Urban Architecture in Pompeii

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0701PompeiiRooftops.jpg
The simulated rooftops of a single insula (= "island" = city block) in Pompeii.  Many roofs slope inward for rainwater collection.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0702SomeRoofsRemoved.jpg
The same block with some roofs removed to show rooms inside the structures.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0703RomanHousing.jpg
A cutaway side view of one of the houses and development of the Pompeian domus.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0704DomusEvolves.jpg
More on the development of the domus.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0705Romanhouse.jpg
The interior of a large domus.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0706DomFlavia.jpg
How big can a domus get?  This one is the Imperial Palace in Rome.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0707Compluvium.jpg
An impluvium is a roof structure that directs rainwater (pluvia) inward (im).  Water was collected below in a small pool called a compluvium.   Overflow from the compluvium was directed to an underground cistern.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0708PompeiianAtrium.jpg
The atrium appears to have been developed by the Tuscans (i.e., Etruscans) and the Oscans.  An Etruscan atrium often had a gallery with doorways into second floor rooms.  Oscan Atria might have a simulated gallery.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0709FawnHouse.jpg
An Oscan atrium -- house of the faun.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0710Triclinium.jpg
Upper class formal dining was usually in a triclinium, a room or area with three couches or benches where people reclined to eat.  Later, after the destruction of Pompeii, there were also semi-circular arrangements called stibadia, but the triclinium remained the norm throughout the ancient Roman period.  There were summer triclinia -- ourdoors -- and indoor winter triclinia.  Most eating was less formal.  Poor folks apparently ate at tables of counters and sat on backless chairs or benches.  


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0711TricliniumDining.jpg
A triclinium scene.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0712GardenVDiomede.jpg
If you were rich enough, your house would have an enclosed garden -- a viridarium.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0713JuliaFelixHouse.jpg
The bigger, the better.  Big water features were sure signs of wealth.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0714ConstructionMethods.jpg
Building and construction methods varied considerably.  There was a lot of opus mixtum which could mean alternating layers of it could mean "mixed work" caused by numerous bouts of remodeling and expansion.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0715FullonicaStephanus.jpg
Pompeii lasted for centuries, so there, naturally, were changes in use.  The Fullonica Stephanus was a laundry that had previously been a large domus.


Rustic living

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0716VillaRustica.jpg
Anything outside the walls was "rustic".  The basic farm house had accommodation for the owner (or overseer) and the animals and storage facility for tools and crops.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0717VillaMystSlide.jpg
At the other end of the spectrum were huge establishments designed for "country living" by the rich.  As fortunes grew and waned, some, like the Villa of the Mysteries, changed hands and added additional roles.  By the time of the 79 AD eruption, this pile held large entertainment spaces for a rich middle-class owner and a winery that produced in commercial quantities. 


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0718HadrianVilla.jpg
The biggest "rustic villa" ever was the Villa Adriana in Tiburtina (now Tivoli) east of Rome.  It was near therapeutic hot springs and also near the quaries that produced the "tiburtina" stone (travertine) that was used to build much of the villa and of Rome.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0719LaterRomanVillas.jpg
The fashion of Roman villas didn't die with Rome.


Public buildings around the Pompeii forum.

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0720ForumPlan.jpg
Map showing the major public buildings in the forum area.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0721ForumPompeii.jpg
Looking down the forum at the temple of the Capitoline Triad:  Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0722ApolloTemple.jpg
The Apollo Temple at the side of the forum.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0723ImperialCultTemple.jpg
The temple of the Imperial cult was rededicated to Vespasian by Titus, his son and successor, one month before the 79 AD eruption.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0724BasilicaPompeii.jpg
The Basilica was the venue of courts and public functions.


