The House of the Sarno Lararium at Pompeii (I.14.7) is known for the enigmatic scene painted on the lararium in its rear courtyard. Following a common practice in classical archaeology of identifying an artistic scene based on a reference in an ancient text, it has been interpreted as documenting the arrival of onions. This article proposes a novel interpretation. I argue that the scene represents a group of fishermen bringing their catch back to port, weighing it, and preparing it for distribution. To support this interpretation, I show how the imagery on the lararium can be linked to fishing and the pictured deity, Sarnus. Employing theoretical concepts of “taskscapes” and “lived religion,” I argue that this scene of non-elite fishermen indicates how household worship was entangled with daily labor, as well as how daily labor took place against the backdrop of a ritual landscape.
