The fresco depicting a religious procession with a statue of Cybele on a stretcher (ferculum), and a niche-aedicula with a herm of Dionysus
Facade of the House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1).1st cent. CE. 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.
Facade of the House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1).
1st cent. CE.
1st cent. CE.
Pompeii, Archaeological Park, House of Venus and the Four Gods (IX. 7. 1)
(Pompei, Parco Archeologico, Taberna delle quattro divinità (IX. 7. 1)).
Origin:
Excavated 1912.
Description:
The most public of the Cybele images is a panel depicting a procession as part of a larger artistic program decorating the front of the Taberna della Quattro Divinita at IX. 7. 1 (figure 5).43 The painting depicts a statue of an enthroned Cybele with gilded lion cubs at her feet, upon a ferculum that has presumably just been set down by some of the processional participants. The Cybele statue is draped in purple robes and wearing a turreted crown and carries a patera. A scepter, branch, and tympanum are also present on the litter with the statue (figure 6). A total of eighteen other figures are present in the scene holding sacrificial instruments, ritual objects, and musical instruments. A small altar and candelabra are present on the extreme right of the scene, closest to the statue of Cybele and the litter bearers. Two figures with a syrinx and cymbals are painted to the extreme left of the scene, broken from the main scene by the presence of niche containing a herm of Dionysus.44 Explanations for the presence of Cybele on this store front have ranged from the theory that store was a meeting place for the worship of Cybele to an expression of the owner’s religious preferences or even an advertisement and demonstration of the wares that could be purchased in the shop, identified as a felt-maker’s shop.45 One interpretation posits that the processional imagery is a representation of the shop-owner’s membership in the wool-worker’s collegium and the collegium’s participation in the Megalesia festival of Cybele, which would have involved a procession of the cult statue as depicted in the painting.46
60 .
44Vermaseren, M. J. Corpus Cultus Cybelae Attidisque (CCCA). Italia — Aliae Provinciae. Vol. IV. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978: 17—19.
45Potts, “The Art of Piety and Profit”, 60—62.
46Potts, “The Art of Piety and Profit”, 65—70.
47Vermaseren, CCCA IV, 19.
The evidence for this last theory comes from the larger artistic program on the storefront, as well as other paintings and graffiti along the Via dell’Abbondanza, and data regarding the participation of collegia in festivals and processions in Rome. Like the painting in the House of Octavius Primus, Vermaseren dates this wall painting to around 70 CE as well47. If Vermaseren’s dating is correct and the theory regarding the processional painting holds at least some truth to it, then the conclusion can be drawn that the Megalesia was indeed being celebrated and processions to Cybele were occurring around the time of the eruption. If processions to Cybele were occurring around the time of the eruption, the cult statue used in such processions would have needed to be housed someplace, although the statue has not been found and no housing for it has been identified.
Robert Caudill (2015)
43Charlotte R. Potts, “The Art of Piety and Profit: A New Interpretation of the Painted Shop Façade at ix. 7. 2”, Greece and Rome 1 (2009): 59—Credits:
© 2015. Photo, text: Robert Caudill. Mothers of the Gods: A Case for Syncretism inthe Cybele and Isis Cults at Pompeii. 2015. P. 14—15; p. 39, fig. 5.
Photographer and date of the photo are unknown.
Photographer and date of the photo are unknown.
Keywords: ζωγραφικήί pictura ars picturae painting pittura malerei peinture φρεσκογραφία τοιχογραφία νωπογραφία wall fresco frescos frescoes opera parietale murale opere parietali murali affresco affreschi freskomalerei frischmalerei wandmalerei fresko fresken fresque fresques pintura mural ρωμαϊκές roman romana romano romani römisch römische römisches römischen römischer romain romaine romains romaines πομπηία pompeii pompeian pompei pompeiano pompeji pompeianischen pompejanischen pompéi pompéien ελληνική μυθολογία mythologia graeca greek mythology mitologia greca griechische mythologie grecque διώνυσος dionysus dioniso dionysos κυβέλη κυβήβη μάτερ θεών cybele cybebe kybele magna mater great mother cibele grande madre große göttermutter megále meter cybèle déesse mère γλυπτική sculptura sculpture sculptural scultura skulptur ρωμαϊκό προτομή bust busto büste buste herma herm term erma herme hermès tambourine tamburello tamburin tambourin ντέφι tibia tibiae double flute aulos aulòs αὐλός αυλός ara altar altare autel βωμός serta garland garlands ghirlanda ghirlandi girlande guirlande γιρλάντα leo lion leone löwe λιοντάρι candelabrum candelabra candelabro armleuchter kandelaber candélabre μανουάλι syrinx pan flutes pipes panpipes reed flauto di siringa panflöte flûte de σῦριγξ patera sceptrum sceptre scettro zepter σκήπτρο thronus seated on the throne enthroned sits siede in assiso su un trono sitzt auf einem thron assis sur trône καθισμένοι σε θρόνο θρόνος ferculum fercula stretcher litter pram barella trage tragbahre civière brancard φορείο bearer portatore gepäckträger porteur pediment frontone timpano giebeldreieck fronton αέτωμα pseudo-aedicula naiskos naos edicola ädikula naïskos édicule ναΐσκος corona muralis crown wreath muraria turrita mauerkrone couronne tourellée cymbalum cymbala cymbal cembalo cembali kymbala cymbale κύμβαλον κύμβαλα niche nicchia nische gable roof tetto a capanna satteldach toit à pignon via dell’abbondanza house of venus and four gods ix 7 1 taberna delle quattro divinità situ pompa sacra religious procession processione religiosa religiöse prozession religieuse facade front facciata fassade façade stick staff bastone da dericting with statue la cui statua seduta è sistemata trasportato fedeli
