The interior walls are richly decorated with paintings. In the lower register, geometric and figured motifs may be seen, such as winged griffins and a tragic mask, while a marsh landscape with two seahorses is depicted in the rear wall’s arcosolium. The same wall’s central niche was decorated with a couple clasping their right hands (dextrarum iunctio) to seal their marriage bond. Coming from the left wall’s central niche is the painting of a young horseman with his horse; in his left hand he is holding a palm frond, a prize attributed to winning aurigae during Antiquity. These two paintings, dated to 140-150 AD.
Niche with dextrarum iunctio scene
(Depositi Ostiensi)
Niche with horseman
(Depositi Ostiensi)
Painted decoration of an arcosolium with a plant element
Detail of the painted decoration of a niche with tragic mask
Painted decoration of an arcosolium with depiction of a griffon and tragic mask, now almost vanished
Detail of the painted decoration of an arcosolium with griffon