Chapter XXXVIII: Introduction: Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii (2)

“By half-past ten we were at the railway station, just outside the gates of Naples, and immediately started for Pompeii. The line of rail continues along the shore of the bay; nothing can exceed the bustle, confusion, and want of system on this amusing road. There exists neither distinction of classes nor limitation of luggage, so that fruit-stalls and puppet-shows--Polichinello, by the way, is here in his native land--are heaped together in the carriages. The first station we reached was Portici, the next Resina, accompanied by the classic cry of Ercolano--signore, Porta d’Ercolano--then Torre del Greco, where heaps of lava piled one upon the other, attest the awful eruption of the last century. Torre dell’ Annunciata being the nearest station to Pompeii we alighted here, and proceeded along a dusty road, lined with cactus, poplar, stone pine, and the castor-oil tree. Festoons of the richest vines hung from tree to tree, and the black clusters peeped out beneath the broad-spread leaves, already beginning to change into the gold of the approaching Autumn. The fields were teeming with corn, hemp, and cotton. No beggars, the pest of Naples, crowded round our carratella, and the dust which rolled in dense clouds was our only annoyance. We now turned our thoughts to Pompeii. A small guard house of soldiers marked the entrance to these classic precincts, and for some distance further the road was planted with willows, producing a rich and solemn effect, and well preparing us for the street of tombs which soon broke upon our view. The road was lined with tombs for a considerable distance before we approached the city gate, called Porta d’Ercolano, on the Herculaneum side; but previously to examining the tombs, we diverged to the right to explore the villa of Diomed, where we found everything in exact accordance with the description of Sir William Gell and Mr. Malkin’s work, ‘Pompeii,’ by the Society of Entertaining Knowledge.

“The tombs are all small but minutely ornamented, the upper parts still remain, and they appear altogether much more complete than I had expected. The gate of Herculaneum, with its grooves, sentry box, and road-pavements, corresponds exactly with prints and descriptions given by numerous travellers.

“At this point of view, little is really wanting. The eye pursues a long line of ascending road, with tombs and thick trees on each side, broken only by the gate of the city, through the arch of which a long continuation of houses is clearly visible. We entered the city; everything is on a small scale, but the walls at this entrance to the city seem high in proportion; the footway and carriage-road remain undisturbed, and still retain the track of chariot wheels. The motion and noise of inhabitants alone seem wanting--no decay is visible, and the impression produced by the scene was that of a populous city during church time. We wandered on through streets and lanes, prying into buildings both public and private, after the manner of that wonderful prince mentioned in the ‘Arabian Nights Entertainments,’ who explored a city, the inhabitants of which had been turned into stone.

“In the shops, many of the walls remain perfect, roofs alone have disappeared, but counters, doorways, and depositaries are just such as we see daily at Naples, and scarcely inferior in point of freshness.

“The mosaic strewn floors are wonderfully perfect--a little patching and inequality of level caused by the previous earthquake are here and there perceptible; the chief difficulty at first is to know the floor from the pavement, that is, to distinguish the inside of a house from the courtyard. All external walls were plastered and coloured, so that a mistake might easily arise.

“The Houses of the Quæstor, Sallust, and the Faun, are exquisite specimens of proportion and arrangement in domestic building. The beautifully painted walls, columns, and inlaid marble or mosaic floor, combine with the deep blue sky, forming so glorious a whole that the rooflessness is forgotten, and the eye reposes with delight on the assembled harmonies.

“The whole city is encompassed by enormous mounds of debris, under which it was formerly buried. These lumps are now caked together, and in their sloping sides trees have already sprung up, so that all appearance of _rubbish_ is fortunately concealed.

“I was greatly disappointed with the scale of many objects, especially the Baths. Sir William Gell’s views are very correct, but the living figures introduced are on an utterly false scale. The Telamons, a series of terra-cotta figures, tinted red, with yellow hair and drapery, supporting the frieze, seem, in his pictures, the size of life, whereas they are only two feet high, one-third in fact of the size they are made to appear in his drawings.

“Modern roofs are extended over all parts retaining ornament, stucco, or paintings; some of the finest mosaics are carefully boarded over--the famous lion, for instance--whilst others are protected by coarse glass frames with slides such as we use for cucumber-beds in kitchen gardens. A beautiful marble pavement attracted our attention, in the house of Actæon or Sallust, but the great mosaic of Darius is not visible, being plastered over preparatory to its removal to Naples. The borders alone remain uncovered. The Forum, with its Basilica, temples of Jupiter, Vesta, and Venus, are only realisations of my previous conception, allowing, as before, for the reduction of size. The best mosaics, paintings, statues and bronzes have been removed to Naples, but their place is frequently supplied by copies, which serve equally well to illustrate their effect.

“The tragic theatre is complete in form; the stone seats, however, have nearly all disappeared. The amphitheatre is considerably distant from the rest of the excavations; it is remarkably perfect, and the view of Vesuvius from the summit of this building is surprisingly grand. It contrasts strangely with the beautiful limestone range of mountains on the other side of the bay. Vesuvius appears more rugged and frowning in this aspect--beheld from the remains of its victim--than from the more-frequently painted scene, the Chiaja of Naples. The deep blue and gray-brown of the volcano is studded with white dots, each of which is a villa or hermitage, creeping up to the mouth of the crater, regardless of the warnings of the buried cities, and the devastation at its roots in Torre del Greco, and in Nola of the plain beyond. They seem like flies settled on the head of a sleeping monster, or, to speak in better phrase, like white sails on the calm and azure sea, which, at the moment I am writing, seems incapable of harbouring the terrors and destruction which mankind so frequently experience, and which two days ago we saw in all their sublimity.