Other public buildings

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0725AmphPompeii.jpg
The amphitheater was called a spectacula long before it was described as an "ambi-theater" or "theater on both sides".   This one, built by Quinctius Valgus and Marcius Porcius at private expense, opened after 70 BC -- about 150 years before the big "Colossem" was built in Rome, and it is the earliest known stone amphitheater.  It's not known if similar wooden structures existed earlier.  This one held about 20,000 spectators (i.e., people who went to the spectacula).  Before there were amphitheaters, gladiatorial contests were staged, first, in graveyards -- they were funerary games.  Public games were first held in forums, still to commemorate fallen soldiers.  When theaters started to be built, the games were moved there where they shared the bill with theatrical performances (which also started a funerary events.)  Finally, amphitheaters supplanted theaters as gladiatorial venues.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0726PompeiiAmphitheater.jpg
Unlike the amphitheater in Rome, this one in Pompeii had no underground cages and passageways.  The center of the arena (which in Latin meant "sand") was below ground level -- excavated and the dirt thrown up in an elliptical ridge to support the grandstands.  (The theater, below, was built the same way.)  Next to the amphitheater was a rectangular area for public participation sports -- only a corner is visible at the upper left of this picture.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0727PalaestraStabianBaths.jpg
Another venue for public participation sports was this palaestra at the Stabian baths (the baths just inside the Stabian Gate of Pompeii.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0728Theater.jpg
The theater had a slightly deeper orchestra than was usual in Roman theaters.  It was free standing (unlike hillside "Greek" theaters, but the orchestra was below grade level.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0729TheaterPompeii.jpg
A view of what was:  awnings protected the audience (from audientia = a hearing).  Adjoining the theater was a smaller odeon,  a roofed structure for musical performances and poetry "readings".
Odes, actually, were almost always sung by their author/composers and were self-accompanied on the cithara (a lyre-like instrument).  Nero was singing one of his odes in the Pompeii odeon when the 64 AD earthquake struck.  The odeon did not fall down, and Nero said it was because the god (Apollo) was pleased with the imperial performance.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0730ViaAbbondanza.jpg
The Via Abbondanza ran out from one corner of the forum and appears to have ben the main shopping district. 


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0731PublicBaths.jpg
The Stabian baths had the standard chambers and functions, but no separate facilities for women.  Among its rooms were several small cubicula whose unknown function has caused centuries of gossip.  There were four sets of public baths, but the "central baths" were still under construction at the time of the eruption.   The central baths, the forum baths, and the Stabian baths can be visited, but the fourth set was reburied. 


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0732PublicToilets.jpg
Public toilets were spotted around the city, some privately funded and some built a public expense.  This large establishment was at a corner of the forum.  Urine was collected in pots on street corners and in front of fulleries for use in processing an cleaning cloth.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0733Restaurant.jpg
A small snack bar with an upstairs room which was probably an apartment or storeroom.  Some establishments had back rooms or upstairs dining rooms and some, inevitably, had rooms where sex was available for money.  The masonry counter fronted on the street and held pottery jugs for hot or cold food.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0734Bakery.jpg
A combination mill and bakery.  Grain was distributed daily to anyone who cared to go to the distribution points.  The grain was taken to the the bakery where it could be exchanged immediately for bread, at a slight premium.  Bread was made in several grades:  the rich ate white bread and the poor ate whole grain.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0735TombStreet.jpg
Tombs were always outside the pomerium, or sacred precinct, which, in practice meant outside the walls of a city:  the pomerium expanded with the city walls.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0736RomeFireInsulae.jpg
Publicly funded fire brigades were organized by Nero in all Roman cities after Rome burned in 64 AD.  There had been some fire regulations in Rome and Ostia at least from the time of Augustus.

Art and Decoration

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0737FirstStyle.jpg
Romans used frescoes, mosaics, and sculpture as decoration, although some works approach whar we call "art".  Much of their art was derivative of Greek art. 

Pompeian wall decorations were usually frescoes (mosaics were usually on the floor.)  August Mau's 19th century "four styles" are still used to describe Pompeian frescoes.  From the beginning, large areas of stylistic overlap have been recognised, but only recently have chronological overlaps been added into the mix.  It's now apparent that the four styles were additive and that new versions of old styles were sometimes done to add variety. 

