interaction. Though Venus is attended by two water nymphs, they look straight out at
the viewer, not at one another. They exist in an abstract space largely devoid of any
natural features. Hair and land are indicated by lines. Eyes stare out into space. All of
this gives the relief an otherworldy feel, as if Venus existed in a place that
transcended the here and now of the natural world.
The same emphasis on transcendence explains the horizontal zones of the
limestone tombstone (Plate 1.6). It may seem absurd to compare this piece with the
Pompeian painting of mountains and shepherd (Plate 1.2). Yet it is crucial to realize
that the subjects are largely the same: people and animals participating in a religious
sacrifice. It is the approach that is different. On the provincial tombstone, the stress is
on hierarchical order. In the center of the top zone is a god. In the middle zones are
people busying themselves with proper religious ceremonies. At the bottom, the
lowest rung, are three people praying. The proper order of the cosmos, not the
natural order, is the focus. This tombstone is no window onto a private world; rather,
it teaches and preaches to those who look at it.
The decorated coffer (Plate 1.7) is entirely decorative. As we have seen, at the
heart of Rome (Plate 1.3) decorative elements took their cue from the natural world.
The sculptor of the stone coffer was interested, by contrast, in abstract geometrical
shapes and in the patterns created by repetition. The columns that separate the
roundels on the side of the coffer serve the same purpose as those on the fresco at
Boscoreale, but on the coffer they are turned into abstract designs. Only the border
of the coffer suggests nature: leaves forming a rectangular wreath.