“In the baths of Pompeii a slight refreshment was offered us, and at a little farm-house in the neighbourhood of the amphitheatre, we enjoyed a more substantial meal. The comic theatre is small, but much more perfect than the one previously visited. In all the public buildings a commencement of restoration after the earthquake was clearly visible, especially in the forum.

“Vegetation takes root, at every opportunity, between cracks of stones, or wherever mould is collected; grass there is none. The wild fig and the luxuriant fern are the most frequent intruders, but they do not spread sufficiently to afford shelter, and the walls themselves are not high enough to serve as protection against the scorching sun. As the sun neared the horizon, we were warned to depart, and, mounting our car in preference to the railway, we rattled off along the high road, well pleased with a journey that, after defraying all expenses, did not exceed the cost of 3_s._ 4_d._ So ended my first day at Pompeii, 1843.

“I could not help contrasting all this with our first visit to Herculaneum, which is entirely underground, imbedded in hard tufa, and exposed only in small portions protruding here and there, where we threaded long caverns and galleries cut in the wet, cold, and dripping material, the bad vapours of which are very dangerous. I would compare Herculaneum to a geological fossil half worked out of the compact material which surrounds it. There is an important difference in the overwhelming of the two cities. Pompeii was covered solely with fine dust and powdered scoria, all _dry_ but rendered compact by the great pressure of the fallen mass. Herculaneum was filled up by a dense rolling liquid, or rather paste of fine powder mixed with boiling _water_ strongly impregnated with sulphur, and forming what has now become a perfectly hard compact stone, and only to be removed with the axe. In Pompeii all excavations are carried on with the shovel, as the dry powder easily gives way.”

The private houses of Pompeii have been variously named, sometimes from an inscription on the door post, or from the subject of some principal painting, at other times from the supposed occupation or condition of the owner, or from a peculiar object found in the dwelling; and not unfrequently the presence of some distinguished person at the time of excavation has conferred a lasting title on some particular remains. The application of these names will be seen in the houses of Pansa, of Meleager, the Quæstor, the Surgeon, the Fountain, and that of Queen Caroline. Some of the houses have had the names changed, as that of the Tragic Poet is now called the House with Homeric Paintings. All the houses seem to have been buried somewhat higher than the top of the ground floor. Upon this bed of ashes is found a layer of ashes mixed with mould, and remains of buildings to the depth of seven feet. The moisture retained in the vegetable mould had destroyed the surface of the paintings, and not unfrequently the pattern was seen on the mould to which the stucco still adhered. In this manner has the decoration of the upper apartments been destroyed, and the pressure of superincumbent masses has crumbled the woodwork. That the houses had upper ranges of chambers is evident from the remains of staircases leading to them both within and without. The first floors were nobly paved, mosaics having been found at various levels one above the other. Ceilings also were variously decorated with paintings like the walls, and sometimes composed of stucco. Mr. Falkener (pp. 66 and 67) observed a gorgeously ornamented ceiling to a tablinum. It consisted of a large circle in a square panel boldly moulded, and enriched with stucco ornament, with ultramarine, vermilion, and purple colouring, together with a profusion of gilding. Fragments of equally elaborate ceilings were found in such a position as to lead to the conviction that they belonged to apartments of different stories, one above the other.

The visitor to Pompeii is generally struck with the intensity and crudeness of the colours on the walls. This is easily accounted for in the necessity for the exclusion of light in hot countries; for with light heat comes also, and all who have visited Italy will remember the care with which the modern sitting rooms are darkened during daytime. The strength of these colours would thus be always _toned down_ by shade.[53] With all the variegation of colour in these Pompeian walls, one pervading principle may be observed, viz., that the strongest and darkest colours are confined to the bottom of the room. Thus if the dado, or lower part of the wall, be black, the rest will be red or yellow, and the ceiling white; and if the dado be red, the rest of the wall yellow or blue. If the dado be yellow, all the rest of the room will be white.

[53] See page 65.

Painted Garden. Peristyle. Fauces. Ala. Cubiculum. Tablinum. Impluvium.

INTERIOR OF THE ATRIUM OF THE HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET, ACCORDING TO THE RESTORATION OF SIR WILLIAM GELL.]

The principal divisions of a Roman house consist of three square chambers, leading one into the other; the first and last of these are lighted by a square opening in the middle of the ceiling, but the central apartment is destitute of any means for the entrance of the daylight; in fact, it receives only such light as can be communicated from the rooms on either side; still as there was no actual partition between these chambers, beyond that made by curtains,[54] sufficient light must have obtained entrance, which could be modulated at pleasure. The name of this central room was the _Tablinum_. The first room, which is generally the largest, is called the _Atrium_, and has a square tank or basin in the middle of the floor to collect the water dropping from the roof, and to receive the falling rain, as the apartment is directly open to the sky. The aperture in the roof is not very large, and this arrangement for the free descent of rain affords two essential luxuries to the inhabitant of a southern climate--shade and moisture. In a country like our own it is scarcely possible to estimate their value.

