A Fresco from the town of Pompeii depicting Terentius Neo holding a scroll and his wife who holds a stylus and writing tablet. From the Villa di Guilia Felice.
Every time I run into this fresco, I can't help it but think that real lives of these people are destined to be lied about. We do not even know if this indeed was some Terentius Neo and that the lady standing next to him was his wife.
May be I'm seeing things, but the intelligence I sense in their eyes suggests that their society was just as educated as ours. Their technological advancements might have been different, but there was nothing primitive about them.
And these eyes and facial expressions... it's like they were saddened by something, or had stuff to worry about.
My opinion on the dating of Pompeii is in the below linked articles:
When I look at this fresco and another one similar, I cannot think that this woman has a sort of lipstick and a mirror in her hands. I don't know anything about the history of cosmetics but the story of writing on wax tablets his just absurd to me
