The decoration of the large dining room (15) is especially effective. In the front of the room is a broad door opening into the colonnade of the peristyle; each of the three sides contains three panels, in the midst of a light but carefully finished architectural framework. In the central panels are large paintings: at r, a young couple looking at a nest of Cupids; at q, Theseus going on board ship, leaving behind him the beautiful Ariadne; and at p a composition in which Artemis is the principal figure. In four of the smaller panels are the Seasons, represented as graceful female figures hovering in the air; the others present youthful warriors with helmet, shield, sword, and spear, all well conceived and executed with much delicacy.
The atrium, unlike most of those at Pompeii, was rich in wall paintings. Six panels, more than four feet high, presented a series of scenes from the story of the Trojan war, as told in the "Iliad." These were united with the decorative framework in such a way as to make a harmonious and pleasing whole; the main divisions of the right wall of the atrium, as well as of the fauces and tablinum, are indicated in [Fig. 154].
Fig. 154.—Longitudinal section of the house of the Tragic Poet, restored.
[View larger image]
![[View larger image]](#8860225635256241586_fig154fs.jpg.id-6625611448252089789.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
- Large dining room.
- Peristyle.
- Kitchen.
- Tablinum.
- Ala.
- Atrium.
- Impluvium.
- Stairs.
- Fauces.
In arranging the pictures, the decorators had little regard for the order of events. The subjects were the Nuptials of Zeus and Hera (at a on the plan); the judgment of Paris (b)—though this is doubtful, as the picture is now entirely obliterated; the delivery of Briseis to the messenger of Agamemnon (c); the departure of Chryseis (d), and seemingly Thetis bringing arms across the sea to Achilles (f). Of the painting at e only a fragment remained, too small to make it possible to recognize the subject. The fragment at f, in which were seen a Triton, two figures riding on a sea horse, and a Cupid on a dolphin, is now entirely faded. Half of the painting in which Chryseis appears was already ruined at the time of excavation; the other half was transferred to the Naples Museum, together with the paintings that were best preserved, the Nuptials of Zeus and Hera, and the sending away of Briseis.
The two pictures last mentioned are among the best known of the Pompeian paintings, and have often been reproduced. In one ([Fig. 273]) we see Zeus sitting at the right, while Hypnos presents to him Hera, whose left wrist he gently grasps in his right hand as if to draw her to him. Hera seems half reluctant, and her face, which the artist, in order to enhance the effect, has directed toward the beholder rather than toward Zeus, is queenly in its majesty and power. The scene is located on Mt. Ida. In the background stands a pillar, on which are three small figures of lions; below at the side are two pipes, cymbals, and a tambourine, all sacred to the potent divinity of Mt. Ida, Cybele. Three youths, crowned with garlands, appear in the lower right hand corner of the picture; they are perhaps the Dactyli, demons skilled in the working of metals who followed in the train of Cybele.
