Roman Domestic Religion
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF
PP055
I. x. 3
Cult Space Type:
Shrine
Date:
79 A.D.
Associated
Cult Spaces:
-
Structural type:
Niche, Wall Painting
Room function:
Fauces
Description:
In the east wall of the fauces was a shallow arched niche that sat 1.05m above ground. The interior of the niche was coated in white stucco with the base being a marble slab. On the back wall of the niche was painted a green cylindrical altar on a rectangular base on which a garland with taeniae hung from nails. Around the altar coiled a thin red serpent. On each side of the altar was a green tree and beyond those, a Lar holding a rhyton and a patera. Above the altar were the words FELIX AERIS AIVS(sibus?) FLORVS painted in crude letters. Above the arch of the niche was a red garland with a single red serpent beneath. The serpent was painted within a field of green plants. Beneath the marble floor of the niche were the words LARES AVGVSTOS. Holes in the arch of the niche indicate that the niche may have originally had a pediment.
References:
Not. Scavi 1934, p. 271; Boyce 1937, p. 27 (#47); Giacobello 2008, p. 230 (F2)
Image reference:
Cooper 2019