The Roses of Heliogabalus is a famous
painting of
1888 by the Anglo-Dutch academician
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema at present in private hands and based on a probably invented episode in the life of the
Roman emperor Heliogabalus (
204-
222).
Heliogabalus is portrayed attempted to smother unsuspecting guests at one of his feasts in rose-petals released from false ceiling panels. The canvas measures 52" by 84 1/8", which may, like ratios within the painting itself, be intended to encode the
golden mean. (52" / 84 1/8" = 0.618127..., and the golden mean = 0.618033...)