ahenobarbus) is a series of four sculpted marble plaques that probably decorated a base supporting cult statues in the cella of a Temple of Neptune located in Rome on the Field of Mars. The frieze is dated to the end of the second century BC, which makes it the second oldest Roman bas-relief currently known. However, there is also a contemporaneous relief depicting a Roman naval bireme with armed marines, from a temple of Palestrina built c. 120 BC. The sculpted panels are still visible today, with one portion on display at the Louvre (Ma 975) and another at the Glyptothek in Munich (Inv. 239). A copy of this second piece can be seen at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Context The base was found in the Temple of Neptune built near the Circus Flaminius, by the Field of Mars. Remains of this temple may have recently been discovered under the church of Santa Maria in Publicolis, but their identification remains uncertain. History Antiquity The reliefs seem to have been produced during the construction of a Temple of Neptune on the Field of Mars. A general,