Roman Domestic Religion
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF
PP312
House of the Golden Cupids (VI. xvi. 7/38)
Cult Space Type:
Cult Painting
Date:
79 A.D.
Associated
Cult Spaces:
PP313
Structural type:
Wall Painting
Room function:
Peristyle/Portico
Description:
In the southeast corner of the peristyle was a cult painting dedicated to Egyptian deities. On each wall of the corner were large yellow panels marked off by a thick red border. Within the panels were the representations of Egyptian deities, distributed in two registers. The panel on the south wall contained depictions of Anubis holding a caduceus and a palm branch; a boy holding a cornucopia, of which only the head remains, believed to be Harpocrates; Isis wearing a lotus flower on her forehead and holding a sistrum; and Serapis, also with a lotus flower on his forehead, holding both a sistrum and cornucopia. In the lower register on the southern wall were several unrecognisable figures and the end of a green wooden table with a metal krater. The panel on the eastern wall also had two registers. In the upper, there was a sistrum, a patera, and an ampulla all suspended from a green garland that surrounded the scene. Below this were the symbols of Isis including a large cylindrical cista with a conical cover woven from reeds like a wicker basket and decorated with a crescent moon, an X made from two slender wands, a small similar woven cista also decorated with an X, and a coiled serpent. In the lower register of this eastern side, no longer preserved, were the depictions of several birds. Impressions on the wall also indicate that shelving was a part of this cult space, sitting below these painted panels. Below this were further paintings of two serpents meeting at an altar in the corner of the space. This altar had an egg and other offerings on top. Above the top of the altar was a hollow in the wall, which Boyce suggests was perhaps for the placement of a real pine cone. The background of this lowest scene was decorated with plants. In the close vicinity of this cult space, many artefacts were found including an alabaster statue of Horus, an enthroned marble statue of Fortuna, two bronze plates, two amphorae, and an oil lamp with depictions of Isis, Harpocrates, and Anubis.
References:
Boyce 1937, pp. 56-57 (#220); Bassani 2008, pp. 220-221; Hackworth Peterson 2012
Image reference:
Pompeii in Pictures 2006