Not far from 400 B.C. the sacrifice of Iphigenia was made the subject of a painting by Timanthes, in which the maiden was represented as standing beside the altar. We are told that the artist painted Calchas sorrowful, Ulysses more sorrowful, Ajax lamenting, and Menelaus in sorrow so deep that deeper sorrow could not be expressed; finding it impossible to portray the grief of the father, Agamemnon, Timanthes represented him with veiled head. The veiled Agamemnon appears in our painting, and the figure of Calchas perhaps reflects the conception of Timanthes. For the rest, it is difficult to establish a relation between the two pictures; even if we did not know that Iphigenia, in the painting of Timanthes, stood beside an altar, we could scarcely believe that a great painter would have represented her thus awkwardly carried. Undoubtedly the Pompeian painting, or its original, is indebted to the masterpiece of the Greek artist; but the decorative painter has adapted this to suit his purpose, omitting the figures, the facial expression of which was most difficult to reproduce, and at the same time attempting to heighten the effect by making more prominent the helplessness and terror of the victim. CHAPTER XLI _THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII_ The house of the Vettii, excavated in the years 1894-1895, bears the same relation to the other houses built in the Roman period that the house of the Faun does to those of the earlier time; it is the most important representative of its class. It was situated in a quiet part of the city, and was not conspicuous by reason of its size; its interest for us lies chiefly in its paintings and in the adornment of the well preserved peristyle. [Illustration: Fig. 157.--Exterior of the house of the Vettii, restored.] The relationship between the two owners, Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius Conviva (p. 508) is not known. They were perhaps freedmen, manumitted by the same master; Conviva, as we learn from a painted inscription, was a member of the Brotherhood of Augustus,--_Vetti Conviva, Augustal[is]_. The exterior of the house (Fig. 157) was unpretentious. The main entrance was on the east side, and there was a side door near the southeast corner; elsewhere the street walls were unbroken except by small, square windows, part of which were in low second story rooms. The vestibule (Fig. 158, _a_), as in the house of Epidius Rufus (p. 248), was connected with the fauces (_b_) by a large double door and also by a small door at the right. The atrium (_c_) is without a tablinum; at the rear it opens directly on the peristyle. One of the alae (_h_) at the time of the eruption was used as a wardrobe. At the sides of the atrium were two money chests; the one at the right is seen in Fig. 159. [Illustration: Fig. 158.--Plan of the house of the Vettii.