DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31189#0044
Chapter III
THE MYTHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES
Two mythological panels (pls. 40-46) were found in a room of which only the
east and west walls are preserved. The panels faced each other, the Polyphemus
panel belonging to the west wall, the Andromeda panel to the east wall. The actual
light came from the large entrance in the south wall, as was the case in both the
Black and the Red Rooms.
The Polyphemus Panel (pls. 40-43. D)
The state of preservation is not quite so good as may appear in reproductions.
The surface seems to have been cleaned partly with a steel brush and in many places
has been damaged. There are areas where it has disappeared completely, though a
recent cleaning brought out many details that were hidden before.
At the bottom and along the left side of the panel the exact contours of the objects
can no longer be ascertained, and the background scenery at middle height is
ambiguous in many spots. Still the principal elements of the composition are clear:
a rocky island or promontory in the foreground, a towering crag with a large tree
on the vertical axis, the sea around it, mountains in the background.
The shore at the bottom of the panel cannot be traced with certainty. To the
left there is a rock, perhaps isolated in the water, perhaps joining the central stage
that juts out into the sea.
To the right there is water and a stretch of shoreland which is connected by a
large rock in the form of a natural bridge with the island or promontory. On the
shore, a short column, decorated with fillets, serves as base for a statue of a goddess
whose right hand is stretched forward with open fingers and whose left arm carries
a cornucopia 51. On the head of the statue there is a meniscus (rather than a head dress
or crown) like the one worn by the Priapus herm on the north wall landscape of the
Red Room (see pl. 33). At the foot of the column, on a rock, a black goat, on the
‘bridge’ a white goat, farther to the left another white goat and a black goat lying
down. On a slightly higher level of the promontory two rocks form seat and foot
rest for a deeply tanned man. His face, with a single eyebrow and one central eye,
identifies him as Polyphemus. He sits with his left hand resting on the stone while the
right hand raises the shepherd’s pipe; his left leg is stretched forward, his right leg
51 The cornucopia is the only attribute carried in this fashion, compare the Yellow
Frieze, Rostovtzeff 20. It is certainly not a pedum nor a torch.
THE MYTHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES
Two mythological panels (pls. 40-46) were found in a room of which only the
east and west walls are preserved. The panels faced each other, the Polyphemus
panel belonging to the west wall, the Andromeda panel to the east wall. The actual
light came from the large entrance in the south wall, as was the case in both the
Black and the Red Rooms.
The Polyphemus Panel (pls. 40-43. D)
The state of preservation is not quite so good as may appear in reproductions.
The surface seems to have been cleaned partly with a steel brush and in many places
has been damaged. There are areas where it has disappeared completely, though a
recent cleaning brought out many details that were hidden before.
At the bottom and along the left side of the panel the exact contours of the objects
can no longer be ascertained, and the background scenery at middle height is
ambiguous in many spots. Still the principal elements of the composition are clear:
a rocky island or promontory in the foreground, a towering crag with a large tree
on the vertical axis, the sea around it, mountains in the background.
The shore at the bottom of the panel cannot be traced with certainty. To the
left there is a rock, perhaps isolated in the water, perhaps joining the central stage
that juts out into the sea.
To the right there is water and a stretch of shoreland which is connected by a
large rock in the form of a natural bridge with the island or promontory. On the
shore, a short column, decorated with fillets, serves as base for a statue of a goddess
whose right hand is stretched forward with open fingers and whose left arm carries
a cornucopia 51. On the head of the statue there is a meniscus (rather than a head dress
or crown) like the one worn by the Priapus herm on the north wall landscape of the
Red Room (see pl. 33). At the foot of the column, on a rock, a black goat, on the
‘bridge’ a white goat, farther to the left another white goat and a black goat lying
down. On a slightly higher level of the promontory two rocks form seat and foot
rest for a deeply tanned man. His face, with a single eyebrow and one central eye,
identifies him as Polyphemus. He sits with his left hand resting on the stone while the
right hand raises the shepherd’s pipe; his left leg is stretched forward, his right leg
51 The cornucopia is the only attribute carried in this fashion, compare the Yellow
Frieze, Rostovtzeff 20. It is certainly not a pedum nor a torch.