The Room of the Masks made simple

An ancient mural such as that in the Room of the Masks, in the House of Augustus, can be a daunting prospect to explain to an English speaking tourist. Most visitors to Italy are not very aware of it's history and so an indepth explanation of various symbols in this painting and other complicated aspects are best avoided. As I often say in terms of information, less is more! And this is a good example of this philosophy.

Below is a description of this mural which I think strikes a good balance between detail and simplicity, as well as a focus on storytelling:


Here we are in the Room of The Masks. This is the bedroom of the first Roman emperor, Augustus who reigned from about 30BC until his death in 14 AD. So he reigned for 44 years, which is extremely long for an emperor in those times. Whereas an Emperor such as Caligula lasted just a few years. Anyway, this is Augustus’s bedroom. This is where he slept.

So what do you think? It’s small isn’t it? That was quite typical in ancient Roman times. Bedrooms were small, as they stayed warmer. Trying to keep homes warm and dry back then was always a challenge. The Romans certainly didn’t have modern central heating.

And so, the walls; these magnificent murals which are more than two thousand years old. These colours, these depictions, these figures are all original. Nothing has been reconstructed. You’re looking at something original.

So what are we looking at? What did Augustus wake up to every morning when he opened his eyes? It’s a theatre. The brown part below is the stage, a wooden stage. Then you have the background scenery. We have columns, a typical Roman roof. To the left and right we have two characters, two masked characters.

In Greek and Roman theatre, actors usually wore masks to depict various characters. I say actors, because there were no actresses. Women were not allowed to perform and so instead you had the ridiculous spectacle of men dressing up as women. In fact this where transvestites started and they were very popular. So exotic drag queens entertained us in Roman times. Just one of the many many excesses of Roman life.

You’ll notice in the centre something in the shape of a shuttle. It’s in fact called a betilo and it’s a sacred monument. Just in the same way the cross is sacred to Christians, the betilo is a sacred pagan symbol that represented Apollo, the God of beauty, the arts, such as poetry, theatre and music and the god of rationality.

Augustus worshipped Apollo and believed that Apollo would keep him safe and protect him, so it was logical to have this representation in his bedroom. This is just like Catholics having a crucifix above their bed or somewhere in their home.

Typically this is a very ornate mural. I just want to quickly mention two or three other aspects. Just below the actors you can see a row of floral decoration which is very typical. While above the characters in a yellow row you have ornate symbols which enrich the painting, and then on top you have a couple of animals, grotesque creations. Then to the left and right you have two transparent glass pots from which little birds are drinking. I love this detail.

The beauty of this painting is the details and in fact during the Renaissance the great Raphael paid homage to this style in his murals, which you can find in the Vatican Museums.

Finally, you can obviously see that the murals are protected by glass. Being two thousand years old the mural is very delicate and our breath would in fact damage it which, is why we are restricted and must stay here.

One other thing, the floor is a very simple geometric mosaic. That way nothing distracts us from the beauty of the walls.