Marble relief ‘Nero and Armenia’ from the Sebasteion at aPhrodisias in Caria (Asia Minor)

The article is devoted to an artistic and historical study of a marble relief with a symbolic scene of Nero’s victory over Armenia from the Sebasteion sanctuary complex in the ancient town of Aphrodisias in Asia Minor. The temple complex was dedicated to the cult of the Julio-Claudian imperial dynasty. The artistic and stylistic analysis of the relief was performed in the context of the sculptural program and decoration of the whole complex, and took into consideration other images of Nero in the Sebasteion. Through a comparative analysis of the figure personifying Armenia depicted on the marble relief in Aphrodisias, as well as a series of images on coins and small statuary samples, characteristic iconographic traits of Armenia in the Roman imperial art were revealed. Along with this, the paper presents an in-depth ‘reading’ of this scene within the context of specific epi- sodes from the history of the Parthian-Roman conflict and the Roman struggle for Armenia during the period of 54–68 AD.