House of Menander
The house of Menander (Casa del Menandro, I 10, 4) is a large town house in Pompeii with almost 1800 m² . Excavated in 1926–1932, it is a fine example of the home of a wealthy family in Pompeii. It takes its name not after the owner of the house, but after the image of the Greek poet Menander, which was found there.
The oldest part of the house represents that around 250 BC. The atrium with the rooms around it was built in BC and is relatively modest. About 100 years later the house was modernized. Tuff capitals were attached to the entrance door and the tablinum . During the Augustan period, the house was fundamentally changed, above all a peristyle was added, whereby adjacent residential buildings were torn down. A bath was built on the west side. The house's utility wing is in the eastern part. Shortly before the sinking, further renovation work was carried out on various parts of the house. There were amphorae filled with stucco and a makeshift furnace.
The name of the last owner of the house was probably Quintus Poppaeus. His name was found on a bronze seal in the servants' wing. There is also a house called Menander's house in Mytilene .
Furnishing
The house is richly decorated with 4th style paintings. The back wall of the peristyle shows a sequence of niches in the middle of which there is a picture of the Menander , who gave the house its name.
In the caldarium there is a large mosaic with a central acanthus and surrounding fishermen, dolphins and other marine animals.
gold treasure
In a corridor under the small atrium of the house there was a treasure trove of 118 silver vessels that had been stored in a wooden chest during the renovation work in the house. The same box also contained gold jewelry and coins worth 1,432 sesterces .
literature
- Amedeo Maiuri : La Casa del Menandro e il suo tesoro di argenteria , Rome 1933
- Eugenio La Rocca, M. de Vos Raaijmakers, A. des Vos: Pompeji . Lübbe's archaeological guide. Gustav Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1979, ISBN 3-7857-0228-0 , pp. 175-86
Web links
- Casa del Menandro in the Arachne archaeological database
- Casa del Menandro (in English)
Coordinates: 40 ° 44 ′ 59 ″ N , 14 ° 29 ′ 24 ″ E