The first style was an imitation of marble panels.  First the panels would be molded and in various levels. Later examples add "pillars" and the panels were not molded, but rather they were painted on flat surfaces with the illusion of depth accomplished by painted-on shadows.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0738PompeiiStyle1Salust.jpg
Style 1


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0739PompeiiStyle1aSallust.jpg
Style 1


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0740SecondStyle.jpg
Early style 2 added some architectural detail to the pillars and later style 2 added "openings", into which the "outside world" was painted.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0741PompeiiStyle2Manipulated.jpg
Painted "outside world" scenes could be architectural, rustic, or mythological, with the latter appearing most often in upper class homes.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0742PompeiiStyle2Synistor1.jpg
Style 2


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0743PompeiiStyle2Synistor2.jpg
Style 2 scenes


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0744ThirdStyle.jpg
Style 3 added large flat panels of color and the scenes gradually shrunk to smaller sizes:  they were no longer "openings' but now were more like framed paintings. 


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0745PompeiiStyle3a.jpg
Style 3 architectural details became more attenuated and stylized.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0746PompeiiStyle3b.jpg
Style 3


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0747PompeiiStyle3FontPiccola.jpg
Although style three scenes became smaller, they were still quite detailed.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0748PompeiiStyle3FrescoCartoon.jpg
Painters applied fresh plaster in small sections to walls, on which the outlines of the composition were already incised.  Here the surface layer has fallen off exposing the "cartoon."


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0749FourthStyle.jpg
Fourth style was composite and eclectic and carried forward earlier trends.  "Scenes" became individual and sometimes tiny, architectural details still more tenuous and fantastic.  There was a great deal of variation. 


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0750PompeiiStyle4.jpg
By the time of the eruption, Style 4 was almost surreal.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0751PompeiiStyle4Vettii.jpg
The house of the Vetti was being redecorated in Style 4 at the time of the eruption.  This particular style 4 has the look of a picture gallery.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0752PompeiiStyle4Traveler.jpg
Style 4


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0753PompeiiVettiCupids1.jpg
Occupational information:  Vetti house cupids have given a great deal of information on how things were done.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0754PompeiiVettiCupidsTasting.jpg
More Vetti Cupids

Other artwork

http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0755AlexMos.jpg
The Alexander mosaic, from a floor in the House of the Faun, shows the Battle of Issus where Alexander defeated the Persian King, Darius.  From the composition and findspot it appears that about two-thirds of the mosaic is preserved (now in the National Archeological Museum in Naples).   The mosaic was famous in its own time and was identified by Pliny the Elder as a copy of a Greek painting by "Piloxenus"of Eretria, created for King Cassander of Macedonia


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0756Alexander.jpg
Alexander


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0757DariusAlexMosaic.jpg
Darius


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0758NiloticAlexanderBorder.jpg
The border below the Alexander Mosaic was this Nilotic scene.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0759Lararium.jpg
Every house had a Lararium or family shrine.  The Lares (singular, Lar) almost always appeared as a pair of young men holding aloft wine goblets.  The flanked the genius or spirit of the family.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0760Couple.jpg
Another form of popular "art" was what we would have called pornography.  It appeared in bars, restaurants, and other "public houses", but also in the houses of the rich.  Nobody likes to say it -- not politically correct -- but the taste for pornography might well have stemmed from the fact that Pompeii was resettled as a military colony (Cornelia Veneria) after General Sulla conquered the city in 89 BC and displaced the Oscan upper classes. 


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0761Couples.jpg
More Venerial art


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0762VettiPriapis.jpg
At the front door of the Vetti House, Priapus weighs himself against wealth.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes0763FaunMercury.jpg
"Mercury" delivering a message.


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes07643GracesPompeii.jpg
The "Three Graces"  Chastity tries to restrain Lust and Beauty


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes07653GracesBotticelli.jpg
By the Renaissance the Three Graces are dancing (Botticelli) ...


http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRIVes07663GracesRaphael.jpg
or sitting on clouds (Raphael).