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Document Details : Title: Theseus at the Gates of the Labyrinth
Subtitle: Interpreting a Pompeian Painting Author(s): LING,
Roger Volume: 84 Date: 2009 A painting of Theseus and Ariadne in
the House of M. Lucretius Fronto at Pompeii shows the moment
when the princess hands the hero the ball of wool that will
enable him to find his way out of the Labyrinth; but the action
of Theseus, who holds his arm over his head with a fillet
dangling from the hand, presents a problem of interpretation. A
recent theory has proposed that he is crowning himself after his
victory over the Minotaur and, therefore, that the painting
combines two moments in time: the preparations for the
expedition into the Labyrinth and the celebrations after its
successful outcome. The present paper suggests, by analogy with
other Pompeian paintings of the same subject, that Theseus is
actually removing his sword prior to entering the Labyrinth
naked and unarmed. This is an iconograph