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PP233

VI. ii. 14

Cult Space Type:

Shrine

NO mapavailable png shrine01-01-01.png
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.

Associated
Cult Spaces: 

-

Structural type:

Altar, Wall Painting

Room function:

Viridarium/Garden

Description:

On the east wall of the garden was a shrine dedicated to Egyptian deities. This shrine had disappeared by the 1860s but earlier accounts exist. The cult space consisted of a niche or painting of a niche with three figures painted on the inside. This included a woman, likely Isis, holding a sistrum and a cornucopia, a bearded man also holding a sistrum and cornucopia believed to be Osiris, with Harpocrates standing in between holding a cornucopia with his index finger held to his lips. Each of the figures wore a golden lotus flower on their forehead. Below the niche was a brick altar coated in red stucco with a depiction of a yellow candelabrum. Boyce notes that since there is no structural evidence remaining of a niche that he assumes the description is slightly incorrect and that the niche was likely constructed from stucco or simply painted. The walls around the niche were also heavily painted with an Egyptian theme, with the lower section having date trees with fruit and various other plants with several types of birds including a peacock. In the upper section, there were depictions of buildings and bridges in a riverscape, with a double garland across the scene.

References:

Helbig 1862, p. 80; Boyce 1937, p. 44 (#141); Barrett 2019, pp. 298, 358-359, 368-369, 386.

Image reference:

Morelli 1812 (Via Pompeii in Pictures)

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