The House of the Vettii

Art and Architecture of Pompeii and Herculaneum

Extra Information

Dates from around 1st century BC 1 100m squared in area and occupies less than 1/3

of insula Limited axial symmetry; south ala was walled off

(storeroom?) Peristylium set at 90 degrees to entrance axis Seclude area on eastern side containing one large

and two smaller rooms, may have been used as women’s quarters; however evidence for this not strong

Entry - Priapus

Atrium

Atrium - Cupids

Lararium

Pentheus Room

Pentheus Room - Heracles

DirkeThe wife of King Lycus. To fulfill his oath to his brother Nycteus, king of Thebes, to get his daughter Antiope back, Lycus and his army marched towards Sicyon, destroyed the city and killed Antiope's husband Epopeus. Lycus put Antiope in his wife's care, but Dirce mistreated Antiope severely, using her as a slave. Antiope managed to escape and was finally reunited with her sons Amphion and Zethus, her children with Zeus. Her twins exacted a terrible vengeance upon Dirce. They tied her to the horns of a wild bull and in that fashion she was killed.

Pentheus Room

Ixion Room

Daedalus presents the wooden cow to Pasiphae

Minos was challenged as king and prayed to Poseidon for help. Poseidon sent a giant white bull out of the sea. Minos planned on sacrificing the bull to Poseidon, but then decided not to. He substituted a different bull. In rage, Poseidon cursed Pasiphae, Minos' wife, with zoophilia. Daedalus built her a wooden cow, which she hid inside. The bull mated with the wooden cow and Pasiphae was impregnated by the bull, giving birth to a horrible monster, the Minotaur. Daedalus then built a complicated maze called the Labyrinth and Minos put the Minotaur in it. To make sure no one would ever know the secret of the Labyrinth, Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in a tower. Daedalus and Icarus flew away on wings Daedalus invented, but Icarus' wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. Icarus fell in

the sea and drowned.

The Punishment of IxionIxion tried to take revenge upon Zeus, by seducing Hera. When Zeus learned of Ixion's plan, Zeus fashioned a cloud to look like his wife and consort. Most authors say that the cloud or false Hera was named Nephele. When the unsuspecting Ixion boasted of having slept with Hera, Zeus sent him to Tartarus where he was to suffer from eternal punishment. Ixion was chained to a fiery wheel, which revolved around from ceaseless wind.

Ariadne and Bacchus

Culina

Peristylium

Peristylium Walkway

Garden

Triclinium with cupids