Excavated Sarcophagus of Roman Girl, 1485

In 1485, just outside Rome along the Via Appia, a remarkable discovery was made: the preserved body of an ancient Roman girl was found. This caused a sensation. Humanists, who dreamed of encountering the ancients through texts, could now encounter one in the flesh. This drawing in Fonzio’s manuscript depicts the body, while his letter to a friend captures the wonder and uncanny sense of the past made present:  

Some workmen were digging out the foundation of tombs in search of marble on the Via Appia six miles out of Rome. They had destroyed an arch faced with brick on all sides some ten feet down when they came across a marble box. Opening it up, they found a corpse lying on its face, covered by a layer of fragrant bark two inches thick; all of the inside of the casket was likewise smeared with the same fragrant mixture like some sort of plaster. When this sweet smelling bark was removed, the girl’s face (to begin at the top) was rather pale and as if she had been buried that very day. Her hair, long and dark and firmly fixed to the scalp, was gathered in a knot and divided into twin tresses in girlish manner, all covered by a hairnet of silk interwoven with gold.
 
Then there appeared small ears, a short forehead, dark eyebrows, the eyes beneath shapely and bright. The nose was still intact, and so soft that if it was pressed by a finger it would flex and yield. The lips were a pale red, the teeth snow-white and small, the tongue from the roof of the mouth all scarlet. The cheeks, chin, and throat – you’d think they belonged to a living person. The arms hung down from the shoulders entire, and would followed wherever you led them. The hands were stretched out, the fingers rounded and tapering with translucent nails, and so firmly fixed that they could not be torn from the joints. Her breast, stomach and belly were equally broad, and appeared white when the fragrant bark was taken away. The nape of her neck, her back and buttocks retained their position and shape and graceful appearance. The beauty of her hips, thighs, shins, and feet likewise gave the impression of a living person.
 
In short, this girl who had lived when Rome was in its prime seemed as shapely as she was noble.
 

Credit: Oren Margolis (July 2018)