Roman Sarcophagi in Cisalpine Gaul: The Cases of Ticinum and Mediolanum, New Analyses, and some Considerations on the Chaîne de Production

Sidonius Apollinaris (Epistulae 1, 5, 3–5) recalls his trip on the Po river from Ticinum to Ravenna on board a cursoria navis, a boat used for the postal service and for passenger transport, calling at the ports of Cremona and Brixellum. In the sixth century AD, Stephanus Byzantinus, lexicographer, writes, s. v. Teikinos, “city of Italy next to Ravenna”. This (apparently) surprising lemma testifies to recollection of the unity of the Po valley through the medium of its river and represents our starting point to advance a series of considerations concerning the relations intercurring between Ticinum and Ravenna, located at a distance of about 300 km from each other, during the Roman Imperial period, especially in the Late Empire. We will focus on sarcophagi which might document the presence in Ticinum of both imports from Ravenna and local imitations from local materials. New analyses carried out on several Tabernakelsarkophagen in the Cisalpine area, specifically in Mediolanum, allow us to hypothesise the existence of a workshop in the Tetrarchic capital city, which translated Ravenna models in Proconnesian marble into local stones, adapting them to the needs and to the means of the local elites. The general picture which seems to emerge is of an imposing commercial network, able to join the Adriatic Sea with the heart of the Po plain, whose artistic outcomes represent an ideal starting point for methodological reflections on Roman sculpture.