Still
lives
Scattered among the paintings of the Second Style, still lives became increasingly fashionable in the Third and Fourth
Styles. Due to their special composition and execution, the still lives reproduced in Casa dei Cervi should be considered true
masterpieces. They contributed to enriching the decorafion of the four ambulatories of the
cryptoporticus, the most precious room of this house from an architectural point of
view. Following recent
studies, the 11 pictures left in situ (5 in the northern
ambulatory; 3 in the eastern
ambulatory; 1 in the western
ambulatory; 2 in the southern
ambulatory) have been added with twenty more detached from the site during excavations carried out in the Bourbon period and now housed in the Archaeological Museum of Naples and the Louvre in Paris. Three different themes
have been identified in the
paintings: Cupids engaged in various
activities, still lives and landscapes which were intended to impress visitors but also to signal the use of the other parts of the house.
So for
example, in the eastern
ambulatory, dancing cupids followed one another and others were engaged in children's games
(hide-and-seek), or in other activities such as casting, landsurveying,
shoe-making, carpentry, charioteering
etc.; in the northern
part, instead, there are still lives depicting fruit which in some way introduced the dining functions of the southern part of the
dwelling. Still lives reappear in the southern ambulatory with wonderful pictures of fruit and glass bowls (one on the southern wall of the building and three kept in the Archaeological Museum of
Naples), where they would alternate with seascapes (one in situ near the door of the oecus n° 16), as a preamble to the actual view from the pergola, the daily cubicles and the belvedere.
There are also 8 still lives which
have been attributed to oecus 16, which are now kept in the Archaeological Museum of Naples arranged in three frames according to the similarity of subjectmatter and intended as decoration of panels of the middle zone in the
wall. They represent offerings of food to a statue of
Dionysus, including farmhouse
animals, glass bowls, silver vessels as well as
fish, game and staples ready to be
cooked, all motifs closely linked to the functions of banquetting and entertaining typical of the area
concerned.
Nutrition
In 1980, in order to define the layout of the whole suburban area already excavated by Amedeo Maiuri and to improve the drainage of waters flowing through the Suburban
Baths, the excavation of the area facing the coastline was begun by pulling down the fa~ade with arcade on which the Southern Terrace rested thus recovering a long stretch of the former coast made of a beach of black sand protected by a
cliff. In 9 of the 12
fornices, probably used as warehouses or boat
shelters, and partly also along the beach
recovered, the remains of about 300 people were
found, killed by the thermal shock caused by the first Vesuvius surge which hit the city.
Thanks to the cooperation of
archaeologists, anthropologists and
vulcanologists, the extraordinary discovery of these victims of the eruption have allowed an interdisciplinary study aiming at understanding the dynamics of the eruption and its devastating effects on people and
property.
The sample of the Herculaneum population chosen for the study represents an exceptional cross-section of the Roman population in 79 AD, caught by surprise in a particular instant of their lives and therefore represent a primary source for the biological analysis of ancient
communities, traditionally based on data from
necropolises. Studies carried out by Pierpaolo
Petrone, Luciano Fattore and Vincenzo Monetti into various nutritional indicators
(caries, hypoplasia of tooth enamel and mineral contents in
bones) have provided information about the nutritional conditions and the health conditions of the ancient Herculaneum
population. The high incidence of caries in a sample of 1358 permanent teeth has been interpreted as a result of a diet rich in kariogenetic food. This
pathology, matched to enamel hypoplasia
(horizontal grooves across the surface of the
teeth) would be a clear sign of a considerable consumption of carbohydrates at least among a part of the
population, linked to malnutrition and diseases suffered during
childhood.
The analysis of mineral traces found in
bones, though performed on a limited number of
individuals, has provided useful pointers for the reconstruction of the diet of the ancient Herculaneum
population. High readings of
zinc, considerably above the
average, detected in some individuals could be interpreted as a sign of a high consumption of red meat and of
crustaceans, oysters, dry fruit and legumes as
well, also indicated by the huge amount of burnt left-overs found during
excavation. The high consumption of meat should be associated with the higher classes of Herculaneum society. On the other
hand, Strontium readings would suggest consumption of sea fish and of vegetable
proteins, with a substantial quantity of carbohydrates
too, also considered responsible for the high incidence of
caries. A diet rich in
fish, carbohydrates and vegetable proteins might be also responsible for cases of anaemia and for susceptibilty to infectious
diseases. The amount of lead found may also be traced back to the use of metalware containing lead and employed for cooking food, though it may also be linked to drinking water being carried through lead pipes
(still visible along pavements and in many
houses) and being stored in kitchens in finely decorated lead
tanks, many of which have been preserved in the Vesuvius area.
Source
Soprintendenza
Archeologica di Pompei |
