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HC022

V. 15/16 (Apartment above House of the Bicentenary)

Cult Space Type:

Shrine

NO mapavailable png shrine01-01-01.png
NO immage available png serpent-01.png
NO immage available png serpent-01.png
Date:

79 A.D.

Features:

Niche; Wall painting

Associated
Cult Spaces:

-

Room Function:

Corridor/Passageway

Description:

Located on the western wall of a corridor space was a shrine. This consisted of an arched niche, which sat 1.38m above the floor, with accompanying wall paintings. The interior of the niche was plastered and painted red, with a stuccoed tile projecting base. Just to the left of the niche was the cult painting carried out on a white background in two registers. The upper depicted the Lares, each carrying a rhyton and a patera, standing on either side of a cylindrical altar. The centre of this register was damaged and it appears as though there may have been another figure, perhaps the Genius (as suggested by Orr but doubted by Fröhlich). These figures stood upon a red stripe, with a garland hanging from another red line above the scene. In the lower register, two serpents were painted meeting at a cylindrical altar. The serpents were painted among plant material. On top of the altar were offerings of a large pine cone, an egg, and fruit. Two cornucopias also flanked the altar. Another red line acted as the base of the scene. This was the only surviving example of cult paintings from the first floor of a building. The painting has been dated to the fourth style.

References:

Maiuri 1958, pp. 234-239; Orr 1972, p. 197 (#21); Fröhlich 1991, p. 301; Wallace Hadrill 1994, pp. 109-111, 202.

Image reference:

Monteix 2003

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