Homer's Odyssey, an ancient fresco cycle 

That quickly time passes by at least as long as you're watching the videos of this channel. For the ancient Romans themselves time perhaps has felt slower when they lived in a house in which they always had only one set of wall paintings to look at.

@@HansDunkelberg1Wall paintings would have been the equivalent of our wallpaper, except that wallpaper can be replaced with relative ease. Your comment led me to wonder if old wall paintings were ever covered up with newer designs. To the best of my knowledge, no archaeological evidence indicates such an occurrence. This might account for the survival of the First and Second Styles in the Vesuvian sites well into the first century, over a hundred years after they would have fallen out of fashion.

@@barrymoore4470 Yes, the differences between those ancient wall paintings and current wall papers are indeed strong. For the Romans of Italy at least (as compared with those of Egypt) paper will have been expensive. The Italian Romans also had few means of heating in the winter, they froze terribly during that season. Wall papers could easily have begun to mold, under such circumstances, especially given the scarcity also of _windows_ with the Roman houses.

Yah, it has taken quite a while for them to be secured on the Internet servers.

That's a good question. If I remember correctly the dating results from archeological work on the site in the 19th century. I don't have the specifics on hand but there is a fairly substantial academic literature on the frescos that discusses this.

There has been some discussion and debate about the dating of the domus in the last 30 years or so. The traditional dating of ca. 46 BCE relies on the fragments of a painted calendar (fasti) that is pre-Julian on the same site. A minority scholarly opinion drags the date down the late 1st c. BCE. In addition to painterly style, the idea of the mythical Homeric landscapes depicted within the frame of the fictive portico matches well with mid-1st c. BCE ideas about the practice of ambulatio (see Vitruvius). All of this is treated in an excellent article by Timothy O'Sullivan in 2007. "Walking with Odysseus: The Portico Frame of the Odyssey Landscapes"

@@JeffreyBecker Thank you so much!

Yes! We have posted our photos on Flickr: www.flickr.com/search/?sort=date-taken-desc&safe_search=1&tags=laevatsh&user_id=82032880%40N00&view_all=1

@@smarthistory-art-history oh awesome, thank you!!

@@smarthistory-art-history looking closer on my large monitor at the photos on your Flickr; do you think the Greek writing above the heads of some of the characters, is showing their names? If so, I wonder which one is Odysseus…

Yes, I think that is correct. Which panel are you asking about. It's hard to be sure but I think Odysseus is seen twice in the palace scene for example.

@@smarthistory-art-history oh wow! I was looking at the underworld one, on the left side!

I rather feel reminded of the style of Albert Uderzo (1927-2020), the creator of the pictures of the comic series Asterix. Just notice how the lines are arranged zestfully, like in a flower bouquet! Also Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) has painted much like the creator of these frescoes. He was a _post-impressionist._