There is archaeological evidence for dwellings of different social strata. In Alexandria, in Kom el-Dikka near the large public complex with the auditoria and baths, were affluent residences with their own private baths. Nearby were large multi-unit residences, several of which preserve on the ground floor evidence of small workshops for glassworking and bone - and ivory-carving. One trend in Late Antique urban development is the subdivision of large houses into apartments. Another empire-wide trend is the multiplication of small markets throughout the cityscape. The building identified as House D exemplifies both trends (McKenzie 2007: 217, fig. 374). The entry to House D, from the main street known as R4, led into a long, rectangular courtyard around which were public rooms, including workshops. Stairs led from the courtyard to a second floor, where domestic quarters were located. On a wall in the courtyard is evidence of a Christian shrine for private use by those in the building: a very fragmentary painting of the enthroned Virgin, holding the Christ child on her lap and, to the left of the throne, a standing angel. Between the throne and the angel is the outline of a smaller (less than half-size) figure, apparently the donor of the painting (McKenzie 2007: 240, fig. 406). This painting, dated to the first half of the sixth century, is similar to Christian votive offerings in public settings such as the mosaic panels at the Church of Saint Demetrios in Thessalonike, Greece. As such a comparison might suggest, the role of devotional images in private and public settings as it developed throughout Late Antiquity was both multifaceted and complex.
Religious imagery in non-Christian domestic settings may reflect private devotional practice. Isis and Harpokrates, for example, are represented in their traditional Graeco-Egyptian forms in similarly modest dwellings in house B50E in Karanis in the Fayum, dating to the fourth century (Gazda 1983: 39, fig. 68) and in Amheida in the Dakhla Oasis in a house dated to the third century. Both houses were built of mud-brick, the most common material for domestic architecture in Late Antique Egypt. In both scenes the infant Harpokrates, identifiable by his sidelock and the finger at his mouth, is nursed by Isis, identifiable by her hairstyle of tiers of black curls and her knotted mantle. It has been suggested that these paintings display a more emphatic mixture of Greek and Egyptian cultural symbols than the more extensive set of paintings in a neighboring, grander house at Amheida, dated to the fourth century (Boozer 2007). Here, too, Harpokrates is represented, as is a female figure labeled Polis, (‘‘city’’ in Greek) likely a personification of Amheida and intended to associate the owner with that city. Another scene, of a family at table, seems to reflect a trend toward the increasing elaboration of spaces for reception among the elite of Late Antiquity. The extensive series of mythological scenes among the wall-paintings in this house belong to a growing corpus of monumental paintings attesting to a long-lived tradition of illustrations of Greek myth that would seem on display the owner’s educational attainment and social aspirations. There are no clear religious associations for narrative paintings of literary inspiration.
World History
