Perhaps no other ancient city captures our imagination quite like Pompeii. The storyline is familiar: a thriving city on the Bay of Naples- a mecca of high culture and a playground of the rich- suddenly and violently engulfed by the smoldering ash, debris, and lava of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Yet, the aura of mystery and wonderment has been barely dispelled in the hundreds of years since the first excavations in 1748. Today, after painstaking study and scholarship, we have a comprehensive understanding of the life in that “City disinterred” and its streets and roofless halls.
One theme appears to link together the sumptuous villas, luxurious gardens, colonnaded walkways, and expansive terraces: the patronage of Greek culture and arts was considered an essential quality for upper-class Romans and a symbol of exalted social status.
History of Pompeii
To understand the art and culture of Pompeii, one must first understand the history of Pompeii and its origin. The Greeks first colonized the Bay of Naples and the various cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum that studded its sun-kissed coast in 600 BC. Centuries later, when the Romans conquered Greece in 146 BC, Pompeii and its environs were citadels of Greek culture according to LACMA.
The Romans were seduced by the city’s past and the all-things Greek that infused daily life, including decorative and luxury arts such as paintings, sculptures, frescoes, and mosaics. In addition, Pompeii became a refuge from the rigors of city life as wealthy Romans including Emperor Augustus were bedazzled by the scenic beauty and the temperate Mediterranean climate.
Thus, Pompeii turned into an enclave of the rich and powerful, its wealth augmented by the vibrant trade in olive oil, wine, seafood, and grains that flowed through its harbors and the cornucopia of fruits and vegetables that were bountifully produced in its fertile soil. It is no accident then that Pompeii became a thriving center of art and culture as elements of Greek heritage, Roman wealth, and nature’s gifts fortuitously collided and harmoniously blended.
The Gardens
Given the temperate climate and the stunning views of the Bay of Naples, it is not a surprise that the gardens take a center stage in the design and architecture of the villas of Pompeii. However, there is another important influence at play in the prevalence of these luxurious and elaborately planned gardens: they were a nod to the cultural heritage of Pompeii since outdoor spaces were considered a haven of learning and knowledge in Greece.
This Greek reverence for idyllic and rustic settings was exemplified by Plato’s Academy, which was established in the fourth century BC as the first school of higher studies. In the grand Villa of Titus Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii, there is a majestic mosaic at the entryway to the garden, that signifies the importance of the outdoors and pastoral settings.
Entitled “Plato’s Academy” and believed to have been created somewhere between the first century BCE and the first century CE, the mosaic is a well-preserved specimen of high Roman art and the influence of Greek thought and philosophy.
The Mosaics
The mosaics of ancient Rome became a highly developed art form and were usually made from numerous small stone, glass, and shell tiles called tesserae. These intricately colored tiles were then assembled much like pieces of a puzzle. In the hands of skilled artisans, these mosaics rivaled paintings and murals in their depiction of emotions, anatomy, scenery, and stories.
The multicolored mosaics also imparted depth, dimension, and space as shadows, edges, and contrasts presented a visual feast to the admirer. In Plato’s Academy, the venerable Greek philosopher is seated in the middle, somewhat forlorn in his appearance and gazing at a globe. He is surrounded by six wizened and bearded men, some engaged in conversation, no doubt debating the great questions of life, death, knowledge, ethics, and epistemology. They are seated under an olive tree in Plato’s eponymous academy, the folds and creases on their tunics enlivened by a slight breeze perhaps. The scrolls, the sundial, the triumphal arch in the background, and the Acropolis in the distance are a tribute to Greek achievements in literature, science, and architecture.
The mosaic is framed by a garland of pomegranates, berries, and apples, interspersed with comic masks. According to Matthew Bowser, the author of “The Golden Age of Rome: Augustus’ Program to Better the Roman Empire”, to many in ancient Rome, the fifth century BC was considered the apogee of Greek supremacy in the arts that in fact five hundred years later Emperor Augustus aimed to reignite the glory of that Golden Age (University of Pittsburgh, 2013).
Therefore, for the residents of Pompeii, there was no higher claim to nobility and refinement than embellishing their homes and villas with fine examples of Greek art, philosophy, history, and culture.
The Statuary
Another manifestation of Greek influence on Roman art and culture in Pompeii was in statuary. Excavations have revealed the plethora of bronze and marble sculptures that adorned gardens and indoor spaces of many villas and homes, often paying homage to the Greeks myths and famous philosophers. The hallmark of these statues is the realistic depiction of human anatomy and the skilled capture of the “movement of the body through space”. As word spread of Pompeii’s patronage of the arts, many artists from Rome and Greece migrated to the Bay of Naples in search of commissions and rewards.
This further cemented the primacy of Greek influence as these artists created elaborate imitations of ancient Greek sculptures. Many of these sculptures were adapted to Roman tastes and uses, for example when monumental carvings of gods and heroes of antiquity were modified in size to fit the atriums and hallways of the villas. The marble statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, that was discovered in one of the villas in Pompeii is a remarkably preserved specimen of sculpture.
Measuring nearly seven feet and believed to have been made in the first century AD, this rendering of Aphrodite, or Venus as she was called in Rome, remarkably captures the skill of the Roman artisans in reproducing Greek art. The innumerable fine folds of Venus’ Greek-style tunic-rather than the contemporary Roman toga- are intricately demonstrated and so is her wavy hair, crowned by a jeweled diadem. The casual slippage of the tunic from her shoulder endows the statue with a sense of realism, which is further amplified by the clinging of fabric to the shape of her body and relaxed pose.
Detailed analysis and research have shown that this statue is most likely based on the work of a Greek artist named Agorakritos, who lived in the fifth century BC and was a notable student of another well-known ancient Greek artist Pheidias. Thus, the representation of the human form, the attention paid to the appearance and draping of the fabric, and Venus’ natural posture, reveal the long shadow that Greek art cast upon Pompeii and Rome across centuries.
The treasure trove of artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum is much like a time capsule. In the Villa dei Papiri, for instance, more than a thousand scrolls with elegant inscriptions of ancient Greek texts and over eighty statues are a testimony to the epicurean life of the inhabitants of Pompeii and their ardent desire to replicate Greek art and culture.
The Ghosts of Greece
If we were to rather inartfully rephrase old adages, it can be said that in Pompeii, do as the Greeks do, or that in so far as the doomed residents of cities of the Bay of Naples were concerned, imitation of Greece was the sincerest form of flattery. As a contemporary observer, it is immensely interesting to realize that the treasures and achievements of ancient Greece were just as enthralling to ancient Romans as it is to modern-day connoisseurs of art and architecture.
In a larger sense, the discoveries in Pompeii speak to a higher and universal human urge to seek beauty and refinement, which are privileges bestowed by art and culture and even if endowed and created by an ancient civilization that has long since perished. So much so that if one were to look carefully amongst the haunting ruins of Pompeii, the ghosts of Greece can be seen lingering in plain sight.
