HOUSE OF M. LUCRETIUS - POMPEII

This house is attributed to M. Lucretius because his name appears as addressee on a letter depicted, with a kit for writing letters, in a wall painting in a room near the garden. He was an important figure who held the office of decurion in the city and was a priest of Mars. This patrician house had fine wall paintings, now mostly in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. In the atrium there are still some frescoes in IV style with imaginary architectures, and in the tablinum the Triumphs of Bacchus with a satyr and a Victory. There must also have been various panel paintings in the tablinum which unfortunately have been lost. The atrium lacks a central impluvium and it is therefore to be supposed that it was not covered with the customary shed roofs that sloped down towards the interior, but was covered by a roof that completely covered the house with a watershed towards the exterior (atrio testudinato). The lararium is in the atrium and the large tablinum opens in the back wall, beyond which a lovely garden stretches out in scenic perspective on a higher level. With herms and statues of satyr, cupids and various animals set among the beds, at the back was a fountain with mosaic decoration, where the water poured out of a goatskin held by a marble 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.

The garden of this house is embellished with large fountain decorated with coloured mosaics and compositions made of glass paste tiles. Rows of shell running all round the nymphaeum form a highly original decoration which is completed by two large theatrical masks embedded in the bases of two columns. The water for the fountain flowed through a hole in the middle of the apse and fell over a flight of marble steps, creating an impressive effect, before being collected in a small pool decorated with a bronze statue of a cupid carrying a dolphin on his back. The statues on display here are copies. The garden of the adjoining house, called the House of the Small Fountai ... continue

(Apic. 8, 8, 3) Ingredients:

• 1 whole hare or rabbit
• 225 g whole pine kernels
• 100 g shelled almonds
• 100 g chopped mixed nuts
• 25 g peppercorns
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Rue (or celery leaves)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 100 g stoned dates, chopped
• 1 tbsp Liquamen (or soya sauce)
• 2 tbsp spiced wine (basically mulled wine)

Instructions:
-------------
Mix together the pine kernels, almonds, chopped nuts, peppercorns and the chopped giblets of the hare or rabbit. Bind this mixture with ... 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.