monument of the Julii

The monument of the Julii, located in Saint-Rémy (Glanum), France, is a funerary monument that exemplifies late Republican narrative sculpture. Its base features four large reliefs depicting battle and hunt scenes. These scenes not only allude to the family's earthly accomplishments but also symbolize the souls of the deceased triumphing over death and evil. Figures of the departed merge with battle scenes, accompanied by personifications of death and victory. These reliefs may have been influenced by lost Hellenistic paintings, given southern Gaul's direct connections to Greek lands. Roman sculpture during this period was heavily influenced by Greek artistic traditions, with many leading artists being Greek. Roman art developed a distinct style characterized by realism, continuous narrative, and three-dimensional rendering, particularly in portraiture and relief work.1