Rare marble carving found!
Apr. 21st, 2008 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windemereJournal of Marble Works
Vol. 5 (19)
Recent excavations during the 2008 season at Pompeii have unearthed a startling discovery. In Region IX, previously unexcavated, a house belonging to what archaeologists believe was a marble seller has been found.
The house, a typical atrium-style with the back peristyle so commonly found in Pompeii, was lavishly decorated with marble flooring and even walls. As well, a number of extraordinarily preserved frescoes were found, similar to other houses of the first century CE period.
The most striking find of them all, however, was a Luna marble plaque. The plaque was found partly broken at the base of a small house shrine and is believed to have been attached to the wall above by two holes that were uncovered amidst the fresco. The depiction on the plaque is by far the most baffling find archaeologists have ever made.
The background is unadorned, but the foreground contains two figures and an unidentified object. Of the two figures, one is clearly male, the other female. The man is depicted wearing a tight-fitting suit, similar to modern styles, and stands casually with his hands in his pockets. But the woman, strangely, is seen wearing a dress typical in style for the end of the Pompeian period.
The most unusual part of the carving, amazingly, is the central object depicted between the man on the left and the woman on the right. It appears to be a large upright box sitting on a high podium reached by a flight of stairs. It appears very temple-like, but clearly is not a typical temple. The front seems to have a double closed doorway, and a handle can just be seen on the right door. The roof is peaked, but below it is a narrow frieze with an inscription in Latin. However, the state of the marble and a unfortunately placed crack through it renders the letters mostly unintelligible. The letters A D can just be made out towards the beginning, but epigraphers have been unable to guess at the actual wording.
The carving is mid-relief, typical of the period, but the detail in the facial features is extraordinary. Individual locks of hair can be seen on the man who sports a style not uncommon on the streets of today. There are even creases in the corner of the woman's eyes that can still be made out. Her dress, especially, is well-preserved and it is quite simple. She also wears no adornment but for earrings, which would seem to suggest she is not a woman of wealth. Clearly, however, she was a woman of importance.
Just what led a marble seller to keep an image of these two figures in his house is the current debate among scholars. Since their placement is certainly in the area normally reserved for the household Lares, the family must have worshiped them in place of the usual family ancestors and household spirits. The temple-like box is the most unusual of the entire piece, though no doubt the full inscription would help shed some light onto it's importance, and perhaps the identities of the two figures.
There will be a great deal of research still to come and perhaps other intriguing remains from the house will be uncovered. Archaeologists have not yet learned the name of the marble seller, since the only inscription with his name is almost entirely destroyed by a collapsed ceiling.
Further work will be published next spring once the current excavations are completed.
Vol. 5 (19)
Recent excavations during the 2008 season at Pompeii have unearthed a startling discovery. In Region IX, previously unexcavated, a house belonging to what archaeologists believe was a marble seller has been found.
The house, a typical atrium-style with the back peristyle so commonly found in Pompeii, was lavishly decorated with marble flooring and even walls. As well, a number of extraordinarily preserved frescoes were found, similar to other houses of the first century CE period.
The most striking find of them all, however, was a Luna marble plaque. The plaque was found partly broken at the base of a small house shrine and is believed to have been attached to the wall above by two holes that were uncovered amidst the fresco. The depiction on the plaque is by far the most baffling find archaeologists have ever made.
The background is unadorned, but the foreground contains two figures and an unidentified object. Of the two figures, one is clearly male, the other female. The man is depicted wearing a tight-fitting suit, similar to modern styles, and stands casually with his hands in his pockets. But the woman, strangely, is seen wearing a dress typical in style for the end of the Pompeian period.
The most unusual part of the carving, amazingly, is the central object depicted between the man on the left and the woman on the right. It appears to be a large upright box sitting on a high podium reached by a flight of stairs. It appears very temple-like, but clearly is not a typical temple. The front seems to have a double closed doorway, and a handle can just be seen on the right door. The roof is peaked, but below it is a narrow frieze with an inscription in Latin. However, the state of the marble and a unfortunately placed crack through it renders the letters mostly unintelligible. The letters A D can just be made out towards the beginning, but epigraphers have been unable to guess at the actual wording.
The carving is mid-relief, typical of the period, but the detail in the facial features is extraordinary. Individual locks of hair can be seen on the man who sports a style not uncommon on the streets of today. There are even creases in the corner of the woman's eyes that can still be made out. Her dress, especially, is well-preserved and it is quite simple. She also wears no adornment but for earrings, which would seem to suggest she is not a woman of wealth. Clearly, however, she was a woman of importance.
Just what led a marble seller to keep an image of these two figures in his house is the current debate among scholars. Since their placement is certainly in the area normally reserved for the household Lares, the family must have worshiped them in place of the usual family ancestors and household spirits. The temple-like box is the most unusual of the entire piece, though no doubt the full inscription would help shed some light onto it's importance, and perhaps the identities of the two figures.
There will be a great deal of research still to come and perhaps other intriguing remains from the house will be uncovered. Archaeologists have not yet learned the name of the marble seller, since the only inscription with his name is almost entirely destroyed by a collapsed ceiling.
Further work will be published next spring once the current excavations are completed.
