{"id":72092,"date":"2025-08-10T01:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T05:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=72092"},"modified":"2025-08-03T07:22:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T11:22:31","slug":"the-women-of-pompeii-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/","title":{"rendered":"The Women of Pompeii&#8211; Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Sometimes matrons in a villa would sit for a portrait of some sort, sometimes in the form of a large cameo\u2014<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141227.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72095\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141227.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141210.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72098\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141210.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But normally they would go with frescoes of other male or female figures\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140627.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72101\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140627.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140700.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72104\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140700.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140645.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72107\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140645.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140717.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72110\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_140717.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If your wondering about the heads these figures are holding in their hands they are images of comedy or tragedy, i.e. the usual masks suggesting the matron is a patron of the arts.<\/p>\n<p>Below however is a matron sitting for a traditional portrait, and below that a matron practicing the traditional female art of sowing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141528.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72113\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141528.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141505.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72116\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141505.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to tell for sure but this woman seems to be holding a small musical instrument\u2026. or possibly a scroll she is reading, or a piece of cloth she wove.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141601.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-72119\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141601.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes matrons in a villa would sit for a portrait of some sort, sometimes in the form of a large cameo\u2014 But normally they would go with frescoes of other male or female figures\u2026. If your wondering about the heads these figures are holding in their hands they are images of comedy or tragedy, i.e. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":72095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Women of Pompeii-- Part Four<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes matrons in a villa would sit for a portrait of some sort, sometimes in the form of a large cameo--- But normally they would go with frescoes of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Women of Pompeii-- Part Four\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes matrons in a villa would sit for a portrait of some sort, sometimes in the form of a large cameo--- But normally they would go with frescoes of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-10T05:10:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-03T11:22:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2025\/08\/20250525_141227.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/\",\"name\":\"The Women of Pompeii-- Part Four\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-10T05:10:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-03T11:22:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\"},\"description\":\"Sometimes matrons in a villa would sit for a portrait of some sort, sometimes in the form of a large cameo--- But normally they would go with frescoes of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/08\/10\/the-women-of-pompeii-part-five\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Women of Pompeii&#8211; 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