POMPEII & HERCULANEUM

Houses of the Rich and Poorthe “domus as a microcosm of the public world of

business, politics and civic duty” Zarmati

Andrew Wallace HadrillHouses of Pompeii & Herculaneum

• Based on Wallace Hadrill’s classification, Houses can be divided into 4 groups:

• Shops & workshops with 1 or 2 roomed residences behind or above

• Larger workshop residences of 2-7 rooms, some with an atrium & even richly decorated

• Average house: 8 -13 rooms, most with an integrated workshop or shop, symmetrical plan & common architectural features eg atrium & gardens

• Largest houses ( villa urbana) designed for hospitality & large-scale admission of visitors, separate space for slaves; 2 atria; ornamental gardens, peristyles; decorated

• Villa Rustica

Grand

Humble

Public Private

Amici Paterfamilias

ClientaleServi

Social Orientation in a Roman House

Features of the Domus• Houses represent 1/3 of all buildings in Pompeii. Windows looked inward

• Key feature in design for the elite is the long axis running from street entry to the garden. The axis ties the fauces, atrium, tablinum and peristyle areas where vision was often framed by the placement of columns, usually Ionic or Corinthian. These were the more publically visible areas ( salutatio ). According to Cicero in his De Officiis, a man of rank needed housing to fit his social standing

• To the side were the more private leisure areas of Tricliniums and Cubiculums, although client access was sometimes acceptable. Wallace Hadrill states “Romans lacked our distinction of place of work from place of leisure.” ( OTIUM/NEGOTUM)

• The most private areas, unseen and undecorated were the slave quarters and kitchen areas, located towards the back or side of houses.

Artistic recreation of Atrium use in House of Menander

Illusion and Allusion

• “ The villas of the Roman elite provided conscious models for the houses of Pompeian shopkeepers, let alone those of the heavily Roman focused local elite” AWH

House Feature

House of the Surgeon, House of the Samnite

Age, Use of Tufa blocks and size and number of rooms

House and Workshop of Verecundus

Workshop of fullers and dyers incorporated at the front of a basic residence. Noted for its many paintings of the commercial activities

House of Laureius Tiburtinus: : tried to adopt country villa feel, quite close to amphitheatre, many swimming pools and trellised gardens

House of the Vestals Shows continuous change over time from 2nd century AD. Complex water system

House of the Faun 2 atriums, 2 tablinums, clerestory windows and Corintian columnsInfluence of Hellenistic art; Mozaic of Alexander

House of the Bicentenery Division into apartments with external access and multiple larariums

House of Julia Felix Rooms for rent and private bath complex

Villa of Mysteries Art work on four walls showing Dionysiac cult 60 rooms and views to the sea

House of the SurgeonBasic Atrium House

HOUSE OF SALLUSTWater features were an AD addition

Water fountain in the garden of the House of Sallust

House/Workshop of Veracundus /felt maker

• HOUSE AND WORKSHOP OF VERECUNDUS(ins. 7, no.7-5) This complex is of the greatest interest in that it provides an example of a typical workshop belonging to the sellers and dyers of cloth, an activity which in Pompeii was particularly well developed and so renowned that a building in the Forum square was dedicated to them, the Building of Eumachia.

• Precious paintings embellish the workshop and depict the activity carried out there and the protector gods. Note in particular: "Mercury with a moneybag", "Venus on a carriage", "The cloth sellers" and "The weaving of cloth". They are all depicted with great immediacy.

Artistic reconstruction of a Pompeian shopfront

Atrium /Peristyle AxisHouse of Menandro

Architecture and Decoration as social orientation

House of Menandro

Triclinium Decoration in House of the Tragic Poet

Cubiculum and skeleton in Casa del Fabbro

Cubiculum in House of Fannius Sinistor

Heirarchy of intimacy;Atrium/Tablinum/Cubiculum

Finds in the Casa Del Fabbro

Houses and TradeHouse of the Bicentenary

Finds from the House of Caecilus Iucundus

Other dossiers relating to the ownership of a slave Petronia Justa was found in the House of The Bicentenary. Finds from three neighbouring houses have become known as the Herculaneum Tablets

House of the Silver W edding

House of the VestalsWater as Status

The use of water in Roman private houses has been identified as a highly visible status symbol. The detailed study of the House of the Vestals at Pompeii reveals how water features were central to the house’s structural changes from the late first century B.C. The owners of the house invested heavily in fountains and pools as key elements in the display of their wealth to visitors and passers-by alike

House of Loreius Tibertinus

Illusion and AllusionThe garden and house of Loreius Tibertinus were joined through the use of an irrigation channel that ran from an open terrace, or peristyle, through the entire length of the garden. The water channel bisected the garden and was framed by flowering shrubs and trees. A fountain and pergola mark the mid point of the canal. At the north end of the garden was an outdoor dining area complete with wall paintings and furnishings for dining

Fauces of the House of Faun

Tablinum in House of the Faun

Note the different types of brickwork

Corinthian Column fromThe House of the Faun

“Columns mark out spaces as prestigious” AWH

Public and Private Access inHouse of Laureius Tiburtinus

Fauces ( jaws) Gymnasia allusion

Atrium /Peristyle in House of the VettiNote the visual axis of symmetry

HOUSE OF VETTI“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

Cicero

Decoration in the Fourth StyleHouse of the Vetti

HOUSE OF FAUN2 atrium/2 peristyles

•“Houses everywhere bear evidence of change, changing boundaries,• changing use of space, changing fashions in decoration and self representation.” AWH

Alexander Mosaic inHouse of the Faun

‘The function of mythological paintings in the houses pf P&H was to represent the status of the house to the exterior world.’ ~ Rachel Goff

Floor of the House of the Vestals

Floor Plan of The House of the Mysteries

VILLA OF MYSTERIES

Villa with a View- Mysteries

Dionysiac Cult

Houses of Herculaneum

• Although generalizations should not be made , since only 1/3 is excavated, houses seem to show equal variety.

• There are however slightly more larger houses• More houses display the fashion of mozaic walls and floors• Due to the varying eruptive experience, second storeys have

been preserved at Herculaneum• Timber shutters, doors, rails and furniture have been

preserved• More evidence of apartment blocks

Greek influence in a Samnite House

HOUSE OF THE CARBONIZED FURNITURE- HERCULANEUM

House of the Samnite

HOUSE OF NEPTUNE-HERCULANEUM

HOUSE OF MOZAICS- HERCULANEUM

Public Architecture in a domestic context

HOUSE OF WOODEN FACADE

Apartments above House of Trellis

HOUSE OF THE DEER/STAG

GETTY’S MODEL OF VILLA OF PAPYRI

PLAN OF VILLA OF PAPYRI

Villa of Papyriunder excavation

House Contents• Evidence for Cloth production: loom weights, spindles needles in Casa De

Princeps de Napoli; 50 loom weights were needed for 2 rooms and as spinning was a Roman activity this cannot be evidence for commercial use. Looms were not found in service areas ~ Penelope Alison

• Consumption of food: popular images of food in still life paintings; braziers were found in Casa del Menandro, used for cooking, heating, warming; red slip pottery largest and smallest sizes used for cooking; size 4 bowls showed olive, fig and plum residue ~ Penelope Alison

• Toilet and Medical items: spatulums, probes, cosmetic containers, strigils, tweezers (>10cm=forceps function; <10cm=domestic use); not all medical items indicate doctors: “this is one example of how we bring our own personal bias of interpretation to the study of Pompeian households.”~Penelope Alison

Imperial bronze and marble sculptures fromVilla of Papyri

Finds-unrolling Papyrus Scrolls