Friday 6 February 2009

Trophy-hunting in Pompeii

This week I have been (happily) distracted from my own research project by a question from one of my colleagues about depictions of trophies in Roman wall painting.

I came across these paintings on the facade of a building at III.3.6 on the Via dell'Abbondanza, the so-called Schola Armaturarum.

Does anyone know of recent research on this building? I would love to know if anyone has challenged the interpretation of the function of the building.

[Image source: My quick scan of PPM vol. III, p. 395]

2 comments:

Jo Berry said...

The identification is based on the trophy frescoes and a cupboard of weapons found inside the room, isn't it? Have you looked at Spinazzola to see if there is any further description of the finds? Could it be a shop of some sort (gladiatorial outfitters???!!!). It's a shop-like space, isn't it? I don't know of any recent work on the building. Is there anything in Jacobelli's book on gladiators?

Francesca Tronchin said...

Thanks, Jo! The building is only partially excavated, so it would be nice to know what's going on in the rest of the structure before drawing too many conclusions. Great tip about Jacobelli...I'll look it up & post something else if I find anything interesting.

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