Between Street Vendors, Singing Slaves, and Envy

When the well-known “House of the Ephebe” was excavated in Pompeii, a statuary
group composed of four bronze figurines was found. Those small statues are now
known as “Placentarii”, namely “pastry cooks.” They were given this name because
they were thought selling their products placed on a plate, shouting to attract the
clients. This interpretation explains the particular hand gesture of those men,
touching their throat. This theory seems very conceivable and is generally accepted
by a large scientific majority. However, some iconographic elements don’t fit with
this hypothesis. Indeed, how do we explain the nakedness of those four men, their
thinness, their weird facial features and their disproportionate phalluses? Other figurines – terracotta, bronzes, amulets, mosaics – depicted with the
same specific features were found among the archaeological material from
the Mediterranean basin. There is –nearly– no question that those objects are
representations of the Envy personified, also known as Phthonos, or of an envious
person (phthoneros). Would it be possible to see in those four bronzes not –only–
pastry cooks, but an embodiment of Envy, filled with apotropaic value? A fresh
perspective –literary and archaeological– will help and issue a clarification about
this new theory.