Ekphrasis 1: The Dying Gaul in the Capitoline Museums

In the Palazzo Nuovo of the Capitoline Museums, the sculpture that struck me most was the ‘Dying Gaul.’ Because most Hellenistic sculptural imitations are of upright gods and goddesses, the more horizontal pose of a clearly mortal man is unique. The anguish on his lowered face and his exasperated limbs are detectable even before getting a closer look at the mortal wound on his abdomen. When seen up close, the features are not classically Roman (especially the peculiar moustache) and one can assume that the depicted warrior is a foreigner and outsider of Rome. The soldier has abandoned his sheild and sword and understands that his fate is grim.  If the sculptor was a Roman himself, perhaps his subject’s defeat is representative of Rome’s military domination and expansion into neighboring regions. Aesthetically, the amount of detail and sense of emotion in features like the furrowed brow and clamped hands captures the tension of the scene. What would have been a fleeting moment in battle, a fleeting instant before death, is instead preserved poignantly in marble.