HOUSE OF THE DIOSCURI - POMPEII

A painting in the entrance, now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples, of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter and Leda, gives the house its name. This is one of the rare examples in Pompeii of a house with a Corinthian atrium, where the atrium with a central impluvium is surrounded by columns, in this case twelve columns in tufo (the other two alternatives were the Tuscan atrium without columns and the tetrastyle atrium with four columns at the corners of the impluvium). Wall paintings with pictures of mythological subjects were frescoed on the walls of the rooms on either side of the tablinum. Most of them have been detached and are now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples and the British Museum in London. An initial porticoed courtyard with Doric columns is situated beyond the tablinum and has a lararium on the back wall. The second peristyle with a large basin at the centre was added later and is reached from the right side of the atrium. Most of the IV style wall painting is still in place and depicts carpets hung in imaginary architectural surrounds, alternating with panels of still life.

 

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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 ... continue

(Apic. 1, 35, 1) Ingredients:

• Mint
• Rue
• Coriander
• Fennel
• Lovage
• Pepper
• Honey
• Liquamen (or 3 tblsp soya sauce + 3 tsp anchovy paste)
• Vinegar

Instructions:
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Smash and homogenize all the spices. Add honey and Liquamen and mix it all. Taste and, if necessary, add some vinegar. Serve with bread.

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.