In general, Roman art, such as that found in Pompeii, was greatly influence by the earlier Greek artists. The demand for Greek art was so great that Roman artists simply copied many of the Greek works of art.
Pompeii began as a settlement of small fishing and agricultural communities. In 80 BCE, it was incorporated into the Roman Empire when the Roman dictator Sulla settled about 5,000 Roman veterans and their families in the city. Local inhabitants were displaced, and the city was renamed Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum, indicating its status as a colony.
While Pompeii was not a particularly important town within the Roman empire, it had a population of 10-12,000 and many wealthy Romans built houses there. With easy access to the Mediterranean and proximity to Rome, Pompeii was a hub for trade throughout the empire.
On August 24, 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italy erupted. By the end of the day, the Roman port city of Pompeii was covered by 20 feet of ash and rock. Prior to the volcanic eruption, Pompeii had a population of 10-12,000 people. The city lay forgotten until the eighteenth century. Archaeological excavations began in 1748 and are still being done. Almost three quarters of the city has been uncovered and a number of buildings restored.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Technology (OMSI) in Portland had a special exhibit on Pompeii which included more than 200 items on loan from the Naples National Archaeological Museum. Shown below is some of the Roman art which was on display in this exhibit.
Painting
The paintings from Pompeii and other communities buried by the eruption of Vesuvius, provide the best examples of wall paintings in situ. In their book The Complete Practical Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Christopher Catling and Paul Bahn report:
“The burial of Pompeii meant that wall paintings, which do not normally survive from antiquity, could be studied.”
In her entry on Roman painting in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Eleanor Leach writes:
“Owing to the optimum conditions for preservation in the Vesuvian cities, as well as the imaginative appeal of this arrested culture, Pompeian decoration has enjoyed so large a share of the attention given to Roman painting that the art itself would seem to have died with the city in A.D. 79.”
Eleanor Leach also writes:
“In all instances where wall painting is employed, the compositions obey a perceptible decorum of context related to their function as visual signs of status.”
According to the Museum display:
“The sea played a crucial role in the lives of the residents of Pompeii, who relied on it for trade and fishing. Some shops displayed paintings of the fish they sold, while bathhouses and some homes featured mosaics of varying sea life, which demonstrated the diverse and luxurious food they enjoyed.”
Mosaics
With regard to Roman mosaics, Nigel Rodgers, in his book Roman Empire, writes:
“Mosaics, made by pressing small stones and pieces of glass or marble into a soft mortar bedding, were used widely by the Romans, but had been used by the Hellenistic world too. The renowned Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun in Pompeii probably copies a Greek painting done by Philoxenos of c. 300BC.”
Roman mosaics were a common way of decorating the floors and walls of important or elaborate buildings. Floor mosaics—opus tessellatum—were usually made of stone or marble, but some were formed from glass, mother of pearl, or gold. In his entry on Roman mosaics in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Demetrios Michaelides reports:
“Many specialists believe that mosaicists made use of standardized pattern ‘sketchbooks,’ from which they or the person commissioning a mosaic could choose the scenes represented. This would explain why there are close similarities between mosaics of different periods found in different parts of the empire as well as between mosaics and works of art in other media.”
According to the Museum display:
“The most common flooring in Pompeii was a form of plain concrete called signinum, but wealthy homes had patterned or figurative mosaics decorating the floors. Functioning like modern rugs, mosaic floors tied one grand room to the next. Black and white tiles were the most commonly found, perhaps as a way to use discarded scraps of marble from larger decorations. This mosaic was found in the atrium of the House of Criptoporticco. The snake-haired gorgon at the center would have scared away possible intruders.”
More Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome: Glass Vessels from Pompeii (Photo Diary)
Ancient Rome: Sculpture in Pompeii
Ancient Rome: Erotic Images in Pompeii (Photo Diary)
Ancient Rome: Jewelry (Photo Diary)
Ancient Rome: Pompeii's Amphitheater
Ancient Rome: The Houses of Pompeii
Ancient Rome: Death in Pompeii
Ancient Rome: Food in Pompeii
Ancient Rome: Theater in Pompeii
Ancient Rome: Glass Bottles (Photo Diary)