[54] Sir William Gell (vol. i. p. 160 of Pompeiana, Second Series)
states that the iron rods on which curtains or draperies were
suspended from column to column were discovered perfect in an
excavation at Herculaneum in 1828.

The further room had a larger aperture above, and the open space below was laid out with plants like a garden, bordered with columns, so that the narrow covered space left on each side formed a miniature cloister. It was called _Peristyle_, from the Greek words, meaning surrounded by columns. In the map of ancient Rome, made in the time of Septimius Severus, this arrangement in the private houses is distinctly visible. As in our modern houses, the proportions varied both according to the caprice of the owner, or the limitations of space. Some had a greater number of apartments, and others a double set. Not a few added an extensive series of domestic offices, dining-rooms, and bed chambers, some of them up stairs. Many houses had a second and third story of bed-rooms above the common level, but in all well constructed houses, whatever the rank of the owner, these three apartments, _Atrium_, _Tablinum_, and _Peristyle_, remain the _essential_ portions. Here, as much of the life of a leading citizen was public, he received his clients and allowed the slaves to wait upon him. It was only in the inner apartment, such as the œci and triclinia, that he could indulge in privacy.

In the better class of houses, the _Atrium_ was generally surrounded by smaller rooms, called _cubicula_, and the square of the Atrium was broken by the further part being widened on each side =[T]= fashion, into _alæ_, or wings, which correspond to the transepts of our cathedrals. The _tablinum_, again, was narrowed by a partition which took off a side passage, called _fauces_, through which the servants passed from one end of the house to the other without disturbing those occupied in the middle chamber. The floor of this _tablinum_ was frequently ornamented with elegant pictures, in mosaic, as that of the Tragic Poet’s House, by the choragus teaching his actors, and distributing his masks (Gell, vol. i. pl. 45). The famous large mosaic, the Battle of Issus, in the House of the Faun, has already been mentioned. In some houses, but very rarely, there was a passage on both sides of the tablinum; as in the reproduction described in these pages, the House of the Coloured Capitals, and a few others, but the majority have one only.

The reader may derive a clearer and certainly a more poetical idea of an ancient house from the following extracts from Sir Bulwer Lytton’s “Last Days of Pompeii.” The house which he describes is taken from a personal examination and the assistance of his antiquarian friend, Sir William Gell:--

“You enter then usually by a small entrance passage, called vestibulum, into a hall sometimes with--but more frequently without--the ornament of columns; around three sides of this hall are doors communicating with several bedchambers--among which is the porter’s--the best of these being usually appropriated to country visitors. At the extremity of the hall on either side to the right and left, if the house is large, there are two small recesses, rather than chambers, generally devoted to the ladies of the mansion; and in the centre of the tessellated pavement of the hall is invariably a square shallow reservoir for rain water--classically termed impluvium--which was admitted by an aperture in the roof above, the said aperture being covered at will by an awning. Near this impluvium, which had a peculiar sanctity in the eyes of the ancients, were sometimes--but at Pompeii more rarely than at Rome--placed images of the household gods. The hospitable hearth often mentioned by the Roman poets, and consecrated to the Lares, was at Pompeii almost invariably formed by a moveable brazier; while in some corner, often the most ostentatious place, was deposited a huge wooden chest, ornamented and strengthened by bands of bronze or iron, and secured by strong hooks upon a stone pedestal, so firmly as to defy the attempts of any robber to detach it from its position. It is supposed that this chest was the moneybox, or coffer, of the master of the house; though as no money has been found in any of the chests discovered at Pompeii, it is probable that it was sometimes rather designed for ornament than use. In this hall--or atrium, to speak classically--the clients and visitors of inferior rank were usually received. In the houses of the more ‘respectable,’ an atriensis, or slave peculiarly devoted to the service of the hall, was invariably retained, and his rank among his fellow-slaves was high and important. The reservoir in the centre must have been rather a dangerous ornament; but the centre of the hall was like the grass plot of a college, and interdicted to the passers to and fro, who found ample space in the margin. Right opposite the entrance at the other side of the hall, was an apartment (tablinum), in which the pavement was usually adorned with rich mosaics, and the wall covered with elaborate paintings. Here were usually kept the records of the family or those of any public office that had been filled by the owner; on one side of this saloon, if we may so call it, was often a dining-room or triclinium; on the other side, perhaps, what we should now term a cabinet of gems, containing whatever curiosities were deemed most rare and costly; and invariably a small passage for the slaves to cross to the further parts of the house without passing the apartments thus mentioned. These rooms all opened on a square or oblong colonnade, technically termed peristyle. If the house was small its boundary ceased with this colonnade, and in that case its centre, however diminutive, was ordinarily appropriated to the purpose of a garden, and adorned with vases of flowers placed upon pedestals; while under the colonnade, to the right and left, were doors admitting to bedrooms, to a second triclinium, or eating-room--for the ancients generally appropriated two rooms at least to that purpose, one for summer and one for winter, or perhaps one for ordinary, the other for festive occasions--and if the owner affected letters, a cabinet dignified by the name of library--for a very small room was sufficient to contain the few rolls of papyrus which the ancients deemed a notable collection of books.

“At the end of the peristyle was generally the kitchen. Supposing the house was large, it did not end with the peristyle, and the centre thereof was not, in that case, a garden, but might be perhaps adorned with a fountain or basin for fish; and at its end, exactly opposite to the tablinum, was generally another eating room, on either side of which were bed rooms, and perhaps a picture saloon or pinacotheca. These apartments communicated again with a square or oblong space, usually adorned on three sides with a colonnade like the peristyle, and very much resembling the peristyle, only usually longer. This was the proper viridarium or garden, being commonly adorned with a fountain or statues, and a profusion of gay flowers; at its extreme end was the gardener’s-house; on either side beneath the colonnade were sometimes, if the size of the family required it, additional rooms.

“At Pompeii, a second or third story was rarely of importance, being built only above a small part of the house and containing rooms for the slaves; differing in this respect from the more magnificent edifices of Rome, which generally contained the principal eating-room (or cœnaculum) on the second floor. The apartments themselves were ordinarily of small size; for in those delightful climes they received any extraordinary number of visitors in the peristyle (or portico), the hall, or in the garden; and even their banquet rooms, however elaborately adorned and carefully selected in point of aspect, were of diminutive proportions; for the intellectual ancients being fond of society, not of crowds, rarely feasted more than nine at a time, so that large dinner rooms were not so necessary with them as with us. But the suite of rooms seen at once from the entrance, must have had a very imposing effect: you beheld at once the hall richly paved and painted--the tablinum--the graceful peristyle, and if the house extended further, the opposite banquet-room, and the garden which closed the view with some gushing fount or marble statue.

“The reader will now have a tolerable notion of the Pompeian houses, which resembled in some respects the Grecian, but mostly the Roman fashion of domestic architecture. In almost every house there is some difference in detail from the rest, but the principal outline is the same in all. In all, you find the hall, the tablinum, and the peristyle, communicating with each other; in all you find the walls richly painted; and in all the evidence of a people fond of the refining elegances of life. The purity of the taste of the Pompeians in decoration is, however, questionable; they were fond of the gaudiest colours, of fantastic designs; they often painted the lower half of their columns a bright red, leaving the rest uncoloured: and where the garden was small, its wall was frequently tinted to deceive the eye as to its extent, imitating trees, birds, temples, &c., in perspective; a meretricious delusion which the graceful pedantry of Pliny himself adopted with a complacent pride in its ingenuity.”

The novelist then proceeds to describe the house known by the name of the Tragic Poet. (See plan No. 2 on page 38.)

“You enter by a long and narrow vestibule, on the floor of which is the image of a dog in mosaic, with the well-known ‘Cave canem,’ or ‘Beware the dog.’ On either side is a chamber of some size: for the interior part of the house not being large enough to contain the two great divisions of private and public departments, these two rooms were set apart for the reception of visitors who, neither by rank nor familiarity, were entitled to admission in the penetralia of the mansion.

“Advancing up the vestibule, you enter an atrium that, when first discovered, was rich in paintings, which in point of expression would scarcely disgrace a Raphael. You may see them now transplanted to the Neapolitan Museum; they are still the admiration of connoisseurs--they depict the parting of Achilles and Briseis.

“Who does not acknowledge the force, the vigour, the beauty, employed in delineating the forms and faces of Achilles and the immortal slave?

“On one side of the atrium, a small staircase admitted to the apartments for the slaves on the second floor; there also were two or three small bedrooms, the walls of which portrayed the Rape of Europa, the battle of the Amazons, &c.

“You now enter the tablinum, across which, at either end, hung rich draperies of Tyrian purple, half withdrawn. On the walls was depicted a poet reading his verses to his friends; and in the pavement was inserted a small and most exquisite mosaic, typical of the instructions given by the director of the stage to his comedians.

“You passed through the saloon, and entered the peristyle; and here, as I have said before was usually the case with smaller houses of Pompeii, the mansion ended. From each of the seven columns that adorned this court hung festoons of garlands; the centre, supplying the place of a garden, bloomed with the rarest flowers, placed in vases of white marble, that were supported on pedestals. At the left hand of this small garden was a diminutive fane, resembling one of those small chapels placed at the sides of roads in Catholic countries, and dedicated to the Penates; before it stood a bronze tripod; to the left of the colonnade were two small cubicula or bedrooms; to the right was the triclinium, in which the guests were now assembled.

“This room is usually termed by the antiquaries of Naples, ‘The Chamber of Leda;’ and in the beautiful work of Sir William Gell, the reader will find an engraving from that most delicate and graceful painting of Leda presenting her new-born to her husband, from which the room derives its name. This charming apartment opened upon the fragrant garden. Round the table of citrean wood, highly polished and delicately wrought with silver arabesques, were placed the three couches, which were yet more common at Pompeii than the semicircular seat that had grown lately into fashion at Rome; and on these couches of bronze, studded with richer metals, were laid thick quiltings, covered with elaborate broidery, and yielding luxuriously to the pressure.”

The following plans, pp. 38 and 39, are collected into one group to afford a more easy view of the differences in their general construction. They are not drawn to scale, and have no pretensions to detail. The principal apartments only are named upon them, and the following is a list of their chief peculiarities, together with the dates when they were excavated, and the various names by which they have been known. The first numbers correspond with those on the plans.

1. HOUSE OF THE EMPEROR JOSEPH II. (1767-69), was a mansion of great magnificence, of three stories. It was beautifully situated on the side towards the sea. This house had a suite of baths; and in the furnace-room the skeleton of a female was discovered. The regularity of plan is very remarkable; but, unfortunately, the excavations were filled in again, so that nothing now remains to be seen.

2. HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET (1824-26) is called in the Museo Borbonico, “_Casa Omerica_,” the Homeric House: the same which Bulwer describes as the house of Glaucus. Remarkable for the beauty and dignified character of its paintings, most of them illustrating Homeric subjects.

A list of a few of the principal paintings and mosaics in this house will suffice to show the taste of its occupant.

_Cave Canem._ Mosaic at entrance.

In atrium, on right wall, next to entrance, _The Marriage of Peleus and Thetis_. On side wall, right hand, _The Parting of Achilles and Briseis_. On same wall, separated only by a door, _The Departure of Chryseis_. Opposite to the parting of Achilles and Briseis was represented _The Fall of Icarus_. In a cubiculum on this side was the small frieze of _Battle of Amazons_ (copied in the Atrium of Pompeian Court, page 47). The tablinum was adorned with a picture of _A Poet reading_, and the mosaic pavement representing _The Choragus and Actors_. In a little chamber to the left of tablinum was a small picture of _Venus fishing_. At the end of ambulatory of peristyle near triclinium was the famous picture of _The Sacrifice of Iphigenia_, painted on the wall adjoining the oven of the Fullonica. _The Deserted Ariadne_ (page 57) adorned a small chamber to the left of the peristyle. The opposite side of the peristyle was occupied by the kitchen, latrina, and triclinium, which latter contained the exquisite picture of _Leda presenting her Infant Progeny to Tyndareus_; hence this apartment is sometimes called the Chamber of Leda. Other pictures in the same room are _Venus_, _Cupid_, and _Adonis_, and an elaborate composition of _Theseus deserting Ariadne_. He is in the act of stepping on board a ship, where sailors are making ready for departure. Ariadne lies asleep on the shore; her head is surrounded with a blue circular glory, which is not uncommon in Pompeian paintings. Many of these pictures are on a comparatively large scale, and only equalled in artistic excellence by those which have been discovered in the houses of the Dioscuri and of Ceres, one of the smallest houses in Pompeii. It has only one _ala_ (plan given in Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 55, and in Gell, vol. i., pl. 35, p. 143).

3. HOUSE OF QUEEN CAROLINE (1813), now called that of Adonis, remarkable for the width of Atrium when viewed from vestibule. The kitchen has windows opening to the street. In an open court is a permanent semicircular couch of stone, the _sigma_ of Martial, and so called from the shape that the Greek letter had at this period acquired. (See notice on the changes in the Greek alphabet, in the Catalogue of Greek Court, p. 22). In the Atrium, plants were painted on the wall, as if sprung up out of the ground. A celebrated caricature painting of the studio of a portrait painter was discovered by Mazois in this house.

4. HOUSE OF THE MELEAGER OR APOLLO (1830-31), called also the House of Isis, or of the Nereids. The house is very extensive, and the various apartments are arranged in a different manner from what is generally seen at Pompeii. The block plan, No. 4, will sufficiently explain the distribution of the various parts. The vestibulum is very long and narrow.

5. HOUSE OF SALLUST (1809). Known also as the House of Actæon. The _venereum_ is the peculiar feature of this house. The skeleton of a young female, with four rings on one of her fingers, was discovered as if just in the act of escaping; five gold bracelets, two ear-rings, and thirty-two pieces of money were lying near her. The skeletons of three other females, probably slaves, were found near her. The doorway of the _Prothyrum_ was very broad, and was closed with a _quadrivalve_ door, folding back like our shutters.

6. Two houses side by side, called from the features of their peristyles, the Greater and the Smaller Fountain (1826). The small fountain itself made of shells, the greater one encrusted with mosaics. In the former house a remarkable painting of a sea-port, supposed to represent Dicæarchia, or Puteoli, was discovered. Two staircases indicate the former existence of upper rooms. Here they found oil, in vases, with olives still swimming in it.

7. HOUSE OF THE COLOURED CAPITALS (1833-34). A very large house near the so-called Pantheon.

It is a magnificent specimen of arrangement and decoration. The long range of colonnade, forming a second peristyle or decorated garden, is peculiar to this habitation. (Plan given in Mus. Bor., vol. x., tav. A & B.)

8. HOUSE OF THE DIOSCURI (1828-29). This beautiful mansion has been known by a great variety of names--_The Quaestor_, _the Centaur_, _Castor and Pollux_. The latter name (Dioscuri also) is derived from the spirited figures of the sons of _Leda_, painted reining in their horses on the side walls of the left-hand vestibulum. A running _Mercury_, with purse in hand, was painted on one of the posts of the same entrance. The exterior of this house is much more carefully decorated than was usual among the Pompeians. Many of the stucco ornaments have been picked out with colour. Highly-decorated wooden chests, lined and bound externally with iron, were found in the atrium, at the entrance of the left-hand ala, which still contained a few gold and silver coins that had escaped the grasp of some one who had returned to the spot after the destruction of the city, and made excavation, evidently directed to that particular spot.

This house is one of the finest for the grandeur and taste displayed in every part of it. The celebrated paintings, _Perseus and Andromeda_, _Medea and her Children_, were found on the piers at the lower angles of the great central Peristyle. The great Exedra, or Triclinium, at its extremity, was closed with folding doors, the sockets of which still remain, and the floor was decorated with the famous circular mosaic of _The Lion crowned with Garlands by young Cupids_. (Engraved in Mus. Bor., vol. vii., tav. 61.) (Plan given in Gell’s Pompeiana, vol. ii., pl. 63.)

9. HOUSE OF THE FEMALE MUSICIAN (1847). Known by the Italian name _Della Sonatrice_, called likewise _House of the Triumphant Bacchus_. It is a very interesting excavation, displaying much magnificence and elegance of decoration. It may be regarded as a double house of three stories. Several of the paintings of the Sydenham Court have been copied from the walls of this mansion. The name of the house is derived from a painting in one of the chambers representing a young actress in a mask playing the double flute. A picture was found near the foot of the stairs displaying writing materials, such as tablets, _stylus_, _atramentum_, or ink-bottle, and a sealed letter, which preserves the direction on it, “To the Decurion Marcus Lucretius.” Hence, the house is not unfrequently called by his name, in the supposition that he must have been the owner. Mr. Falkener was present during the excavation of this house, and has published a very interesting account of his observations in the Museum of Classical Antiquities. The arrangement of the portion beyond the tablinum is very singular, consisting of a fountain and basin surrounded by a variety of small figures arranged in front of it. The house seems, at the period of its destruction, to have been undergoing alteration. Many of the central pictures had been taken out from the walls, preparatory to the insertion of fresh ones. The artists appear to have sometimes painted on wood for that purpose. Many years ago, the workmen came to an apartment at Stabiæ, where the pictures had been separated from a wall preparatory to removal, which the ruin of the city prevented: the paintings therefore were found leaning against the wall of the apartment. (The plan of this house is given in Mus. Bor., vol. xiv., tav. A and B.)

10. PLAN of some private dwellings copied from the celebrated fragments of a map of Rome, engraved on marble about the time of Septimius Severus. (Bellorius Ichnographia, Tab. 7, page 35.)

THE HOUSE OF PANSA. (1811-14.) One of the largest of the superior class of mansions hitherto discovered. It has an extensive garden, and the rooms were distributed with great regularity. This house is more generally referred to in illustration of a Pompeian house, and for that reason has been made the subject of a larger and more elaborate plan than the rest. In one of the bed-rooms, five female skeletons were found, some of them with gold ear-rings. The name of the house is derived from the red letters PANSAM. ÆD. PARATVS. ROG. daubed upon the door-post. (The plan of this house is given large at the end of this book.)

THE HOUSE OF CERES (1827). Called also the House of Zephyrus and Flora, from an interesting painting of the _Marriage of Zephyrus and Flora_; it is also known as the House of the _Ship_ (Naviglio), which latter name is derived from a painting in one of the shops. Another name, also, is of the _Bacchantes_. The beautiful seated divinities, _Bacchus_ and _Ceres_, between the Tablinum and Alæ of this court, were copied from this House of Ceres. A third sitting deity, _Jupiter_, with a round plate behind his head, like the _nimbus_ of saints in old pictures, belonged to this series. It is remarkably dignified. (See Mus. Bor., vol. vi., tav. 52.)

THE HOUSE OF THE FAUN (1829-31). So called from the discovery of the beautiful little Faun introduced in this court, copied in the original material, bronze. This house is celebrated for its great mosaic, representing _Alexander and Darius at the Battle of Issus_. The apartments were very numerous and on a grand scale.

HISTORY OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE.

The original intention in constructing the Pompeian Court in the Crystal Palace was to appropriate it for purposes of refreshment. In furtherance of this plan, more especial attention would have been devoted to the mural decorations and the arrangements for public accommodation and convenience. The nature and extent of the gigantic structure within which this court was to be erected, determined, in a great measure, the breadth of space to be left open. A glance upwards will show the spectator how the supports of the galleries are arranged, and also the necessity that exists for incorporating these within the walls of the smaller erection. The refreshment chambers must necessarily have been much larger in extent than any of the rooms in the houses at Pompeii; the general disposition of their chambers, however well suited they might have been for the purposes of ancient life, were totally inadequate to the requirements of modern visitors; consequently this plan was abandoned, and the present Pompeian Court instituted in its stead.

The original design for this house was made by Mr. Digby Wyatt, at Naples; and, in conjunction with Mr. Owen Jones, his companion in the tour for the collection of works of art for the decoration of the Crystal Palace generally, he entered into arrangements on the spot with Signor Abbate, the official draughtsman to the King for the Pompeian excavations, to come over to England the following spring, with cartoons and tracings, from Pompeii, in order to decorate the building, then to be prepared for him, at Sydenham, with facsimiles of the different paintings at Pompeii selected by Mr. Wyatt for the decoration of the respective rooms. The King of Naples granted permission to Signor Abbate for the visit, and, accordingly, this distinguished artist arrived in England fully prepared to perform his task. Although the plan of devoting the Pompeian Court to refreshment was meanwhile given up, the measurement of the walls that had been given to Signor Abbate for the preparation of his cartoons prevented any general change of design, and the shortness of the period originally fixed for his stay in this country prevented any important alterations being undertaken. The decorative painting of the Pompeian house was entirely under the management of Signor Abbate, Mr. Parris. Jun. acting as his deputy. They had thirty assistants, ten of whom were English. The principal figure painters were Mundici and Gow, and the names of the chief ornamentalists are Leslie, Luetyens, Wassner, Yahn, Munsch, Mœvius, and Meyer. The entire arrangement and building are due to Mr. Digby Wyatt, furthered by the zeal and energy of Mr. Thomas Hayes, his deputy.

