page_title: House of the Centenary
section_title: Mythological painting
hierarchical_section_title: House of the Centenary / Art / Mythological painting
caption_attribution_description: English: Floating maenad with offerings on a plate. Detail of a roman fresco from a triclinium in the Casa del Centenario (IX 8,3-6) in Pompeii. Deutsch: Schwebende Mänade, die eine Platte mit Opfergaben trägt. Detail eines römischen Freskos aus einem Triclinium im Haus der Jahrhundertfeier (IX 8,3-6) in Pompeji.
context_page_description: The House of the Centenary was the house of a wealthy resident of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The house was discovered in 1879, and was given its modern name to mark the 18th centenary of the disaster. Built in the mid-2nd century BC, it is among the largest houses in the city, with private baths, a nymphaeum, a fish pond, and two atria. The Centenary underwent a remodeling around 15 AD, at which time the bath complex and swimming pool were added. In the last years before the eruption, several rooms had been extensively redecorated with a number of paintings.
  Although the identity of the house's owner eludes certainty, arguments have been made for either Aulus Rustius Verus or Tiberius Claudius Verus, both local politicians.
  Among the varied paintings preserved in the House of the Centenary is the earliest known depiction of Vesuvius, as well as explicit erotic scenes in a room that may have been designed as a private "sex club".
context_section_description: Mythological subjects include Theseus as victor over the Minotaur, Hermaphroditus and Silenus, Hercules and Telephus, and of Orestes and Pylades before Thoas. Another room features Selene and Endymion, a Venus Piscatrix ("Venus the Fisherwoman"), and "floating nymphs."
caption: Floating maenad
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