The Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus: Detail, the arrest of St. Peter

Peter is taken away by two soldiers in pannonian caps. The figure can be identified as Peter because he has the same face, head, and beard as the Peter of the water miracle just to the left, but in both cases it is remarkable that he is so bald. Most sarcophagi of this century give Peter a full head of hair.

On the left, a person wearing a toga and holding a scroll points to Peter. In the other scenes and in other sarcophagi it is only Jesus or some other positive character who holds a scroll, but here it seems likely that this person is the one ordering Peter's arrest, either Herod (Acts 12:2-3) or more likely Nero.

View the entire sarcophagus.
Read more about St. Peter.

Photographed at the Palazzo Massimo by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.