DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0139
98
POMPEII
life, which was thus carried over into fairyland. So in one
picture sprightly, winged little figures are celebrating the fes-
tival of Vesta, the tutelary divinity of millers and bakers, who
on this day, just as appears in the painting, wreathed with
garlands their mills and much belabored asses that once a year
were thus admitted to a share in the festal celebrations of their
masters; the reference to trade in bread
and flour is obvious.
Fig. 38. — Statue of Octavia, sister of Augus-
tus, found in the chapel of the Macellum.
She is represented in an attitude of wor-
ship, with a libation saucer in her right
hand, and offerings in her left.
In the other picture the Cu-
pids are plaiting and selling
wreaths ; in view of the exten-
sive use of garlands at banquets
and on gala days the inference
is warranted that they, too, were
sold in this market. In the mar-
ket room for meat and fish there
is another interesting picture
representing the local divinities
of Pompeii—personifications of
the Sarno, of the coast, and of
the country round about, sug-
gesting that here the products
of the sea, the river, and the
land might be obtained.
Besides the rooms thus far
considered, which served a prac-
tical end, we find in the Macel-
lum two other rooms which gave
to the building a religious char-
acter and placed it under the
special protection of the imperial house. One, at the middle
of the east end (5), is a chapel consecrated to the worship of
the emperors. The floor is raised above that of the rest of the
building, and the entrance is reached by five steps leading
up from the rear of the colonnade. On a pedestal against
the rear wall, and in four niches at the sides, were statues, of
which only the two in the niches at the right have been found;
these represent Octavia, the sister of Augustus (Fig. 38), and
her son Marcellus, the hope of Augustus and of Rome, whose
POMPEII
life, which was thus carried over into fairyland. So in one
picture sprightly, winged little figures are celebrating the fes-
tival of Vesta, the tutelary divinity of millers and bakers, who
on this day, just as appears in the painting, wreathed with
garlands their mills and much belabored asses that once a year
were thus admitted to a share in the festal celebrations of their
masters; the reference to trade in bread
and flour is obvious.
Fig. 38. — Statue of Octavia, sister of Augus-
tus, found in the chapel of the Macellum.
She is represented in an attitude of wor-
ship, with a libation saucer in her right
hand, and offerings in her left.
In the other picture the Cu-
pids are plaiting and selling
wreaths ; in view of the exten-
sive use of garlands at banquets
and on gala days the inference
is warranted that they, too, were
sold in this market. In the mar-
ket room for meat and fish there
is another interesting picture
representing the local divinities
of Pompeii—personifications of
the Sarno, of the coast, and of
the country round about, sug-
gesting that here the products
of the sea, the river, and the
land might be obtained.
Besides the rooms thus far
considered, which served a prac-
tical end, we find in the Macel-
lum two other rooms which gave
to the building a religious char-
acter and placed it under the
special protection of the imperial house. One, at the middle
of the east end (5), is a chapel consecrated to the worship of
the emperors. The floor is raised above that of the rest of the
building, and the entrance is reached by five steps leading
up from the rear of the colonnade. On a pedestal against
the rear wall, and in four niches at the sides, were statues, of
which only the two in the niches at the right have been found;
these represent Octavia, the sister of Augustus (Fig. 38), and
her son Marcellus, the hope of Augustus and of Rome, whose