In a previous post I shared some images and thoughts on what I believe is the only completely preserved building dedicated to the worship of Roman Emperors in the First Century A.D. I want to complete the posting of images from the main room where the statue of the Emperor was located. In these two frescos, the Emperor is portrayed as the mythical hero Hercules!
On the left is Hercules with his club, lion’s skin, and a bow and arrows.
View looking at the north wall of the cult room of the Sacellum (chapel) of the Augustales (priests in charge of Emperor Worship). The central panel is flanked by two slender spirally fluted columns. It appears that there is an attempt to portray this central panel as a hanging tapestry. On the left is Hercules with his club, lion’s skin, and a bow and arrows. The nude figure next to him is a river deity that is attempting to snatch away Hercules’ wife, Deianeira. Hercules is about to rescue her! Tuck suggests that this is a metaphor for the Emperor as Hercules who protects/rescues his people.
Flanking the central piece are “windows” that look out on to the world. Note especially the two chariots with horses in the upper two corners.
Hercules, without club or lion’s skin, is sitting nude. The female in the foreground is the deity Minerva and in the back, between the two of them, is Zeus’s wife, Hera.
View looking at the south wall of the cult room of the Sacellum (chapel) of the Augustales (priests in charge of Emperor Worship). The central panel is flanked by two slender spirally fluted columns. It appears that there is an attempt to portray this central panel as a hanging tapestry. Hercules, without club or lion’s skin, is sitting nude. The female in the foreground is the deity Minerva and in the back, between the two of them, is Zeus’s wife, Hera. Tuck believes that this is a representation of Hercules about to be taken up to be with the gods (= apotheosis) and that he and Hera are here reconciled—Hera had attempted to kill him. Tuck believes that this is a metaphor for the apotheosis (- ascension?) of the Emperor—being represented as Hercules. In other words, Vespasian, like Emperors before him, was taken to be with the gods—and thus became a god! And of course, the Emperor’s successor (even if adopted), would be “a son of god.”
To view 6 images of this important room Click Here.
Professor Tuck (see below) suggests that this room was renovated shortly after the death of Vespasian in A.D. 79, early in the reign of Titus—which implies that the room was soon buried by the pyroclastic flow from Vesuvius—ca. 24 August 79.
I am indebted to the explanatory comments of Steven L. Tuck in his engaging “Worshipping the Emperors at Herculaneum,” Lecture 21 in Pompeii: Daily Life in an Ancient Roman City. Produced by the Great Courses/The Teaching Company, Course No. 3742, 2010.
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