Recently a reader of "Nova Baiae" kindly sent me these pictures of a fresco from Pompeii that he'd come across on the internet and asked if I was familiar with them.
I have visited Pompeii several times and spent many interesting hours there immersing myself in the lives and culture of the Romans of two thousand years ago and I have seen many mosaics/frescoes that adorned the walls of the villas but not this one.
The Romans depicted many aspects of their lives - and their likenesses - through the mosaics/frescoes they used to beautify their homes and these provide us with insights into their day to day lives - in many ways not unlike our own modern day lives - and these serve as an invaluable reference for historians, archaeologists, etc.
I recall in one villa an uncompleted fresco that was obviously being worked on at the time of the Vesuvius eruption. The workmen's abandoned tools, pots of paint, etc were still in situ.
As I mentioned, the mosaics/frescoes of Pompeii give us fabulous insights into a civilisation that shaped our own modern day one and whose impact we live with each and every day though such things as art, literature, law, engineering, etc. We are, in many ways, the modern day heirs of ancient Rome.
From my perspective, what makes this fresco interesting is that it could be showing actual naked, male slaves, possibly being inspected and sold. Then again, I could be mistaken and it is a reference to prisoners in the aftermath of a battle - another subject popular in the mosaics/frescoes of Pompeii. I recall being in awe of one large mosaic or fresco which showed the conquests of Alexander the Great.
If the subject does refer to the sale of slaves then it could be unique as I have never seen reference to it and my limited research has revealed nothing.
The pictures look authentic and I am wondering if there is anyone among the followers of this blog who can shed some information on these two interesting pictures.
Thanks to the reader, J-M for sending these to me and I know he is as interested in learning more about them as I am.
Chris
ETRUSCAN FRESCO’s
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry, Chris, but gere we risk of be badly mistaken, a sit was, certainly in good faith, this reader J-M.
These ones are not mosaics but FRESCO’s (as you can easily see, especially from the detail) …… they do not show any “sale of slave” but the human sacrifice of prisoners of war (see below) ……. and they are not even Roman and do not come from Pompeii, but these fresco’s are Etruscan and come from the most famous Etruscan painted tomb, the so called “FRANCOIS TOMB” situated in the Etruscan town of Vulci (see again below for more details).
I too, Chris, have visited Pompeii and Herculaneum ruins many time and I did not know any mosaic or painting representing a Slave Market. Let me say more in general: there are many Roman mosaics and also some fresco’s showing Roman slaves in various activities (included activities in which the slaves are kept stark-naked)
However , while there are mentions and concise descriptions in Roman literature of Slave Markets and of the main “procedures” in a slave auction, I do not know …… unfortunately ! ……. any Roman mosaic or fresco directly depicting a Slave Market or a slave-auction / sale.
As I said the mistake about these paintings is the fact that they are Etruscan tomb-fresco’s and come from the vastest and most magnificent painted Etruscan tomb, the so called “FRANCOIS TOMB” from the name of the man who discovered it in 1857.
The tomb is situated in Vulci, in Southern Etruria, north-west of Rome and it dates back to about 340 -330 B.C.
This tomb is very vast with at least nine different large “burying rooms ” connected through a very large central ritual room and a long corridor.
All the walls were covered with a marvelous cycle of fresco’s that have different mythological subjects.
The most important cycle, also very important for the history of primitive Rome, shows the military deeds of a hero, named MACSTARNA and of his friend CAELIOS VIBENNA , that Macstarna, together with other comrades, frees after that he had been captured by their enemies.
The importance of these fresco’s for the history of primitive Rome, depends on the fact that Emperor Claudius, in a famous speech that has partially arrived to us, identifies the Etrsucan hero Macstarna with the sixth King of Rome, named in Latin SERVIUS TULLIUS.
The fresco’s reproduced above, were situated in a secondary burying room and represent not the sale of slaves, but the episode, taken from the Iliad by Homer, when Achilles sacrifices the Trojan prisoners of war in honour of the shade of his dead friend Patroclus, killed by Hector.
Therefore these naked bound men are not slaves that are sold, but are prisoners of war who are waiting for being sacrificed and whose throat Achilles slits on the grave of Patroclus, as it can be seen from a complete vision of the whole fresco.
Unfortunately the Francois fresco’s are no more visible because the noble Roman family of Princes Torlonia (who owned the land where the tomb was found) in 1863 detached the fresco’s from the walls of the tomb and transported them in Rome, in their private collections of antiquities in Villa Albani.
In 1931 the painter Carlo Ruspi made a copy of the fresco’s so that more people could enjoy the wonderful paintings.
For those who want to have more information about this splendid cycle of Etruscan fresco’s and this tomb, here are a few links:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/etruscan/a/the-francois-tomb
https://www.ancient.eu/Francois_Tomb/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francois_Tomb
Karel
Thank you, Karel!
DeleteI am indebted to Karel for sharing this most interesting information with us. They say you are never too old to learn and I have learned something new today.
And you are correct in stating it is a fresco and not a mosaic. This was an oversight on my part and I should have been more careful in editing my post not to have picked up on my mistake. I apologise for any confusion I caused and I have now "corrected" the post to reflect this.
Once again, I thank J-M for sending and sharing this to me. I love interacting with my readers and despite my mistake, it has been a pleasant exercise.
No problem. dear Chris.
ReplyDeleteYour posts -as I have said countless times- always stand out for their deep and unusual historical accuracy, something that I admire very much.
Of course nobody can know everything; especially these magnificent ancient fresco's that are now -as I said above- in the private collection of the Princes Torlonia in Rome and are not visible to the great public, as if they were in a large public Museum.
I have a strong interest not only in Roman History but also in Etruscan History because Etruscans were -under many aspects- the "ancestors" of the Roman civilization and society.
So it happened that I knew well these fresco's and the Francois Tomb. But it was a mere chance.
Thanks again to you ad to J-M for raising this very interesting historical discussion.
Unfortunately these fresco's do not represent the sale of slaves. However they represent an even more cruel aspect ..... not only of this mythological episode from the Iliad ..... but also of the actual Etruscan society, i.e. the habit of human sacrifices of enemies captured in war.
For example there are many episodes of human sacrifices by Etruscans mentioned by Greek and Roman historians like Herodotus and Livius.
The two most infamous cases were the sacrifice in Caere of all the Greek prisoners captured after the sea battle of Alalia (from 541 to 535 BC); and the sacrifice of 307 Roman prisoners of war in the Temple of Tarquinia in 358 BC.
Romans (who in their most ancient times, also practiced human sacrifices) took revenge by sacrificing to the Roman gods most of the Etruscan male prisoners captured after the defeat of Tarquinians in 354 BC.
After all, the gladiatorial fights, that -as well known- were of Etruscan origin and that had an outstanding "success" in Rome for almost 1,000 years ! ...... were simply human sacrifices of male slaves, disguised as public and private bloody "amusement / entertainment".
Karel