HOUSE OF THE GILDED CUPIDS - POMPEII

Opposite the house of the Vettii, in the triangular-shapes insula on Via Vesuvio, stands the house belonging to the wealthy gens Poppaea – possibly the family of Nero’s second wife. The house obtained its name from the original decoration used for the cubiculum near the shrine of the tutelary gods, where, set into the plaster, there were several glass discs whose gold leaf back bore the engraving of the cupids. The layout of the house is quite unusual as it has an atrium and tablinum but no cubicula (bed chambers) on either side, and all of this is off-set compared to the rest of the house, which elegantly extends out towards the peristyle and garden. The latter was lavishly decorated with statuettes, busts, animal sculptures and theatrical masks which were fitted into the walls and hung between the columns, in addition to medallions against the evil eye. Every single object was tastefully designed and added a magical atmosphere to the house. The colonnade along which we find the lararium and, tucked away in one corner, the sacellum dedicated to the Egyptian triad of Harpocrates, Isis and Serapis follows the slope of the ground so that the west-facing side is higher than the rest. Here we find the triclinium with its stone beds and two lavishly decorated rooms: the one on the left, with a vegetable garden to the rear, shows a depiction of the seasons against a white background, while the other is decorated with love-related themes, such as Leda and the swan, Venus fishing and Actaeon spying on Diana while she bathes. Both rooms have particularly striking coffered ceiling.

 

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Some of the excellent bread for which the area around Vesuvius was renowned was made in this bakery on Via dell’Abbondanza, opposite the House of Trebius Valens. As the building did not include a shop, the bread produced was evidently sold elsewhere. This was one of the thirty-one bakeries and cake shop in the town and the name its reputed owner, Sotericus, appears on the front of the inn next-door. The large workshop where bread was made extended across two older buildings and was equipped with shelves, worktops and a dough kneading machine. The workshop also had an oven, a grain warehouse, a bedroom for the workers and four different-size machines driven by donkey ... continue

(Apic. 9, 11) Ingredients:

• 20 oysters (tinned will do if you can't find fresh)
• 20 venus clams
• 40 mussels
• 8 small squid cleaned and cut into rings (keep the tentacles intact to garnish)
• 100 g roasted pine nuts, roughly chopped
• 2 celery sticks
• Rue, finely chopped
• 10 pitted dates, chopped
• Liquamen (or salt)
• 50 ml passum (or white wine)
• Olive oil
• Pepper
• Ground coriander seed
• Ground cumin

Instructions:
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Soak the oy ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.