Pompeii. Street Altar outside IX.12.7 on corner of vicolo with IX.13.

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. December 2005. The unnamed vicolo between IX.12 and IX.13 is on the right.

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7.

Photographed 1970-79 by Günther Einhorn, picture courtesy of his son Ralf Einhorn.

 

IX.12.7 Pompeii. 1910. Photo courtesy of Drew Baker.

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. May 2010. Remains of painted shrine on corner of insula.

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. May 2010. Remains of painted shrine on corner of insula.

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. Painting above altar.

Photographed 1970-79 by Günther Einhorn, picture courtesy of his son Ralf Einhorn.

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. 1912.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1912, p. 444, fig. 2.

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. Old undated postcard.

Fröhlich lists four paintings and described the painting on the altar.

Top left: Two gladiators in combat.

Top right: Two Lares and a Genius.

Bottom left: Two large serpents (snakes) flanking a round altar.

Bottom right: Two garlands with five persons in white garments.

The altar decorated with sausages and pigs heads.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. Detail from 1912 photograph.

Top left of the four paintings was a monochrome painting of two gladiators in combat.

According to Jacobelli, this represented the final encounter between two gladiators.

Both were armed with curved rectangular shields, helmets and armbands. One wears high boots, the other a legging and a knee guard.

The gladiator on the right had a bloody wound on his knee. Exhausted from combat, he was on the verge of collapse.

The victor, probably a Thraex (Thracian), was using his shield to ward off his opponents last feeble blow.

See Jacobelli, L., 2003. Gladiators at Pompeii. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider. (p. 85; Figs 69-70).

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. Detail from 1912 photograph.

Top right of the four paintings was a painting of two Lares in green tunics leaning on pillars.

A genius was making a sacrifice at a portable altar.

Three other similar people from an older picture were also visible through the white background.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. Detail from 1912 photograph.

Bottom left painting was of two large serpents (snakes) flanking a round altar.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. Detail from 1912 photograph.

Bottom right painting: Fröhlich described two garlands with five persons in white garments in a semicircle, probably the vicomagistri and a tibicen.

Jacobelli described them as five priests or magistri vici in the act of making a sacrifice.

She also stated that this painting covered an older one on the same subject and perhaps it was meant to conceal the Genius of Augustus/Nero, affected posthumously by the damnatio memoriae, which dictated that the emperor’s name and image be wiped out wherever they appeared.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

See Jacobelli, L., 2003. Gladiators at Pompeii. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider. (p. 85; Figs 69-70).

 

Street shrine outside IX.12.7. Detail from 1912 photograph.

According to Fröhlich , on the south side to the left was a pig's head in profile and to the right was an older, translucent pigs head.

The altar was decorated with sausages and pigs heads.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. December 2005. South and east sides.

According to Fröhlich all three sides were originally decorated.

On the east side in the middle were three suspended sausages, on the left a basin of coals and on the right a sausage on the spit.

On the south side to the left was a pigs head in profile and to the right was an older, translucent pigs head.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. December 2005. West and south sides.

According to Fröhlich all three sides were originally decorated.

On the west side was a red sausage on a skewer.

On the south side to the left was a pig's head in profile and to the right was an older, translucent pigs head.

See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (p. 339, F71, T: 58,2).

 

Street altar outside IX.12.7. May 2010. Top of street altar.

When excavated the remains of carbon and ash from an offering were found on the altar.

See Della Corte, M., 1965. Case ed Abitanti di Pompei. Napoli: Fausto Fiorentino. (660-661; p. 323).