Sime di coronamento con eroti alati su pantere e kantharos. Nuove attestazioni dall'area del santuario di Diana a Nemi

The group of so-called simae with a pair of panthers and central kantharos, although included in the corpus by H. von Rohden and H. Winnefeld, differs from the Campana reliefs proper for technical-qualitative, iconographic, and stylistic reasons. This pa- per brings new evidence to the series, introducing an almost unknown type that broadens the ‘traditional’ view of this class of architectural terracotta. Archaeological excavations carried out in Nemi in the 1920s uncovered an architectural complex adjoining the Temple of Diana, consisting of a small theatre and other structures. In this context, several fragments of a crowning sima with unusual representations of panthers ridden by winged erotes and a central kantharos were found. The study of these finds, carried out more than 90 years after their discovery, has made it pos- sible to reconstruct the complete figurative scheme (and polychromy !) of a typology known, until recently, only from two fragments preserved in museum collections. They represent a variant of the more common simae with manufacturers’ stamps. The article analyses the other examples of the type (i.e. the fragments from Würzburg, Berlin and the necropolis of Osteria del Curato, in the suburbs of Rome) and, thanks to the data offered by the historical-archaeological context of Nemi, formulates some hypotheses regarding their chronology and the contexts of use.