Trascrizione
From the 7th century BC, the god Apollo was revered in Pompeii as protector of the city. He acquires almost human shape and size in this bronze statue from the House of Julius Polybius, descendant of a Gens Iulia freedman. Yes, the family of Augustus.
A candidate for the colony’s duumvirs office (as the electoral inscriptions painted on the façade of his house on Via dell’Abbondanza suggest), Julius Polybius loved luxurious, refined furnishings.
So it is not surprising that the Apollo was found among the objects pertaining to this rich domus, in which renovations were underway at the time of the eruption and perhaps saved it from destruction.
The statue was found with precious banqueting vases, stored in a room with a bronze lock on the door. Safe from thieves and then also from the fury of the volcano.