I.2.31 Pompeii. Rear entrance. Linked to I.2.1, I.2.30 and I.2.32.
Excavated 1872. Bombed 1943.
I.2.32 Pompeii, on left. October 2024.
Looking north-east on Vicolo del Conciapelle, towards entrances I.2.31 and I.2.30 at rear of standing wall, centre left.
Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
The other doorway, in the west wall, leads into another rear room of I.2.1. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
I.2.31 Pompeii. September 2010. Looking north to entrance doorway (sill or threshold still there).
The green grassed area would have been one rear room of the bar at I.2.1.
The other rear room would have been where the scaffolding is now. Photo courtesy of Drew Baker.
I.2.32 and I.2.31 Pompeii, on right. 1935 photo taken by Tatiana Warscher.
Looking towards doorways in Vicolo del Conciapelle, the entrance to I.2.31 can be seen on the right.
See Warscher T., 1935. Codex Topographicus Pompeianus: Regio I.2. (no. 65), Rome: DAIR, whose copyright it remains.
According to
Warscher: I.2.31 “Una piccola casa, forse una taberna”.
I.2.31 Pompeii. September 2005. Looking north into rear rooms of caupona at 1.2.1, with the remains of entrance cill or doorway.
Painted near to the entrance on the brick construction, according to Fiorelli, was -
CELSVM AED
O.V.F
See Pappalardo, U., 2001. La Descrizione di Pompei per Giuseppe Fiorelli (1875). Napoli: Massa Editore. (p.34)
According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de) this read as
[3] Celsum
aed(ilem)
o(ro) v(os)
f(aciatis) [CIL IV
3382]
I.2.31 Pompeii. September 2010. Looking north from southern rear room towards the second rear room.
A wall with a doorway leading from one to the other would have been across the photo at the front of the scaffolding.
Photo courtesy of Drew Baker.
I.2.31 Pompeii. September 2010.
West wall, with two doorways leading from two separate rear rooms into the main bar-room. Photo courtesy of Drew Baker.
I.2.31 Pompeii. (on left). Remains of street wall on Vicolo del Conciapelle. Looking east.
In Codex Topographicus Pompeianus: Regio I.2, (the copy at DAIR), Warscher included Viola’s description of the insula, from
Gli scavi di Pompei dal 1873 al 1878, p.10 (Pompei e la regione sotterrata dal
Vesuvio nell’anno 1879, Seconda parte).
This is included at the end in all parts of I.2 on the website.
“Nel dicembre
del 1873 incomminciò lo scavo di questa isola – quale dovette essere abitata da
moltissime persone. Infatti non si vede grande lusso
di abitazioni, nè grandi locali, ove i ricchi pompeiani passavano la vita
nell’ozio e nel piacere; si può invece osservare grand’economia di spazio, case
piccole miste a botteghe e ad officine, onde non è difficile argomentare che
quivi abitarono persone del ceto medio, le quali benchè agiate non godevano
certamente della più splendide posizione.
È questa
un’isola dove avennero frequentissime trasformazioni, per cui riesce
difficillissimo intravvedere qual’era la sua forma primiera; non mancano però
degli avanzi di costruzioni primitive, insieme ad altri di epoca posteriore,
come si osserva in molti luoghi di Pompei.
La sua area è
di mq.2948, ed è limitata da occidente dal cardo, a settentrione dalla via
secunda, ad oriente dal vico parallelo al cardo e a mezzogiorno dalla via
tertia che la separa dalle isole 1 e 5; il margine che la fiancheggia da tre
lati escluso l’orientale e sulla via tertia di fronte al vano No.28 si vede un
piccolo ponte, formato da massi posti a contrasto, il quale serve per unire i
due margine (vedi la fotografia no.42c)”.
(Note: this photo can also be seen at I.5.1, I.2.28 and
in the “streets” section under Vicolo del Conciapelle).
See Warscher T., 1935. Codex Topographicus Pompeianus: Regio I.2. Rome: DAIR.
(translation: "In December of 1873 the excavation of this insula began – which would have been inhabited by many people. In fact you don't see great luxury homes, nor large rooms, where rich Pompeian passed life in idleness and pleasure; if you instead look at the great economy of space, small homes and shops mixed with workshops, it's not difficult to argue that here lived people in the middle class, which however well-to-do they certainly did not enjoy the most splendid position.
This was an insula, where there were frequent transformations, for which it is difficult to glimpse what was the original form; it does not lack however, the remains of primitive constructions, alongside others of a later date, as can be seen in many places in Pompeii.
Its area was 2948 sq. m., and was bounded on the west by the “cardo”, on the north by via secunda, and east by a parallel vicolo to the “cardo” and in the south by the via tertia, that separated it from Insula’s 1 and 5: the border that flanked it by three sides excluding the east and on via tertia opposite No. 28, you will see a small bridge, formed by a boulder placed to serve to unite the two edges, (see photo No. 42 c)."