Vatican Museums

Supplement 4 to the Bollettino dei Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie (Bulletin of Monuments, Museums and Pontifical Galleries), available in English and dedicated to the collection of funerary portraits from the ancient city of Palmyra, an archaeological site of global importance. Conserved in the Vatican since 1999, until now the collection in its entirety has never been the object of a publication.
This volume, accompanied by several colour images, is the result of long research conducted as part of an important international project conceived by the University of Aarhus and dedicated to Palmyrene funerary sculptures, the Palmyra Portraits Project.

The data gathered enabled the funerary reliefs to be analysed from multiple points of view, and the customs and traditions of the ancient Syrian city to be reconstructed.
The thirteen portraits, most of which form part of a donation by Federico Zeri, provide recurrent thematic and stylistic elements, observed here in depth and relocated within the field of traditional Roman portraiture, while highlighting interesting new aspects.
The catalogue of works provides technical notes including the transcript and translation of the inscriptions, one hitherto unpublished, as well as a detailed description of each portrait.