Thermopolium
Dec. 27th, 2020 07:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rain_gryphonA thermopolium, unearthed at Pompeii, and in remarkably good condition. So neat, and brightly painted in appetizing terra-cotta red and yellow, with the advertising art of a chicken and a brace of ducks, the exact same way we do today. I love stuff that reminds one of the continuity between ourselves and the Romans. The tied-up dog at the right is likely a cave canem warning.
The scene painted on the side is remarkable. Whatever Reuters says, I don't believe that represents a nymph riding a horse. I think that's Skyphios, the first horse, being born from the rocky shore at Larissa, in Thessaly. You can see what I think are dolphins to the right, in the water, and the rocks are plainly portrayed at the left. The nymph is playing a lyre, and more than likely supposed to be telling the story. She may be (probably is, honestly), Larissa herself, telling the story for which her namesake city is famed.
I wonder if the stand was named after Larissa, or perhaps the proprietor came from Thessaly. Gaius's Thessalian-style Lunch Counter. It's sad that there was food left in the hot pots. It gives some indication of how rapidly things went south that day.
The scene painted on the side is remarkable. Whatever Reuters says, I don't believe that represents a nymph riding a horse. I think that's Skyphios, the first horse, being born from the rocky shore at Larissa, in Thessaly. You can see what I think are dolphins to the right, in the water, and the rocks are plainly portrayed at the left. The nymph is playing a lyre, and more than likely supposed to be telling the story. She may be (probably is, honestly), Larissa herself, telling the story for which her namesake city is famed.
I wonder if the stand was named after Larissa, or perhaps the proprietor came from Thessaly. Gaius's Thessalian-style Lunch Counter. It's sad that there was food left in the hot pots. It gives some indication of how rapidly things went south that day.
