Pompeii
House of the Silver Wedding
Pompeii
End of 2nd century B.C.
This large atrium or central hall is from a house of the Samnite era. Four Corinthian columns support the open roof which is sloped inward to collect the rain below. The opening is called the compluvium. Behind the atrium is the peristyle....
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House of the Faun
Pompeii
2nd century B.C.
The famous House of the Faun was named after this little dancing figure in the square impluvium. Nothing else of the atrium remains. A second atrium was adjacent to this one and beyond the two atriums were the columns of the peristyle....
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House of Pansa
Pompeii
2nd century B.C.
Large columns from an early peristyle or inner colonnaded garden court. The peristyle is a private area in the house....
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House of the Samnite
Herculaneum
2nd century B.C.
Four styles are generally used to designate the major periods in Pompeian and Roman painting and decoration. The first style covers the period from about 175 B.C. to 80 B.C. The second style dates from about 80 B.C. until 1 A.D. The third style begins around 1 A.D. or somewhat earlier and lasts unt...
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Pompeii
2nd Century B.C.
Based on drawing of Sir Banister Fletcher
Redrawn by Douglas A. Russell
The floor plan of a typical upper-class home of the Roman Republic. Showing the rather sophisticated living arrangements of the period. Shops surround the house with separate entrances to the surrounding streets. The main entrance leads into the atrium...
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Pompeii
The wide Via di Mercurio passed through the most well-to-do residential area and was open only to pedestrians....
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Triangular Forum
Pompeii
Rebuilt after 62
The Temple of Isis, influenced by Egyptian beliefs, sits on the triangular forum constructed during the Samnite period. The temple cella held images of the gods and sacred water from the Nile. It too was rebuilt after the earthquake of 62....
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Pompeii
2nd century
This sectional view through a tradesman's home in Pompeii shows a cellar beneath the peristyle. The inwardly sloped roof and the roof opening (compluvium) can be clearly seen above the impluvium of the atrium....
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House of the Silver Wedding
Pompeii
End of 2nd century B.C.
The impluvium or shallow pool which caught the rain falling through the compluvium. The walls were altered and redecorated in a later period....
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from Professor Barbette Spaeth, Tulane University
This artist's impression gives us an indication of the Atrium with the Impluvium and statue of Faun as it might have looked. The Peristyle is visible through in the rear....
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