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PP444

House of Giuseppe II (VIII. ii. 38/39)

Cult Space Type:

Cult Room

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

79 A.D.

Associated
Cult Spaces: 

-

Structural type:

Sacrarium

Room function:

Sacrarium/Cult Room

Description:

A small room off the atrium served as a cult room. The room appears to have originally been a cubiculum and was later transformed a short time before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The room had a square plan with an arched niche present in the centre of the east wall. The niche sat 1.60m above the floor and its walls were painted red. On the back wall of the niche was a painting of a small cylindrical altar with a Genius pouring a libation from a patera and holding a cornucopia. To the right of him stood a female figure holding a sceptre and a patera, identified as Juno. However, it is uncertain if this was meant to be the queen of the gods or the Juno of the materfamilias. Below and around the niche were nail holes indicating that garlands and taeniae were used to decorate the room. In the southeast corner of the room stood the ruins of a masonry base which has been suggested to have been a permanent altar. The walls of the room were decorated with paintings of Europa and the bull, plants and animals, a Nereid, and cupids. Various objects were found in the room including glass bottles, terracotta objects, a green glazed cup depicting Mercury leading a horse and another of Hercules fighting a hydra, a bronze candlestick, a vase lid, and a horse fibula, among others. A small portable altar was also found in the room. The decoration of the room has largely disappeared.

References:

Boyce 1937, p. 75 (#349); PPM Vol VIII 1998, pp. 308-356; Bassani 2008, p. 192 (Scheda 13); Giacobello 2008, p. 197 (#85)

Image reference:

Pompeii in Pictures 2006

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