V.4.c Pompeii. House of M. Samellius Modestus or Casa degli Ori.
Excavated 1902-3.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. North ambulatory of garden K. leading to niche (e) in east wall.
The north wall of the garden pluteus is right.
V.4.c Pompeii. 1961. Looking towards east wall of garden K, with niche. Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
J61f0856
Photo courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive. Warsher collection no. 593.
According to Boyce, this niche was placed at the east end of the corridor leading from the atrium.
The arched niche had a heavy ledge projecting from the wall.
Upon this ledge was placed an ordinary roof tile, the raised edges of which, when covered with stucco would look like an altar.
The rear wall was painted blue or green, and painted with plants.
Boyce was not sure if this was a Lararium, but he thought as there was no other Lararium in the house, it may possibly have been one.
He said that Sogliano attached religious importance to a painting of Mercury found on the east wall of the atrium.
See Notizie
degli Scavi di Antichità, 1905, p. 131.
See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p.42, no.130, Pl. 3,1 - which is this photo by Warscher)
In a note on page 42, Boyce added that a collection of items were found, perhaps, gathered together for flight.
Included were a glazed terracotta statuette of Harpocrates and a small terracotta altar.
See Bullettino
dell’Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (DAIR), xvi, 1901,
364.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Niche lararium (e), on east wall of the garden K.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Niche lararium (e), on east wall of the garden K.
According to Boyce, this niche was placed at the east end of the corridor leading from the atrium.
See Boyce G. K., 1937. Corpus of the Lararia of Pompeii. Rome: MAAR 14. (p.42, no.130, Pl. 3,1).
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009.
Room K, raised garden area, looking south-east. Cistern mouth (d) was in the in the south-east corner of the garden.
According to Sogliano, the raised garden had a walkway on the north and west sides, bricked from the planting area by a masonry pluteus.
Originally this room K had been a courtyard with a rough earthenware, cocciopesto, floor.
When excavated, the south and eastern walls, as well as the pilaster to the north-east, showed traces of a garden painting, with high and bushy plants and birds flying or resting on the plants.
Painted on the right side of the east wall was a bearded Sphinx, in the usual attitude of rest.
At the front of the painting was a painted wooden fence.
Found in this garden area were the objects gathered together, and listed in NdS, 1902, (p.380).
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1905,
p.135-8.
According to Jashemski by 1993, the garden paintings had disappeared with the exception of traces of the wooden trellis fencing, at the base of the east wall.
See Jashemski, W. F., 1993. The Gardens of Pompeii, Volume II: Appendices. New York: Caratzas. (p.336, no.39).
V.4.c Pompeii. Fig.2
from Notizie degli Scavi, 1905, p.135-8.
Drawing of east wall area in room K, originally a paved courtyard with a cistern mouth that had been walled up when the garden was built above it.
The remaining traces of the painted wooden trellis fencing, at the base of the east wall, can be seen.
According to NdS,
“The cistern had been fed by roof water from the neighbouring house at V.4.13.
When found, the lead pipe which descended down the east wall from left to right attracted attention for the good preservation of its parts (see fig.2 above).
Attached to the wall by two clamps, also of lead, this duct was fitted above with the water collection tank, in which another much narrower lead tube, contained in a terracotta pipe walled up at the top of the wall, and defended by a piece of perforated lead.
The lower extremity of the duct was spread out by the cistern with a conical fitting in masonry, an inverted funnel, at the level of the primitive flooring.
By this conduit, the waters that fell on the covering of the surrounding house called "the origins of Rome" were guided into the tank.
The owner of the cistern then used the water that fell on the neighbour's property.
The garden above masked the cistern, whose mouth was closed, permanently, by the primitive lid, formed and equalized around with mortar.
The discharge when it was too full was carried out similarly from the back, that is to the aforementioned “house of the origins of Rome”, where a space (un corsetto) (fig.3, c') guided the waters until it met the other similar branch c", pertinent to the tank C of this house; and there, at the point where they meet, to carry on in a single stretch.
