Room with twisted Acanthus frieze

Part of a socle (floor level) frieze depicting twisted Acanthus stems.

This piece, decorated with twisted Acanthus stems emerging from a bush, was found in the Forum of Augustus. The fact that it is smaller than usual, that the decorative motif also appears on the left-hand side and that there is a casing or housing of some sort on its upper edge, that was probably designed to interlock with wall paneling made of marble strips, has resulted in the theory that it was actually part of a very large skirting board that ran around the bottom of a base made out of bricks or stone and faced with marble. It might have come from the altar situated on the steps leading to the Temple of Mars Ultor, or perhaps from the plinth bearing the statue of Augustus in a triumphal chariot pulled by four horses (quadriga), that sources describe in the centre of the Forum square.

From the Forum of Augustus
From the Julio-Claudian Era: first half of I century AD
Luna marble.
Reconstructed from two pieces that fit together: FA 72 - 73 

Sala con fregio a girali