HOUSE OF THE LYRE-PLAYER - POMPEII

This large building (approx. 2,700 sq.m.) was created by joining two residential complexes which covered an area nearly equal to that of the whole insula.
The house can be entered both from Via dell’Abbondanza and from Via Stabiana. It is arranged around two atria and three peristyle, and its name derives from a bronze statue of Apollo playing the lyre (today in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples).
Magnificent paintings and bronze portraits of famous personalities also found in it and are now on shown in the same museum.
As is inferred from electoral propaganda and a number of graffiti, it belonged to the Popidius family.

 

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The residential section of this complex is a particularly luxurious building which, although not exceptionally big, boasts the largest garden in Pompeii. The garden has recently been restored and planted with the species of three which are thought to have originally been grown in it. The house has a large atrium with numerous bed chambers (cubicula) arranged all round it and its impluvium is surrounded by a low masonry flower bed. The cubiculum which is reached by turning left from the entrance hall contains a stove for baking terra-cotta pots. A bronze seal found near the stove suggests the house belonged to a certain D. Octavius Quartius, whilst until recently the ... continue

(Apic. 6, 3, 1) Ingredients:

• 1 partridge for each person
• Pepper
• Lovage (or celery leaves)
• Celery seeds
• Mint
• Myrtle berries (or juniper berries)
• 30 ml red wine
• 30 ml red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp liquamen (or soya sauce)
• Honey

Instructions:
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Cook the partridge by soaking it in low heated water for about 45 minutes. Grind the spices in a mortar, add honey, wine, vinegar, oil and liquamen. Pour the sauce on the venison and serve. ... 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.