HOUSE OF PAQUIUS PROCULUS - POMPEII

The house may have belonged to one or the other of these two patrician personages whose names appears more than once in the election slogans painted on the facade. The house is Samnite in type and the tall entrance portal leads to a vestibule with a mosaic pavement in which the portal itself and a chained dog are depicted. Next come the atrium decorated with mosaic panels with figures of animals. This had already been damaged in the earthquake of 62 A.D., as had the style IV wall paintings, of which only two still life survive. At the centre of the pavement, an alabaster tondo is surrounded by a double guilloche motif, palmettes and animals in panels. After this come a series of rooms opening onto the peristyle; in one of these the remains of the bodies of seven children who had sought shelter when the volcano erupted were found. The room in the northeast corner is the triclinium and it contains an emblema with a comic scene in Nilotic surroundings with pygmies fishing. One of them is falling from the boat while crocodiles and a hippopotamus with gaping jaws wait for him in the water. At the center, the peristyle has what remains of the summer triclinium which stood under a pergola with four columns near a basin. Below are subterranean chambers used as a storeroom. A room at the back of the peristyle contained the humorous mosaic with an ass collapsing under the weight of a silenus.

 

Why do not you arrange with us an amazing day in the Gulf of Naples - a private tour (just for you) with a comfortable limousine or minivan with driver and an English-speaking tour guide? We have organized for you a great guided tour to Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento-Amalfi Coast (Positano). Contact us by e-mail info@pompeii.org.uk for further info.

This luxurious residence houses an impressive collection of fresco decorations typical of the wall paintings in the houses of rich Pompeian traders. The excavation techniques used made it possible to preserve, in almost all the rooms in the complex, the fourth style figure paintings completed after the earthquake of 62 A.D.. The brothers Aulus Vettius Restitutus and Aulus Vettius Conviva commissioned their fresco decorations from one of the leading artists’ workshops so that their home would be not only a comfortable residence, but also a “status symbol”. The house is divided into two areas: firstly, the part in which the family lived, laid out around the main atriu ... continue

(Apic. 8, 7, 17) Ingredients:

• 750 g pork chops
• 100 ml white wine
• 4 tbsp Liquamen (or soya sauce)
• 4 tbsp water or broth
• 4 tbsp cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:
-------------
Heat a frying pan, add a little oil and cook the pork chops until they are nearly done. Set the chops aside and clean the pan. Add the remainder of the ingredients to the cleaned pan and place the chops in the liquid. Bring this to the boil and continue cooking the chops, turning them occasionally, until they are done. Place the chops on a the plat ... 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.