1st cent. CE.
Photo at the time of discovery, 1912/13. Pompeii, Archaeological Park, House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1)
The fresco depicting a religious procession with a statue of Cybele on a stretcher (ferculum), and a niche-aedicula with a herm of Dionysus in 1913.
1st cent. CE.
Photo at the time of discovery, 1912/13.
Pompeii, Archaeological Park, House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1)
(Pompei, Parco Archeologico, Taberna delle quattro divinità (IX. 7. 1)).
Right façade
To the right of the doorway is a white-ground fresco depicting a procession of Cybele. Eighteen figures form a procession beneath a garland suspended at two points. The participants are all wreathed and have clearly differentiated roles. Four litter bearers, two of whom are bearded, wear white tunics with purple mantles and have just put down a ferculum carrying a statue of Cybele. The goddess is shown seated on a high-backed throne draped in green material covered with stars. Cybele wears a purple dress and turreted crown. In her right hand she carries a patera, while a sceptre, branch, and tambourine lean against her left side. At her feet are two gilded lion cubs. To the right of the ferculum are two litter bearers, a small round altar, and two candelabra. The rest of the participants are arranged to the left, with the foreground figures dressed in white and carrying utensils for the sacrifice. Those behind them wear darker clothes, carry ritual objects, and are playing musical instruments, including a double flute. A niche with a small, ivy-wreathed archaizing herm of Dionysus has been inserted into the far left of the fresco. On the extreme left of the composition are two small figures with a syrinx and cymbals. The details of the fresco are not preserved well enough to identify the painter.7
Photographer unknown.
© 2009. Description: Charlotte R. Potts. The Art of Piety and Profit at Pompeii: A New Interpretation of the Painted Shop Façade at IX. 7. 1—2. In: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Apr., 2009), pp. 55—70: pp. 59—60.