House of Neptune

by Maria Coulson

Title

House of Neptune

Artist

Maria Coulson

Medium

Photograph

Description

The picture is from a house in Herculaneum. The glass paste wall mosaic on the east wall depicts Neptune and Amphitrite. It is amazingly well preserved. Herculaneum located in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, was an ancient Roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 AD. Its ruins are located in the commune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy.
It is most famous for having been lost, along with Pompeii, Stabiae, Oplontis and the neighborhood of Monte Bursaccio in Boscoreale, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 that buried it in superheated pyroclastic material. It is also famous as one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in almost its original splendor; unlike Pompeii, it was buried deeply enough to preserve the upper stories of buildings. Additionally, the hotter ash preserved wooden household objects such as beds, doors, and even food. Moreover, Herculaneum was a wealthier town than Pompeii, possessing an extraordinary density of fine houses, and far more lavish use of colored marble cladding. The discovery in recent years of some 300 skeletons along the sea shore came as a surprise, as it had been assumed that the town had been evacuated.

Proceeds from the sale of this photograph goes to help orphaned and abandoned children in Colombia South America.

Uploaded

June 4th, 2014

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags