HOUSE OF THE CENTENARY - POMPEII

This large house, built in the 2nd century B.C. and restructured during the Imperial age, opens onto Via di Nola and consists of a double Tuscan atrium and a peristyle with a double order of columns at the front. The house was given this name as it was discovered in 1879, the year of the eighteenth centenary of the eruption which completely buried Pompeii. It is divided into two sections: the main house, for the master’s family, and the servants’ quarters, with a separate entrance from a side street. In line with tradition it has a private bath-house and swimming pool. A particularly beautiful nymphaeum with a fountain is situated at the rear of the peristyle and a bed chamber in the eastern section of the house is decorated with two highly detailed erotic frescoes. The famous fresco depicting Mount Vesuvius resplendent with woods and vineyards comes from the lararium in the secondary atrium and is now housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.

 

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In the latter years of Pompeii the four-sided colonnade rising up behind the Theatre was used as the barracks of the organisation of gladiators who performed in the town. Along the wings of the colonnade and on the first floor were the rooms which provided accommodation for the gladiators from other towns. Paraments, helmets and arms belonging to the gladiators were found in many of the rooms. The four-sided colonnade with its 74 Doric columns was originally used as an extension of the theatre: for example, the public could go there for something to eat (performances often lasted most of the day) or to take shelter from the rain. It is likely that for a few years th ... continue

(Apic. 2, 1, 6) Ingredients:

• Cooked, shelled prawns (the original recipe uses scallops, but you can use and seafood)
• Pinch of pepper
• Liquamen (or soya sauce)
• Egg, beaten
• Cooked spelt
• Flour
• Salt
• Black pepper to taste

Instructions:
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Mash the peeled prawns in a bowl. Add the pepper, Liquamen, cooked spelt and the beaten eggs. Mix well and shape into patties. Roll in seasoned flour and fly gently in oil until browned on both sides.

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.