The images of time: an exhibition at the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Fiumicino

The theme of time is at the centre of the exhibition that Airports of Rome, in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica, created at Terminal 3 of Fiumicino Leonardo Da Vinci Airport. In fact, the sculptures have a special link with the airport, as they were found in an area of ​​intense commercial traffic in ancient Rome, thanks to its port that connected with the whole known world at the time; the same area where the international airport is located today.

The six works on display, coming from Ostia Antica and the Necropolis of Isola Sacra, tell us about the perception of time in classical antiquity: the latter was conceived both as a succession of instants - Chronos, the linear time - and as a cyclic manifestation of events, caught in their continuous change - Aiòn, the circular time. This conception of time was linked to the rhythms of daily life and the religious rites of the ancient communities, such as the alternation of day and night, the succession of the seasons, agricultural activities and the life cycle of man.

Starting from the 4th-3rd century BC, in classical art there are specific divinities or personifications of the time that we can see represented in this exhibition. Among these, Vertumnus, the god who embodied the changing of the seasons and the ripening of fruits: he was represented as a male character, naked or dressed, with fruits and attributes such as the cornucopia, which allude to the fruitfulness of nature in the passing of the seasons. The latter each had a specific iconography that fixed their main characteristics: Spring, for example, was depicted as a young man holding a kid by the legs; Winter, on the other hand, was represented as a child wrapped in a cloak holding a duckling, a symbol of winter hunting. In addition to the sculptures, we can admire a wonderful mosaic with black and white tiles depicting the zodiac and the seasons, and a sundial, or solar clock, based on the observation of the length or direction of the shadows to measure the passage of time: in the Roman world the sundials were placed in the most popular public places, such as the forum, the circus or along the main streets of the towns.

Photo credits: courtesy of Ostia Antica official site