This couch is assembled from fragments, some of which come from the imperial villa of Lucius Verus near Rome and date to the 1st-2nd centuries AD

This couch is assembled from fragments, some of which come from the imperial villa of Lucius Verus near Rome and date to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. It is kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The glass inlay may not correspond to the original, but the bone panels are authentic. Lucius Verus was co-ruler with Marcus Aurelius and is remembered for his debauchery and, for example, for sprinkling his hair with gold dust, purely for beauty's sake. It is rather amusing to picture him reclining on a couch whose legs are adorned with a frieze showing the abduction of the beautiful Ganymede by Zeus in the guise of an eagle, naturally with a view to rape, and the pursuit of the pair by horsemen and hounds. In such surroundings, there is decidedly no managing without gold dust