Éros, trapézophore et barbare de l’amphithéâtre de Metz-Divodurum
Résumé
The excavation conducted between 2006 and 2008, under the direction of F. Gama (INRAP), on the site of the future Pompidou museum of Metz, has revealed a private housing sector, as well as a part of the vast esplanade surrounding the amphitheater. Besides the architectural elements which compose the majority of the findings, three carved pieces belong to the decorative program of the entertainment building and its annexes. The first piece is a very fragmentary relief of Eros. The second one, leaning against a pillar topped by a high tablet, has all the morphological characteristics of the table legs’ devices or trapezophorum. It belongs to a small set of well-studied achievements from northern Italy, but which are still fairly identified in the provinces of Gaul. The Italian series reveal the iconographic diversity of decorative sculptures, which are either in marble or in limestone. However, they are less known in Gaul, where they remain insufficiently studied. The last piece, a bearded male head, belongs to a realization in high relief of a carved program attributed to the amphitheater.