Santuario C, Il tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. Santuario
di Dioniso-Liber.
Sanctuary C, Temple of Dionysus at Sant’Abbondio, Pompeii. Sanctuary of Dionysus-Liber.
Excavated 1947, 1973 and 2008.
Bench D
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. South-west corner and bench D. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Semi-circular bench D on south side of temple. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Bench D. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Bench D in south-west corner. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. South-west corner behind bench D. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Bench D. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Pronaos
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. 1947.
Looking south–east across pronaos and cella E. Photo courtesy of Ruth Bielfeldt.
See Bielfeldt R.,
Der Liber-Tempel in Pompeji in
Sant’Abbondio. Oskisches Vorstadtheiligtum und kaiserzeitliches Kultlokal,
dans MDAI-Römische Abteilung, 113, 2007, pp. 318, Abb. 1.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Looking north-east across pronaos and temple cella. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Pronaos at west end of temple. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Masonry on floor of pronaos. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
North side of temple looking east across pronaos to cella E. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Cella E
Tempio dionisiaco
in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. 1973.
Looking
north-west across Cella E and pronaos. 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.
J73f0351
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Temple cella E at east end of temple. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Temple cella E. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. North side of temple cella E. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Temple cella E looking east. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. South side of temple cella E. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Pediment
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Pediment. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Pediment in temple under protective dome roof. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. North part of pediment. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Two deities and thyrsus in centre of pediment at temple. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Relief of Dionysus at temple. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Relief of Ariadne at temple. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Exhibition description of pediment.
It was carved in tufa and originally painted dating from the second half of the third century BC.
It shows the sacred union between Dionysus-Liber (Loufir in Oscan) and a female figure almost certainly Aphrodite-Venus (Herentos in Oscan), Ariadne for others. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Photo courtesy
of Fabien Bièvre-Perrin (CC BY-NC-SA).
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Pediment and altar on display in Antiquarium. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. 1948. Tufa pediment from front of temple.
Photo courtesy of Ruth Bielfeldt.
The main testimony to the identity of the revered deities is this figuratively decorated relief gable.
Olga Elia, in her last, unfinished study especially focused on the pediment relief and from its iconography had developed the fundamental theses into the character and origin of the cult.
The design is in high relief and shows two divinities reclining at a banquet.
Bacchus or Dionysus on the left holds a cup (Kantharos) in his right hand and grapes in his left.
He is shown together with other figures commonly associated with him, (such as a panther) and a female figure who has been variously interpreted as Ariadne or Aphrodite
Ariadne or Aphrodite on the right is lifting her veil perhaps in a wedding gesture.
See Bielfeldt R.,
Der Liber-Tempel in Pompeji in
Sant’Abbondio. Oskisches Vorstadtheiligtum und kaiserzeitliches Kultlokal,
dans MDAI-Römische Abteilung, 113, 2007, p. 322, Abb. 4.
According to De Caro, the cult must date back to the archaic period, but the best-documented phase is the Hellenistic, with a small Doric tetrastyle prostyle temple.
It is adorned with a beautiful little tufa pediment in which the god celebrates his sacred marriage with Ariadne.
The cult, prohibited in exactly this period in Rome by the senatus consultus de Bacchanalibus, shows that it was alive and beloved in this Campanian city, certainly in connection with the flourishing viticulture of the area, not by chance attested already from this period by a local production of Greek-Italic amphorae.
See De Caro in Dobbins, J. J. and Foss, P. W., 2008. The World of Pompeii. Oxford: Routledge, p. 80.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. December 2005. Pediment in Pompeii Forum Granary Store VII.7.29.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in Antiquarium.
Detail of Dionysus with grapes and Ariadne lifting her veil. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in temple. Dionysus and Ariadne. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco
in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei.
The two gods on the tufa pediment from front of temple. Photo courtesy of Ruth Bielfeldt.
The depiction shows a Dionysian scene of pyramidal symmetric
structure. Shoulder on Shoulder lie the pair of gods in the centre, flanked each
with a satellite scene, which extends from the edges of the gables
In the centre, between the gods, is the towering thyrsus-pole in the gable
vertex and leaning upright against the thyrsus is a Tympanum. The
characterization of the god as Dionysus exists because of the attributes, the
grape in the left, the Kantharos in the right, the ivy wreath and the hair
band. But the garment is unusual for the usually lightly dressed Dionysus. The
god is in an ankle-length, highly girt, long-sleeved “Theaterchiton”
like Apollo Citarista, but also Dionysus wears, for instance in representations
of the Indian Triumph on imperial sarcophagi. Without comparison in Dionysian iconography
is, however, the veiling of the back of the head through the coat, a costume
feature that in connection with the strict frontality and the motionless
posture, gives the God a hieratic aura.
The companion lying to the left of God, a youthful goddess of restrained erotic beauty, is more moved towards the opposite. In a spacious unveiling gesture, she pulls with the left, formerly raised, hand the veil laid over the back of the head, to the side. Only the left part of her head remains, with the wavy hair, parted in the middle. The face is mostly broken away, as the block joint ran right through the face. A sign of their physical attractiveness is the identical motif of the chitons slipped off the shoulder, which frees the unclothed shoulder, and the rich jewelry, a torque around the neck and an upper arm band on the left arm. However, they are not specific attributes to identify her.
See Bielfeldt R., Der Liber-Tempel in Pompeji in
Sant’Abbondio. Oskisches
Vorstadtheiligtum und kaiserzeitliches Kultlokal,
dans MDAI-Römische Abteilung, 113, 2007, pp. 323-4, Abb. 5, 6.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in Antiquarium.
Dionysus holding grapes and kantharos. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. December 2005.
Pediment from front of temple, stored in Pompeii Forum Granary Store VII.7.29.
Detail of Dionysus with arm outstretched, holding a cup in his right hand and grapes in his left hand.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in Antiquarium. Head of Dionysus. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Between Kantharos held by Dionysus and the panther is Silenus. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. 1948.
Tufa pediment. Between Dionysus and the panther is Silenus. Photo courtesy of Ruth Bielfeldt.
See Bielfeldt R.,
Der Liber-Tempel in Pompeji in
Sant’Abbondio. Oskisches Vorstadtheiligtum und kaiserzeitliches Kultlokal,
dans MDAI-Römische Abteilung, 113, 2007, pp. 324-5, Abb. 8.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018. Panther on pediment in Antiquarium. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in Antiquarium.
Panther at end of pediment. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Pediment in Antiquarium with Ariadne and cupid. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018.
Pediment in temple with Ariadne, cupid and swan. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in Antiquarium. Cupid with fan. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. May 2018 in Antiquarium. Cupid and swan. Photo courtesy of Buzz Ferebee.
Tempio dionisiaco in località Sant’Abbondio di Pompei. 1948. Tufa pediment. Between the goddess and the end of the relief.
An Eros holds a fan, wings spread upwards out of his shoulders, the stucco plumage on the right wing still visible.
On the heels of the Eros follows a wing-flapping goose - probably no swan -, with neck bent and head lowered.
Photo courtesy of Ruth Bielfeldt.
See Bielfeldt R.,
Der Liber-Tempel in Pompeji in
Sant’Abbondio. Oskisches Vorstadtheiligtum und kaiserzeitliches Kultlokal,
dans MDAI-Römische Abteilung, 113, 2007, pp. 324, Abb. 7.