The mole of Puteoli is depicted on the glass flasks and perhaps also on a few paintings. However, the identification of the harbour depicted on the paintings has been the subject of an endless debate. Various candidates have been adduced, including even the river harbour of Rome, while many scholars argue that we are dealing with idealized vistas, not a specific city.

One such painting was found in 1668 in Rome, according to a contemporary report in baths, in the area of the Baths of Trajan near the Colosseum. Unfortunately the painting was taken to Anzio and then lost. A drawing by Pietro Santi Bartoli was published in 1673 by Giovanni Pietro Bellori. Twelve detailed drawings are known, one published by Winkelmann in 1767, while the others were sold in 1762 to King George III of Great Britain and taken to Windsor Castle.

The painting shows a city surrounded by water, a mole made of arches, and an island. On the island seems to be an amphitheatre. On the mole are two arches with quadrigae, one of sea-horses, the other of Tritons. Four columns support statues. Some of the buildings in the city are labeled: PORTEX NEPTVNI, T(emplum) APOLLINIS, FOR(um) OLITOR(ium), AQVAE PENSILES, FO(rum) BOAR(ium), HORREA and BAL(neum) FAVSTINES. Bartoli added ex antiqua pictura. The details have the labels PORTIX NEPTVNI, T APOLLINIS, FORVS OLITORIVS, AQVAE PENSILIS, FOR BOARIVS, and BAL FAVSTINES, while the depictions of the two forums are switched. A date in the late second or third century AD has been suggested, because of the reference to Faustina, wife of Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius (Faustines, "of Faustina", is a colloquial genitivus and, incidentally, a sure indication that the labels are ancient).

Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Fragmenta Vestigii Veteris Romae, Roma 1673, page 1.

Details of the painting. Huelsen 1896, Tavv. IV-VII.

The painting inevitably brings to mind a depiction of a city and the sea that was found in 1997 below the Baths of Trajan. The places of discovery are remarkably close, but this painting has been dated to the late first century AD.

The painting in Rome discovered in 1997.

Harbours are depicted on several paintings from the Campanian cities. Rather well-known is a painting found in Stabiae, now in the Archeological Museum of Naples. It has been assigned to the Claudian-Flavian period. A harbour city is depicted, with ships between a jetty and a mole made of arches. On the mole are two columns supporting statues, and an arch supporting a Triton blowing a trumpet and a sea-creature. Near the jetty seems to be an arch with an equestrian statue. To the right of the jetty, on the shore, are columns supporting statues. A similar mole, again with arches, is seen on a painting found in Pompeii.

Painting from Stabiae. Photo: Wikimedia, Yann Forget.

Painting from Pompeii, VIII.2.28. Photo: pompeiiinpictures.com.

Thinking of the mole with arches on the glass flasks, it is easy to understand why Puteoli has been recognized on these paintings. The labels on the painting from Rome are not found on the flasks however: Temple of Apollo, Vegetable Market, a structure comparable to an aqueduct (?), Cattle Market, Warehouse, and Baths of Faustina. For the Porticus of Neptune we must add that a Porticus Neptuni in Puteoli is mentioned by Cicero (Academica II,25,80). On the other hand, if the glass flasks were bought by people who had made use of the healing baths, then they would have had fond memories of the theatre, amphitheatre and odeum, not of warehouses and markets.

That we are looking at the Campanian coast cannot be doubted. And is it not enough that we could very well see the harbour of Puteoli?