Fresco with Pompeii Amphitheatre Riot

Fresco

Italy

Italy, Pompeii, House of Actius Anicetus

Fresco depicting a riot at the amphitheatre in Pompeii. Figures are depicted fighting in and around the amphitheatre. The amphitheatre is depicted with the awning or vela as well as featuring the podium wall painted to resemble marble. This wall separates the arena from the spectators. Next to the amphitheatre is the palaestra. On a wall of the palaestra are two inscriptions, one in Latin and one in Greek.

Naples Archaeological Museum

Fresco dates to c. 59 CE. The painting remarkably depicts a riot at the amphitheatre at Pompeii between the citizens of Pompeii and nearby Nuceria. The Historian Tacitus describes the event and its aftermath (Annals, 14.17). The Nucerians got the worst of it with many deaths and injuries. The result was that the Senate of Rome investigated the riot and banned gladiatorial shows at Pompeii for 10 years. The editor of the show, Livineius Regulus, and other instigators of the riot were exiled. The inscription in Latin translates as 'Good fortune to Decimus Lucretius' and the Greek inscription as 'Good fortune to Satrius Valens, Augustus Nero' (CIL IV 2993 x, y).

Tacitus, Annals, 14.17. CIL IV 2993 x, y. A.E. Cooley and M.G.L. Cooley, Pompeii and Herculaneum. A Sourcebook. 2nd edition. London and New York.

Attributed to Angela Kalinowski under the license CC-BY-NC 4.0

CC-BY-NC 4.0

Angela Kalinowski

Photographer

Fresco
Roman
Imperial
Amphitheatre
Palaestra
Architecture
Inscription
Spectacle
Gladiator
Venatio
Munera
Spectators

1st c. CE