Herculanuem - The Telephus Relief House (And More Besides)

[endlessrarities]

Another visit to Herculaneum, now, and I'm going to devote the last couple of posts to some of the houses that caught my eye, for whatever reason.

To the House of The Great Portal now, and no prizes for guessing how it got its name:-

 

I like the brick columns - are these pillars?  Or some form of pilaster?  Because they're not free-standing.  Any architectural historians out there, please let me now...  And I'm even more partial to the little winged Victories featured in the capitals - if it ain't Tuscan, Doric, Ionic or Corinthian, then what is it??  Victorian, perhaps...

To a little fresco that I found tucked away nearby now.  It features a partridge, but I can't remember if it was actually in the House of the Great Portal, or in an adjoining property, perhaps the Samnite House:-
 

 

And lastly, to the Telephus Relief House.  Which is described in my guide book in marvellous estate-agent speak as 'one of the most elegant and spacious in the maritime district':-

 

And in case you're wondering why it's called the Telephus Relief House, here's why:-

 

It's a sculptured relief which allegedly features Telephus, who was one of the sons of Herakles, and who according to Wikipedia had links with the city of Troy and was once wounded by Achilles.  The wound would not heal without the intervention of Achilles himself, who did this once Telephus agreed to show the Achaens the way to Troy.  This sounds sort of convincing, though I'm not always sure of Wikipedia's accuracy on such matters... 

Information once again comes from The New Guide to Herculaneum and Oplontis (Editioni Kina Italia, Anon) which also mentions (since we're on the subject of Herakles/Hercules) that Herculaneum was supposedly founded by Herakles en route to Greece after returning from Spain where he carried out Labour #10 of his 12 Labours...
 

Comments

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia's version is much more credible than the one I came up with. 1) Telephus' wife chats up Achilles 2) A short while later, Achilles knifes Telephus in the stomach.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I think your version suits the images much better, but... Did Achilles ever get married?? Maybe it's a case of Telephus chatted up Achilles' mother and got knifed.

If it had been a pretty boy rather than a woman, the intepretation would have been much more credible. Telephus chats up Achilles' boyfriend and gets knifed... Or did the Romans do some swift gender-bending in order to make the old stories less 'Greek?'

At the time, I was scratching my head, because I'd never heard of Telephus...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Hahaha--this is a brilliant interpretation.

(Forgive a late comment, both khiemtran and endlessrarities. I'm on my way back to an entry I remember but haven't had the chance to comment on before today, and I stopped here because: funny :D)

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Love that little frescoe of the partridge.

Talking of American music have you listened to anything by Alan Hovhaness?

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I'm not a great fan of American composers. I know Copeland quite well, and I like John Adam and Philip Glass and, um, John Williams. There, I admitted it!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The partridge is so sweet! Such a pretty painting.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Visiting every single room in every single house was pretty exhausting, but it was worth it because every so often, you'd stumble across a little hidden treasure like this.