It will be seen in the following description of the Court, that each part has been copied from some existing authority; and the few exceptions that do occur, in which originality was necessary, have been carefully noted.

Some of the leading works which contain illustrations of Pompeii, will be found enumerated in the list of books at the end of the description of the Roman Court, and others of more immediate importance have been referred to in the text when requisite.

DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE.

The outer walls are supposed to be surrounded by the street, and the entire house forms what the Romans called an _insula_; that is, a detached building. The tiling, more conspicuous from the gallery, has been faithfully copied from an ancient example, from the House of the Female Musician. The roof of a house was found complete in April, 1853, with the upper part of the ridge carefully guarded by cement. The principal entrance faces the nave; it is flanked by two pilasters, the capitals of which are copied from the back entrance of a house excavated in 1834 (Mus. Bor., vol. x., tav. A, B), and from sketches taken on the spot.

The general proportions of the doorway are taken from the house of Pansa (Gell, Pompeiana, series i., pl. 34.); the grating, or lattice-work[55] over the door, is introduced upon the authority of Mr. Donaldson in his work upon doorways. The external windows are devised to throw more light into the chambers, and to afford a more ready means of looking into the inner recesses. This apparent innovation is authorised by the windows of the Tragic Poet’s house which open upon the street, although much higher up, being raised more than six feet above the level of the foot-pavement. They seem to have been closed by sliding shutters and were sometimes glazed. Glass was much used at Pompeii both for drinking vessels and windows; sheets of glass have been found there, and a convex glass for a lamp remained in the wall, dividing two apartments in the public baths near the forum. The front part of the entrance was called _Vestibulum_; the remaining part of the passage, _Prothyrum_, which latter was bounded by a second door which closed in the _Atrium_. The door is quadrivalve, and the panelling is taken from the false door painted on the wall of the Chalcidicum near the statue of Eumachia (Gell, Pompeiana, 2nd series, page 21, plate 9).

[55] Called by Vitruvius _Hypaetrum_. Smith, s. v. Janua. p. 626.
Compare a latticed window in vol. i., p. 229 of “Pitture d’Ercolano.”

The inlaid marble on the threshhold, representing a dog, is found at the entrance to the House of the Tragic Poet (Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 56). A similar device was painted at the entrance of Trimalchio’s house, described by Petronius, who was alarmed at the first sight of the furious animal at the full stretch of his chain so skilfully represented in the original mosaic (Petronius, Satyricon, ch. 29). The inscription on both is the same, CAVE CANEM, which means “Beware of the dog.”

The _Prothyrum_[56] or _Ostium_, was the passage between the street door (_janua_), and the house door (_ostium_), and corresponds to our entrance hall; a small square room on one side was sometimes devoted to the door-keeper or porter (_janitor_ or _ostiarius_). They were called _Cellæ Ostiariæ_.

[56] Rich, s. v.

The walls and ceilings of these side apartments are white, with a red _dado_, that is, the lower part of the wall, answering to our surbase. The decoration of these rooms is imitated from the House of the Second Fountain. The walls of the _Prothyrum_ itself are red, with a winged Cupid in a panel on each side. They are from the House of the Dioscuri. The _dado_ is black, the ceilings of these three apartments are white and slightly arched.

Most of the ceilings in Pompeii were of this description, and composed of segmental vaults painted in fresco, like the walls beneath, only in lighter colours or more delicate and thinner patterns on a white ground. A small stucco cornice highly enriched with colour follows the lines of the archivolt. In the Villa of Diomed are some flat ceilings, and other examples have been published in the Pitture d’Ercolano.

ATRIUM.

The view of this spacious apartment at the moment of entrance is very imposing; the only difference between this and a real Pompeian house consists in the greater diffusion of light, and the increased scale of the apartment better suited to a palace in the capital of the Empire. For the purpose of fully displaying the beauties of the mural decorations, much more light has been admitted into this apartment than is usually found in the same division of the Pompeian houses. To this end, the central aperture, which ought to have been of the same size as the reservoir below, has been considerably widened. Windows also have been introduced in order to give the spectator a better view of the decorations within the side chambers. At a glance the eye recognises the various parts of the building previously described. In the centre below is the square basin to collect the water, called the _impluvium_, and the corresponding aperture above would be the _compluvium_. At the further end, facing the entrance, a graceful female figure is seen playing the lyre--these paintings will be described hereafter. In many houses this extremity is painted sky blue, with shrubs and trees to imitate a distant garden--this was the case in the peristyle of the Tragic Poet’s House (Gell, vol. i., p. 159), also in the Houses of the Quæstor and Actæon (Gell, pl. 20, page 175). The dark square central part forming as it were a frame to our view of the peristyle, is the _tablinum_, the side-passages are the _fauces_, and the smaller apertures round the sides of the _Atrium_ will be recognised as conducting to the _cubicula_. Each of these apartments we propose to examine minutely, after having taken a general view of the _Atrium_. This important space in a Roman house was called also the _Cavum Ædium_, or _Cavædium_, as Pliny writes it. There were various kinds of _Atria_; the simplest with no support in the centre--as this--called the _Atrium Tuscanicum_. Where the roof was supported by four columns in the centre it was called _Tetrastylum_. If the columns surrounding the _impluvium_ were numerous, it was called _Corinthium_, and when, as rarely has been found, no opening was left in the centre, the apartment was said to be _Testudinatum_. Sometimes a roof was so arranged as to throw off the water outside, and then the term _displuviatum_ was employed.

