2. Houses
• Houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum reflected social status
• Andrew Wallace-Harrill has identified four types of house, based on size
Type 1: one or two roomed house, used as both residence and shop or workshop
Type 2: from two to seven rooms, with larger workshops and living areas
3. Houses
Type 3: the average Pompeian residence of between eight and thirteen rooms with a
combination of public and private workspaces – workshops or other shops were
incorporated into the house
Type 4: the largest houses, designed for entertaining
• They may have been created from a number of smaller houses remodelled to make
a single building
• They included quarters for slaves
4. Houses
• There was a great variation among the houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum, in size,
but also in age, style, construction, material and decoration
• Generally houses were inward looking and rooms opened onto an inner courtyard
or garden rather than onto the street
• If outer walls had windows they were usually small and high, secure rather than
decorative
• Upper floors had larger windows and balconies which admitted air and light
5. FEATURES OF A ROMAN HOUSE
LATIN DEFINITION
TERM
Fauces The entrance corridor
Vestibulum The entrance hall
Atrium The reception room, generally with compluvium and impluvium
Compluvium An opening in the roof which allowed light and rainwater into the
atrium
Impluvium Shallow pool which collected rainwater from the compluvium
Tablinium Room off the atrium, used for receiving clients and conducting
business
Peristyle A colonnaded or covered walkway around a courtyard or garden
Cubiculum A small windowless bedroom
Triclinium A dining room with space for three long couches around a serving
table
Lararium The family shrine of the lares, the spirits of the entry of houses
6. Houses
Furniture and decor
• In wealthier houses interior walls
were decorated with frescoes and
floors with mosaics
• Statues, ponds and fountains were
common
7. Houses
• Houses were not
heavily furnished and
most furniture was
light and portable
• The bedroom
contained a bed and a
small table
• A dining room
contained 3 couches
and low tables which
could be carried into
the garden or
courtyard
• Small cupboards
stored clothing
8. Houses
• In Herculaneum some carbonised wooden
furniture has survived, including tables,
beds, small cupboards and stools
9. Houses
Rented accommodation
• Not all families had a home of their own
• People rented lofts, rooms and apartments and these could be small areas of one or
two rooms behind or above shops and workshops, or larger sections of houses
• Upper storey apartments were reached from external staircases opening onto the
street
10. Houses
• At least 1 apartment block has been
excavated in Pompeii, in Via del Foro
• In Herculaneum the 2 storey Trellis
House was built for 2 families, one living
upstairs and one downstairs
11. Houses
• A sign advertising premises for rent in the estate of Julia Felix mentions shops
(tabernae) with rooms above (pergulae) and upstairs flats (cenacula)
• Using such advertisements and the evidence of separate street entrances and
external staircases, Felix Pirson has identified 450 examples of small independent
dwellings in Pompeii
12. Shops
• In Pompeii and Herculaneum residential and commercial areas existed together
• Shops were located in most blocks (insulae) in Pompeii, although the main street of
the city the Via dell’ Abbondanza, had a particularly high concentration of them
• Owners of large houses rented out street-facing rooms as shops, taverns or
workshops
• Such shops were not connected to the rest of the house
13. Shops
• An upper storey or part of it was sometimes rented with the shop, as a residence for
the shopkeeper
• Sometimes the ground rooms at the back of the shop were also rented
14. Shops
• Most shops were small, with only enough room for one or two people behind the
counter
• In some shops the goods sold were made on the premises, in others the goods were
bought from local merchants or foreign traders
• More than 600 shops have been identified in Pompeii, although they may not have
been operating at the same time
15. Shops
• Food shops were plentiful, the most common
being the thermopolium
• 20 taverns (cuponae) have been identified in
Pompeii and over 130 smaller thermopolia
which sold hot food and drink
• Some sold the ancient equivalent of take
away food, others had a back room for dining
16. Shops
• Typically such shops had one
room opening onto the road, with
a brick counter into which were
sunk the dolia (jars) containing the
goods
• Although Herculaneum was not a
commercial city, it contained
many shops, including a bakery,
thermopolia and taverns
• In the House of Neptune and
Amphitrite Mosaic, the shop in
the front of the house is an
example of the mixture of
residential and commercial
activity which could be found in
both towns
17. Villas
• Wealthy Romans build large villas in the countryside and along the coast around
the Bay of Naples, as retreats from Rome and places where political matters could
be conducted in impressive surroundings
• Almost 100 such villas have been identified
18. Villas
• The Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum and the Villa of Poppaea at Oplontis are
outstanding examples of maritime villas designed to take advantage of the view and
built on a grand scale
20. Villas
• Villas closer to the towns, the urban villas, were large residences, generally with a
working farm attached
• They were more integrated into the social and political life of the towns
• On the outskirts of Pompeii were two such villas: the Villa of the Mysteries,
named after the fresco which is believed to depict the Dionysian rites of initiation
for women, and the Villa of Diomedes
• These were larger than most luxurious houses
21.
22.
23.
24.
25. Villas
• The Villa of the Mysteries was built in the 2nd century BC and renovated in about
60BC and again in the 1st century AD
• The villa contained residential quarters overlooking the sea, servants’ quarters
facing the road and an area for wine production
• It also provides evidence of the fashion for Hellenistic culture which Romans
admired
26. Villas
• Farmhouses (villae rusticae) were another type of villa
• They ranged from basic shelters for workers to more comfortable houses where the
owners lived, such as the Villa of Pisanella at Regina
• There were also more opulent homesteads such as the Villa at Boscoreale which
was decorated like city houses with frescoes on the walls and mosaics on the floor
29. Villas
• These villas did not contain the domestic peristyle of maritime or urban villas
• Instead, the internal courtyard was occupied by storage vats for olives or wine
