WashU Spotlights on Ancient Splendor: Religion and myth in ancient Rome

Religion and myth coexisted at all levels of society in ancient Rome. Polytheism, or the worship of many deities, was the official state religion, with the emperor honored as the highest priest and head of the imperial cult. A gallery in SLAM’s current ticketed exhibition, Ancient Splendor: Roman Art in the Time of Trajan, delves into the role religion and myth played in both the public domain and domestic life. 

As part of a spring 2026 writing-intensive course, Washington University students produced the following descriptions of two frescoes in the “Religion and Myth” gallery of Ancient Splendor. This blog is part of a series of posts from students about the exhibition, which is on view through August 16. 

Frescoed Panel from the Villa Pamphili Columbarium 

This fresco was once part of the wall of a columbarium (plural: columbaria). Columbaria were large underground buildings filled with rows of wall cavities. Urns containing the ashes of deceased Romans were displayed in these cavities so that families could visit them, remember them, and conduct religious rituals. Unlike the large, elaborate tombs that wealthy Romans commissioned for themselves, columbaria were mostly used by the lower classes, including enslaved people and freed people. Columbaria were often commissioned, decorated, and maintained through community donations. The largest columbaria could contain hundreds of people. Because columbaria were shared spaces, their wall art rarely glorified individual people. Instead, the scenes were neutral and designed to appeal to anyone who looked at them. This fresco shows happy birds, a basket of olives, and landscapes containing small figures tilling soil. In large towns, it was very common for people to raise chickens, ducks, and geese. They also would lay traps for wild birds. People would use these birds for meat and eggs, and also resell them to people in big cities like Rome. The images in this fresco, therefore, are all connected to bountiful food and contentment—something that would be relatable and appealing to any Roman.  

— Chethan Chandra graduated from WashU in May 2026, where he majored in art history and archaeology with minors in biology and South Asian languages and cultures. 

Polyphemus  

In Greek mythology, Polyphemus was a cyclops, a giant with one eye, but he was also a shepherd. This painting represents him holding a lyre, a stringed musical instrument. He extends his right hand to reach for a letter from Eros, the winged son of the goddess Aphrodite and symbol of love. The love letter likely comes from Galatea, a sea nymph. In the ancient poetic tradition, Polyphemus’s love for Galatea is unrequited, but this fresco turns a tragic love story between Galatea and Polyphemus into a happy one. This story takes place before the events of the Odyssey, in which Polyphemus encounters Odysseus and captures his men when they enter his cave. Polyphemus is described as a monster who eats Odysseus’s men. In the end, Polyphemus is blinded, and Odysseus and his men escape. However, this Roman painting portrays Polyphemus as a handsome, gentle, and more-romantic character who attracts Galatea’s attention with his musical instrument.  

— Dayana Villasano graduated from WashU in May 2026, where she majored in biology with a specialization in neuroscience. 

Writing Intensive Topics: Exhibiting Rome in the Time of Trajan was cotaught by Nathaniel Jones and doctoral candidate Claire Lyman (also a curatorial research intern at SLAM) of the Department of Art History & Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. Centered around SLAM’s exhibition, the course gave students an opportunity to see what goes into the planning and curation of a large museum exhibition. Each student selected a primary object of study from the show, giving an in-gallery presentation and ultimately producing a longer research paper about the chosen work of art. The short descriptions in this blog series are a distillation of these papers, resulting from close-looking and academic research done over the course of the semester.