The _Atrium_, as viewed from the door, is oblong, in a position reversed from that in which it is generally found in Pompeian houses: although an authority for this arrangement exists in the House of Queen Caroline. The _impluvium_ in the centre is of marble, and the exquisite small marble statue of a faun, serving at the same time as a fountain, is copied from the house called after the grand Duke of Tuscany. The floor is an excellent imitation of ancient mosaic work, executed by Messrs. Minton; the various patterns are taken from different Pompeian houses. Many of the floors at Pompeii exhibit some of the finest examples of mosaic work in which elaborate paintings with every variety of colour have been produced. They are composed solely of small pieces of coloured stone or glass fitted closely together and highly polished. It is the most durable of all methods of painting, and is generally set in a strong bed of cement. The modern Romans practise this art with such success, that a mosaic can scarcely be distinguished from a picture carefully painted with the brush. Every altar-piece but one, now in St. Peters’, has been made by this process. The celebrated mosaic of the Doves drinking, described by Pliny, is now in the capitol at Rome, and many descriptions of pictures executed in this mode are to be found in ancient authors. This process must be carefully distinguished from _inlaying_, which the ancients also practised, and may be seen here in the vestibules and some of the side chambers leading out of the peristyle.

The prevailing colour of the atrium is white. All round the doors and the windows of the Cubicula the wall is painted bright blue with red dado. The pilasters are white with the lower part yellow; their capitals white heightened by blue and red; they are from the House of the Centaur. In square compartments, on a white ground, between the capitals of pilasters, are elegant groups of female figures on marine animals, and Cupids in chariots; some of the small enriched mouldings are from the cornice of the tomb of Calventius Quietus, and the atrium frieze _above tablinum_ is copied from a side apartment in the Tragic Poet’s House (Mus. Bor. vol. ii., tav. A). It is composed of white figures of combatants in armour on foot and in chariots; shields and dead bodies lie prostrate. The ground of this frieze is purple, but the ground of the original is described as white, and the figures are said to be clothed in blue, green, and purple draperies. The females are Amazons, distinguished by the pelta or lunated shield (see Statue No. 194 of the Greek Court.) The rest of the frieze is white, with patterns of bright-coloured lines in simple forms. Over each pilaster the frieze is broken by double figures of Victory, yellow and gold, which serve to support the beams which project to the edge of the compluvium. They were modelled by Mr. Monti, under the superintendence of Signor Abbate, from a drawing by Mr. Wyatt.

The compluvium is bordered with red standing tiles called antifixa, and the arrangement of Mazois in his restoration of the House of Diomed has been followed. The antifixa may be seen also on the model of the Parthenon in the bas-relief gallery adjoining the Greek Court. The angle tiles, with a spout to discharge the rain water, merit attention. The sloping roof of the atrium, composed of light beams with panelling between them, has been chiefly restored from existing paintings; but few traces of woodwork remain in any part of these ancient cities without having been seriously disturbed; the atrium ceilings being of wood, were consequently destroyed; pictorial records are therefore our only authorities. Fortunately for us, the ancients seem to have delighted in depicting themselves and their ways of living, so that it is not improbable that the architectural specimens that we see on their walls are only the transcripts of the slender constructions which were in fact confined to the upper stories. This is the more probable as the background of these architectural scenes is generally sky, and where vegetation does appear among them it consists commonly of plants growing in pots, or else the tops of trees as they would appear from the upper part of a house.

CUBICULA.

We must now go into the detail of the house and pass into each room as consecutively numbered in the plan, beginning in this instance on the left hand of the principal entrance, keeping the wall of Atrium always to the left.

1. CUBICULUM. This small chamber has the walls totally black with a white ceiling. It is an exact copy both in size and decoration, of a room in the House of the Bronzes at Pompeii, called _la stanza nera_. Facing the door is a square picture representing a “Sacrifice to Minerva” (engraved in Mus. Bor., vol. xiii., tav. 8). In the centre a round shield--the Argolic buckler--with serpent painted on it, mounted on a square pedestal; above this appears a helmet placed on the top of a square pillar; a winged Cupid seems to be adjusting the shield; in front of the pedestal is a smaller circular altar, and Psyche with butterfly wings, clothed in yellow and pink, stands on the left, as if about to cast incense upon the altar. On the other side a Cupid, with blue wings of the same peculiar curve observable in the Marlborough gem, representing the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, brings a white lamb to the altar for sacrifice. Among the arabesques to the right and left of this picture are graceful vases. Half doors of a light wooden construction may be observed, and a curious method of displaying pictures is shown here; they are represented upon the wall very much sloped forward and with folding shutters to them. (See Malkin’s Pompeii, vol. ii., p. 123.) The arabesques at each end of this cubiculum are especially beautiful. They have been wonderfully copied in Gruner’s specimens of Ornamental Art, the size of the originals. The effect of their rich colours upon a perfectly black ground is remarkable, contributing to increase the apparent size of the room very considerably. Few at first sight would imagine this little apartment to measure only 22 feet 9 inches by 6 feet 9 inches. The window openings to the atrium have been explained at page 44.