DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61387#0128
76
THE RUINS OF POMPEII.
has a communication with the interior of the house, it was no doubt kept by
the proprietor. The smaller rooms on the other side of the prothyrum served
probably as a kitchen and a cell for the slave who acted as porter or door-
keeper. On the further side of the atrium are two apartments handsomely
decorated. Their use cannot be certainly determined, but one of them
probably served as a dining-room. On the left hand side of the atrium is a
flight of stairs leading to two apartments on the upper story.
Notwithstanding its small size, this house was very beautifully and taste-
fully decorated with paintings, the subjects of which were taken from the
Greek mythology, and from Homer’s Odyssey. They have now perished;
but they were perfect in 1812 when seen by Mazois, who took copies of them.
One of them represented Ulysses drawing his sword upon Circe to avenge
his companions transformed by the enchantress. Circe is using the suppli-
catory gesture so frequently described in the Greek poets, by falling on her
knees and endeavouring to clasp with one hand the knee of Ulysses, while
she stretches out the other to touch his beard. Her head is surrounded with
a nimbus, or glory, which appears like a plate of solid gold, resembling that
seen round the heads of saints in early Christian pictures. Another painting
represented Ulysses discovering Achilles at Scyros among the daughters of
Lycomedes.
What we have here said will suffice to convey a general idea of the in-
ferior classes of houses. We have already described the general arrange-
ment of a first class house when speaking of that of Pansa (above, p. 43);
but we shall here add a few more particulars.
The fronts even of the best houses were in general very plain, the taste
and money of the proprietor being employed in decorating the interior. It
has been already observed that, with the exception of the suburban villa of
Diomedes, there is not a house in the place that possesses anything like a
front portico. The house of Diadumenus, not far from the Stabian Baths,
excavated in the present year, has perhaps the most aristocratic kind of ap-
proach, as the pavement in front of it is raised some feet above the level of
the street, and must be ascended by steps at each end. The street door,
which was lofty and narrow, was commonly decorated on each side with
pilasters, as shown in the cut already given of the entrance to the house of
Pansa (above, p. 42). These pilasters are seldom of any regular order, and
are frequently fantastically decorated. Often on the threshold some inscrip-
tion in mosaic, such as Salve, or Have (Ave with the aspirate), bids the visitor
THE RUINS OF POMPEII.
has a communication with the interior of the house, it was no doubt kept by
the proprietor. The smaller rooms on the other side of the prothyrum served
probably as a kitchen and a cell for the slave who acted as porter or door-
keeper. On the further side of the atrium are two apartments handsomely
decorated. Their use cannot be certainly determined, but one of them
probably served as a dining-room. On the left hand side of the atrium is a
flight of stairs leading to two apartments on the upper story.
Notwithstanding its small size, this house was very beautifully and taste-
fully decorated with paintings, the subjects of which were taken from the
Greek mythology, and from Homer’s Odyssey. They have now perished;
but they were perfect in 1812 when seen by Mazois, who took copies of them.
One of them represented Ulysses drawing his sword upon Circe to avenge
his companions transformed by the enchantress. Circe is using the suppli-
catory gesture so frequently described in the Greek poets, by falling on her
knees and endeavouring to clasp with one hand the knee of Ulysses, while
she stretches out the other to touch his beard. Her head is surrounded with
a nimbus, or glory, which appears like a plate of solid gold, resembling that
seen round the heads of saints in early Christian pictures. Another painting
represented Ulysses discovering Achilles at Scyros among the daughters of
Lycomedes.
What we have here said will suffice to convey a general idea of the in-
ferior classes of houses. We have already described the general arrange-
ment of a first class house when speaking of that of Pansa (above, p. 43);
but we shall here add a few more particulars.
The fronts even of the best houses were in general very plain, the taste
and money of the proprietor being employed in decorating the interior. It
has been already observed that, with the exception of the suburban villa of
Diomedes, there is not a house in the place that possesses anything like a
front portico. The house of Diadumenus, not far from the Stabian Baths,
excavated in the present year, has perhaps the most aristocratic kind of ap-
proach, as the pavement in front of it is raised some feet above the level of
the street, and must be ascended by steps at each end. The street door,
which was lofty and narrow, was commonly decorated on each side with
pilasters, as shown in the cut already given of the entrance to the house of
Pansa (above, p. 42). These pilasters are seldom of any regular order, and
are frequently fantastically decorated. Often on the threshold some inscrip-
tion in mosaic, such as Salve, or Have (Ave with the aspirate), bids the visitor