Roman Domestic Religion
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF
PP050
I. vii. 19
Cult Space Type:
Shrine
Date:
79 A.D.
Associated
Cult Spaces:
PP051
Structural type:
Niche
Room function:
Peristyle/Portico
Description:
Located on the north wall of the peristyle were two arched niches sitting at different heights. The larger lower niche sat 0.30m above the ground and had a marble slab for its floor. The upper niche, which sat 2.85m above ground, contained the remains of a wooden capsa (box for holding papers and books) within which were two statuettes were found. This included a broken marble statuette of a nude Venus wearing a necklace with small beads of glass paste which originally stood on a yellow base found detached in the box, and a terracotta statuette of a woman reclining on a kline holding a patera with a serpent moving towards the couch. Both niches were coated in stucco, however no evidence of decoration is preserved.
References:
Not. Scavi 1929, pp. 370-372; Boyce 1937, p. 26 (#42); Jashemski 1979, pp.57-58, 125; ; Allison 2004, p. 210; Giacobello 2008, p. 255 (V9)
Image reference:
Durand 2018 (Via Pompeii in Pictures)