Fresco depicting Thetis in Hephaestus' workshop

Fresco depicting Thetis in Hephaestus' workshop

The fresco, painted in Fourth Style, illustrates the Homeric episode of the eighteenth book of the Ilyiad, when the goddess Thetis, mother of the hero Achilles, went to the god Hephaestus to collect the weapons that she had commissioned for her son. On the left, seated on some marble steps, is Hephaestus: the god, whose face is blackened by the smoke of the forge, his hair ruffled and dishevelled due to the sweat, wears a short tunic and a pileus; in his left hand, he holds the oval shield that has just been forged, helped by another central figure whose upper body is missing. Lower down on the left is a male figure with a skullcap; he is a cyclops, an assistant of the god, who is seated with his back bent by the effort and is finishing off the crested helmet in front of him with a burin and a hammer; some of his tools are visible on the floor, and include a pair of tongs. In the centre, lying on the ground, are the decorated cuirass and the greaves which have been very carefully made by the god; even the detailed parts are chased in gold. On the right, the goddess Thetis is seated on a marble throne. She wears a chiton, himation and sandals, with her left arm bent, and the elbow of her right arm leaning on the arm of the chair and her chin resting on her hand; her gaze seems to be catalysed by her own reflection in the shining surface of the shield. Behind her is a handmaid. The scene probably takes place in the goddess’ palace, generically shown by a portico with a Doric column in the foreground; behind this is a wall covered almost entirely by hangings, and in the top right-hand corner, right at the back, is a window with curtains. The subject of the fresco seems to have been a particular favourite of the inhabitants of Pompeii, like other themes from the Ilyiad, since it also features in other houses in the town. The model that inspired the artists was almost certainly the work of a Hellenistic painter even though, as was often the case, Roman painters completely or partly re-worked the composition to suit the tastes of local patrons. The decision to display a fresco of this type in a house probably suggests a celebratory intention on the part of the owner who, by using a heroic-divine theme, sought to glorify himself and his own loyalty to central power by selecting a theme beloved to the emperor.