On August 24, 79 A.D., the wealthy Roman seaside cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Italy’s Mount Vesuvius. The two locations were completely buried under 60 feet of ash and pumice – and thereby lost. Pompeii 
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Nero as Apollo Citheroedus (detail)
Roman, Second Style, 1st Century A.D.
From the Triclinium of Moregine
Fresco
Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali -
Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei |
then waited, almost perfectly preserved for nearly 1,700 years, until its rediscovery in 1748 by the Spanish military engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.
Pompeii’s destruction may have been tragic, but its amazing level of preservation was fortuitous. It is in the archaeological site that we find the largest surviving group of frescoes. And it was in excavating and describing them that the German archaeologist Augustus Mau first grouped the city’s wall paintings into four supposed styles.
Nero as Apollo Citheroedus
The fresco Nero as Apollo Citheroedus (1st Century A.D.) is a Second or Architectural Style piece. It was uncovered accidentally in the town of Moregine, south of Pompeii. Thought to be a depiction of Nero as Apollo, the god is surrounded by Muses (not shown). As such, this particular work tells an interesting story about the political uses of art in ancient Rome as well as its emperor.
Classical Roman Art and Portraiture
Although classical Roman artistic sensibilities mirror our own in many ways, there is an important difference between the two. In general, Romans did not have any conception of art for art’s sake. Their works were not viewed as expressions of the person(s) who created them; they were purpose-driven. This is especially true of portraiture. Brightly polychromed (painted) marble busts served as a kind of billboard primarily intended as publicity for the political or military official depicted. This attitude is also distinctly evident in the decorative arts of Rome. Examples of domestic portraiture, like the fresco described here, were a deliberate homage to the individual whose likeness was painted and would, in this case, have been an obvious expression of loyalty to Emperor Nero (r. 54-68 A.D.).
The Romans preferred that their frescoes enlighten as well as visually entertain. They painted themes that encouraged conversation, contemplation and admiration. Mythological stories were popular in this regard. As a result, depictions of Apollo and the Muses can be seen in this fresco and statuary excavated from various Pompeiian sites.
Nero’s Artistic Tastes
The identification of Nero as Apollo Citheroedus in the fresco discussed here is also interesting in terms of historical and biographical context. Unlike previous emperors who preferred to be identified as much as possible with the military, Nero exhibited strong artistic interests, even to the point of staging musical competitions in which he publicly participated. Although the senatorial class as a whole disapproved of this distinctly unsavory and “un-Roman” behavior in their ruler (Nero was derided by his mother, Agrippina the Younger, as “Greek”), the general populace loved the spectacle. Because the entire Roman citizenry was considered to be under the personal patronage of the emperor, there was palpable social pressure not simply to tolerate Nero’s tastes but to revel in them. His depiction as Apollo, patron of the arts attended by the Muses who inspired aesthetic gifts in man, was a pointed display of loyalty to Nero by the fresco’s wealthy patrician owner.
“Nero as Apollo Citheroedus” was exhibited as part of the traveling exhibition “Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption” at the National Archeological Museum, Naples in August 2003. The show later appeared at the Field Museum in Chicago, the Millennium Art Museum in Beijing and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where it concluded its international tour in June 2008. A 205-page catalogue by the same name was published for the Field Museum in 2003 (revised edition 2005) by Mondadori Electa S.p.A., Milan in collaboration with the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali – Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei.