Pompeii: The New Dig

NARRATOR: At the dig, the team have discovered an unusually large relief.

It is an extraordinary and rare find, a three-dimensional snake, found in one of the last unexcavated rooms within the bakery complex.

Snakes were the guardian deities of the home, often decorating shrines and altars.

And this one is not alone.

Give me a hand.

Is it the twin?

CAMILLA: It looks like the head.

GENNARO: Marco, give us a hand.

Let's clear this bit.

Slowly, slowly.

Is it smaller or the same size?

CAMILLA: It seems smaller.

I'm not sure yet.

GENNARO: Let's hope it is intact like the other one.

Mother and son, no?

ALESSANDRO: What we're missing is a little shrine.

Do you think we'll find an altar?

GENNARO: There's enough space for it.

ALESSANDRO: Let's hope so.

NARRATOR: To find a shrine with an altar would prove this room was used to make offerings to the gods, and would have been one of the most important places in the house.

DR. GABRIEL ZUCHTRIEGEL: The private home, the house, the family, is a special space in religious terms.

For the ancient mentality, everything was somehow sacred.

You had gods living on the mountains, nymphs living in the waters, in the rivers, in trees.

The planets were named after divinities, Venus and so forth.

And the snake somehow connects the underground with humans, and so it brings abundance, wealth.

It stands for the good spirit, and they are often depicted on the altar.