What kind of object is pictured in these two Roman fresco wall paintings?
Upvote:9
The object is a "Torch of Apollo":
As Maurice Owen explains, this was often used (along with other imagery) to indicate a sanctuary dedicated to the god Apollo.
Upvote:14
These images are from the Villa Poppaea, and seem to represent an ornamental torch used in Roman religious rites. The first image is from the base of a full wall fresco shown here representing a view of a sacrificial tripod resting on a column:
The image from the question is a bit distorted, but you can see and read more here, where the item is described as (emphasis mine) a
'Villa di Poppea, Oplontis, room 15, detail from a wall-painting depicting the torch of Apollo and a sacrificial bucranium (bull's skull)'
So it appears this is an ornate torch, probably meant specifically to start sacrificial fires in worship of Apollo. (More about the bucranium here, which can be seen better in the answer by sempaiscuba).
The second image, from a different room, may represent a similar sacrificial scene. From this article discussing sacrifices:
A third class of unbloody sacrifices consisted of fruit and cakes. The former were mostly offered to the gods as primitiae or tithes of the harvest, and as a sign of gratitude.
The second image seems to represent this type of scene, showing the fruits and cakes waiting to be sacrificed to ensure a good harvest.
More post
- 📝 Was "Mad Anthony" Wayne of the Continental Army really that cruel like shown in this video?
- 📝 Did any age of sail ship have a "back-bone cannon"?
- 📝 During WW2, did the USSR re-gauge railways in conquered areas?
- 📝 Jules Verne's book about media
- 📝 Why would selling watermelons in bulk be mocking?
- 📝 When did the earliest documented cases of beaching of ocean-dwelling animals (fishes, whales, etc) happen?
- 📝 What is the London Enemies List 1775?
- 📝 What changed to make British Enclosures more profitable than tenanted subplots?
- 📝 Why conceal the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus?
- 📝 Do authoritative Jewish historical records record the expulsion
- 📝 What taxes were assessed on people in Alta California?
- 📝 Who gave Charles the Bold his nickname and why?
- 📝 Why was Germany held accountable for WW1?
- 📝 What does the inscription on this sword mean?
- 📝 Why couldn't Germans and Finns capture Leningrad?
- 📝 How did the plague doctors get rid of the infections on their gear?
- 📝 How long would it take to sail from New Orleans to Belize in late Summer 1867?
- 📝 Were there any westerners who entered the soviet bloc to escape capitalism?
- 📝 What is this 120 yr old Japanese tool?
- 📝 How quickly did the knowledge of the existence of the new world spread into the old world?
- 📝 During the French Revolution, how did the French address non-citizens?
- 📝 Are there any sound historical proofs that soma contained cannabis?
- 📝 By what legal mechanism was Catherine Howard deprived of her title of Queen of England?
- 📝 Why was the battle of Bouvines that incredible?
- 📝 Why couldn't the Weimar Republic peg their currency to another one?
- 📝 Have any non-German NATO forces been stationed in Eastern Germany since reunification?
- 📝 Detailed dimensions of the Colosseum
- 📝 Have primary voters in US overseas territories or their delegates ever had a noteworthy influence in any primary election or convention?
- 📝 Why couldn't the Allies clear out D-Day gun emplacements before landing troops?
- 📝 To what extent were Polynesians in contact with one-another before European contact?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What kind of object is pictured in these two Roman fresco wall paintings?
- 📝 What kind of device is pictured on this Roman mosaic from Villa Tellaro, Sicily?
- 📝 Who was this Roman General/figure of authority who, on his deathbed, named these two regrets?
- 📝 What paintings might these be (2 sketches made in the Tate Britain Gallery)?
- 📝 What kind of suspension did Roman carrucae have?
- 📝 In this scene what are the names of the kind of workers and the object they are propeling?
- 📝 What were the names of these two Ancient Greek boxing/pankration legends?
- 📝 What language(s) were spoken within the Holy Roman Empire?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
- 📝 What happened to these buildings near the Seine?
- 📝 What kind of ink was used by medieval scribes in Iceland, given that there were no plant galls for iron-gall ink?
- 📝 What is the object moving across the ceiling in this stock footage?
- 📝 What is this household object from early 1900s rural Russia?
- 📝 What was the average height of Roman men and women?
- 📝 What role did the Eastern Roman Empire play in the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
- 📝 What is the last historical mention of people worshipping the Roman gods?
- 📝 What did an ancient Roman certificate of land ownership look like; or, what did it consist of?
- 📝 What is the spiral-looking device shown in this wall painting?
- 📝 What are these historical references (from a novel)?
- 📝 What would a Roman slave be legally required to do if his master vanished?
- 📝 What kind of labor was used to build the Egyptian pyramids?
- 📝 What is the large blue object on the right in this picture showing Greek fire?
- 📝 What documentary evidence is there that Roman crucifixion victims were completely nude?
- 📝 What numerals did the people of Ireland use before Roman Numerals? (aka, did Ogham include numbers?)
- 📝 What is the silver object on the desk and what is 'Elizabeth I' doing with it?
- 📝 What were Greek and Roman sails made from?
- 📝 What is the reason that not all roman emperors named a month after them?
- 📝 What kind of evidence (if any) could be used to identify a large conquest in the time before writing?
- 📝 What is meaning of 4 letter abbreviations in Roman names like Titus Flavius T. f. T. n. Sabinus?
- 📝 What was the importance of the patrician class in the Roman Empire?