Pompeii. Street Altar at I.12.5. Rectangular niche with a blue lava stone.

Street shrine or niche at east side of entrance doorway of I.12.5 Pompeii.

December 2018. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

Street shrine or niche at east side of entrance doorway of I.12.5 Pompeii.

October 2017.

Foto Taylor Lauritsen, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.

Street shrine or niche outside I.12.5 Pompeii. September 2005.

This is on Via dell’ Abbondanza, at the corner with Vicolo dei Fuggiaschi.

According to Della Corte, on the red pilaster which ended the insula on the east side, two electoral programmes were found.

The first -

GAVIVM II VIR.      [CIL IV 7442]

The second -

AMPLIATVM L F AED

        VICINI

        SVRGITE ET
        ROGATE

        LVTATI F[ac]       [CIL IV 7443]

The first line of the second inscription had larger letters than the subsequent lines.

The text was placed towards the right, because the pilaster was interrupted in the middle by a rectangular niche.

In the niche was fixed a coarse rough stone resembling the outline of a human head, not the usual marble bust, as often seen here and there in the street.

See Notizie degli Scavi, 1914, (p.204).

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de), these read

Gavium

IIvir(um)      [CIL IV 7442]

Ampliatum L(uci) f(ilium) aed(ilem)

Vicini

surgite et

rogate

lutati f[ac(iatis)]      [CIL IV 7443]

Street altar outside I.12.5, Pompeii. September 2005. Looking south.

Street altar outside I.12.5, Pompeii. December 2018. Looking south. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

Street altar outside I.12.5, Pompeii. October 2011.

Rectangular niche on the left side of the doorway with a blue lava stone. Photo courtesy of Daniel Genot.

Street altar outside I.12.5, Pompeii. December 2018. Remaining painted decoration. Photo courtesy of Aude Durand.

Street altar outside I.12.5, Pompeii. 1959. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.

Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.

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According to PPM, inserted in the rectangular niche on the left side of the doorway was a blue lava stone, which had been a “lava-bomb” erupted during a prehistoric eruption and which was supposed to have been attributed with sacred and magical values.

This was inserted into an apsed rectangular niche, with the lower level consisting of a tile projecting by about 6 cm and closed into the upper area by another tile with architrave under a flat arch in brick.

See Carratelli, G. P., 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici. Vol. II.  Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana. (p.736)