Nero as Apollo



Fresco, Wall Painting (detail: Nero as Apollo Citheroedus)
From the Triclinium of Moregine, Pompeii
Roman, Second Style (First Century A.D.)

On August 24, 79 A.D., the wealthy Roman seaside cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. The two cities were completely buried under 60 feet of ash and pumice -- and thereby lost. Pompeii then waited, almost perfectly preserved, for nearly 1,700 years until its rediscovery in 1748 by the Spanish military engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.

Pompeii's destruction may have been tragic, but its amazing level of preservation has been fortuitous. It is in Pompeii that we find the largest surviving group of Roman wall paintings or frescoes. And it was in excavating and describing these that the German archaeologist Augustus Mau first grouped them by supposed period into the Four Styles.

The fresco shown here is a Second, or Architectural, Style piece uncovered accidentally in the town of Moregine, south of Pompeii. It is thought to be a depiction of Nero as Apollo, surrounded by Muses (not shown). As such, this particular fresco tells an interesting story about the political uses of art in ancient Rome, and about Nero himself.

The Remorse of Nero After the Murder of His Mother

by John William Waterhouse. 1878.