1. Art & Architecture of Pompeii and Herculanium
House of Pansa
House of the Vettii
Villa of the mysteries
House of the Faun
“Harbour Scene from Stabiae
“the Lost Ram
“Perseus and Andromeda
“Death of Penthius
“The Trojan horse
Portrait of Terentius neo & wife
Dionysiac frieze villa of the Mysteries
Wall from Villa Publius Fannius Sinistor
Portrait of a Woman
Alexander Mosaic
Nilotic scene
“Sorceress & client

2. 79AD DESTRUCTION
buried under 10m of ash and remained so for 1700 yrs.
A time capsule into the life of 1st century Romans in a holiday area of Campania.
Pompeians didn’t become Roman citizens until 89BC and by 79AD
Roman culture overlay the earlier culture of the Osci and Samnite tribes.
Greeks had occupied the southern part of Italy since 5th century BC
so there was an influence of Hellenism in Pompeii and Herculanium.

3. PUBLIC BUILDINGS:
Temples, Basilicas (palaces). Fine decoration and architecture
PRIVATE BUILDINGS:
As today, homes reflected socio-economic status:
Poor lived in high rise apartments (Insulae)
in 4th century Rome there were of them housing more than ¾ of a million people.
In Pompei (pop 20,000) the poor lived in flats above shops and richer houses.
Wealthy lived in Domus
(stand alone houses built around an open atrium – inward looking)
or luxurious villae (grand with seaviews, terrace, porticoes, large windows) on the outskirts of town or surrounding countryside overlooking the bay of Naples.

4. The Elite Domus
Typical elite houses evolved from Etruscan atrium-style houses, with the addition of Greek style peristyle (colonnaded) gardens.
Usually were one floor, with a main reception room (atrium) surrounded by bedrooms (cubicula), dining room (triclinium), record room/office (tablinum).

5. Palatine Hill, 6th c. BCE House

6. The Roman domus DOMUS Upper rooms, often sublet to tenants.
Impluvium - pool directly below roof opening
Triclinium – summer dining room.
Roof opening – letting in light (and rain)
Exedra–outdoor sitting or eating
Peristylium – courtyard with trees, fountains, statues, surrounded by columns (colonnade)
Oecus–spare room.
Horta – garden
The Roman domus
Culina – Kitchens
Tablinum – Study.
Cubiculum – bedrooms
Atrium – visitors room
Triclinium – dining room.
Taberna – rented out shop or workplace.
Fauces – or vestibulum
DOMUS
Outer Wall – Domus was inward facing.

7. Sample Plan of a Roman House (Domus)
V vestibulum T taberna
C cubiculum/cubicula L latrina
A atrium Al alae
Ta tablinum Cu culina
Tri triclinium P peristylium
E exedra

9. Pompeii, House Entrance
The Faucis (entrance way)
Pompeii, House Entrance

10. Entrance, House of Menander

11. House of Menander, View from Fauces to Peristyle Garden

12. The Atrium
Reception room, often with an opening in the ceiling with an impluvium below.
Contained the family gods (Lares and Penates), imagines (masks of the ancestors), symbolic marriage bed.
Women of the house (or their slaves) may have wool-worked there.

14. Atrium, House of the Silver Wedding, Pompeii

15. The Lararium
Lararium

16. Bronze Lar, found in a SW corner of an atrium, Pompeii

17. Herculaneum Lararium contained lars (symbols or masks of ancestors), & penates (gods of the household

18. Loom Reconstruction

19. The Tablinum The Master’s Study containing the family records
wax tablets (Tabulae)
the Household Safe (Arca)
Scrolls

20. House of the Faun Tablinum

21. Detail of the Mosaic Floor

22. Tabula and Writing Materials

23. Lucernae, Oil Lamps

24. Scrolls in Capsa

25. A tablinum wall-painting

26. The Culina

27. Roman Kitchen, Reconstruction

28. View of an Ancient Kitchen

29. Ancient Glassware

30. Roman Cooking Utensils in Bronze

31. The Latrina (Ancient Roman Toilet) Fun on a cold morning!

32. Latrina Closeup

33. Cubicula (Bedrooms)

34. Roman Beds

35. Pompeii, House of the Centaur, Cubiculum Reconstruction

36. Triclinium (Dining Room)

37. Pompeii, Triclinium

38. Dining Room - Summer

39. Pompeii, Candelabrum

40. Triclinium, The Dining Room

41. Triclinium

43. Roman Seating

44. Roman Marble Table

45. Pompeii, Bronze Table

46. Pompeii, Roman Glass

47. Roman Lamps

48. Roman Couches

49. Peristyle Court

50. Peristylium with Birdbath and Hortus

52. Peristylium with Piscina (Fish Pond)

53. Walled Peristylium

54. Outdoor Fountain

55. Frontal View of the Fountain and Statue.
Note the Intricate Mosaic Work

56. D O o u o t r L a r a r i u m

57. Tintinnabulum, Pompeii

58. Villa at Boscoreale, Reconstruction

59. Cubiculum, Boscoreale

60. Herculaneum 3 Storey House

61. Pompeii Street Plan

62. Pompeii Houses with Vesuvius View

65. Villa at Settefinestre

66. Settefinestre House Plan

67. Houses of the Poor
Poorer working people lived in rooms behind or above their places of work.
The elite often rented out the front rooms of their houses, on either side of the entrances, for use as shops, workrooms, or restaurants, often with living space included.
The lower classes also lived in apartment buildings (insulae).

68. Insulae

72. Domus Romana