THE CUSTOMIZATION OF WALL PAINTING DESIGNS IN THE ROMAN DOMUS: A CASE STUDY OF THE TROJAN CYCLE FRIEZES OF POMPEII By JOCELYN P. BOIGENZAHN A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 1 © 2012 Jocelyn P. Boigenzahn 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am profoundly grateful to my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Barbara Barletta, for her insightful supervision and abundant patience. To my advisory committee members, Dr. Mary Ann Eaverly and Dr. Guolong Lai, thank you for sharing your expertise, and helping me to consider and appreciate ancient art and cultures in different and inspiring ways. I also wish to thank Dr. Lea Cline, for her guidance on the seminar paper that became the cornerstone of this thesis. Lastly, thank you to my husband, Nick, and my parents, Thad and Margaret Parker, for being never-ending sources of encouragement and support in my academic pursuits, and for always being an enthusiastic audience and sounding board for my explorations. Their support of my passion continues to compel me to find new and interesting ways to encourage current and future generations to learn about ancient art and cultures. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................3 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................6 ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................8 2 BACKGROUND OF THE POMPEIIAN TROJAN CYCLE FRIEZES ....................................12 Geography ...............................................................................................................................12 Excavation ...............................................................................................................................13 Scholarship ..............................................................................................................................16 Description ..............................................................................................................................17 Chronology ..............................................................................................................................23 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................26 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................27 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................30 3 IDENTIFYING THE CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE FRIEZES .......................33 General Framework of the Pompeiian Friezes ..........................................................................33 The Trojan Cycle Frieze in the House of the Cryptoporticus .............................................33 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................37 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................38 Confirmation and Discussion of Scene Identifications ..............................................................40 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................40 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................42 Classification and the Illumination of the Subjects and Compositions of each Frieze .........49 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................50 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................50 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................52 Conclusions on the Distinctive Content Assemblages of each Trojan Cycle Frieze ...................54 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................54 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................56 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco .......................................................57 4 PHYSICAL CONTEXT AND THE ADAPTATION OF SCENE CONFIGURATIONS TO CREATE UNIFIED VISUALLY ACCESSIBLE FRIEZES .....................................................71 Physical context of the Friezes and Potential Effects of Visual Accessibility ............................72 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................72 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................73 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................75 4 Linking Elements and Their Function .......................................................................................77 The Sacrarium Frieze from Casa di Sacello Iliaco .............................................................77 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................78 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................79 Adapting the Compositions to Compensate for the Effects of the Physical Context ...................80 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................80 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................82 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................83 5 THE NARRATIVE FEATURE OF THE POMPEIIAN TROJAN CYCLE FRIEZES ..............85 Scholarship on Visual Narrative Methods in ancient Greco-Roman Art ....................................85 Comparison of the Pompeiian Trojan Cycle Friezes with ancient Narrative Methods ................90 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .........................................91 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................91 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................92 “Narrative Readability”: Effect on the Readability of the Friezes within the Physical Context and the Application of Reading Techniques to generate Narrative Clarity ................96 The Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio ...........................................96 The Sacrarium Frieze from the Casa di Sacello Iliaco ........................................................98 The Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .......................................100 6 CONCLUSION: THE TAILOR-MADE TROJAN CYCLE FRIEZES OF POMPEII .............104 Lower Iliadic Frieze from the House of Octavius Quartio .......................................................105 Sacrarium Frieze from Casa di Sacello Iliaco .........................................................................108 Trojan Cycle Frieze from the House of the Cryptoporticus .....................................................109 APPENDIX A LIST OF ART WORKS CITED IN CHAPTER 2 ..................................................................115 B LIST OF ART WORKS CITED IN CHAPTER 3 ..................................................................117 C LIST OF ART WORKS CITED IN CHAPTER 4 ..................................................................121 D LIST OF ART WORKS CITED IN CHAPTER 6 ..................................................................122 LIST OF REFERENCES...............................................................................................................123 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................129 5 LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 The Trojan Cycle Frieze Content Framework ...................................................................33 3-2 Lower Iliadic Frieze Content Framework ..........................................................................37 3-3 Sacrarium Frieze Content Framework ...............................................................................39 3-4 Literary References ............................................................................................................59 3-5 The Trojan Cycle Frieze Scene Comparanda ....................................................................64 3-6 Lower Iliadic Frieze Scene Comparanda ...........................................................................67 3-7 Sacrarium Frieze Scene Comparanda ................................................................................69 6 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts THE CUSTOMIZATION OF WALL PAINTING DESIGNS IN THE ROMAN DOMUS: A CASE STUDY OF THE TROJAN CYCLE FRIEZES OF POMPEII By Jocelyn P. Boigenzahn December 2012 Chair: Barbara A. Barletta Major: