The Niobids and the Augustan Age: On Some Recent Discoveries at Ciampino (Rome)

The Niobid statuary group, discovered during the excavations in Ciampino,
Rome, represents a turning point in the artistic representation of the myth.
Through the study of technical, stylistic, and iconographic references, it is possible
to date these discoveries to the first years of the Augustan principate. On
the basis of this date, the Ciampino find may be the oldest known attestation
of this ensemble in its entirety.
The theme of hybris punished, as represented in the myth of Niobe and her
children, relates closely to the ideology of Augustus. If the owner of the villa in
Ciampino was in fact Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, as we are tentatively
assuming, then Ovid, who was a member of Messalla’s circle, may have actually
seen these statues and perhaps even have drawn inspiration from them.