In our house, the cistern "b" placed in the atrium collected water from the impluvium, and probably the discharge of the excess water took the direction of the other cistern "d" buried in the garden; in that case they would have been linked with each other and then with the other of the house nearby. So the waters were collected and disposed of.”
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1905, p.135-8, and fig.2 and 3.
V.4.c Pompeii. Fig.3 from Notizie degli Scavi,
1905, p.137.
The garden area, and cistern marked D, is shown on the lower left.
The rear rooms, and garden area of V.4.13, are shown at the top of the drawing.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Room K, looking south along west ambulatory.
South wall of garden area, and window and doorway to kitchen, room M.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to kitchen, or rustic room M, on south side of garden.
The doorway had its threshold and door jambs of wood: except to the right where the doorpost of wood was later replaced with very rough plaster.
From the many holes in the walls and some remains of iron nails, Sogliano thought this was probably a storeroom.
Covered by an attic floor, it received light from a window overlooking the garden.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Room M, south-east corner of kitchen, or rustic room.
According to Sogliano, in the south-east corner one could have seen a round hole in the beaten floor.
This corresponded to a semi-circular hollow in the extreme east of the south wall, perhaps where an amphora was embedded.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Room M, north-west corner of room, with doorway to garden area.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Room M, north wall, with doorway and window to garden area.
V.4.c Pompeii. May 2005. Room G, tablinum on east side of atrium B.
At the rear of the tablinum is the low east wall with window to garden K behind.
On the left is the doorway to corridor or andron J. Cubiculum H is on the right.
V.4.c. Pompeii but shown as V.4.10 on photo. Pre-1937-1939. Room G, tablinum on east side of atrium B.
Photo courtesy of American Academy in Rome, Photographic Archive. Warsher collection no. 478a.
V.4.c. Pompeii. Atrium. Marble table with support in the form of a crouching panther. The panther had eyes made of glass paste.
The terracotta cistern mouth has caryatids supporting the rim and dates from the Republican age.
DAIR 31.2694.
Photo © Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom, Arkiv.
See Carratelli,
G. P., 1990-2003. Pompei: Pitture e Mosaici: Vol. III. Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia
italiana, pp. 1035-6.
V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Room G, north wall of tablinum.
According to Sogliano, in tablinum G, the two north and south walls were decorated with big yellow panels.
These were separated by architectural paintings on a white background.
In the centre of each of the four panels was a painted flying figure of a Season.
On the north wall, to the left, was Spring. The figure was poorly preserved when found.
In the panel to the right, was Summer, naked except for a broad green veil, holding in the right the sickle and in the other hand, a sheaf.
On the south wall, the panel on the left which had showed Autumn was quite faded.
On the right was Winter, entirely covered by a vast green blanket which covered the head.
The upper part of the above-mentioned walls were decorated in white, with arabesques and garlands.
The lower part was red. The floor was of opus signinum.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1905, (p.133).
V.4.c Pompeii. 1961.
Room G, north wall of tablinum, and east wall which would have had a window onto the garden.
Photo by Stanley A. Jashemski.
Source: The Wilhelmina and Stanley A. Jashemski archive in the University of Maryland Library, Special Collections (See collection page) and made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License v.4. See Licence and use details.
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V.4.c Pompeii. March 2009. Room G, south wall of tablinum, on left. Looking west across atrium to entrance corridor fauces A.
According to Sogliano, the two pillars of the fauces on the west side of the atrium were painted in yellow.
However, this colour was only preserved in the pillar to the left, having mostly changed to red on the right pillar because of the oxidisation of colours due to the fire that developed at the time of the catastrophe.
The surface of the latter pillar was wider and found in the centre was a painting representing a flying Swan with a ribbon between its feet and beak.
See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1905, (p.131).
Note: Sogliano would have probably been describing the “wider” pillar on the right, as the wider pillar on the left in our photo.
V.4.c Pompeii. May 2005. Room G tablinum, looking east. South wall of tablinum with low east wall with window to garden area.
At the rear, the doorway and window to room M.